Tag: Michigan

US Census considering special category for Muslim ‘race’

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a story that appears at the DC Clothesline, but was first published by Pamela Geller (hat tip:  Joanne) while I was away.

Hassan Jabar of Access who sits on a Census advisory board received a $2.5 million grant for each of the next five years from the State of Michigan for youth education. http://downriversundaytimes.com/2014/09/18/access-announces-grant-award-of-12-8-million/

Here is how it begins:

The US under Obama is considering adding a new race in the census. The move would give this group, previously classified as white, much greater political clout and access to public funding.

More political power and taxpayer dollars — it’s madness.

Then here is the news account that follows (from AP):

DETROIT (AP) – The federal government is considering allowing those of Middle Eastern and North African descent to identify as such on the next 10-year census, which could give Arab-Americans and other affected groups greater political clout and access to public funding, among other things.

The U.S. Census Bureau will test the new Middle East-North Africa (MENA) classification for possible inclusion on the 2020 census if it gets enough positive feedback about the proposed change by Sunday, when the public comment period ends.

Arab-Americans, who make up the majority of those who would be covered by the MENA classification, have previously been classified by default as white on the census, which helps determine congressional district boundaries and how billions of dollars in federal funding are allocated, among other things.

Those pushing for the MENA classification say it would more fully and accurately count them, thus increasing their visibility and influence among policymakers.

“We know the challenges,” says Hassan Jaber, who runs a Detroit-area social services group and serves on a census advisory board formed to evaluate Americans’ changing racial and ethnic identities. “It really does take rethinking … who we are as a population and what our needs are, (but) there are specific needs for Arab-Americans that are not being recognized and not being met.”  [So what special treatment do Arabs need and why?—ed]

[….]

A proposed Middle Eastern or North African category on the 2020 Census is expected to be tested nationally later this year and the bureau is currently inviting comments on the collection of this and other information.

Continue reading here.

I’m not sure I agree that this is madness.  It may very well have ramifications we would be unhappy with, but we must find out how many Muslims are in the US right now.  Pew Research says we have 2.75 million while CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) says 7 million.    Pew’s number puts us at less than 1% of the US population.  We know that France, for instance, is now about 7% (some estimates are higher) and they are in deep demographic trouble.

I’ve been estimating that at 3% the Muslim population reaches a tipping point and is emboldened and begins making demands via calls for certain shariah compliance. Others in the know, say 2% is that point.

It is imperative that we know how much time we have left.  In truth though, by the time they begin this 2020 census it may be too late anyway.

It is all about the Hijra—the Muslim migration to America—and the quiet jihad!

Detroit Muslim woman sues police department over removal of hijab during arrest

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We’ve been reading for years about the quiet jihad creeping into Europe, but as America increases its Muslim population, we will be hearing more and more about cases like this one from Detroit.

Writer Leo Hohmann at World Net Daily tells us this about the new lawsuit:

Malak Kazan with her attorney: She told Arab American News that she wants to “set a precedent.” Photo and story: http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/news/id_9951/Local-Muslim-woman-filing-lawsuit-against-Dearborn-Heights-Police-for-forcing-her-to-remove-hijab-during-arrest.html

With the rise of Muslim populations in cities across America has come an increase in culture clashes and legal challenges of laws and rules that have been on the books for decades.

In the latest reflection of that trend, a Muslim woman is suing the city of Dearborn Heights and its police department claiming her rights were “stripped at the jailhouse door” when she was forced to remove her hijab, or religious head scarf, while in custody for a driving violation.

According to the suit filed last Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, police stopped Malak Kazan for driving with a suspended license on July 9, 2014.

While being processed at the local jail, Kazan was asked to remove her hijab, which the tenets of Islam require for “covering her hair, ears, neck and part of her chest when she is in public and when she is in the presence of men who are not members of her immediate family,” the suit said.

According to a report in the Detroit News, Kazan, 27, told an officer she could not remove the scarf because that would violate her religious beliefs. The officer informed her that this was standard procedure and there were “no exceptions” to the rule, according to the court filing.

Of course CAIR is now involved.

Read on, there is a lot of useful information in here.

By the way, for awhile a few years ago, the US State Department slowed resettlement to Michigan, but we note that it is now in the top five targeted states to receive more refugees.

