Tag: Pittsburgh PA

The "Gypsies" causing community outrage in a Pittsburgh suburb are wannabe refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A friend e-mailed last night to alert me to the controversy she had been hearing about through another friend living in the outraged community—California, PA.
Coincidentally, although I didn’t see it, I believe Tucker Carlson did a story on the town and its enraged citizens last night as well.

Downtown California, PA, another town roiled by a federal immigration agency from Washington, DC. secretly placing migrants there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California,_Pennsylvania

It seems that rather than hold in detention migrants who got to the US illegally and have apparently asked for political asylum, the federal government is placing large numbers in unsuspecting communities.  Although I have no proof, I will bet a buck that the placement of wannabe ‘refugees’ is being facilitated with our usual gang of refugee contractors.
I looked around for news on the “gypsy” controversy and found many stories including this one at The Blaze:

Residents in California, Pennsylvania, a small borough of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, have said they are outraged after the federal government moved 40 Romanian “gypsies” into the town of 7,000 as part of the government’s Alternative to Detention program.

On Thursday, more than 150 residents attended a community meeting about the immigrants, who residents say have failed to assimilate to American customs and norms. The residents cited trash in yards, disruptions in town markets, children and men defecating in public streets, and immigrants cutting off the heads of chickens in public areas, according to a report by WTAE-TV. None of the immigrants, who are undocumented, have been charged with any other serious criminal offenses. [I’ve found over the years that there is nothing that infuriates a community more than public crapping!—ed]

[….]

The Romanian immigrants ended up in the California borough as part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Alternative to Detention program, which allows immigrants to live in U.S. communities instead of being detained while they await a final decision about their immigration status.

[….]

About 600 residents have signed a petition demanding the gypsies change their living habits. [Assimilation issue again!—ed]

More here.
Although the word ‘asylum’ is not mentioned, surely these Roma people are waiting for a decision from an asylum court about whether they will be granted refugee status.
For new readers there are two normal channels for getting that most desired immigration status we can bestow on anyone (because doors are opened, the migrant gets a caseworker and refugees are eligible for most forms of welfare)—refugee status!
The normal channel is the one we write about most often—that is where we fly refugees in (most chosen by the UN) and place them with a refugee contractor.  The other channel is for a migrant to get to the US on his/her own steam (most often illegally) and then ask for political asylum.  If granted asylum, the migrant is just as much a refugee as the ones we fly in.  The Tsarnaev (Boston Bombers) were in a family granted asylum and were therefore REFUGEES.
We approve asylum for about 25,000 each year (see here) and that is in addition to the numbers we are always talking about as part of the President’s annual determination (50,194 as of today for FY17).
Those hundreds of thousands of mostly economic migrants from Africa and the Middle East working their way to Europe are going to ask for asylum there (they are NOT refugees, yet)—European countries could turn them down if they had the guts.
I spent a few minutes looking around for other information on the illegal movement of Roma and found this very informative AP story from 2012 about Roma crossing the Mexican border on their way to Canada. So, it appears we have apprehended this group in California, PA before they could get to our northern border.

Not everyone in the Jewish community thinks it is wise to import Middle Eastern Muslims to US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You know there has to be anxiety in the Jewish community about whether Jews should, without reservation, promote the resettlement of Muslims from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan in the ME or Somali Muslims from Africa.
Here at the The Jewish Chronicle we see at least the beginning of some honesty about the friction.

Longtime readers know that we have extensively chronicled the activities of the only Jewish federal resettlement contractor HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) on these pages.  When you read about local Jewish resettlement groups know that most are subcontractors of HIAS (see their subcontractors here).
Here is the story:

By and large, Pittsburgh’s Jewish community — in line with the American Jewish community in general — has rallied behind efforts to bring Syrian refugees to the United States. Formal statements in support of immigration have been issued by area institutions, winter coats for newly arrived families have been collected, and outraged discourse on social media protesting the Trump administration’s attempts to thwart immigration from Syria and other Muslim-majority nations is common.

But despite the outcry from so many in Jewish Pittsburgh that it is imperative to “welcome the stranger,” others argue that Jewish funds and resources should not be going to help bring Syrians here.

Syrian refugees arrive in Pittsburgh in February. http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2017/02/07/Syrian-refugees-Pittsburgh-International-Airport-Donald-Trump-immigration-ban/stories/201702070214?pgpageversion=pgevoke

“How can Jews be so smart and yet so stupid at the same time?” said Lou Weiss of Squirrel Hill. “Everyone loves the immigration of people to our country to become Americans. But who’s in favor of bringing in immigrants from a country where they hate gays, where women are subjected to female circumcision and honor killings, and they hate Jews?”

While Weiss may hold the minority opinion on this issue, he certainly is not alone.

“From our perspective, 99 percent of the responses we’ve gotten have been positive,” said Jordan Golin, president and CEO of the Jewish Family & Children’s Service, which so far has resettled 51 Syrian families in Pittsburgh and is scheduled to bring in additional families. “We are aware, though, that there are other members of the Jewish community that have different feelings about this issue.”

