Michigan: Burmese now scamming food stamp program

04/12/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Longtime readers know we follow food stamp fraud as a hobby here at RRW. Most fraud stories we come across don’t involve refugees per se (mostly other legal immigrants of one sort or another) and we have been posting them over to the facebook page, ‘Diversity’s Dark Side’, here.

Golden Burma Asian Grocery where cash from Uncle Sam was available to the Burmese refugee population until recently.

Now, here is a story, thanks again to ‘pungentpeppers,’ from earlier this month about Burmese in Lansing, Michigan catering to the large Burmese population there and offering an opportunity for the refugees to cash in on food stamp fraud.

Just a reminder that we have, in the last ten years, resettled about 100,000 Burmese in the US. Give a large number of certain ethnic groups a few years and they will begin to figure out how to scam good ol’ Uncle Sam.

From the Lansing State Journal (emphasis mine):

GRAND RAPIDS — The co-owner of a now-closed Lansing Asian grocery store has pleaded guilty in federal court to food stamp fraud and will pay about $41,000 in restitution, court records show.

The case against Aye Aye Soe, who owned Golden Burma Asian Grocery and Gifts with her husband, began last year with prosecutors alleging nearly $300,000 in food stamp fraud. But a plea agreement filed in March says the federal government lost between $30,000 and $70,000.

Attorney: It was a cultural misunderstanding!

Soe’s attorney, Bill Hankins, said his client made mistakes that resulted from not paying attention to detail. He also said there were cultural misunderstandings.

A plea hearing was held Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. Soe admitted paying customers cash in exchange for swiping their Bridge Cards for a larger amount. [She will pay restitution but serve no jail time!—ed]

Then get this next section of the report! If it was needed for their “Burmese culture,” it is somehow o.k. ? Since when are blankets and makeup something especially culturally important to the Burmese? Doesn’t everyone need blankets and makeup? And, why is that any excuse ?

Hankins said Soe, a native of Burma who has become a U.S. citizen, mostly served the area’s large Burmese community.

[….]

Soe also admitted allowing customers to use their Bridge Cards to buy items that were not eligible for reimbursement, court documents say. Hankins said items included blankets and makeup — something he said is important in Burmese culture.

Ninety percent of the stores business was through the use of food stamp debit cards (!), and since most of the customers were Burmese, sure looks like it is widespread food stamp fraud in the Burmese community of Lansing, MI.

Soe’s store on South Cedar Street opened in 2009, according to the indictment. Hankins said it was forced to close late last year after the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the food stamp program, removed the store’s Bridge Card machine. He said 90 percent of the store’s business was through Bridge Cards.

Ah, America! The land of easy cash from the Bridge Card machines!

For our extensive food stamp fraud archive, click here.

Bethlehem, PA: Who will pay for Burmese refugee’s murder trial?

04/07/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That, readers, is a question we have been asking for months now as the number of trials for refugees committing violent crimes appear to be on the increase.

What did the Utah Burmese murder trial cost? What did the Albany Iraqi rape trial cost? What about the Somali terror trials in San Diego and Minneapolis? And, that Iraqi sex trafficking case in South Dakota? Interpreters alone cost the taxpayers a bundle!

Accused murderer, Win Min Htut, wants his kids to get his house. The taxpayers would then be responsible for his court costs.

From Lehigh Valley Live (Hat tip: the very busy ‘pungentpeppers’). Emphasis below is mine:

With prosecutors seeking the death penalty against a Bethlehem man accused of shooting his wife in the street in front of their children, a Lehigh County judge said today the cost of defending the man at trial could hit six figures.

But in the case of Win Min Htut, there is a question of how those bills will be paid.

Htut is charged with homicide, burglary and criminal trespass in the Dec. 17 killing of his wife, 37-year-old Thida Myint. Prosecutors said Htut killed Myint in the street in front of their Bethlehem home on the day a permanent protection-from-abuse order was granted against him.

Htut is represented by the public defender’s office, court-ordered by Judge Robert Steinberg. The deed for the family’s home in Bethlehem is in Htut’s name only, officials sad, and Htut has said he wants the house to be given to his three children.

In court today, Chief Public Defender Kimberly Makoul said Htut told his attorneys he does not want to spend any money on experts necessary for a death penalty case.

