South Dakota legislator wants more information on refugee costs, opposed by Lutherans and Muslim activist

01/09/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If you are a new reader, you might want to catch up by having a look at my South Dakota archive especially as it relates to meatpackers and manufacturers (and mayors!) there pushing for ever-greater numbers of refugee workers. South Dakota was on my 2016 road trip to see some of those situations first hand.
And, see my previous post this morning to see who and what this South Dakota Senator is really up against—big powerful moneyed interests on the national level.
Here is the Argus Leader:

PIERRE — A state senator on Monday said he would convene a legislative panel to evaluate South Dakota’s immigration and refugee resettlement programs with an eye toward the cost to taxpayers.

neil tapio 2 — Senator Neil Tapio: http://www.capjournal.com/news/islamic-terrorism-statement-is-rejected-by-state-senators/article_39b1e1ae-03c5-11e7-b359-475b59a40867.html

Sen. Neal Tapio, a Watertown Republican and likely U.S. House candidate, said he was worried about the added expense immigrants and refugees placed on the state and local governments.

“Each level of government has expended costs but we don’t know what the costs are,” Tapio said. “We have to understand the impact these groups are putting on limited financial resources of our state.”

Refugee resettlement advocates said they hoped Tapio’s panel would highlight the positive aspects of bringing refugee and immigrant groups to the state including cultural diversity and long-term boosts to workforce and earnings.

[Republican] Gov. Dennis Daugaard said the efforts to probe the state’s immigrant and refugee placement procedures weren’t needed.

[….]

While the workgroup has not yet met formally, Tapio said members would weigh bringing legislation rescinding the state’s agreement to allow Lutheran Social Services to resettle refugees in South Dakota or requiring additional state oversight over LSS.

Lutherans find laborers for big business. Taxpayers fund Lutherans for that service. In fact, LSS’s mothership, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service headquartered in Baltimore signed two contracts with two BIG MEAT companies in 2017. See here and here.
I had to laugh about this LSS CEO bragging about transparency with refugee resettlement. What a joke!

Betty Oldenkamp, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services, defended LSS’ effort to keep lawmakers informed about refugee resettlement in the state.

taneeza islam — She came over from Minnesota where she was the “civil rights” director of CAIR. http://www.tislamlawoffice.com/attorney-profile

“It’s our commitment to be very open and transparent with our information with our work with refugee resettlement in South Dakota,” Oldenkamp said, “and I think we have a good history of providing that to elected officials.”

Not a surprise that immigration lawyer Islam opposes any study of economic impact of migrant labor:

Taneeza Islam, executive director of South Dakota Voices for Peace, questioned the need for such a workgroup and said Tapio’s calls for an investigation put “immigrants, refugees and Muslims in real danger.”

More here.

Refugees, which is it: Meatpacker laborers or helping the "oppressed?"

01/04/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ali Noorani of the National Immigration Forum tries both arguments in USA Today.

ali noorani twitter — Ali Noorani on twitter: @anoorani https://twitter.com/anoorani?lang=en

I wasn’t planning to post on one more hysterical story about Trump refugee numbers being low and thus decimating the refugee contractor industry, but I can’t resist mentioning one little bit of the story entitled:

Refugee admissions to U.S. plummet in 2017

Before I get to Noorani, Mark Krikorian summed it up with this:

“Elections have consequences,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower levels of legal and illegal immigration. “This is what he said he’s going to do, and he’s doing it.”

Readers, for years and years, refugee advocates pretended they have nothing to do with the global meatpacking industry and its ‘need’ for cheap migrant labor, but now even savvy DC operatives like Noorani trot out the argument feigning concern for Midwestern economies.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which has advocated for a higher refugee cap, said many Midwestern cities depend on refugees to work in the meat-packing and poultry plants that sustain their struggling economies.

Okay and if that establishment Rightwing argument doesn’t float your boat, he moves on to moral duties, historic roles and oppressed people so he can hit the Leftwingers too:

As more migrants are fleeing their homelands, Noorani said now is the worst possible time for the U.S. to retreat from its historic role as a “moral beacon” for the oppressed.

“There are ways to help refugees get to places of safety and begin a new life that serves the American interest,” Noorani said. “Past administrations have been able to do that. This administration is not that so interested.”

American interest? Or global meatpackers’ interest (subsidized by US taxpayers)?

This “new life to serve American interests” was on full display in a Washington Post story (hat tip: Melanie) the other day about a South Dakota turkey plant and how it gets its migrant laborers (this time plane loads from Puerto Rico to join the refugee labor force, but they have to pay back their airfare out of their paychecks!).
It made me sick, especially because I traveled to Huron in the summer of 2016 to see how that plant, Dakota Provisions, was changing (forever) the city of Huron.
Is this what Noorani thinks “serves the American interest?” Grover’s interests maybe?

