Tag: Michigan

Michigan: Overloaded with Iraqi refugees, keeps state in top five resettlement states in the nation

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Two nights ago I spoke with a group in Michigan—Southeast Michigan 912 Tea Party— and in advance did some digging into the data bases to see how the state was doing.  I was shocked to discover that over 18,000 Iraqis (among other refugees) have been resettled there since 2005.

Global Nation map
Note that these stats are from 2014. At this rate of resettlement, Michigan will get 40,000 refugees in the next ten years compared to the 29,000 it received in the last ten years.

Indeed in the last ten years, 29,141 refugees were resettled in Michigan and 18,505 were Iraqis.
I wondered what had happened to the US State Department’s 2008 ‘decision’ to slow the flow to Michigan?
Here is a headline and story from the Detroit News in October of 2008:

Iraqi refugees overwhelm Michigan relief program

Michigan’s economy is so bad that the State Department is sending fewer Iraqi refugees to the area because of concerns that their future would not be bright. [Never mind your future!—ed]

After a request by relief workers, the policy of bringing Iraqis to metro Detroit if relatives or friends live in the area was changed to allow only those with immediate family to settle here, according to the State Department.

“The State Department has taken the measure of things and decided it would be better to send them somewhere else, where they might be self-sufficient, instead of coming to Michigan, because the economy is very bad here, and we have the highest unemployment in the country,” Belmin Pinjic of Lutheran Social Services of Michigan said.

[….]

State Department officials said the policy change was implemented in late June partly because relief workers were having difficulty finding the refugees jobs.

But, see here, just a couple of months ago—despite high unemployment, refugees are still being poured into the state.  And, then most recently of course we reported that a dumb idea was floated by the New York Times to resettle 50,000 Syrians (mostly Muslim) refugees in Detroit.  How did we go from (2008) too many refugees would strain the economy, to 2015—refugees will cause the economy to recover?
Kentucky Iraqi terrorist bust slowed the flow slightly in 2011
As I searched the data bases I noted that there was never actually any slow down in the number of refugees resettled in Michigan despite the 2008 promise by the US State Department to do so.
There was a noticeable drop in Iraqis in 2011, but LOL! that was because the US State Department and Homeland Security discovered they had admitted at least two Iraqi refugee terrorists (caught in Kentucky—oopsy!) and thus security re-screening slowed the flow that year.

Here is what I learned about the number of refugees arriving in Michigan.

Of the total refugee load since 2005 (29,141), Iraqis topped the list by far at 18,505.  Previous research concludes that about 3/4th of all Iraqis entering the US are Muslims.  Religious minorities make up the other 1/4th.
After the Iraqis, the next too ethnic groups are Burmese (4,261) and Somalis (1,431).  Of the 800 or so Syrians resettled so far in the US, 49 went to Michigan.  The Somalis were mostly resettled in Lansing and Grand Rapids.
Then this really surprised me—Iraqis were resettled (“seeded”) in 98 towns in Michigan!
Here are the top ten Iraqi resettlement cities in the state (since 2005):

Southfield (4,427)

Sterling Heights (3,860)

Troy (1,998)

Warren (1,355)

Madison Heights (947)

Lansing (720)

Dearborn (626)

West Bloomfield (554)

Ann Arbor (297)

Detroit (289)

Six of the top nine federal resettlement contractors are operating in Michigan (falling all over themselves!).  They are: Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (we bring only a tiny handful of Jews to the US as refugees, so they are resettling large numbers of Muslims, go figure!), Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries, and the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.  Find their office contact information here.
Readers, remember two things.  First there is “secondary migration” (here page nine) which means that in refugee resettlement lingo, refugees move within states and from state to state after initial resettlement.  And, secondly, there are other LEGAL immigration programs that are bringing refugees from the third-world, and from terror hotspots, to America.  I’m going to write about one of those this morning—the Diversity Visa lottery.  So, it becomes very difficult to get a really good idea of who is living next door!
Want to write a book?   We have 660 previous posts on Iraqi refugees, click here to begin your research!  Go here for everything we have said about Michigan.

