Tag: Portland Maine

Portland, Maine: White cabbie files discrimination lawsuit against city, all airport licenses went to Somalis and Iranians

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

More refugee-related problems coming to light in Maine (see yesterday Lewiston Somali arsonist).  If the facts are true, it sure looks like an open and shut case of discrimination.

Somali cab drivers protesting in Portland in 2011. New city rule said they must apply in person for licenses (not with power-of-attorney while in Somalia!). There is clearly a heck of a lot going on with this licensing program and don’t you wonder why Somalis are so organized at airports around the country? http://bangordailynews.com/2011/12/05/news/portland/somali-taxi-drivers-say-new-portland-policy-aims-to-shut-them-down/

From the Portland Press Herald (emphasis mine):

A white taxicab driver has filed a lawsuit accusing the city of Portland of racial discrimination for denying him one of 45 permits to work as part of the Portland International Jetport’s taxi pool.

The driver, Paul McDonough of South Portland, said in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland that the city’s current jetport taxicab permit system is “blatantly discriminatory” because it has issued permits only to people of Somali or Iranian descent or nationality.

“How does it happen that 45 licenses all go to one racial group who just arrived in this country?” McDonough’s attorney, David Turesky, said in an interview after filing the lawsuit.

Turesky said that in 2008, the city granted all of its then 50 jetport licenses to Somali or Iranian immigrants without opening bidding to the general public. The city reduced the number of available jetport licenses in July 2013 to 45, “grandfathering” in those license holders, again without opening the bidding process to the public.

“It was done in a way that was never publicized,” Turesky said. “Our supposition is something was done to benefit these gentlemen or this particular group. But we don’t know how. We don’t know precisely what the motive was. We don’t know who paid for the licenses.”

The city’s attorney, Corporation Counsel Danielle West-Chuhta, did not respond to a phone message seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit originated from a complaint that McDonough and another white male taxicab driver filed in June 2013 and brought before the Maine Human Rights Commission. State investigators found that the complaint by McDonough and Raymond Chasse of Scarborough has “no reasonable grounds.” Chasse has since died.

Turesky said the Maine Human Rights Commission did not investigate the background of how the city’s permitting practices began. He expects that those details will be ordered to be disclosed through the court process.

Turesky expects that even if the court finds that the city did not intentionally commit racial discrimination, it did discriminate.

 There is more, read it all.   Be sure to see the comments.  See Debba Curtis who says the Somalis don’t allow her seeing-eye dog in their cabs at the airport.  Another discrimination case?

Why did so many Somalis go to Maine?  See one of our top posts of all time—Somali migration to Maine–its the welfare magnet stupid.

See our extensive archive on Maine refugee problems by clicking here.

Update January 15th:  I see a Maine blogger has written more on the story, here.

Sudanese refugee, with long record of run-ins with the law, murdered in Portland, Maine

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

His former lawyer anguishes over belief that the system fails refugee children.  This may be the first Portland murder this year, but it sure isn’t the first crime involving refugees in Maine in recent years.  A quick look at our archives (five minutes!) and I see several cases we reported on of crimes involving youthful refugees in Maine.

The “system” has had plenty of opportunities to learn from run-ins with refugees and crime.  Surely you lawyers aren’t proposing special treatment for them?

Somali ‘youths’ randomly attacking and robbing people in Lewiston, ME

Maine: Somali accused of rape says birthdate is wrong, he is only a minor mommy says

No experience with refugee youth trauma in Portland? Have we forgotten Muktar? And, what about the victim’s trauma? https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2013/06/11/maine-somali-youth-sentenced-to-8-years-for-raping-woman-no-prospect-for-rehabilitation-says-judge/

Another diversity is strength alert from Portland, Maine

24 immigrant gang members arrested in Maine

Congolese refugee murdered in Portland, ME

Maine: Sudanese refugee pulls out gun and is killed by police

Violence against Sudanese refugees in Maine is growing

Maine: Somali youth sentenced to 8 years for raping woman; no prospect for rehabilitation says judge

Now to the latest, the murder of a Sudanese refugee in Portland.  From Central Maine  (hat tip: ‘Pungentpeppers’ crime researcher extraordinaire):

It’s America’s fault…

Richard Lobor’s family fled Sudan when he was a boy to escape the violence of civil war and the threat of execution.

But instead of finding safety in America, Lobor was shot in the head last month in the doorway of a Portland apartment, becoming the city’s only homicide victim this year.

Lobor, who was 23, was the oldest of the family’s six children and had been expected, in accordance with Sudanese tradition, to become the head of the family soon. Now his parents, Robert Lobor and Christina Marring, are asking themselves as they grieve how things went so wrong in a country they thought would lead their children to prosperity and a better future.

