Tag: Ohio

United Nations plays role in future of Cincinnati, OH, KY, IN

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It is indirect of course, but the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)*** is choosing the refugees for America and then the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS) along with the contractors decide in which cities they will be placed.

Greater Cincinnati extends beyond Ohio into Kentucky and Indiana. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_metropolitan_area

It sure looks like Cincinnati is one city they have deemed “welcoming.”

This is your usual longish article starring a struggling but grateful refugee, nothing new there.  However, it has a few nuggets of information that you might find useful.  It seems that Kentucky Refugee Ministries, the same contractor that was ripped-off the other day by a Muslim client, plays a role in resettling refugees in the greater Cincinnati area.

The article also confirms the role of the UN and that refugees get welfare goodies as a special class of immigrant (which we know), but it is interesting to me that the subject is being discussed more openly now than 7 years ago when we first started reporting on the program.

From Soapbox Cincinnati:

Greater Cincinnati is home to as many as 25,000 refugees. They come from such countries as Bhutan, Burundi, Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Burma, Vietnam, Russia and Iraq, but all [not all!–ed] experienced severe persecution in their homelands that forced them to flee. They also share the struggle to create fresh lives, overcome the language barrier, learn a new culture and integrate into American society.

Lots of column inches are devoted to telling readers about the ‘star’ of the story, then this:

Once a refugee is selected for resettlement by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), their case is piped down through several organizational tiers before finally reaching a settlement destination. In the U.S., they arrive with an I-94 form, a unique status among all classes of immigrants. Refugees receive a social security card upon entry to the U.S. and are eligible for social services, food assistance, Medicaid coverage and most services that citizens qualify for. They can apply for a green card within a year, and are eligible for citizenship after five years of residence.

UNHCR Antonio Gutteres

Kentucky Refugee Ministries resettled the ‘star’ of this story.  Unfortunately, the average American reader will assume from this next paragraph that the Kentucky group is helping out of the goodness of its Christian heart—not that they are being paid out of the federal treasury to do their ‘charitable’ work:

For Thang, ties to his wife and her family were enough to move him through the pipeline directly to Louisville. Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KRM) handles resettlement cases for that region, and is responsible for acclimating refugees once they arrive, providing airport pickup, housing, medical examinations, job assistance, cultural integration and language courses.

People ask me all the time if it is true that the UN picks our refugees, yes it is true (for most of the refugees)!

One caveat, however, is what I mentioned in my “Moratorium” testimony (#7).  And, that is, when the US State Department uses the program for some extracurricular activity, like airlifting trouble-making Uzbeks here, or giving Russia a little helping hand by taking the Meskhetian Turks off their hands, or when Clinton/Gore airlifted those Kosovars here.  And, surely there are others we have never heard of!

***The present UNHCR is Portuguese socialist Antonio Gutteres.

Ohio: Somalis indicted in food stamp fraud, sent your money abroad

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Readers, most of the Somalis in the US are here as refugees, or family members of refugees.  After Minnesota, Ohio is a destination of choice for Somalis as secondary migrants where they move to create Somali enclaves.  The population in some Ohio cities is rapidly expanding.

LOL!  In fact David Lubell and his ‘Welcoming America’ group of community organizers has been pushing Cleveland as a mecca of immigrant entrepreneurial economic activity!

EBT Nation! My go-to graphic when photos of the alleged crooks can’t be found!

Although we have had a few food stamp fraud busts in the past that specifically mention the fact that your taxpayer dollars are being sent out of the country, it is still rare for the feds to mention that part of the fraud scheme.

From WKYC.com (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

CLEVELAND — Four men from Northeast Ohio were charged in a five-count indictment with engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the food stamp and Women, Infants and Children programs from a store on Detroit Avenue in Cleveland, law enforcement officials said.