Let’s not bring 50,000 Syrians to Detroit, it is a dumb idea!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It is a dumb idea to bring 50,000 to the whole of the United States, but that is exactly what some in the refugee contracting community want to see. Remember UK Labor Party transplant, David Miliband, now CEO of the largest (financially) US resettlement contractor, the International Rescue Committee recently said Obama must admit 65,000 Syrians to the US by the end of his term in office—by the end of 2016!

Now the New York Times has published an Op-Ed by a couple of open borders agitators suggesting Detroit could be saved by the infusion of 50,000 Syrians refugees into the city overnight.  On what planet are these guys living?

They never mention of course that the FBI testified in the House Homeland Security Committee that we cannot properly screen Syrians for security concerns because there are no records available on who they are!

Republican Governor Rick Snyder expanded Medicaid in Michigan and got a pat on the back from pal Obama. Readers, the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare is one of the major reasons your state will become a magnet for immigrant and refugee “seedlings” in Obama’s plan to colonize American towns with “New Americans.” http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/02/michigan_political_points_pres.html

You’ve probably seen this outrageous suggestion because it came out the day before I went to Iowa.  (I have a lot of catching up to do and my internet connection is dropping!—grrrr!)

LOL! looks like the idea was dead in the water by Friday as hundreds of critical comments flooded the NYT!   Maybe it’s not too late for yours to be added!

The New York Times (hat tip: Dick):

Detroit, a once great city, has become an urban vacuum. Its population has fallen to around 700,000 from nearly 1.9 million in 1950. The city is estimated to have more than 70,000 abandoned buildings and 90,000 vacant lots. Meanwhile, desperate Syrians, victims of an unfathomable civil war, are fleeing to neighboring countries, with some 1.8 million in Turkey and 600,000 in Jordan.

Suppose these two social and humanitarian disasters were conjoined to produce something positive.

Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan, a Republican, has already laid the groundwork. In January 2014 he called for an infusion of 50,000 immigrants as part of a program to revitalize Detroit, and signed an executive order creating the Michigan Office for New Americans.  [Here is one story about Gov. Snyder inviting in to Michigan Middle Eastern migrants.—ed]

Syrian refugees would be an ideal community to realize this goal, as Arab-Americans are already a vibrant and successful presence in the Detroit metropolitan area.

You have to give it to these authors for hutzpah as they list cities (as wonderful examples of immigrant assimilation) that are having huge problems with their refugee communities.  And, they don’t even mention the Somali ISIS-wannabes in Minneapolis!

Utica this year filed suit against the State of New York attempting to get more money out of the government for its horrific immigrant-overloaded school system problems, and we have a lengthy archive of horror stories from Lewiston, ME where one recent little problem cropped up when a Somali kid burned down an apartment building!

Refugees resettled from a single war zone have helped revitalize several American communities, notably Hmong in previously neglected neighborhoods in Minneapolis, Bosnians in Utica, N.Y., and Somalis in Lewiston, Me.

Obama would have to lift the ceiling (exactly as David Miliband recommended), the already impossible security screening would have to be expedited, and you the taxpayer, will be hit up for an expansion of the refugee spending budget of $1.5 billion!  (which, by the way, is a figure larger than it has been previously reported).

Resettling Syrians in Detroit would require commitment and cooperation across different branches and levels of our government, but it is eminently feasible. President Obama and Congress would have to agree to lift this year’s refugee ceiling by 50,000. The State Department, which handles overseas processing of refugees, would need to open offices at the camps in Jordan and Turkey, determine eligibility and administer a lottery for resettlement. Homeland Security, which controls the borders, would have to carry out accelerated security checks, as has been done in the past for Vietnamese and for Iranian religious minorities. Health and Human Services would need an expansion in the $1.5 billion it budgets for refugee resettlement.

There is much more, read it all here.

And, as for the African American community of Detroit buying this diversity is beautiful mythology.  Check out Baltimore where black gangs directed mobs to loot Arab and Asian stores!

About the photo caption:  Go here for more information on the expansion of Medicaid as a “key indicator” of the “capacity” of your community to ‘welcome’ refugees.

