Tag: Minnesota

There is moaning in Minnesota over possible loss of $$$ for refugee contractors

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

What took them so long, many other resettlement contractors around the country have already set up their chorus of howls over the threatened loss of federal money should Congress not give Obama the BILLIONS he wants for the “chiiildruun.”

As we have said repeatedly:  not enough money, then don’t bring so many new refugees into America!

(Or, LOL! give up some of your big salaries to the poor refugees, 63% of Minnesota’s Somalis live below poverty line!).

Editors note: Before you proceed to read the latest (below), including from the Lutherans, see our post of last September when we reported that the CEO of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota was pulling down an astounding $441,767 in salary and benefits before his retirement.

Here from the Minneapolis Star Tribune (aka Red Star), thanks to reader Jay, is the Minnesota caterwauling (emphasis is mine):

Rep. Keith Ellison: “…favors funneling resources toward the minors coming up from Central America, but said there is enough money to go around.”

WASHINGTON – Minnesota refugee resettlement organizations are increasingly panicked that the surge of unaccompanied kids from Central America streaming across the border will siphon federal dollars away from the 4,000 refugees and asylum-seekers that arrive on the state’s doorstep every year.

Federal officials are warning that unless Congress approves President Obama’s $3.7 billion funding request before the August congressional recess, $94 million that had been devoted mostly to refugees instead will be diverted to the escalating crisis on the border.

[….]

Because Minnesota is one of the top resettlement states for refugees from Somalia, Bhutan, Burma, Iraq and other troubled countries, organizations across the state that help new arrivals assimilate, get jobs and learn English say a shortage of funds could jeopardize their work.

“Of course this is scary to us. We’re not in the business of pitting refugees against minors because it’s a terrifying situation for both groups,” said Kim Dettmer, director of refugees services at Lutheran Social Service. “Obviously these minors need help and obviously the refugees need help, as well. In my ideal world, we would have enough money to serve refugees and the children crossing the border would be safe and receive humane treatment.”

Did you know that one of the driving forces for resettlement in your state is the RELIGIOUS resettlement contractors, like these Lutherans, acting as head-hunters for big businesses looking for cheap labor?  Is this an appropriate role for them and their bosses at the US State Department?  I wonder does Jennie-O send them a little spare change?  And, of course, this is why Grover Norquist and his Republican pals are on the same side as Keith Ellison.

Her organization also helps refugees find work — an aspect of the program that is booming in Minnesota, given the state’s low unemployment rate. Lutheran Social Service has an office in St. Cloud that places refugees at Hormel’s Jennie-O plant and other factories and hotels for service work.

Public-private partnership—what a joke!

As we have demonstrated repeatedly, the contractors are receiving over 90% of their funding from the feds.  And, get this!  Ms. King of the politically hard Left MN Council of Churches talks about volunteer time.  Well the contractors log volunteer hours and are then paid CASH from the federal treasury for those hours on top of all the other largesse they receive!

“This program is a public-private partnership and I think Minnesota is very good at the private part of it, leveraging volunteer time and the other work,” said Rachele King, director of refugee services at the Minnesota Council of Churches. “It’s the public part, they’re not holding up their end of the bargain.”

Minnesota Council of Churches is also a refugee resettlement contractor/community organizer.  Out of time, research on their $$$ (your tax dollars) will have to wait for another day.

This post is archived in ‘unaccompanied minors’ here.

 

Somalis show their colors in Minnesota house race

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Diversity is strength alert!  (And, there is another good laugh at the end of this post too!)

For a little break from the invasion at the border, here is an update that ‘pungentpeppers’ found about the increasing violence between both sides (both sides have Somali supporters)—between the “old Jewish lady” and the “Muslim brother” for a seat representing the largest concentration of  Somalis probably in America.

Khan (aka old Jewish lady) vs. Noor (aka Muslim brother)

Our earlier story is here.

From Politics in Minnesota:

The Kahn-Noor race has caused or exposed a rift in Minneapolis’ Somali community that’s led to allegations of violence unprecedented in recent Minnesota campaigns.

Here is the background.  Minnesota campaign need (not yard signs or a voter list)—pepper spray!

The tooth-and-nail contest between 42-year incumbent Rep. Phyllis Kahn and Somali newcomer Mohamud Noor continues to draw allegations of violence, intimidation and voter suppression from both sides of the race. It has also spawned at least two legal disputes.

The complicated relationships that cut across both campaigns can’t be jammed into neat cultural or generational boxes. Kahn, with the help of longtime Minneapolis DFL power broker Brian Rice, has carved out a small but impressive bloc of Somali activist supporters. They include City Council Member Abdi Warsame, who was part of a new guard elected to city government in 2013. Whether that will be enough to blunt the strength of Noor’s support among Somali voters in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is difficult to tell.

Noor did manage to keep Kahn from securing the DFL’s endorsement at the Senate District 60 convention in April, thereby punching his ticket to their primary face-off on August 12.