Indicted are: Bashir Mohammed, 31, of Cleveland; Yusuf Maalin, 45, of Cleveland; Ali Shire Ahmed, 54, of North Olmsted, Ohio; and Farah Hasan Warsame, 27, of Cleveland.  [I could find no photos of the perps, but from these names we believe they are all Somalis, they generally live together and commit crimes with their own kind.—ed]

The indictment alleges that Mohamed, Maalin, Ahmed, and Warsame conspired to illegally allow customers to redeem food stamp and WIC benefits at Bashir Market, 8401 Detroit Avenue, in exchange for cash, ineligible items, and credit towards overseas wire transfers.

Mohamed, Maalin, and Warsame allegedly worked at the market and redeemed the food stamp and WIC benefits for the cash, unauthorized items, or credit towards overseas funds transfers. The credit for overseas funds transfers was tracked on a ledger kept at the market, according to the indictment.

Mohamed or Maalin would then provide Ahmed with cash or a check that Ahmed would take to Columbus to send overseas by wire transfer.

The indictment alleges that the conspiracy involved the attempted redemption of approximately $670,612 in food stamp and WIC benefits, according to the indictment.

See all of our posts in our immigrant-run food stamp fraud archive by clicking here.

Toledo (Lucas County) looking for more Middle Easterners, will “welcome” refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Ray Abou-Arab charged with murder in Toledo last week.

Update February 8th:  Prosecutors seek the death penalty for Abou-Arab, here, (hat tip: Diane).

Update:  Bond set at $5 million for Abou-Arab, here.  Judge must be afraid he will skip the country.

Let me start by telling you about the tragic tale involving the alleged murder of two fire fighters in Toledo a week ago.

Ray Abou-Arab, an immigrant ‘businessman,’ has been arrested and charged with intentionally starting a fire which took the lives of two young firefighters.  The gist of the story is here at The Blade (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’)

Less than a week after two Toledo firefighters died battling a North Toledo apartment fire, the property’s owner was charged with and arrested on two counts each of aggravated murder and aggravated arson.

Ray Abou-Arab, 61, of 1311 Sierra Dr., Oregon was held in the Lucas County jail Friday night pending arraignment Monday morning in Toledo Municipal Court.

Fire Pvts. Stephen Machcinski and James Dickman were pronounced dead Sunday afternoon at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center after being rescued from inside the two-story apartment building at 528 Magnolia St., where they had become trapped.

Abou-Arab has been around Toledo for awhile and some say he has been involved with questionable arson fires involving property he owned in the past.

When you watch the lengthy TV news account, here, you will see shots of Abou-Arab just hanging around and not looking too troubled.  Toward the end there is some mention of an illegal substance being sold from a convenience store in the same building he is accused of igniting that resulted in the deaths of the firefighters.

Screen shot from the announcement that Toledo will take Iraqi refugees.
Arabic writing on the flag: Allahu Akbar!

So, Toledo (Lucus County) is having such success with its immigrant entrepreneurs that they announced in December that they will “welcome” 30 Iraqis through the US State Department’s refugee program!

From ABC13 (be sure to watch the news clip!):

Beginning around the first of the year, Toledo will become an immigrant resettlement city.   It’s a story we first told you about back in July but now the pieces are in place to make the program a success.

The United States government is looking for communities that can welcome about 30-Iraqi families.  Toledo has a long history of welcoming immigrants [like Ray Abou-Arab?–ed] and now it has a social structure that can help.

These communities like Toledo think they are going to make money off refugee resettlement!  The reason that the State Department has ‘chosen’ Toledo is that other cities are full-up with economy-robbing refugees. Don’t you think that if refugees brought economic benefits that the cities that were already (supposedly) ‘booming’ as a result would be begging for more?

“New folks, new friends, new families that added value to our community.”

Lucas County Commissioner. Pete Gerken (D) says other immigrants want to build a future here, as well.

The State Department is looking for communities to welcome new refugees from Iraq, in 2014 and Gerken says they should come to Toledo.

He says, “What we found is they come here from other places, bring talent with them, bring family values with them, bring a work ethic with them.”

And, in some cases, they bring a life savings with them.

The Toledo Lucas County Land Bank is now part of this refugee resettlement program and will link immigrants with properties to help them build a life.

[…..]

