Tag: Burmese refugees

Burmese refugees jittery about USCIS fraud investigation

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It appears that the USCIS is doing something rarely done and that is attempting to find holes in the system that have allowed the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program to chug along for decades with rarely an examination of the fraud that we hear is rampant at processing centers throughout the world.
The suspicion of fraud in the huge Burmese flow to America, processed mostly through the Muslim country of Malaysia, does not surprise me (I’ve talked to sources who know about fraud first hand!).

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Why aren’t we entitled to balanced reporting from Voice of America?

Since FY07 we admitted 166,539 refugees from Burma. The vast majority are Christians and many obediently go to work in meatpacking towns across the country.
Although it should be noted that we have started to bring in more Muslim Rohingya. In Obama’s last two years in office we admitted 3,809, and 3,127 Muslims (some processed through Malaysia) to bring the total to 19,607 since FY07.
Texas, by far, is the number one placement destination.
Here is reporter Victoria Macchi penning a story obviously tilted toward ‘ain’t Trump’s people awful’! 
Voice of America! Shouldn’t we expect more from a media outlet that works FOR the US government!

US Investigation Rattles Resettled Burmese Refugees

WASHINGTON —
When letters from the U.S. government last month summoned more than 1,000 Burmese refugees in the United States for official interviews, chatter spread across the immigrant community: Were the letters real? Did the refugees have to attend? What was the government trying to glean from meeting with refugees who were already in the country, in some cases for years?

The letters — sent by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency that conducts interviews with refugees overseas and vets immigration applications — were real.

Some of the refugees opted to go to the interviews, depending on where they were in the residency or citizenship process. Failing to comply could jeopardize pending immigration applications, according to the letters.

The ultimate goal of the investigation into possible identity fraud — specifically, two refugees entering under the same name — that may go back nearly a decade remains unclear a month later. USCIS will not say whether criminal charges have been or will be filed, and refugee advocates have not reported any such actions.

[….]

Jill Niswander, director of communications and fund development at EMBARC Iowa, a refugee support organization in Des Moines, Iowa, said the USCIS interview requests rattled the Burmese community.

This next bit is when Ms Macchi really shows her bias, and, in so doing, causes me to dismiss VOA as a balanced news source. But, I guess what more can you expect from ‘journalists’ educated at Columbia Univ.  They just can’t help themselves!

The investigation into potential identity fraud cases isn’t the first time the U.S. has investigated its refugee vetting process. It’s rare, and narrow in scope when it does happen. Yet, an internet search of fraud and refugee-vetting turned up a mix of stories, many of which tout the risk of refugees to the country. The subject is a favorite among ultra-conservative, pseudo news sites and xenophobic blogs.

In one, the U.S. temporarily suspended refugee arrivals from East Africa in 2008 after some refugees failed DNA testing to confirm blood relations they claimed in their paperwork.

Somali fraud!
She downplays the incredible degree of fraud uncovered by the State Department in 2008 (in one of the only fraud investigations I know of!) which was first revealed by Miriam Jordan at The Wall Street Journal (not this “xenophobic blog”).  The State Department estimated that at least 20,000 Somalis entered the US fraudulently through family reunification and the whole P-3 program for Somalis and other Africans was closed for more than four years! Ms. Macchi says “temporarily suspended!”  See here.
The fact that there was very little coverage of the Somali cheaters (except at “ultra-conservative, pseudo news sites and xenophobic blogs”) is because the mainstream media and probably VOA never mentioned it because it didn’t fit their narrative!
Not one of the Somali liars was removed from the country that I know of!
Ms. Macchi goes on…..

Though the problem originated on the ground in Malaysia, when refugees were registered with the U.N. system, it remains unclear how the errors occurred — whether there was a system for buying refugee identity cards, or errors in data entry in the rush to register refugees, or if refugees assumed the identities of other refugees in an attempt to get out of a country that was threatening them.

So, aren’t those all legitimate reasons to see if fraud is occurring, and isn’t it about time we uncover the truth! 

My guess is that the fraud is occurring either with the UNHCR or through the International Rescue Committee (one of the nine federal resettlement contractors) that works for the US State Department in Malaysia, see here.
Someone doing the paperwork is being bought off I suspect. Whatever it is, American citizens (paying for it all!) have a right to know!
There is more, but the darn article was jumping around my screen so much I couldn’t stand it another minute.

Was there fraud in the huge resettlement of Burmese 'refugees' to the US?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

They must have found something at the USCIS or a thousand Burmese living in the US right now wouldn’t have gotten a letter to report to a USCIS office.
Was there fraud in transit country, Malaysia???
(Checking Wrapsnet I see that since FY06 we have admitted a whopping 167,583 Burmese people and they were coming before 2006 and are still coming, see map below.)
Here is a short article at the Des Moines Register about the “summons” Burmese living in Iowa have received:

Dozens of refugees in Iowa received letters from immigration officials asking them to appear for an interview and provide information that validates their status.