Michigan writer: we should take all the Syrians and Iraqis we can get!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I suspect this opinion writer (C.A. Joseph Peters) from Ypsilanti, Michigan writing in The Eastern Echo is connected in some way to federal resettlement contractor US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, but there is no mention of his affiliation and we are thus expected to believe he is just a member of John Q. Public.

Michigan is already in the top five states for Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) immigrant population. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/02/26/what-is-the-population-of-middle-eastern-and-north-african-immigrants-in-your-state/

From The Eastern Echo (emphasis is mine):

Michigan is the best candidate to accept Iraqi and Syrian refugees, not because of its railroads and factories, forests and rivers, or even because of its system of government, but because of Michiganders themselves. Of the many chapters of the American immigration success story, two of its finest – Polish immigration in the early 20th Century and Lebanese immigration half a century later – were written in Michigan. Michigan may yet write a third.

The situation is this: Iraqis and Syrians are fleeing in the tens of thousands, and Michigan is in need of people. Michigan accepting these refugees would not only be generous but practical.

Mr. Peters then goes on with a lot of the mumbo-jumbo about Polish and Italian immigrants as if they are the same as Middle Eastern Muslims in their world view.  Then he talks about the Christian Middle Easterners as if that is all they will get from Iraq and Syria.  In fact, they will get mostly Muslim refugees from Syria.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), a non-profit refugee aid organization, reported that of the more than 120,000 Chaldeans (Iraqi Christians) who made their way to Detroit almost half a century ago, more than half of them are now business-owners, now helping new Iraqi refugees get on their feet in their new state.

Peters:  Michigan ought to “welcome” hundreds of thousands!

The crisis in Iraq and Syria is known well enough. Hundreds of thousands are fleeing. And Michigan, a state that has welcomed Middle Eastern refugees before, ought to welcome these hundreds of thousands who are feeling [fleeing?–ed] the region today, and encourage one generation of Middle Eastern Michiganders in preparing the next.

Michiganders need to bombard The Eastern Echo with another point of view!

Michigan is this year in the top five resettlement states, see here.  A few years ago the US State Department, fearing Michigan was in overload, slowed the flow (Detroit News 2008) but it looks like that limited moratorium is off now!

Unaccompanied alien teenagers could be sent to Michigan; Republican governor not saying No!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
US Rep Miller: Send them back and redirect foreign aid to Detroit! Wow!!! Now there is a commonsense proposal! http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2014/06/congresswoman_suggests_redirec.html

Update July 6th:  Looks like Michigan will get those teenaged illegal alien boys after all, here.

The Governor could object, but typical pol is sidestepping the issue!

Michigan is on the map!

From the Detroit News (hat tip: Joanne):

The Snyder administration and a member of Congress from Macomb County are calling on the federal government to solve the crisis of tens of thousands of undocumented children entering the U.S.

But the two differ on what should be done with the refugees who make it into the country, some of whom could end up at a private facility in the Thumb-area community of Vassar.

The governor’s office is not involved in deciding whether children might end up being housed at a Wolverine Human Services facility in the community southeast of Saginaw, Dave Murray, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said Thursday. The detainees are paid for and cared for by the federal government, he said.

“We all want to help people. We are a welcoming state,” Murray said. However, “this really is a federal government matter.”

The office of refugee resettlement through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is handling the refugee issue and is seeking facilities across the country that have empty, available beds, Derrick McCree, a senior vice president of Wolverine Human Services of Grosse Pointe Park, said this week.

One of Snyder’s initiatives is to welcome more skilled, legal immigrants to Michigan with the expectation they will help the state’s sluggish economy by establishing businesses and creating jobs.  [The kids aren’t skilled, remember this about the Governor’s plan for immigration to Michigan!—ed]

The Republican governor has called for immigration reform, Murray said, adding the situation of undocumented children certainly needs to be addressed.

U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, on Friday said the federal government immediately should return those who recently arrived in the U.S. illegally to the country from where they came.

“It is imperative that the people being apprehended at the border not be released from custody because if they are, it is very unlikely they will ever return for immigration hearings on their status, and they will disappear into society,” Miller said.

Click here for all of our previous coverage of the ‘unaccompanied minors’ invasion.

Go here for contact information and ask your state refugee coordinator if your state is being targeted for a refugee camp!

Michigan: Burmese now scamming food stamp program

~ 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.