….buy abandoned commercial sites,  build a business, create jobs and contribute to the community. [Just like Ray Abou-Arab did?—-ed]

What studies???  It’s amazing—they just say this sort of thing and the locals lap it up!

Anneliese Grytafey (Toledo Community Foundation) says studies indicate a financial gain.  “For every dollar that was invested to bring refugees into the community they saw a $10 dollar gain to their local economy,” Grytafey told 13abc.

The local economy gains for awhile as federal dollars flow in, but as the refugees don’t find work (Iraqis are not finding employment elsewhere, why would Toledo be any different?) and rely more and more on welfare, the local economy takes the hit.

[Flag of Iraq (1991-2004) after Saddam Hussein decreed to include “Allahu Akbar” between the stars in his own handwriting, in an attempt to garner support from the Islamic world.]
About the flag!  Whoever made up the graphic in the ABC news clip took Saddam Hussein’s ‘God is Great’ (Allahu Akbar) off the old Iraqi flag and superimposed it on to the American flag’s stripes, here.

Maybe this is code from the US State Department—only Muslims will be resettled in Toledo!

Eeeek! Crisis for CRIS! Refugee contractor(s) out of money AGAIN

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

How many times have we heard this over the years!  It is the same old story.  The federal contractors and their subcontractors (hundreds of them) are begging for more taxpayer dollars for refugees (and themselves!).  When the Refugee Act of 1980 was signed into law by Jimmy Carter, the VOLAGs (He! he! voluntary agencies) were supposed to form public-private partnerships with government, but increasingly over the years, the contractors raise little money themselves and depend on the federal government for larger and larger shares.  Some contractors are now more than 90% funded by tax dollars.

AND, as much as they tell you the refugees are working and becoming self-sufficient within a few months it’s a lie (sorry to be so blunt!).   That is why they are now lobbying like heck to get more federal funding as this Ohio subcontractor of Episcopal Migration Ministries is doing (they were previously affiliated with another contractor, Church World Service).  Hat tip: Joanne

Angela Plummer Executive Director of CRIS (right) met with Somali President Mohamud when he spoke in Columbus in September of last year.
http://criscommunity.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/a-presidential-visit/

See action alert below directly from the website of Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS).  They even supply a script for their followers to use when calling Congress.   Interesting we just reported on advocacy (aka lobbying) in our previous post.   For legal sticklers out there, we know they can legally do this, but it’s morally wrong in my view for religious organizations, like the Episcopalians, to run to Congress for payola. 

Are they doing this from the pulpit too?  Do they have a Washington DC lobbyist like the Lutherans, Evangelicals and Catholics do to tell them it’s time to gin up the grassroots?  Of course they do!

Here is CRIS’s action alert:

Calls Urgently Needed for Refugees and Unaccompanied Children

BACKGROUND: The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program provides persecuted refugees with safe haven and a chance at a new life. Additionally, the United States must care for a growing number of children fleeing violence in Central America who arrive within our borders alone. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) urgently needs additional funding for FY 2014 to serve all of the vulnerable migrants under its care – refugees, asylees, victims of human trafficking and torture, Cuban-Haitian entrants, Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders, and unaccompanied alien children (UAC). If ORR is not able to secure more funds, the road to self-sufficiency and integration could be hampered for thousands of refugees and other populations assisted by ORR. In addition, the ORR funding that states, counties, and cities rely on would also be at risk.

Take a moment to call your TWO Senators and your Representative by dialing (202) 224-3121 to encourage them to support. Calls are especially needed to members of the appropriations committees, which can be found here http://appropriations.house.gov/about/members/ and here http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/about-members.cfm

Here is a sample script you can use to tailor your personal message, describing your own work or relationships with refugees, unaccompanied children and other vulnerable migrants:

Hi, my name is [NAME], from [CITY, STATE]. May I please
speak with the staff person who handles appropriations issues?
I am calling to urge the [SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE]
to support increased funding in the Labor-HHS appropriations
bill, specifically for the Department of Health and Human
Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. Without Congressional
intervention to increase this funding, America’s ability to
provide persecuted refugees and vulnerable unaccompanied
children with safe haven and a chance at a new life would be
compromised. Funding for this program is an investment in the
safety and self-sufficiency of people we welcome to American
communities. Please ensure that Congress appropriates
sufficient funding for HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement for
FY 2014.