The refugees are from the country formerly known as Burma, a group that has grown in the past five years to include more than 8,000 living in Iowa.

[….]

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Abigail Sui, program manager of Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resources in Des Moines.   http://www.embarciowa.org/

She [Abigail Sui] said at least 50 refugees in Iowa, all who came from Burma and to the U.S. through Malaysia, got the letter from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department that requested the in-person interview. One letter required travel to Indianapolis, while a refugee from Indiana appeared at the USCIS offices in Des Moines for an interview Monday, according to EMBARC.

[….]

“A current USCIS investigation has raised concerns about identity and biographic information provided to USCIS in a number of cases involving Burmese refugees, including many who have resettled in the U.S.,” said Sharon Rummery, a USCIS public affairs officer based in San Francisco.

She said in an email that the USCIS sent 1,000 requests for interviews nationwide that “will help determine the refugee’s immigration status or eligibility for future immigration benefits.”

The interviews are voluntary, but Sui said that she thinks consequences are possible if the refugees do not go.

Already facing resettlement hardships, the refugees would have to fund a trip to the interviews and take time off work, said Sui. In addition, no interpreters would be made available.

Can you hear the immigration lawyer stampede now—no taxpayer-funded interpreters is a big no-no!  And, how dare the Trump Administration dig more deeply into the US Refugee Admissions Program.
More here.
Here is a map from the US State Department’s Refugee Processing Center showing where the 167,583 Burmese have been placed since FY06.  Obviously there is an error as there is no number on the dark blue Indiana.   Texas takes top honors.
 

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New readers may not know that Wyoming is the only state with no refugee program.

 
My archive on the Burmese may be found by clicking here.
Most of the Burmese are not Muslims but in the last few years, the US has begun admitting larger numbers of the so-called ‘Rohingya,’ Muslims from Burma and Bangladesh.

A reader asks: Who is resettling refugees in North Carolina?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, part 2 of reader Robert’s question was: How can I find out where those Aussie detainees will be placed in my state?
Robert’s question was in response to this post:

Flight glitch causes some delay as Australia’s rejected ‘refugees’ head to US

I’m glad he asked because it reminds me that there are so many people reading RRW now who haven’t been with me for the last almost 11 years and so they have missed information previously posted.
First, a reminder that at the top of RRW (under the header) is a page entitled: FAQS! Finding Stuff.  I think most of you will find something useful there. And, if you are just relying on e-mail notices about each of my posts and not coming to the blog, you are missing a lot.  (Even if you aren’t on twitter, if you come to RRW you will see my twitter feed in the right hand column and see other related news that I don’t have time to post!)
Linked in FAQS! is the US State Department’s State-by-State index of refugee contractors working in your states. I don’t know how thorough they are with keeping it updated, you may find errors in contact information and phone numbers.

burmese-biter
Writing about NC reminds me: Does anyone know whatever happened to the Burmese biter who was being resettled in NC last spring?   https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/05/28/burmese-biter-was-headed-for-new-bern-nc-are-we-importing-mentally-ill-in-refugee-program/

But, before I post the offices in North Carolina—a state with a huge number of contractors at work—on the issue of where the Australian rejected ‘refugees’ are going, I doubt you will find out.
If you called each office in NC, they will tell you you can’t have that information (privacy). The only possibility of finding out is if some local newspaper is inquisitive enough, but expect any story to be of the squishy PC variety.
You might consider contacting your members of Congress and see if they can find out. They likely won’t have any more luck than you, but it will be a good lesson (for them) in how this program is run so secretively.
Also, since there are large numbers of Burmese refugees in NC already, look to the Rohingya (Burmese Muslims) we have been told are coming from Australia to be placed in Burmese communities even though we know that Burmese Christians fear the Rohingya refugees.
The Burmese Rohingya Muslims are not on the Trump “banned” countries list.

Eight of nine federal contractors*** are working in North Carolina attesting to the fact that the state has rolled out the welcome mat!

Here are screenshots of the federal contractors’ contact information for North Carolina (a state they are turning blue through immigration).
In the left hand corner, as in this first screenshot, is each subcontractor’s primary contractor.
See the contractor list at the end of this post. The only tricky one is Episcopal Migration Ministries which often hides behind its other name: Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (DFMS).
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See my NC archive by clicking here.
Knowledge is power!
I urge all of you to use the FAQS! here at the top of the page and do some research. Then type your state’s name into my search window and find out what I’ve reported from your state during the last ten plus years!
***These are the nine federal contractors that monopolize all US resettlement. Only the IRC is absent from NC. Number in parenthesis is the amount of federal dollars (your money) going to their budgets.
Don’t miss this post about Church World Service yesterday.

