Convicted murderer Gareng Deng, now 22, could get a new trial. Illinois Department of Corrections / February 7, 2014
Update February 14th: Go to ‘Limits to Growth’ and check out the photo of the murderer and his victim blogger Brenda Walker found!
He is serving a 35-year sentence (or so I think) for the murder of a 47-year old substance abuse counselor. He took her to a bike path and shot her in the head. The refugee, Garang Deng, was 14 at the time.
Now due to some legal wrangling over the length of his sentence, he may be retried.
When Garang Deng pleaded guilty to murder more than four years ago, it seemed like the final act of a tale that stretched from war-torn Sudan to a peaceful Kane County bike path.
After breaking into the home of Marilyn Bethell of Aurora in October 2005, Deng took her to the Illinois Prairie Path and shot her once in the head, Kane County prosecutors said.
Almost immediately after his guilty plea in 2009, Deng regretted it and began the legal process to withdraw the plea. An appeals court ruled in his favor in June.
Deng is scheduled to return to Kane County on Tuesday in his first court appearance in legal proceedings that eventually could lead to a new trial.
“We’re preparing as if we’re going to trial,” State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said.
Deng, who was 14 at the time of the slaying, was a Sudanese refugee whose family had left the African nation when he was a young boy to seek a more peaceful life. But Deng accumulated a history of juvenile offenses in DuPage County beginning at age 11, authorities said.
No mention of whether he knew his victim or picked her at random.
Remember! “Welcoming” communities are responsible for the legal costs of immigrant criminals!
It’s too bad, as I’ve said before, that the US State Department isn’t financially responsible when one of their refugees is tried in criminal court and sentenced to prison. Although it is still the taxpayer’s money, it would send a message to Washington if Washington had to pay for expensive court proceedings and prisons!
Readers should know that the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (like its partners in Tennessee (Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition) and Massachusetts (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition)), is just basically a hard Left open borders community organizing group which has the word “refugee” in its title to give it cover for agitating on all sorts of Leftist goals.
The YMCA at Illinois University at Urbana-Champaign is paying a hefty price for refusing to cut ties with a group that publicly supports gay marriage.
The Catholic Church gave the YMCA an ultimatum: stop working with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, or lose your $60,000 grant.
The YMCA’s director told WICD-15 that while they take no position on gay marriage, it is important for them to not allow anyone to influence who they work with.
The University Y board met several weeks ago and voted to remain in the coalition.
The University YMCA sponsors programs, organizations and organizations of all kinds. The Y’s director says their partnership with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights allows them to help “hundreds in the community each year.”
The University YMCA plans to launch a campaign to raise money to continue its work with the local immigrant community, according to the News-Gazette. The University Y has received money for immigration work from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development since 2010.
The initial grant was about $4,000 but increased this year to about $60,000. But the Church sent the Y a notice in September: in order to receive the funding, the University Y’s executive director, Mike Doyle, would have to testify that the organization was not involved with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
They are wailing and rending garments in the land of too many refugees according to this lengthy and very informative article in Medill Reports:
[LOL! After the standard practice of featuring a successful refugee—ed] The Ethiopian association is one of the refugee resettlement agencies in Illinois, which are struggling under a triple burden as the number of refugees steadily climbs: large cuts in federal funding, a greater range of native languages among refugees and the recession.
Illinois has the largest immigrant population in the Midwest as shown herein data collected at the Univ. of Minnesota. Medillcontinued:
Tens years of resettlement represented here (23,220). However, according to Silverman’s office in the Illinois Dept. of Human Services, Illinois has resettled 145,000 since 1975.
Illinois has received about 23,220 refugees from 66 countries since 2000, and the flow has steadily increased since 2006, according to data of refugee arrivals in Illinois from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Feds cut our money,while refugee numbers rise! (They haven’t seen anything yet, wait till the sequester hits Refugee Resettlement!)
