We’ve told you about this case before, it has gone on since at least 2010. Four Somali refugee men were found guilty of supporting the terror group al-Shabab (sometimes al-Shabaab) in Somalia, but now they claim their constitutional rights were trampled by the NSA.
Masjid Al-Ansar where one of the guilty men led prayers for years. Photo: Amita Sharma (KPBS)
A San Diego federal judge Thursday rejected a new trial bid by four Somali immigrants convicted of terrorism-related charges earlier this year.
Judge Jeffrey Miller disputed the men’s claims that the controversial National Security Agency surveillance dragnet violated their rights.
The case against the men was initiated after the NSA found a San Diego phone number in 2007 linked to the terrorist group al-Shabab. The number was traced to San Diego cab driver Basaaly Moalin. A jury found Moalin and three other local men guilty in February of sending money to al-Shabab. The men contended that the NSA phone records program trampled on their constitutional rights against illegal searches.
[….]
Three of the four men are scheduled to be sentenced Monday.
So now we get to take care of them in prison. How about deportation?
And, the UN High Commissioner of Refugees is not happy and stresses that it be a “voluntary” return!
UNHCR tents at Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp. Tents should be easy enough to move back across the border into Somalia!
TheSeptember slaughter by Somali Islamic terrorists at the Westgate Mall appears to have been the final straw for welcoming Kenya.
Here is the story at Capital News (emphasis mine):
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 11 – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has stressed that the agreement for the repatriation of Somali refugees signed with the Kenyan and Somali governments on Sunday is based on the premise that the exercise will be voluntary.
In a press statement released on Monday, the UNHCR Representative in Kenya Raouf Mazou said, “It’s very important to underline that no one is forcing Somalis to leave Kenya.”
“The government and people of Kenya have tirelessly provided protection and assistance to Somali refugees for two decades. The agreement we signed on Sunday does not mean Kenya is no longer willing to do so,” he underscored.
[….]
Ever since Kenyan Defence Forces captured Kismayu, believed to be the operational centre of the Al Shabaab terrorists in Somalia, the Kenyan government has been pushing the UNHCR on the repatriation of Somali refugees.
The government has made it clear that the continued hosting of Somali refugees now comes at too high a cost given the spike in terror attacks on Kenya.
[….]
Being left without much choice the UNHCR now says it is focused on ensuring the repatriation exercise is carried out, “in safety and dignity.”
The agreement signed on Sunday will see the Kenyan and Somali governments as well as the UNHCR put in place a plan for the repatriation and reintegration of the Somali refugees housed in Kenya, establish how much that will cost and marshall those funds from the international community.
So, of course this means the US shouldn’t take another supposed Somali “refugee.” Right! In fact, it would be cheaper for America in the long run to help finance this repatriation then to take in thousands of needy Somalis as we did this past fiscal year.
Just a reminder, 7,608 new Somali refugees were resettled in the US in FY2013, here.
Mohamed Maow Photo: Liz Dufour, The Cincinnati Enquirer
Frankly, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for the employer—DHL Global Mail—since they were apparently unaware of the Somali penchant for setting up such claims against employers once enough of them were hired to make an impact on the workplace. Don’t DHL head-honchos read RRW?
CINCINNATI — For more than three years, Mohamed Maow worked at DHL Global Mail in Hebron, Ky. He said he earned $11.57 an hour to sort mail and was paid time-and-a-half for overtime.
Maow, 27, a refugee from Somalia who came to the U.S. in 2007, said he never received any negative comments about his performance.
Yet on Oct. 9, after he said DHL supervisors reversed a policy of flexible break times that allowed Maow and fellow Somalis time to pray, he was among two dozen Muslims fired for stopping to say five-minute evening prayers required by their religious beliefs.
What a surprise! CAIR Ohio comes to the rescue!
Maow’s is one of 11 complaints filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – of an expected 24 total – that allege DHL Global Mail fired a group of Somali Muslims for exercising their legally protected religious rights.