Michigan: Lutherans bring in the bucks to care for ‘unaccompanied alien children’ sent there (or soon to be sent there?)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Michigan Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence cheers the news that more money is coming to her district for illegal aliens magically transformed into refugees.

What she won’t understand until it is too late, is that the arrival of thousands of refugees in Michigan will squeeze Americans, especially the African Americans, at the bottom rung of the pay scale.   Michigan is in the top five states receiving refugees and yet they are adding alien children into the mix.

But, what the heck, even as states increase poverty, these ‘church’ groups have to make a living!

From the Detroit Free Press:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has awarded a Michigan social services group $2.2 million to house unaccompanied immigrant children, U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence announced today.

US Rep Brenda Lawrence is happy that the Lutherans are flooding Michigan with refugees and alien children.

It was not immediately known how many children would receive or had received residential services under the grant to Lutheran Social Services of Michigan or whether any other groups were receiving grants in the state as well.

No surprise!  No one will return calls!

Calls and emails to Lutheran Social Services of Michigan and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, from the Free Press seeking more information were not immediately returned.

According to data on the ORR’s website, only 235 unaccompanied immigrant children had been placed in Michigan in the last two years, far less than the number placed in neighboring states including Ohio. [I wonder if the new grant is in anticipation of Michigan getting more of the UACs—ed]

[….]

Some 63,000 undocumented children have been placed throughout the U.S. in the last two years, the ORR’s website said.

In announcing the grant, Lawrence, D-Southfield, said the grant assists unaccompanied minors who “seek relief from the violence and poverty that threatens their very existence in their home countries.”

They can hardly be described as being faith-based while living off of taxpayer boodle!  Doesn’t sound like Christian charity to me!

“Lutheran Social Services truly lives up to their faith-based mission statement to serve the people most in need of help and I am proud to see them receive this substantial federal grant,” she said, adding that she believes it also time for Congress to address comprehensive immigration reform.

Lutheran Social Services of Michigan is the largest refugee resettlement agency in the state, Lawrence said, providing thousands of families from dozens of countries.

So, it is the Lutherans resettling most of the Muslim refugees to Michigan?

Other of the nine major contractors are also busy overloading Michigan, go here to see the handy list of subcontractors/contractors working in Michigan and your state too!

For new readers, for years we have covered the ‘unaccompanied minors’ (one of the government’s original names for the youths illegally crossing the border).  Click here for all of our previous posts.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service were the two ‘big dogs’ doing the “resettlement” of the children (Obama’s new refugees) until two other federal contractors eclipsed them.  Grant recipients Baptist Child and Family Services and Southwest Key Programs  are now on the scene devouring federal cash as well.

Detroit: Despite high unemployment, Lutherans and feds still pouring refugees into the area

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This starts out as the usual feel-good fluffy-puffy story about a happy Iraqi refugee landing in Detroit, Michigan, but there are some very interesting nuggets of information that appear mid-story.

From the National Journal:

Detroit’s suburbs have absorbed tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees in recent years after violence erupted in the wake of the war. The established Arab community in Detroit has made it the top destination for Iraqi refugees—and that, in turn, has made Michigan one of the states receiving the largest influx of refugees.

Protestors in Dearborn: A large number of Dearborn’s Muslims are on US Terror Watch List. From Jihad Watch http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/08/dearborn-residents-on-terrorist-watch-list-second-only-to-new-york

From 2010 to 2014, Michigan saw a 38 percent increase in the number of refugees moving to the state, according to data from the Health and Human Services Department. The vast majority are fleeing Iraq, where they faced violence and retaliation for working with U.S. troops during the war, like Al Saady, or because they belong to a religious minority. The number of Iraqi refugees arriving in Michigan nearly doubled in the last four years, with 2,751 arriving in 2014.

The growing number of refugees exacerbated the economic strain on Detroit communities as it struggled during the Great Recession. Refugees had trouble finding work, and staff was stretched thin at the social service agencies that help families resettle in the area. In 2008, the State Department started limiting Iraqi resettlement to Detroit to those who had immediate family members there. But many of those Iraqi refugees who have been resettled elsewhere in the years since still end up moving to Detroit anyway, says Mihaela Mitrofan, refugee-resettlement program manager for Lutheran Social Services of Michigan.  [Readers, it is called “secondary migration” in resettlement industry lingo. The Iraqis want to live with their own kind, as do the Somalis that flock to Minnesota, but God forbid you want to live with people you are culturally comfortable with!—ed]

“With everything that’s happening with ISIS, we anticipate another wave of refugees from Iraq and also Syria,” says Mitrofan.

