“It’s an absolutely brutal time to be arriving in America.”
(Ben Winsor, co-founder of Ads-Up a group that is helping them get settled)
A couple of those who arrived previously are infected with the Chinese virus and others have no jobs. So it makes sense that more are coming?
Sure why not! You can’t travel safely! You may be jobless. And, the virus is costing trillions of taxpayer dollars so what the heck, a few more mouths to feed shouldn’t matter, right!
Dozens of refugees flown from Australia and PNG to US despite coronavirus travel bans
Dozens of refugees who have spent years in Australia’s offshore processing regime have been flown to the United States for resettlement, despite COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Transfers from Papua New Guinea and Australian immigration detention centres under the US resettlement program are continuing as the US struggles to contain the pandemic that has killed more than 93,000 people there.
Thirty-five refugees departed Port Moresby on Thursday morning bound for the US via Singapore,and one refugee is due to fly to Finland, according to sources and documents obtained by SBS News.
A handful also departed Australia for the US this week, including several from the Kangaroo Point hotel being used as an “alternative place of detention” (APOD) in Brisbane and from community detention in Melbourne.
[….]
The men are due to arrive in Los Angeles and then be resettled in 18 cities across the US.
[….]
“It’s an absolutely brutal time to be arriving in America,” Ben Winsor, co-founder of Ads-Up, told SBS News.
“These guys are landing with barely more than the clothes on their backs and they’ll be looking for work alongside millions of recently unemployed Americans.
“Since COVID-19 hit, more than 100 refugees reached out to us for help, they’ve lost jobs and are struggling to pay rent and for basic supplies.
“Refugee resettlement agencies were already overstretched and providing only very basic support, now they’re at breaking point.”
Many of the refugees have underlying health conditions after years of detention and medical neglect on Manus Island and Nauru.
“Their condition puts them at higher risk from COVID-19,” Mr Winsor said.
“We are in daily contact with two refugees in Texas who have contracted COVID-19.”
[….]
In Senate estimates in March, the Home Affairs Department said 702 refugees had been resettled in the US under the agreement reached by then Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and US president Barack Obama in 2016. [Trump called it a “dumb deal” but went along with it!—ed]
Under the deal, up to 1,250 refugees who were in offshore processing on Manus Island and Nauru could be resettled in the US at its discretion after clearing “extreme vetting” procedures.
The department said a further 260 were approved but had not yet departed, and some were transferred to Australia under the now-repealed medevac laws for medical treatment.
Our government is interviewing more of Australia’s illegal aliens who will soon be on the way!
Yet, I haven’t heard one word recently about Australia’s part of that deal.They are supposed to take in refugees from Costa Rica and that begs the question, why are those refugees our problem?
In exchange for the US considering to resettle 1,250 refugees from Australia’s offshore camps, Australia has agreed to take refugees from US-run refugee camps in Costa Rica.
See my ever-expanding archive on the Australia dumb deal byclicking here.
The whole thing is maddening!
I wonder how many Australians were planning dream vacations to America or conversely how many Americans had been planning to travel to Australia for work or pleasure and have been forced to cancel their plans, yet, these unhealthy young men who tried to break into Australia are flown to the US and resettled on your dime!
And, as we learned in the SBSstory, no quarantine is required for them!
But, only legitimate “refugees” and only 150 per year.
I haven’t said much about Australia’s problem of illegal aliens coming by the boatload lately—mostly because it was the same old boring hunger-striking and political wrangling—but there are a couple of interesting bits of news from Down Under today.
The first is that New Zealand, that wisely takes only a whopping 750 refugees a year, is going to take some of Australia’s boat arrivals. To put that into perspective, the US in recent years has resettled on average 50,000-60,000, Canada around 7,000, Australia 6,000 and the entire European Union maybe around 5,000.
This business of taking some of the so-called “refugees” from Muslim countries or regions of the world arriving illegally on another country’s shores is a relatively new thing. According to international law, legitimate refugees are supposed to ask for asylum in the first safe country in which they arrive—they aren’t supposed to be on a shopping expedition (think Malta!). Nor, is the country under siege supposed to be pawning them off on other countries.
Here is the latest from Australia (ABC News). Critics in New Zealand say this will ultimately lead to boats arriving there as well.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has struck a deal that will see New Zealand resettle 150 refugees from Australia’s system each year.
Ms Gillard and her New Zealand counterpart announced the deal after holding leaders talks in Queenstown.
Ms Gillard says the deal could affect asylum seekers currently being held in processing centres on Manus Island and Nauru.
“The aim here is to have it start in 2014 and be ongoing,” she said.
“The 150 could be drawn from people who are in Australia now and we would want to work with PNG and Nauru so it is possible that some of the 150 could come from who are processed on PNG and Nauru.”
Mr Key says New Zealand will not increase its overall intake of asylum seekers from its present level of 750 a year, but that number will now include those from Australia.
“Australia is grappling with the huge challenge of illegal arrivals by sea and is at the forefront of the efforts to disrupt people smuggling across the region,” Mr Key said. [So how is people smuggling going to stop if those arriving illegally are granted asylum?—ed]
“As part of our support for a regional approach, New Zealand will resettle 150 genuine refugees annually from the Australian system … as part of the 750 refugees that we annually take.
“So it’s not an increase in the number of refugees New Zealand takes but a different sourcing of the location of those refugees.”
He says taking refugees from Australia makes sense and will not encourage asylum seekers to get on boats bound for New Zealand.
Mr Key has previously said he believes it is inevitable that New Zealand will be facing similar policy quandaries to Australia.
“It’s my view a boat will turn up in New Zealand, I think it’s a matter of time,” he said earlier this week.
The opposition: border security first! (LOL! where have I heard that before?)
But Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison is not convinced.
“What this arrangement has the risk of doing is putting a bit of Kiwi sugar on the table for people smugglers,” he said.
“What we should have been talking about is how New Zealand and Australia can be working together, through the Bali process, to beef up natural deterrents.”
He says the talks should have focused on things like improved training of immigration and customs officers, better border protection technology and regional border patrols.
Meanwhile Muslim refugee wife murdered by refugee hubby for becoming too Australian
AN Afghan refugee who strangled his wife with her scarf in a fit of rage because she wanted a divorce has been jailed for 20 years.
Soltan Azizi, 48, has twice been found guilty by Victorian Supreme Court juries of brutally beating and strangling 33-year-old Marzieh Rahimi in their Hampton Park home in November 2007.
[…..]
Justice Stephen Kaye said Azizi’s account was totally unconvincing.
He said the couple’s relationship had been hostile and strained and that Azizi had killed his wife in an uncontrollable fit of rage during an argument about her rights.
The court heard Azizi had told Marzieh’s sister that she had changed religion and become Australian.
[…..]
Justice Kaye said Azizi and Marzieh came to Australia as refugees in 2005. [The honor killing happened in 2007–only two years after being granted refugee status—and no one saw this coming?—ed]