 

WaPo: Just some guy who jumped out of a plane in North Carolina

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

WaPo: Ton Lon Sein just some random guy who doesn’t speak English

Just now I thought I would see if there is anything new about Tun Lon Sein, the Burmese refugee who arrived in North Carolina a week ago on a flight to America that originated in Thailand (there are UN camps for Burmese in Thailand), and who proceeded to jump out of a plane onto the tarmac in Charlotte after trying to bite a flight attendant attempting to restrain him.
WaPo reporter, Avi Selk, left out most important fact about Burmese biter in his story last week—he is a ‘screened refugee’ being resettled in NC by the US State Department through a contracted resettlement agency.

I guess they haven’t found an interpreter for his dialect and thus haven’t brought him before a  judge yet (let me know if you see that news), but I did spot this Washington Post article from May 27th with more details of his sprint across the tarmac.
Is he nuts, a criminal, or perhaps he simply didn’t want to be a refugee to America?
WaPo a day late and a dollar short!
What is missing from the WaPo account is something that was known to the local media published in Charlotte the day before the WaPo report—Sein is a refugee being resettled in the US by Episcopal Migration Ministries through the US (Trump) State Department.
Why did the WaPo reporter Avi Selk leave the all important ‘R’ word from his report? (Or did his editors?)  Didn’t he know how to use google? Instead his ‘news’ is fleshed-out with reports on other recent scary airline incidents with passengers.
For more on the Burmese refugee’s origins, see my report last week, here.
Now, see Selk’s story where you have to get to the very end to see any reference to the fact that Sein was from somewhere else in the world (Selk even had the affidavit that local media in Charlotte must have had!):

According to the affidavit, he was midway through a journey that began overseas and spoke “little or no English” during the incident.

So is it any wonder that the refugee industry activists are out telling anyone who will listen that refugees who have been screened-in to America, don’t commit crimes and are not terrorists? 
It is because the news they read (and watch) isn’t telling the whole truth (and if the activists know the truth they are hoping the general public doesn’t find out!).
And this is too juicy!  See the WaPo banner! Democracy Dies in Darkness! Wow!
 

 
Come-on WaPo, how about some serious, unbiased and truthful investigative work for a change!
For a little summer reading, see my ‘refugee crimes’ category with 2,101 posts extending back almost ten years!

Ohio Somali slasher said he was angry because Buddhists in Burma mistreated Rohingya Muslims

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So why is that our problem?

After all we admitted 18,000 Burmese Muslims to the US since 2006!

(Well, no one said this guy was brilliant after all!)

This is my fourth post of the day on how the Somali Islamic terrorist attack on Monday has inspired the news media in so many different directions.  See here, here, and here.

no-rohingya-islamists-in-myanmar
Buddhist monks in Burma in 2012 made it pretty clear they didn’t want the Muslim Rohingya in their country. Gee, maybe the Somali slasher story confirms why the Buddhists are so worried about devout Rohingya populating Burma.

This is a Reuters story that reports that the Ohio State Somali slasher had reached a “boiling point.”
One thing he was angry about was what he claims is happening to Rohingya Muslims in Burma. So, of course the logical conclusion is to go out and try to mow down American students with your car and slash as many of them as you can. (I’m going to bet his victims have no clue who the Rohingya are!).
But we do!
For over 8 years we have been trying to get the attention of some in government to question why we are bringing any Rohingya Muslims to the US. 
The Somali slasher should have thanked America because we have admitted over 18,000 of them to Anytown, US since 2006!  The devout Rohingya have been wandering all over Southeast Asia for years and frankly they can’t be screened any better than the Syrians because the Buddhist government in Burma or the Muslim government in Bangladesh have few records (if any!) on them.
I predict that some of the ‘stateless’ migrants in the Australia deal are actually Rohingya.
For inquisitive minds! We have an entire category devoted to the Rohingya with 192 previous posts, see here.  Don’t miss this early one where Time magazine warned that Rohingya were radicalized.
Here is what Reuters said of the Somali slasher’s motives for trying to kill his fellow students:

ARTAN SPOKE OF “BOILING POINT”

Investigators were looking into a message posted on Facebook by Artan that contained inflammatory statements about being “sick and tired” of seeing Muslims killed and reaching a “boiling point,” a law enforcement source said.

“Stop the killing of the Muslims in Burma,” Artan said in the Facebook post.

Violence in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, has sent Rohingya Muslims fleeing across the border to Bangladesh amid allegations of abuses by security forces.

I’m not going to rehash my Rohingya Reports archive. But, I do want to point you to this post from May 2013 in which we reported that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops testified to the US State Department that the Bishops wanted more Rohingya placed in America (I was there in person to hear this!—ed)

Looking at the data at Wrapsnet (Refugee Processing Center) for the last ten years we note that there was a drop in Burmese Muslim resettlement in 2010, 2011 and 2012, but the resettlement picked up dramatically again beginning in 2013.
289 Burmese Muslims were resettled in America in the first 6 weeks of this fiscal year.

To the incoming Trump team: It is not only Syrians who can’t be thoroughly vetted, the Burmese/Bangladeshi Rohingya can’t be either!