You have to go to the end of a longish story to hear more from Weiss:

But for Weiss, the issue of whether Jews should be supporting the effort to bring Syrians to this country is pretty cut and dried.

“Take a look at what’s going on in Europe; that’s what will happen here,” Weiss said, noting the mass migration of Jews from European countries who feel threatened by Islamic immigrants there. “Jewish people are people of immigration. But we have to see who it is we’re welcoming into the United Sates. Syrians are taught Holocaust denial. They are taught that Jews are the sons of apes and pigs. There are blood libel books written by their leaders. Only the Jews would pay to bring them to this country.

“You have to think about this rationally,” he continued. “Who are the immigrants? They hate gays, and they subject women to horrible second-class treatment — not every single person, but as a group. And if you bring them here, ultimately, they will vote. If you think they’ll vote to support Israeli interests, you’re sadly mistaken.”

While Weiss is not one of the individuals who has complained to the Federation or to JF&CS, he nonetheless feels strongly about the issue.

“The anti-Semitism of Syrian Muslims is not a quirk,” he said. “It’s a feature of their culture. I love immigrants. But I don’t love the immigration of people that are anti-gay, anti-women, and anti-Semitic.”

Go here for more of The Jewish Chronicle story, and here for our archive on HIAS.

Pittsburgh letter writer: Mayor is wrong to invite Syrian refugees to city

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

bill_peduto_F5847_600
Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto: We’ll take a few thousand impoverished Syrians here. How does 5,555 sound? What! Has Pittsburgh run out of poor homeless people to take care of?

Last week we told you about how important it is to write Letters to the Editor on the refugee colonization plans for your towns and cities.
We posted a couple of sample letters here and here.
We also told you about Pittsburgh’s mayor (among 18 mayors) telling Obama to send some their way.
Let’s see if Obama decides to go with the number being proposed by the NO Borders agitators—100,000 Syrians—divide that number by the 18 mayors and it comes out to 5,555 Syrians per city.  Does that sound about right Mr. Mayor?
And, by the way, a recent Rasmussen poll found that 49% of likely voters DO NOT WANT ANY SYRIANS BROUGHT TO AMERICA (Trump and Carson must be seeing those polls!)
Now from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette comes this one:

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto has joined with several other mayors in offering to accept refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries (“Peduto Joins Other Mayors in Pledging to Accept Syrian Refugees,” Sept. 28). This is a decision he should not be allowed to make without the consent of the voters and taxpayers of the city of Pittsburgh, who will ultimately be forced to pay for their housing, food, clothing, education, medical care and, if necessary, their policing.

Homeless in Pittsburgh
Just as we thought. Homeless living under a bridge in Pittsburgh. http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2015/03/23/Yearly-homeless-census-finds-38-homeless-people-living-without-shetler-in-Allegheny-County/stories/201503180236

Aside from the obvious security risk, these people will not have a knowledge of our language or customs and most probably will not have a level of skills to be able to support themselves, resulting in them becoming the responsibility of the taxpayers.

The city has enough of its own economic and social problems without being financially burdened and forced to take in any refugees who could be more easily resettled in countries closer to and more like their own.

BOB DATTILO
Brookline

Note from RRW:  If your mayor is asking for Syrian (mostly Muslim) refugees, try pinning him or her down by asking what number he or she would like to see each year going forward.  I bet they will run and hide from that question!  And, when writing letters be sure to mention the homeless and the veterans who are suffering in your city already.

Jewish refugee resettlement agency: Let's bring Rohingya Muslims to Pittsburgh (to increase diversity!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been telling you that the resettlement contractors are now going to push Rohingya Muslims on us in a big way.
Just two days ago we reported that the New York Times was on the bandwagon and you will be seeing more and more articles like this one at newspapers where you live!  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had wisely editorialized saying that the Rohingya migration crisis is Asia’s problem.  The Jewish group begs to differ.

Leslie Aizeman
From Left: JF&CS Refugee Services Director, Leslie Aizenman, Secretary of State for the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Anne Richard and Allegheny County Chief Executive, Rich Fitzgerald. I’m guessing that County Executive Fitzgerald is on board (or was on board) with diversifying Pittsburgh in 2012. https://jfcspgh.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/jfcs-welcomed-anne-richard-assistant-secretary-of-state/

What is so maddening to me is that no where in this opinion piece, by the Director of Refugee & Immigrant Services Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Pittsburgh, does she use the ‘M’ word.
The average American reading this will have no idea that the Rohingya are very fundamentalist Muslims who are arriving (illegally from Burma and Bangladesh) in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia (Muslim countries) and are not wanted there either.
So tell me why Pittsburgh will benefit from more of this kind of diversity?
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

In response to “Asia’s Migrants: More Boat People Deserve Help From Those Nearby” (May 20 editorial): We at Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Pittsburgh agree that there is a role for the United States to play in helping to save the lives of refugees, such as the Rohingya from Burma.

