Syrians, helped by Mexico, coming across the US border, seek asylum

Asylum fraud is becoming the immigration crisis of the day and I believe historians will look back at this period as the tipping point—-America governed by soft leaders who allowed our great nation to be dragged into the third world through a complete breakdown of our borders.  Don’t let it happen.  Please speak up and inform your friends and neighbors about what is happening, and tell those jokes in Washington to grow a pair!

Immigration attorney: “In the next six months to a year, you will see even more Syrians crossing into the United States from Mexico.”  Photo: Sandy Huffaker for The Wall Street Journal

Here is the latest asylum (fraud!) news from reporter Miriam Jordan at the Wall Street Journal (emphasis is mine):

In 2012, after being imprisoned and beaten, a Syrian dissident named Mohammad fled to neighboring Lebanon, where he applied for and was denied a U.S. tourist visa. Intent on rebuilding his life with family in California, he flew to Mexico City and then Tijuana. There, he crossed the U.S. border illegally and handed himself over to a customs official, seeking asylum. 

Last month, the U.S. granted him that status. In a year, he will be eligible to apply for permanent U.S. residency.

With the three-year-old Syrian conflict raging on, and U.S. embassies in the Middle East increasingly denying tourist visas, more Syrians are arriving in Mexico on tourist visas and using the country as a gateway to possible U.S. asylum. A Mexican embassy spokesman “had no comment on this matter.”

Some say the phenomenon underscores the need for a more coordinated international response to the Syrian crisis, while others worry it may offer too easy a path to U.S. residence for potential terrorists, given al Qaeda’s rising presence in Syria.

The Department of Homeland Security in fiscal 2013 recorded 118 Syrian “credible-fear” referrals such as Mohammad’s, up from five in fiscal 2010. In these cases, migrants declare fear of harm if returned to their home country and may stay in the U.S. while pursuing asylum.

By the way, I came across this article last night blaming the government shut-down on the backlog of immigration court cases and not on the huge spike in asylum claims as illegal aliens increasingly come across our borders and ask for asylum.

Jordan continued:

At the beginning of the war, it was easier for Syrians to secure U.S. visas. [That explains this Muslim with the eight kids—ed]. Those who entered the U.S. in recent years with visas to study, work or tour also have been increasingly claiming asylum. In fiscal 2013, such applications numbered 1,335, up from 36 in 2010.But as the conflict has flared, the U.S. has denied a higher proportion of Syrian visa requests: 46% in fiscal 2013 compared with 28% three years earlier. Many don’t qualify because they can’t prove they will return home after visiting the U.S. Thus, hundreds of Syrians, including women and children, have begun to show up at the U.S.-Mexico border prepared to seek asylum.

There is more, read it all!

As we previously reported, only a tiny fraction of asylum seekers are detained, the vast majority are released into your towns and cities.

Lawmakers, though, specifically cited a newly uncovered Immigration and Customs Enforcement document that showed thousands of asylum seekers were released while awaiting a decision.

The document, obtained and reviewed by FoxNews.com, showed that in fiscal 2012, just 2,508 of the more than 24,000 asylum seekers were kept in custody.

When we first started writing RRW in 2007, it was all about the refugee resettlement side of the Refugee Act of 1980, but gradually over the years the open borders agitators have been working overtime to build up the asylum side of the law.  I noted the change here in January 2011 (three years ago!!!) when I looked back at the 30th anniversary “celebration” of the Refugee Act I had attended the previous year (where there was much giddy enthusiasm for the asylum process).   How did poor downtrodden Somali teens get halfway around the world and arrive at our Mexican border seeking asylum—who helps them, where did they get the money, I asked.  Who now is helping the Syrians?

Villanova law students help one of the first gay Russians receive asylum, more on the way

This story published last week in the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette gives us some insight into the asylum process in the US especially as it relates to illegal aliens coming across our Mexican border and declaring themselves gay and persecuted.    We see how legal clinics, NGOs and refugee contractors work to get as many granted asylum as they can.

Villanova law professor Michele Pistone has helped 125 aliens receive asylum since 2000.

Also, the article answers one of my questions—-where are all these detainees being housed?  Turns out that some police departments rent bed space to the feds.

I still have one big question plaguing me—how do we know someone isn’t pretending to be gay just to get into the US?

Pittsburgh-Post Gazette (emphasis mine):

A gay man last month became one of the first Russian citizens granted asylum in the United States since their home country adopted a ban against gay “propaganda.”

The man was granted asylum Nov. 20 by a U.S. Immigration Court judge in York, Pa., thanks to the efforts of a team of students working with Villanova University School of Law’s Clinic for Asylum, Refugee and Emigrant Services, or CARES.

He took a “vacation” to Cuba then made his way to the Mexican border! If he was so persecuted, why didn’t he ask for asylum in Cuba.  It looks like the Cuban government is in on the scheme though because they clearly let him leave for Mexico (and did not send him back to Russia).

The Russian, whose name was redacted from court documents, took advantage of the visa reciprocity between Russia and Cuba, taking a “vacation” to Cuba. From there he made it to Mexico and then used the compass on his phone to cross the Rio Grande into the United States, where he was picked up by border patrol in June. He immediately sought asylum.

The man ended up in the York County detention facility and the case was referred to CARES, which is directed by law professor Michele Pistone.