“Our client does not want any of his assets spent,” Makoul said.

Steinberg said this is not a new situation, in terms of case law, and that while Htut may not want to spend his own money, “it doesn’t mean the county has to absorb the costs.”

Here is my suggestion: The US State Department should be responsible for all of the refugee criminals that go before a court system. I know, I know, that is taxpayer money too, but at least if someone (brave!) introduced such a bill in Congress it would get the public’s attention.

Then of course there is the much more intriguing idea of billing the resettlement contractors when their refugees break the law!

Note to “welcoming” communities—consider the case of Win Min Htut when you open your doors to more refugees.

Pennsylvania is in the top five preferred resettlement states in America.

How many Burmese in the US:

Here is one accounting of how many we have resettled over the last 12 years from Burma and camps in Thailand. They are still coming.

*Burmese refugees resettled in the US since 2001: 97,713

*Chin Refugees resettled in the US since 2001: 30,453

*Karen Refugees resettled in the US since 2001: 57,962

*The rest ethnic groups from Burma in the US since 2001: 9297

This last number above would include Burmese Muslims/Rohingya

Two Burmese suspected murderers apprehended coming back into US from Mexico

04/02/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a very strange story from the Border Patrol to the Laredo Sun (hat tip: Gary) and I surely can’t guess why two Burmese (they have to be refugees we resettled in the Dallas area) are caught coming back into the US.

Here is the whole short news account (emphasis mine):

LAREDO, TEXAS –U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Laredo Port of Entry apprehended two men wanted in connection with a homicide that occurred in Dallas, Texas on March 24, 2014.

“The importance of the work that our CBP officers do in conducting interviews with individuals that present themselves requesting admission into the U.S. can be underscored with the apprehension of these two individuals who were being sought for their alleged involvement in the death of a man in Dallas, Texas,” said Jose R. Uribe, Acting Port Director, Laredo Port of Entry. “Through the collaboration between our federal and state partners, this case was able to be brought to light, resulting in the interception of these men to face the charges that are alleged against them.”

The arrests of the fugitives occurred yesterday Thursday, March 28, 2014 at the Gateway to the Americas Bridge when CBP officers encountered two 18-year-old citizens of Burma that arrived as pedestrians. A CBP officer at primary inspection referred pedestrians A. Soe and Naing Myo Swe, both resident aliens residing in Dallas, Texas who did not present any identity or citizenship documents for a secondary examination. During the examination, CBP officers verified both A. Soe and Naing Myo Swe’s identity, citizenship and confirmed that they were wanted by the Dallas Police Department on outstanding warrants of Murder and Tampering with Evidence. After confirming the warrants were active, CBP officers turned both men over to FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents for transport to Webb County Detention Center pending extradition by Dallas authorities.

The alleged murderers are very likely refugees resettled by the US State Department and its contractors in Texas. That is how most Burmese have come to live in the US. LOL! They don’t “find their way” to Texas as news accounts so often report.

Here is one accounting of how many we have resettled over the last 12 years from Burma and camps in Thailand. They are still coming.

*Burmese refugees resettled in the US since 2001: 97,713

*Chin Refugees resettled in the US since 2001: 30,453

*Karen Refugees resettled in the US since 2001: 57,962

*The rest ethnic groups from Burma in the US since 2001: 9297

This last number above would include Burmese Muslims/Rohingya. Our most horrible Burmese murder case (so far) was the one in Utah where a Burmese Muslim man raped and murdered a little girl.

Pennsylvania: Burmese refugee shoots wife, faces death penalty

02/16/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Well what do you know—another refugee criminal case (requiring a translator of course!).***

Never forget! Diversity brings strength to your “welcoming” community, or so we are told! See our previous post on Burmese living in poverty in America, kids dropping out of school.

Burmese refugee accused of murdering his wife in Bethlehem, PA (*Express-Times Photo | BILL ADAMS)*

From Lehigh Valley Live (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’ crime finder!):

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a Bethlehem man accused of shooting his wife in the street in front of their children the day a protection-from-abuse order was approved against him.

Win Min Htut is charged with homicide, burglary and criminal trespass in the Dec. 17 killing of 37-year-old Thida Myint.

Prosecutors say they’re seeking the death penalty for three aggravating circumstances: During the killing, Myint committed felony burglary, presented a grave risk to others, his children, and violated the protection order.