You can read the long discussion yourself of Lobor’s run-ins with the legal system.  Then this from his former attorney Gina Yamartino.  Honor the refugee experience she says.

The system failed him!

Although she ultimately relented and allowed him to be prosecuted as an adult, after Lobor insisted to her that’s what he wanted, she said she still feels “like the system failed him.”

“I don’t think we fully understand – and how could we? – what his experiences were before he got here. I truly believe he suffered from a fair bit of trauma, and coming here wasn’t going to fix it all,” Yamartino said. “I think we have to think long and hard about kids coming from different countries and understand what their experiences were and honor those experiences as best we can.”

Yamartino said that although Lobor’s criminal record looks bad on paper, that doesn’t tell the story of who he was.

SYSTEM INEXPERIENCED WITH REFUGEES!  (Not!)

Thibeault [Christine Thibeault, the head of the juvenile division of the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office] said those who work in juvenile justice in Maine are experienced in how to deal with childhood trauma from abuse and neglect, but have little background in treating trauma of refugee children.

Guess they better get to work then because more are coming to Maine every day.

We have a huge archive on Maine, click here to learn about many more problems Mainers are having!  See especially one of our top posts of all time—Maine as the welfare magnet.

Who brings refugees to Maine for the US State Department (and the UN):

USCCB (US Conference of Catholic Bishops)
ME-USCCB-01: Catholic Charities Maine
Address:
80 Sherman Street
Portland, ME 04101
Phone: 207-210-150

Immigrant welfare fraudster sentenced in Portland, ME

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Jail for two months then supervised release!

This is an update of a story we first reported back in May about Dafle Abdullahi Ali (we think he is Somali but my search just now for any reference to his nationality or a photo turned up nothing).

Maine the welfare magnet! Once again there is no photo readily available of the criminal in the case, so we resort to illustrating this post with what the mainstream media uses when they want to hide a criminal’s nationality—some innocuous photo.

Here is the news from the Sun Journal (hat tip: Michael):

PORTLAND (AP) — A Portland man who pleaded guilty to making false statements to obtain Medicaid, foods stamps and federal housing assistance funds while drawing a six-figure salary is going to prison for two months.

A judge also ordered Dafle Abdullahi Ali to pay restitution and sentenced him to two years of supervised release.

Prosecutors said Ali received MaineCare benefits and food stamps from 2008 and 2009 while he was owner of Home Health Care Solutions, which provided home-based care to the elderly and disabled. Prosecutors say he was making more than $100,000 a year but told the state he was making about $36,000 a year.

Judge D. Brock Hornby said Ali’s crimes were not victimless, noting that others who were truly needy were denied services because of the defendant’s actions.

For a better understanding of what the crook did to rip-off the infidels, see the May press release from the US Attorney’s Office in Maine.  You will see too that ICE was involved in the investigation—so what is his immigration status?  They never tell us!

 According to court records, in 2008 and 2009, Ali was an owner of and the director of
finance for Home Health Care Solutions, a Portland company that provided home based personal
care services to the elderly and disabled under the Maine Medicaid (MaineCare)
program. During that period, Ali also received MaineCare benefits and food stamps. On
February 19, 2009, Ali signed a form that he submitted to the Maine Department of Health and
Human Services (MDHHS) certifying that his joint income was only $1,382.50, paid bi-weekly
(about $36,000 per year), and that he only owned one bank account with a $1.00 balance. In
fact, Ali received more than $100,000 per year in income and had $48,000 in four bank
accounts.

Between August 2006 to November 2008, Ali and his family resided in a public housing
unit administered by the Portland Housing Authority (PHA). The U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) paid a portion of Ali’s rent based on a formula that considered
the amount of income and assets reported by Ali to PHA. Over that period, Ali underreported
his income and assets to PHA and illegally received over $22,000 in rent subsidies.

According to U.S. Attorney Delahanty, Ali fraudulently received and stole about $46,585
in MaineCare, food stamps and HUD benefits. Ali faces up to 5 years in prison on the false
statement charge, up to 10 years on the theft charge, and fines of up to $250,000 on each
charge. He will be sentenced after completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S.
Probation Office.

So much for a stiff sentence for Mr. Ali!

For new readers, this 2009 post about Maine as the welfare magnet for Somalis is one of our most-read posts of all time.