If you think they don’t need more money, why not have some fun, use their script and tell Senators and Members of Congress to not increase their funding—they should be raising private money for any shortfalls they have (it’s mostly for their offices and salaries anyway!).

CRIS is in Columbus, Ohio.  I wonder how many Somalis they resettled in probably the second largest Little Mogadishu behind Minneapolis?

Ohio: More of those charming “Uzbek refugees” in trouble with the law

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Monday morning diversity is strength alert!

Over the last few years we have covered the story about Uzbek’s getting into the US as “refugees” thanks to a secretive ‘airlift’ by the US State Department and possibly the CIA (Was the CIA involved behind the scenes in Uzbekistan?) during the Bush Administration and in the wake of the Andijan Uprising in 2005.

Here is what I said in a post in 2011.  This is based on my assessment from reading many accounts of what happened, but as far as I know NO REAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER WITH A MAINSTREAM MEDIA NEWS OUTLET HAS EVER TRIED TO GO DEEPER.  It is time someone did, as some of the Uzbek “refugees” are turning up as criminals and terrorists (see all of our Uzbek posts, here).  This is me in 2011:

At some point I need to look more closely at the case of the Uzbek refugee airlift to the US in the wake of the Andijan uprising.  In a thumbnail, Uzbekistan’s President is a secular Muslim (if there is such a thing) and a group of fundamentalist Muslims were working on an uprising, so supposedly government soldiers, at President Islam Karimov’s direction, opened-fire on a demonstration and killed many (the 2005 Andijan massacre).  The survivors went to nearby countries to escape and thus became “refugees.”

Please remember this is a very simplified version of events.  So, they were designated refugees but wished to stay in Europe (they were initially taken to camps there and wanted to stay near their families still in Uzbekistan).  The US State Department, in its infinite wisdom, said, NO, we are taking you to American towns and cities and dropping you off whether you like it or not!  So, we actually expedited the process and flew an unknown number to your neighborhoods.

Now here is the latest “Uzbek refugee” crime story which, what a surprise, involves food stamp fraud!   Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers.’   Note too that the men arrested in Dayton, Ohio are actually Turks (Meskhetians?) but got into the US as Uzbeks.

From WHIOTV:

DAYTON —

The men arrested in an Aug. 23 raid of their rented Allen Street home are suspected of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, illegally obtaining food stamps and a weapons charge.

Muzaffar Mirsoliyev, 28, and his 51-year-old father, Mustafo Mirsoliyev, both Turkish immigrants who were refugees from Uzbekistan in the mid-2000s, had criminal complaints against them unsealed in U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Dayton.

Mustafo Mirsoliyev appeared at a detention hearing. Muzzaffar’s hearing was delayed until Friday. Muzaffar’s Russian wife, Fanisa Shaydullina, faces a weapons charge and authorities say she has been in the country illegally for about two years.

Shaydullina, who was previously identified as Turkish, has been put on 24-hour home detention and her case has been transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Unsealed search warrant affidavits obtained by the Dayton Daily News show that Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Michael Bush suspects the Mirsoliyevs of a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Wednesday, the Mirsoliyevs remained in the Montgomery County Jail on a federal detainer.

All three were arrested during the raid at 245 Allen St. during which multiple law enforcement agencies seized an AK-47 rifle and a computer.

For a chuckle, new readers might want to visit our post in August about how open borders advocate David Lubell (product of Nashville, TN) was in Ohio (Cleveland) to promote the joys of multiculturalism.

… be sure to re-visit my post of a couple of weeks ago about how David Lubell and ‘Welcoming America’ has just kicked-off its Cleveland campaign to convince residents that diversity is beautiful and they need to embrace more of it!  Entrepreneurial immigrants will save the city from economic ruin, they say.

Is Ohio becoming the immigrant-run food stamp fraud capital of America?