Htut remains in Lehigh County Prison without bail. He was scheduled to be arraigned today before Judge Robert Steinberg, but the Burmese interpreter Htut requires was unable to attend due to the weather.

There is more, see how the prosecutors believe the murder went down.

Pennsylvania in top five resettlement states

I’ve been thinking about Pennsylvania ‘finding itself’ in the top five resettlement states in the US. It occurred to me after we noted that former Governor Tom Ridge signed the Republican ‘bring more refugees to America’ letter with Grover Norquist, that perhaps it was during Ridge’s term as governor that Pennsylvania became an enthusiastic resettlement ‘leader.’

There is a snowball effect, once your state or city becomes a preferred resettlement site, more refugees (often the relatives) of the first group are brought there by the contractors or their subcontractors (they are paid by the head to bring in the family members) and there is also some ‘rule’ the US State Department has about a hundred mile radius in which they place related people. There is also the secondary migrant effect when refugees resettled elsewhere migrate within the US to be near their people. Wyomingites! Do you get that?

***Just for fun I went to our ‘crimes’ category with its 1,396 posts to see how many criminal court cases we wrote about just since the beginning of the year (specifically involving refugees). Too lazy to link them (you can find them in the crimes category by clicking here).

We had the Colorado Iraqi rapists, the Utah Burmese rape/murder trial, the Iowa Bosnian sex abuse case, the Illinois Sudanese murder retrial, Washington Somali rapist, New York Afghan welfare cheats, Florida Sri Lankan illegal alien trafficking case, California Somalis sentencing in terror funding case, Minnesota Somali woman sentencing delayed (terror funding), and the Nevada Chinese refugee ripping off the casinos! All within the last seven weeks!

Burmese and Bhutanese refugees arrive in US in poverty, stay in poverty

02/16/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We’ve written about the report from the Asian Pacific Islander Scholarship Fund previously, but thought this article about a recent briefing in Washington, DC added a few points that need to be high-lighted as well as asks the question:

Why, then, has the plight of refugees largely escaped the attention of policymakers?

I can answer the question! When the Refugee Act of 1980 (Kennedy, Biden, Carter) was passed and signed into law, skeptics in Congress were assured we were not importing poverty and life-long users of welfare, but we have and we are. And, more importantly anyone who points that out is immediately called a racist, xenophobic boob. So what member of Congress would dare to open his or her mouth!

Lawmakers in Washington DC when it comes to the Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980 which has never been reviewed or reauthorized. These monkeys are not just the D’s! https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/02/11/human-rights-first-praises-ten-open-borders-republicans-who-say-bring-in-the-refugees/

The two largest groups of refugees arriving in the US in recent years are from Asia—the so-called Bhutanese (really from Nepal originally) and the Burmese. Here is what this latest article says about the damning study and how it impacts the Maryland, Virginia, and DC region (although really not DC so much since it resettles only a tiny handful of refugees).

From Asian Fortune:

I wonder how many lawmakers actually bothered to listen to the briefing!

In a briefing on Capitol Hill, Delegate Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) stated that “…an overwhelming 30% of Burmese Americans live below the poverty line, compared to 13% of the Asian population living in the United States.” Del. Bordallo iterated the need to focus on education, highlighting the fact that 39% of Burmese Americans are high school dropouts, the highest of any Asian America/Pacific Islander group. [Remember those are the kids, the next generation!—ed]

As we have pointed out ad nauseum since 2008, it’s the meatpacking and hotel industry that presses for more LEGAL cheap immigrant labor while taxpayers subsidize the workers’ lives with welfare and pay for their criminal trials/incarceration!

Several key findings may explain the challenges refugee communities face. Limited English proficiency is a socioeconomic barrier in the refugee adaptation process, and older refugees experience the greatest difficulties in educational attainment. Indeed, older refugees typically find work in low-paying jobs in industries such as meatpacking and hotel-housekeeping that offer little or no benefits, and find it difficult to improve their socioeconomic status. Moreover, the report states that those who arrive as teens or young adults also have a more difficult time adjusting.

I love the way news accounts say they ‘find work’ as if they just watched the employment ads in a local paper. They find work because the Refugee Resettlement CONTRACTORS act as head-hunters for BIG MEAT and BIG HOTEL!