Cook, Kane and DuPage counties have unusually large refugee populations, making the state eligible for targeted assistance from the federal resettlement agency, according to Edwin Silverman, chief of the Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Services at the Illinois Department of Human Services. [Here is our Ed Silverman archive for the curious reader—ed]
However, in recent years the federal allocation to Illinois has been cut by more than 50 percent, according to official funding data.
“In the year 2000, we received $7.3 million in combined refugee social services and targeted assistance, and in 2012, we received $3.5 million,” Silverman said.
Federal funding to the state has fallen while refugee numbers have increased in Illinois, because they have also increased in other states.
More diversity=more difficulty
In the face of these cuts, resettlement agencies are striving to meet the needs of a greater diversity of refugees.
Over the past decade, the refugee population has become increasingly diverse linguistically, with wide-ranging educational and employment histories, according to a recent report issued by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This makes it more challenging for resettlement agencies accustomed to receiving refugees from a limited number of countries.
More refugees=more unemployment (by the way, readers, they could say “NO!” to the State Department and ask that the numbers be reduced.)
Achievement of self-sufficiency for refugees has also become more difficult in recent years, according to a 2011 research report for Congress by Andorra Bruno, a specialist in immigration policy.
The recession has played a major part, making it difficult for refugees to find employment and become economically self-sufficient.
Oh NO! The real horror, Silverman says they have to do private fundraising!
“Finding employment is the biggest problem,” said Erku Yimer, the executive director of the Ethiopian association. “Because many of the companies that hire refugees are not hiring anymore.”
The subsidies resettlement agencies provide refugees is the only financial resource for those who can’t find work. The recession means those who are looking for a job rely on these subsidies for a longer period of time than in the past, Silverman said. [Not exactly true, refugees are accessing welfare at accelerating rates, most of the contractors are putting their charges on the public dole as soon as they can!—ed]
“So in addition to providing resettlement service, the resettlement agencies have had to be in a constant process of fundraising from the private sector, in order to assure that refugees can pay their rent and don’t go homeless,” Silverman said.
Readers when this program first became law in 1980 (thanks to Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter among others) the understanding was that refugees would quickly become self-sufficient and not be part of a permanent underclass. Also, the program was to be funded through a PUBLIC-PRIVATE partnership. Over the years the contractors got lazy and became increasingly dependent on the taxpayer to support THEIR charitable desires and the public is now largely on the hook.
If they have to exert themselves and do private fundraising now, too bad! They should have been doing that all along. [sounds of wailing!]
I was only kidding the other day (only 4 days ago!) when I asked how long it would be before the push would begin for refugees from Mali. I didn’t expect it to happen this fast—a call for temporary “refugee” statusfor any Malians in the US already whether here legally or illegally.
Got a hurricane, an earthquake or Al-Qaeda and the clamor begins, and once granted “temporary” refugee status they never go home! Just ask the Salvadorans or the Liberians or the Somalis or the Haitians. And, no matter what administration is running Washington the temporary refuge becomes permanent.
Dear concerned global citizens, get involved and support TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS for Mali! Over the last ten months, the situation in northern Mali has escalated, with the resignation of the Prime Minister and the inability of the government to respond appropriately to the destructive armed insurgency. Over 350,000 people have been displaced and many are unable to meet their basic needs as they struggle to recover from forced evacuations as well as the remnants of a severe drought earlier in 2012. Given the current situation, deporting hundreds of Malians from the United States would only exacerbate this volatile climate and needlessly place people perilous in situations.
Temporary protected status (TPS) designation for Mali would protect those Malians in the US that need stability until the violence and conflict in their home country subside. TPS would allow those who are eligible to live, work, and study in the United States until it is safe for them to return home. In addition, TPS would enable Malians to provide support and aid to their families and communities, offering relief to those affected.
You can make a difference by calling the Secretary of DHS, Janet Napolitano, at 202-282-8000 or find your local representative by clicking here: find your local representative. You can also send the White House a letter here.
It is not often we see something like this from a Catholic group.