Tag: Arizona bombing

Why wasn’t Iraqi criminal deported?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is the question that is coming up regarding the Iraqi refugee who bombed the Arizona Social Security Office last week, here.  Why didn’t we deport him the first time he committed a crime?

Over the years, I can’t point to one case (coming to my attention) of a criminal refugee being deported.  That is not to say it hasn’t been done.  The subject has come up frequently relating to Somali criminals, but one person ‘in the know’ who did work in the refugee field tells me it isn’t done—basically that we are squishes about sending refugees back to “dangerous” places.  I guess never mind that the person might be dangerous to us.

You should know that Canada has no fear of deporting criminal Somalis back to Somalia as we reported here in 2010—dropped the gangbanger right in the heart of Mogadishu!

There is a US Supreme Court decision in January 2005, here, in which the Court said a refugee criminal could indeed be deported to Somalia or to another country (gosh, who would want him!).

In the case of the Arizona refugee, Abdullatif Aldosary, if he has been here for years as some news accounts are saying, then he could be a US citizen.  But, LOL!, guess he is one more refugee who didn’t appreciate the good life we gave him.

Don’t you think it’s interesting that for a decade and more (during the Clinton Presidency and after) we were bringing in thousands of Iraqis to escape that evil Saddam Hussein.  Then we get rid of the despot (who was creating the refugees), give them a democratically elected government and we are now bringing in an ever larger number of refugees—does that make sense?

This story reminded me that we have never done a thorough accounting of all the Iraqis we’ve brought to the US (as I did with Somalis here several years ago).  So I started to search for the numbers and see that the Office of Refugee Resettlement no longer has eight years of annual reports available on line, see here (not to mention the fact that they are three years late for the recent ones!)  So pulling the numbers together is going to be a challenge—-will put it on my to-do list!

Here are some recent numbers:

Iraqi refugees resettled in 2008:  13,822

In 2009:  18,838

In 2010:  18,016

In 2011 (slowed due to Kentucky terror arrests):  9,388

Total for just those 4 years:   60,064

Those numbers come from these reports, here and here.  (Annual Flow Reports from DHS).  You might also find this Iraqi fact sheet of interest at USCIS.

Readers!  Are any of you interested in writing a book on Iraqi refugees—we’ve done your research for you!  This is the 548th post in our Iraqi Refugee category!

Iraqi refugee charged in explosion of IED at Arizona Social Security Office….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..but, it’s too sensitive to charge him with acts of terrorism!

*** See updates to this story linked below***

That is what Patrick Poole reported yesterday at Pajamas Media, here.   (Hat tip: Judy)

The typically quiet town of Casa Grande, Arizona, was rocked by an explosion at the local Social Security Administration office early Friday morning of what appears to an improvised explosive device (IED). No one was hurt in the explosion, which occurred shortly before the office was scheduled to open. The explosion was reportedly heard and felt all over the area.

While the little town of Casa Grande and the nearby Phoenix area are talking about the incident, virtually no one else is. In fact, the only reason I was following the story is because I’m presently in the area and saw the initial reports on the explosion and continued to look into it .

Within 90 minutes of the explosion, police had a suspect in custody. But you wouldn’t know it from reading the establishment media reports this past weekend. One reason might be that the suspect is 47-year-old Abdullatif Aldosary of Coolidge, AZ, an Iraqi refugee.

On Friday, federal agents served a search warrant on his home. Aldosary has been on the radar of the Department of Homeland Security for at least the past couple of years.

Late Sunday afternoon, I confirmed with a source at the Phoenix FBI office that the case is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism. The source said that Aldosary is expected to be charged with a host of federal and state explosives and arson charges.

But, hold on!  All that has changed as Poole reports in an update to his original post.

…..the FBI is saying very little and and will prosecute this as a simple explosives and arson case because of “the political sensitivities involved.”

Why so sensitive?  Because the whole Refugee Resettlement Program was put on hold for Iraqis when the two Iraqi refugee terrorists were arrested in Kentucky in June 2011.   As a consequence, we were told that new security measures had been put in place and supposedly earlier Iraqi arrivals were being rescreened!  And now the flow of Iraqis to the US has begun to reach its normal high levels.   Oops!  Guess they missed one.

Now for your chuckle of the day.  Poole also reported that the Daily Kos first blamed the bombing on rightwingers.

But, get this, last week in the tiny town of Sharpsburg, MD, the state police and the FBI put on a massive “manhunt” for a guy who had a few guns and a two-decades-old marijuana conviction.  The guy on the political right hadn’t threatened anyone or shot or bombed anyone, yet 150 officers took part in a massive raid on his home.  Read all about it, here.

Why the double standard?  The Arizona bombing doesn’t fit the narrative of the Obama Administration or its media groupies.  And, I am convinced the Administration is just itching for a “gun nut” to take a shot at authorities so they can make their case that it’s not Muslims we have to worry about but Christian rightwingers.

Update (sort of):  It is actually an earlier story on the Arizona arrest.

Update December 4th:  See my post attempting to answer the question, so why wasn’t this guy deported when he committed prior criminal acts.

Update December 5th:  Debbie Schlussel has more, here.  A news story Debbie has linked indicates he was appointed a woman lawyer—bet that really pleased him (Not!).

Update December 7th:  Aldosary’s citizenship had been rejected due to “terrorism-related activity.”  (See the latest, here)