Since the mid-1990s, the York County jail has rented out space to the United States to house immigrant detainees. Early on, it became clear the detainees were too far from legal assistance, Ms. Pistone said. So the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center was set up right down the road. PIRC offers detainees seminars on their rights and the Russian refugee attended one such seminar and was connected with CARES, Ms. Pistone said.

Being in “jail” can actually speed up the asylum process:

While it may have been a traumatic experience for the Russian refugee, Ms. Pistone said being in jail may have sped up the asylum process. Ms. Pistone said the backlog for a hearing in immigration courts for those not in jail can be two years.

Ms. Pistone’s client, meanwhile, had his hearing less than six months from when he entered the country.

50 more such cases!  All gay Russian cases pending in courts?

Ms. Majkut (a law student) worked with Immigration Equality and the Heartland Alliance National Immigrant Justice Center for research on this case. She said those organizations have seen an influx of gay Russians calling with questions about asylum as well as the number of Russians defensively seeking asylum, meaning they are already detained and are facing adversarial proceedings.

Ms. Majkut said those organizations have upwards of 50 cases similar to her client’s that are pending in immigration court.

Now that the Russian gay man has received asylum, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (a federal refugee contractor) has stepped in to get him his “benefits” (welfare goodies)!  Coincidentally, when I went to the refugee pow-wow in Lancaster, PA last June I sat in on one session involving HIAS’s leading work with gay “refugees.”

The client has been working with the immigration-focused public interest firm HIAS Pennsylvania to get benefits the government pays to refugees. He has since found an apartment and is looking for work, Ms. Pistone said.

Photo is here along with Ms Pistone’s bio.  Oh geez, I see she went to Malta in 2006.  I wonder if she was ‘helpful’ in making Malta a gateway for African refugees to the US because it began about that time?  See our entire ‘Malta’ archive by clicking here.

San Antonio: Somali suspected terrorist pleads guilty

I know, I know, we’ve heard this before, but read this story.  It is a great example of what happens as “asylum seekers” lie their way into the US.  

And, this story is instructive for all of you who think only Hispanics are coming across our southern border!

Asylees vs. refugees:

Just a reminder, the UN and the State Department select supposedly persecuted “refugees” and bring them here; “asylum seekers” arrive at our border and ask for asylum because they say they are persecuted in their home country.  These programs are two sides of the same coin with the asylum side growing more rapidly then the refugee side.

The good news in this case is that we caught this guy and now we get to pay for his imprisonment, but what about wifey?

From My San Antonio (hat tip: Gary)

A Somali man with suspected terrorism ties pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to an immigration judge in a failed bid to get asylum, and to FBI agents investigating his links to terrorist groups.

Abdullah Omar Fidse surprised prosecutors Wednesday when his lawyer announced that he wanted to plead guilty to two charges of making false statements.

His hearing before Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery was initially meant to take up a motion to dismiss an indictment that could have left him facing more than 30 years in prison. With his guilty plea, he now faces up to 10 years.

Liar! Liar!  By the way, see my post here about the asylum racket.  I am convinced these Somalis and others who know to ask for asylum when caught coming across the border have already gotten some “guidance” from US immigration lawyers.  And, interestingly here is another story about Somali asylum fraud from San Antonio in March 2011.

Back to the latest news:

Fidse and Deka Abdalla Sheikh were detained at the Hidalgo port of entry in January 2008. Neither had identification, but both claimed persecution in their home country and sought asylum. Sheikh eventually got it, was granted temporary permanent residence and has been living in Madison, Wis.  [So, does the lying Wisconsin wifey get to walk free and be supported by the US taxpayer?—ed]

Fidse was held as federal authorities investigated him, and he remains jailed after the couple was indicted in May 2011.

At a hearing in September, Sheikh pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make false statements, admitting Fidse “coached” her on how to respond to immigration officials’ questions during his immigration court hearings.

The two rehearsed their responses, which they knew to be false, via phone. They even created hand signals to secretly communicate with each other during court testimony.

Following their rehearsed lines, the defendants each told authorities Fidse fled Mogadishu, Somalia in 2008 after his father was killed by Islamist militants and that they had first met in Ethiopia.

But the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force says Fidse’s father was not killed by al-Qaida or any of its Somali franchises and that Fidse and Sheikh, who had known each other since childhood, eventually married and lived together for three years.

Fidse was living in Nairobi, Kenya*, not Somalia, at the time he claimed his father was killed, officials said. And, Fidse’s father died of natural causes.

“Gather your horses and weapons and terrorize the infidels!”  That means you—“welcoming” Americans.  You are infidels too!

At a hearing last year, FBI special agent Mark Wagoner testified Fidse was secretly recorded saying he had been a cook for Osama bin Laden, and that he was “in tears” after a U.S. airstrike in Somalia in 2008 killed Aden Ayro, head of the extreme Islamic group al-Shabaab.

Fidse “spoke about jihad, ” Wagoner said. “He also recited the Koran … phrases like ‘Gather your horses and weapons and terrorize the infidels.’”

For new readers, for every suspected Somali terrorist caught, know that we are resettling thousands of Somalis here every year.  See this old post from 2008 (still one of the most visited posts everyday at RRW) about the numbers of Somalis legally being invited to live in your city.   Check out the stats for your cities here at WRAPS—seems the data is back!

We have hundreds of posts at RRW on Somali problems throughout the US.  Use our search function to find one (or LOL! more) near you!  We can always count on Somali news to liven our pages.

*Addendum:  We do not normally give asylum to people from Kenya unless they happen to be the uncle of the President of the US!