The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has filed the EEOC complaints on behalf of the fired workers.
“We are requesting all available remedies allowed under Title VII (of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964) and the Kentucky Civil Rights Act, including but not limited to: damages, reinstatement where appropriate and policy changes to ensure that all worker’s civil rights are respected,” said Booker Washington, CAIR staff attorney. [Washington’s bio is here—ed]
The article goes on to say that about 400 Somalis have moved into Erlanger (the friendship city!) and Florence, Kentucky.
Just a reminder, 7,608 new Somali refugees were resettled in the US in FY2013, here.
For your further reading, we archived the majority of our posts about Somalis protesting in the workplace in our Greeley/Swift/Somali controversy category. You might also wish to view our Stealth Jihad category as well because that is what this is all about.
LEWISTON — A local man was indicted on assault charges Wednesday, accused in a September stabbing he claims was self-defense.
Mahad Hassan, 25, of 214 Blake St., was indicted by an Androscoggin County grand jury on charges of aggravated assault and elevated aggravated assault.
Hassan is accused of using a broken bottle to stab 33-year-old Abdi Bihi in the face, neck, arms and back on the evening of Sept. 3 inside Hassan’s apartment.
Bihi survived his injuries. At a later court appearance, Hassan claimed he was forced to stab Bihi when the man came at him in a threatening manner.
Hassan has remained jailed since his arrrest.
See our lengthy archive on Lewiston, here. And be sure to read one of our most widely read posts of all time (8,826 views)—Somali migration to Maine.
I don’t know how many times lately I’ve seen stories like this one (especially as the push is on for Congress to get the amnesty bill done), but frankly the premise that immigrants are growing businesses faster and with more success than Americans makes no sense to me.
26-year old Somali woman owns a grocery store in Portland. How many 26-year old Americans have the money to open such an enterprise? Photo Bangor Daily News
How does a Somali with a small grocery or African trinket shop in Portland stay afloat? Is it done with extensive government supported help like micro-loans, or other special loans? Is there a little money-transfer operation going on in the back room? I can definitely see how immigrant-owned and managed convenience stores survive by tapping into the lucrative fraud of the Food Stamp program.
But, has someone done a study to back-up this oft-repeated claim that immigrants run stores/restaurants better and with more economic success than Americans?
Here is the story that got me wondering about this again, from the Bangor Daily News (emphasis mine):
PORTLAND, Maine — As the rest of Maine’s business community struggled through the Great Recession and its recovery, one sector of the local economy remained relatively unscathed and could, with the proper support, provide the state with a much-needed economic boost, according to experts.
Maine’s immigrant-owned businesses — situated mostly in the retail and food-service sectors — were for the most part insulated from the effects of the recession because their communities serve as a dedicated customer base, one that continued to grow throughout the recession, according to Charles Colgan, a professor at the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service. Maine’s foreign-born population has grown by 16.5 percent in the last 11 years, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
“They may have played a larger role in the business sector over the last few years than you would think, given the size of the stores and businesses,” Colgan said.
Though hard data isn’t available, Colgan suspects that immigrant-owned businesses in southern Maine’s retail sector are faring better than the state’s retail sector as a whole. He estimates that perhaps half of the newly established small retail businesses in Portland over the last few years may be immigrant-owned.
Immigrant-owned businesses also hold untapped potential that, given the right tools and a concerted effort, could help the state bounce back from the recent economic slump, according to Claude Rwaganje, founder of Community Financial Literacy in Portland.
Apparently the Portland Chamber of Commerce is interested in doing a study, but I sure would like to know if anyone (without a political bias!) has done a study of this sort. Please let me know if you know of such a study!
For new readers: We have dozens and dozens of posts about Maine. Just type ‘Maine’ into our search function. But, a 2009 post continues to be one of our most-read posts over the years—-Maine the welfare magnet.