Somali man pleads guilty to rape charges in Portland, ME

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Readers, I have so much more to report on the “refugee” bomber boys, but virtually no time today (LOL! I’m the farm laborer around here!).  However I wanted to quickly post this update story about the Somali youth (all just youngsters in the mainstream media) in Maine (also a member, we presume in good standing, of the religion of peace) whose rape case has been dragging on because no one who admitted him to the US as a refugee actually knew how old he was.  More of our great screening of refugees from terrorist countries.

Ladies, how would you like to wake up and find this ‘youth’ in your bedroom? Photo Tim Greenway / Staff Photographer, Portland Press Herald

For background, here are our earlier reports.   Here is AP (thanks to a reader for sending it last Friday).

PORTLAND (AP) — An 18-year-old Portland man has pleaded guilty to breaking into a 50-year-old woman’s apartment as she slept and raping her.  [Guess she didn’t keep a gun!—ed]

Mohammed Mukhtar had sought to be tried on the charges as a juvenile. But under a plea agreement reached Thursday, the refugee from Somalia will face eight years in prison and could be deported after release.

He is being held without bail pending sentencing next Thursday in Cumberland County Unified Criminal Court.

The Portland Press Herald reported that Mukhtar pleaded guilty to charges including gross sexual assault, burglary and aggravated criminal trespassing.

The case went back and forth from juvenile court to adult court because of confusion over Mukhtar’s age. His lawyer said he was 17 at the time of the attack.

He could get up to eight years in prison (I thought rapists were getting 20 years these days?) before being deported.  Heck, why not just deport him now with others we are sending back to the ‘new’ Somalia.   And, save us some money!

Maine again: Somali rape suspect will be tried as an adult

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Perhaps prompted by my previous post about how lovely everyone is getting along in Lewiston, a reader just sent me this update of a story we first told you about in June.  Mohammed Mukhtar was charged then with raping a 50-year-old woman in Portland, but it was not clear until now when he was born.

Here is the story from the Portland Press Herald on January 15th:

PORTLAND – A Portland teenager who fought efforts to prosecute him as an adult for allegedly breaking into the room of a woman and raping her last year, gave up his fight Monday and will be tried as an adult.

Mohammed Mukhtar, now 18 by all accounts, appeared in a juvenile proceeding in Cumberland County Unified Criminal for what was supposed to be the third day of a four-day hearing that started in November.

But he withdrew his application to fight prosecutors’ motions Monday afternoon after only two witnesses had testified.

Since Mukhtar was first arrested on May 26, the case against him has yo-yoed back and forth between juvenile and adult court.

He was first charged as an adult, when Portland police used the birthday he gave them: Jan. 1, 1994.

Mukhtar admits, in a video taken of him at the Portland Police Department just before his arrest, that he broke into the 50-year-old woman’s apartment on High Street, took off his shorts and underwear and put on a condom.

He denied raping her.

After his arrest, Mukhtar’s attorney, Jonathan Berry, successfully argued that Mukhtar had been assigned the Jan. 1 birthday when he came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia and that his actual birthday is Oct. 25, 1994, making him a juvenile at the time of his arrest.

[….]

In the first phase of the hearing in November, Judge Richard Mulhern ruled that prosecutors had demonstrated probable cause for the charges against Mukhtar — gross sexual assault, burglary and trespassing.

A model refugee student likely resettled by Catholic Charities.

The second witness was Portland Police Officer Coreena Behnke, a school resource officer assigned to Portland High School where Mukhtar was a student.

She documented 17 different occasions during which Portland police had contact with Mukhtar.

Adult court means big jail time!

Though the case against Mukhtar won’t change, the potential penalty in adult court is much stiffer.

If convicted as a juvenile, he would serve no more than three years in juvenile detention.

As an adult, Mukhtar faces 20 years in prison.

Look! Really! Why waste taxpayer money keeping this guy in prison?  Let’s just deport him back to Somalia after he is found guilty.  Didn’t we just learn that Somalia wants its people to return to Somalia to help rebuild the homeland!  Put him in Somalia’s army, let him fight against al-Shabaab!

LOL! I wonder if Ms. Lindkvist of my previous post would characterize what Mukhtar is charged with as “micro-aggression” or “macro-aggression?”

For new readers we have resettled more than 100,000 Somali refugees to cities large and small in the US over the last 25 years.  See one of the most widely read posts here at RRW.  In three years since 9/11 ( Bush years 2004, 2005, 2006) the number of Somalis arriving topped 10,000 per year.  Those refugees then began bringing in the family (chain migration!) until 2008 when shock of shocks! the State Department discovered that as many as 30,000 Somalis had lied about their kinship and weren’t related at all.  The State Department then closed the “family reunification” program for Somalis.  It has recently been re-opened for new and legit family members, but they have no intention of finding and deporting the liars.