The United States welcomes 70,000 refugees annually. Through a national network of resettlement agencies, these refugees find their way to local communities where they add to the local population, settle down, work and raise families.

If the Rohingya community and others like them were permitted to resettle in the United States like other refugees, JF&CS, along with its partner agencies, would welcome some of them to Pittsburgh. Such an effort would be consistent with the evolving municipal plans to promote Pittsburgh as a welcoming city.

We learned just in the last week that we have resettled 1,000 Rohingya Muslims in the US just this year and over ten years we resettled over 12,000 Burmese Muslims to the US (surely many of those are Rohingya), so we are already bringing in the Rohingya!
Ms. Aizenman continues:

The successful resettlement of the refugees in Pittsburgh depends on the support of the community — employers, landlords, social service providers, educators, medical professionals, public offices and community volunteers who understand the plight of these refugees and welcome and work to accommodate our newest Americans.

[….]

Refugee resettlement is one concrete way to save lives while increasing the diversity and population of Pittsburgh.

LESLIE AIZENMAN
Director of Refugee & Immigrant Services
Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Pittsburgh***
Squirrel Hill

Commenter, Rich Kowal, says what most sensible, thinking Americans believe:

We should be taking care of the our veterans, children and elderly citizens first before we worry about diversity.

See our Rohingya Reports category (179 posts going back 7 years!) outlining many (many!) reasons we should NOT be bringing Rohingya to your towns and cities.
Go here to find Pittsburgh resettlement contractors’ contact information (and all local contractors throughout the US).
***Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Pittsburgh is a subcontractor of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society one of the nine major contractors promoting the resettlement of 65,000 (mostly Sunni Muslim) Syrians to the US.   HIAS also wrote a report for which they received $35,000 from the obviously filthy rich JM Kaplan Fund to outline how to shut you up—to keep you from questioning what they are doing to America.   LOL!  The report is 30 pages long so they were paid over $1000 a page for not much!

Pittsburgh working hard to “welcome” refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

City leaders think the refugees will rejuvenate the city and bring economic prosperity.

Hey Pittsburgh, how about if you call up the City of Seattle before you get too excited by this “welcoming” propaganda. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/12/19/seattle-housing-crisis-pay-attention-refugee-welcoming-cities/

Frankly, I don’t get it, the only economic windfall (in my view) that will flow into Pittsburgh (a federal government “preferred” community) is the federal welfare dollars that follow the refugees—the special grants and special micro-loan deals etc.  It isn’t new money, it is just money recycled from the federal taxpayer.

I’m not an economist, but we better soon get some rigorous studies to counter the growing “welcoming” movement!

From National Public Radio:

Studies show immigrants start businesses at a higher rate than non-immigrants, and can raise home values when they move into neighborhoods.  [ but do the businesses close soon too?–ed]

Programs like Welcoming Pittsburgh [anything to do with ‘Welcoming America’?—ed] come as a reaction to failed immigration reform, but also because depopulated industrial cities see immigrants as an economic development tool, says Audrey Singer, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

“A lot of these places are looking for two things: economic activity and population,” Singer says. “Immigrants and refugees are often looked at as a really dynamic group.”

Pittsburgh is just the latest Rust Belt city trying to boost the demographic — just 7 percent of the city’s residents were born outside the U.S., which is low for an urban area. About 40 other U.S. cities have similar programs, including Philadelphia; Chicago; St. Louis, Mo.; Columbus and Dayton, Ohio.

Do those “studies” report the costs of educating the kids, and the cost of low-income housing (Seattle!); taking care of their health needs; the costs to the criminal justice system?  I doubt it!

Then this:

Immigrants under-employed?  So what does that tell you?  There isn’t a booming economy as a result of immigrants, just more immigrants competing with Americans looking for work.

About 30,000 high-skilled immigrants are underemployed in Pennsylvania. In addition, some see Pittsburgh as parochial and not open to outsiders.

Welcoming Pittsburgh hopes to change that by opening government and coordinating various agencies’ efforts. Singer says it’s too soon to tell if it’s working in other cities, but what some call “deliberate welcoming” enhances the No. 1 thing city residents need: opportunities.

And, near the end, NPR mentions this about their ‘star’ of the story, a well-educated Iraqi refugee (Ammar Nsaif):

Nsaif currently works as a caregiver, earning $1,400 a month, plus SNAP benefits to purchase some groceries, for a family of five.

I’m guessing he is a “caregiver” in a state or federally financed home health care business (he could even be paid to take care of granny at home), he gets food stamps and supposedly supports a family of five on $1,400 a month—yeh right! He is adding to the economy of Pittsburgh?  At that salary he surely isn’t even paying taxes.

Where are our studies—just take Nsaif’s case and tell us how much he drains from the US economy!