“That’s why it’s so intense, and that’s why it’s such a mess: because both sides perceive that this is such a critical race,” political expert David Schultz said. “For Phyllis Kahn, this is it… she’s fighting because this is the first time she’s had a serious fight.”

But Rice and Kahn’s efforts to curry support among Somalis have revealed schisms in the tight-knit community, where two alleged instances of high-profile violence against Noor supporters have marred the campaign so far. One, just last week, has prompted a few Noor volunteers to begin carrying pepper spray, and some volunteers say they are afraid for their safety.

Read it all.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that there are Somali factions fighting on both sides, remember it is just that type of squabbling (and the clan wars) that has ruined Somalia and they have brought their quarrelsome cultural practices with them.  But, as the Lutheran, Catholic and Jewish groups resettling refugees to your towns will tell you again and again—this cultural diversity is sooo beautiful.

Vote fraud alleged!

In our earlier post we reported on the voter fraud alleged in the previous election.  Steve Sailer writing at VDARE asked an important question (when posting on this article)—so how did they become citizens if they can’t understand English?  Here is the quote from the article:

 One alleges that a Minneapolis elections judge named Fadmo called Kahn “an old Jewish Lady” while interpreting the primary ballot for a Somali man who was recently at City Hall to cast his absentee ballot. On the other hand, Fadmo characterized Noor as “our Muslim brother,” the complaint says.

And, here is Sailer’s observation:

If the Somali voter passed the citizenship test, why isn’t he literate in English? Why does he need fellow Somali Fadmo to tell him which squiggle on the ballot represents “our Muslim brother” and which squiggle “an old Jewish lady?”

The white man must stop trying to suppress the right to vote of illiterate Somali citizens; in the spirit of cultural sensitivity, candidates names should appear on the ballots not only in Arabic, but, for the illiterate, should come marked with symbols instantly recognizable to a Somali as Good (e.g., Mohamud Noor’s name could be accompanied by a picture of an AK-47) or Bad (e.g., a sow).

Fun huh!  Eat your heart out if your Somali Muslim population isn’t large enough yet to show you the joys of multicultural political campaign tactics.

One of our top posts of all time is this one from 2011—Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis Somali leader: al-Shabaab recruitment efforts present 24/7

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

FBI ramps up investigation of Jihadist recruitment among Somali refugee youths—this time for Syria.

Farah is executive director of Ka Joog which he says attempts to keep young Somalis from joining Jihadists.

Here we go again!  Give them the good life—food, shelter, medical care, education—and they use it to grow warriors for Allah.

From Minnesota Daily:

Agents from the Minneapolis office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are collecting information from Cedar-Riverside residents as part of an ongoing investigation spurred by recent allegations of American citizens joining Syrian rebels overseas.

Rumors that neighborhood residents are illegally fighting in conflict overseas prompted agents from the FBI to ramp up their already-existing presence in the neighborhood earlier this month, said Minneapolis FBI spokesman Kyle Loven.

He said agents are actively interviewing residents and informing them about the allegations, while also trying to figure out if anyone in the community is involved.

“We’re looking for information that would indicate that someone intends to travel to a country where there’s armed conflict,” Loven said.

[….]

Citizens are allegedly joining rebel forces in going against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

[….]

Mohamed Farah, executive director of Ka Joog, a Minnesota Somali youth group, said al-Shabaab’s recruitment efforts are present in the Somali community “24/7.”

See our huge archive going back to 2008 on the ‘Somali missing youths’ by clicking here.

Why so many Somalis in Minnesota?  Go here for one of our most-read posts of all time (it is almost daily among our Top Posts in right hand sidebar).  Thank the US State Department and its contractors for recognizing and tapping into Minnesota’s generous welfare programs.

Minneapolis: More Somali refugees leaving to join jihad (in Syria this time)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It began back in 2008 and we followed the story for years—Somali youths traded the good life in America (generously supplied by your tax dollars) to go join Al-Shabaab in Somalia.   Some died, some came back and were prosecuted, others are still unaccounted for.    Now comes news that more Somali youths, motivated by ideology, are believed to be joining the “rebels” in Syria this time.

From MyFox9  (Hat tip: Deb):

Minneapolis Somali activist, Abdi Bihi: If our people had more jobs and more programs, and didn’t feel like outsiders, this wouldn’t happen! Photo: http://www.ogadentoday.com/news.php?readmore=5932

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) –

The FBI says more Somali travelers have left Minnesota, possibly to fight against the regime of President Bashar Assad in Syria. Investigators believe those who left Minnesota were motivated by radical ideology, not nationalism.

SOURCE: 12 MINNESOTA SOMALIS HAVE LEFT FOR SYRIA

The FBI has not specified how many people are believed to involved, but a leader in the Minnesota Somali community told Fox 9 News a dozen men have left. The FBI confirmed they have “indications” that some recently traveled overseas. Now, they are reaching out to the large Somali population in Minnesota to learn more.

One young man — a 20-year-old Somali college student — left the Twin Cities as recently as last Thursday. He sent a text message to his family from Istanbul, Turkey, to say he was heading to Syria to fight in the holy war.