Since the middle of 2007, Lutheran Social Services has resettled more than 8,000 Iraqi refugees in the Detroit area. Christian Iraqis are usually integrated into the large Chaldean community in the northern Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights. Chaldeans are a Catholic minority group in Iraq.  [Christians are only about 22-25% of the Iraqis we resettle.—ed]

Muslim Iraqis, like Al Saady, are usually sent to Dearborn, a suburb just southwest of Detroit that has provided a home for Arab-Americans of Lebanese, Palestinian, Yemeni, and other backgrounds for nearly 100 years. Lutheran Social Services runs a small office on the city’s main drag, above a hookah bar and across the street from a halal grocery store.

Getting them their welfare goodies as per the Obama colonizing plan!

One LSS staff member, Arjwan Khadoori, helped 13 Iraqis resettle in Dearborn this past January. Khadoori tracked down housing, took them to buy groceries, and guided them through the process of registering for Social Security cards, Medicaid, driver’s licenses, and food stamps. Each person also receives $925 in federal cash assistance to help tide them over until they find work.

Another staff member, Jawhar Altahesh, persuades employers to hire the refugees. This can be tough, he says, especially in an area with such high unemployment. Sometimes employers will accuse him of taking away jobs from Americans. Even Arab-American Muslims might not want to hire women or Shiite Muslims.  [By the way, we are bringing an almost equal number of Sunnis and Shiites out of Iraq.—ed]

“I tell them that’s against the law,” says Altahesh, “but it doesn’t matter.”

From November through January, the Dearborn office helped find full-time jobs for 30 of 50 refugees seeking employment in Wayne County.

Michigan received the 4th highest number of refugees in FY2014, here.

Michigan: Iraqi refugee told the FBI that he planned to join ISIS, was he lying or not?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

While everyone is lately concerned about a few thousand Syrians entering the US, most Americans don’t know that we have resettled over 100,000 Iraqis here since the beginning of the Obama Administration.  In 2014 we admitted 20,000 and three quarters of those were Muslims.

Did you get Iraqis dropped off in your state?

Primary resettlement states for Iraqis FY2008-FY2013. California and Michigan hit the jackpot. But which is the wisest state and the real winner—Wyoming with zero! http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/profiles/iraqi/population-movements/index.html

 

 

Now the news on the latest radicalized refugee…...

From the Detroit News (hat tip: Joanne).  You know what is very amusing (sort of), most of the other news accounts of this case yesterday left out the word “refugee” and simply said, “An Iraqi man living in East Lansing….”   I guess the other media outlets went to an Obama-certified language school.   Kind of like when Obama called those poor beheaded Egyptian Christians simply Egyptian “citizens.”

An Iraqi refugee living in East Lansing is facing charges for allegedly lying to federal officials about returning to the Middle East to fight with Islamic extremists.

Al-Hamzah Mohammad Jawad, 29, who has a green card, was scheduled Tuesday to fly from Detroit Metro Airport to Amman, Jordan, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

When U.S. Customs and Border Protection interviewed him on the jet way, personnel “became alarmed when Jawad could not explain his future travel or why he purchased a one-way ticket one day prior to his departure.”

They escorted him to an interview room and contacted an FBI special agent, the court document said.

During an interview with the agent, Jawad initially said he was traveling to visit his mother, a professor in Amman, but within minutes acknowledged his ultimate destination was “Iraq to conduct jihad” since a childhood friend recruited him to “join, train and fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq,” the complaint said.

[….]

Federal officials said Jawad entered the U.S. as a refugee on March 18, 2013.

Here is an idea, just let these Jihadi wannabes get on the plane, but revoke their US passport.  Do we really need frustrated Islamic radicals in the US or even just plain old nut cases?