[…..]

RECENT SUICIDE BOMBING LINKED TO FLORIDA MAN

The request for tips comes about a week after an American from Florida died in a suicide bombing attack on Syrian government troops in the city of Iblib.

Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, 22, is believed to be the first U.S. citizen involved in a suicide bombing in the civil war’s three-year history. His family thought he was in Jordan when he died.

It is America’s fault!

Oh, those poor “vulnerable” babies in Minneapolis!

MINNESOTA SOMALI COMMUNITY ‘VULNERABLE’

Since 2007, at least 22 young men have left Minnesota to join al-Shabaab in Somalia. Some have died there, and some were even praised as “Minnesota Martyrs” in an elaborate video released last year.

[….]

Some of the so-called travelers were prosecuted for their role in what the FBI has described as one of the largest efforts to recruit U.S. fighters to a foreign terrorist organization, and community activist Abdi Bihi says his community is particularly vulnerable to such efforts due to a lack of jobs, programs and feeling like outsiders.

Yeh, spend more money on “programs” that will solve the problem!   These ungrateful punks would not be in a position (alive and healthy) to become “fighters” if it weren’t for all the money Americans spent on their upbringing. 

Now the next question is, will they be back?

Be sure to read one of our most-read posts over the years—Why so many Somalis in Minnesota—and thank the US State Department, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and World Relief Minnesota for their good works in bringing this mess to Minnesota!

Refugee dilemma: Where to get better government services—Minnesota or North Dakota?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Amazing!   Not that “refugees” are scouting which states have more “robust” social services for them, but that there is a news article like this one that basically makes it sound perfectly normal to do so.   Although, one definite plus for the article is that the reporter refers to Lutheran Social Services as having been “contracted” to resettle refugees.  Glad to see the mainstream media noting that these church groups are federal contractors!  That is a step in the right direction and not something we would have seen mentioned five years ago!

Fargo (ND)-Moorhead (MN) often linked as if they were one city. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo%E2%80%93Moorhead

And, would someone  on the Open Borders side of this debate please explain what “vibrant diversity” is  and how it benefits American citizens besides some mumbo jumbo about how we can appreciate the world better by having aliens living next door.

From Fergus Falls Journal:

MOORHEAD, Minn. — Husni Hassan and his family left the unrest of Iraq and moved to Texas two years ago. There, he found peace, but something was missing.

“It was very hard to find somebody from your culture who speaks your language,” said the 33-year-old from the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Hassan wanted his young children to grow up around other Kurdish people and enjoy the benefits of a close-knit community. So not long ago, when he learned of the roughly 1,100 Kurds living in Moorhead, he and his family resettled here and became part of the city’s small collection of refugees.  [O.K.so what about the America community they have inserted themselves into—are Americans allowed to have close-knit American communities?—ed]

Like Hassan, many of the refugees in Moorhead lived somewhere else in the U.S. before migrating here. A low number come straight to Moorhead, often to be close to relatives or friends.

In the past few years, just 32 newly arrived refugees, all from Iraq, have landed in Moorhead. Compare that with Fargo, where close to 1,000 have settled during the same time, according to data from Lutheran Social Services, a nonprofit group contracted by the government to aid refugees.

One explanation for the drastic difference is that LSS can provide five years of services to refugees in Fargo. But in Moorhead, those services end after 90 days.   [I don’t know what this five years is in reference to—ed]

[***Update*** A reader asked me a very logical question—if, as we are repeatedly told, refugees are self-sufficient in an incredibly short time, why do they need “services” for five years?  Good question!—ed]

“Then they’re kind of on their own,” said Darci Ashe, an LSS spokeswoman.

In Moorhead and Fargo, refugees are eligible for federal cash assistance for eight months after they arrive in the U.S. Though those payments vary – and are somewhat higher for a single person in North Dakota – Minnesota generally has more robust benefit programs.

But services, such as a caseworker to help a refugee who doesn’t speak English make a doctor’s appointment or enroll a child in school, are available longer in Fargo than Moorhead because of basic differences in how the two states’ systems of helping refugees are designed.

This article is well-worth reading.  It discusses Wilson-Fish as ND is a W-F state (see our FAQ on W-F here just a few days ago) and it tells us that the extent of medical care/medicaid for refugees is a deciding factor when refugees scout out new places to migrate.

Despite the five years of services LSS can offer refugees in Fargo, Newzad Brifki, a leader in the Kurdish community, said he believes that in the long run, Minnesota provides refugees with more support than North Dakota.

No doubt Brifki would like more refugees to resettle in Moorhead and he must be wishing his new organization (Kurdish Community of America) could get the contract to bring them there!

Brifki said he thinks Moorhead would gain much by having more refugees.

“I know Fargo is benefiting a lot from these newcomers,” he said.

“Having a diverse city is just – it’s vibrant.”

By the way, both North Dakota  (hatchet-man and machete-man in the same month!) and Minnesota have had their share of diverse immigrant crime cases—but I guess he doesn’t mean that sort of diversity!