If I ever stop writing this blog, I’m writing a modern day “The Jungle.” It is long overdue!

I can happily skip eating turkey!

Aberdeen, SD: Somali refugee sentenced to 3 years for attempted sexual assault of a mentally challenged woman

03/28/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

When we first reported this case, it was learned through an apparent miscommunication by lawyers for the defendant that he had only arrived in the country the week before the incident occurred in July of last year. Now we learn he was a wandering Somali who had first been resettled in Idaho three years ago and had drifted from state to state ever since.
Before this case hit the news we had heard about the mayor there supporting the proposed opening of a direct resettlement site in Aberdeen and that citizens were upset. Click here for our first story on Aberdeen. I then visited the city during my travels throughout the Midwest and West last summer where I was mostly interested in seeing meatpacking towns that were being changed with the influx of refugee laborers.

Mayor Levsen gave a state of the city address last month. Note “immigrants” adding to Aberdeen population. http://www.aberdeennews.com/news/photo-gallery-state-of-the-city/collection_46caa9fe-e98d-11e6-ad76-3389dd13c3c0.html

Here is what happened in an Aberdeen court yesterday, from Leo Hohmann at World Net Daily:

Liban Mohamed, a 39-year-old Somali refugee living in Aberdeen, South Dakota, was sentenced Monday to three years for attempting to sexually assault a severely mentally handicapped woman at a group home.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mohamed said he didn’t know English. Yet, he was seen communicating with his lawyer in English.

Judge Richard Summers sentenced Mohamed to five years, with two years suspended for a total of three years and gave him credit for time served of 228 days. Mohamed is not a U.S. citizen, but he has been living in the United States on a green card. [I assume there was no order for deportation after he finishes his sentence, will he be wandering to your state in three short years?—ed]

The incident happened July 30, 2016, just three days after Mohamed had arrived in Aberdeen to work at the Demkota Ranch beef-processing plant. He’d been in the country for about three years at that point, having been first resettled in Idaho. He then moved to Missouri, Kansas and on to South Dakota.

It’s not the only case recently of a Somali refugee running afoul of the law. Another man from Somalia, 24-year-old Abdirhman Noor, was charged with the attempted murder of two men on July 8, 2016, outside the Foxridge Apartments in Aberdeen. Noor jumped bail, failing to show up for a pretrial hearing in February. He has been missing ever since.

Still, the mayor of the small city, Mike Levsen, supports the continued arrival of refugees, many of whom are put to work in the local meatpacking plant and at a molded fiberglass plant.

The Liban Mohamed case was also notable for the way it was handled by the local media in and around Aberdeen.

Despite the facts – that a helpless woman was preyed upon by a refugee who had arrived in town just days earlier – coverage by the local newspaper, the Aberdeen News American, and local TV was non-existent until WND brought it to light.

When it did finally report the story, the News American refused to tell its readers that the perpetrator, Mohamed, was a refugee and buried the story on page 3.

The Brown County Sheriff’s Office refused to give WND a mugshot of Mohamed.

There are many more details. Continue reading here.
I wonder what his arrest, his legal counsel, his interpreters and his incarceration is costing the taxpayers of South Dakota? So much for refugees adding to local economies!
Aberdeen citizens might wish to review the ‘Rutland model’ regarding mayors.

If SD governor willing to do this, why not take next step, join the Tennessee States' rights case?

03/19/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

First, South Dakota is already a Wilson-Fish state which means a private non-profit group determines (along with the US State Department in Washington) how many refugees are placed in the state and where in the world they come from. Elected officials have little say over the process.
In SD they are trying to get some control.

Citizen activists should push the Governor to join the Tennessee lawsuit! https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/03/14/tennessee-files-suit-against-federal-government-over-cost-to-state-of-refugee-program/

Here we learn that the state legislature passed, and the governor signed, a measure in to law that restricts South Dakota’s Department of Social Services (aka welfare agency) from entering agreements with feds and their agent in the state—Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota.
From the Tenth Amendment Center:

PIERRE, S.D. (March 17, 2017) – South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard has signed a bill into law repealing the authority of the state Department of Social Services to enter into agreements related to the Refugee Act of 1980.

A coalition of 12 Republican representatives and senators sponsored Senate Bill 124 (SB124). Originally, the bill would have required the state legislature to approve refugee resettlement in the state, effectively giving it a veto over future resettlement. An amendment in the State Affairs Committee stripped away the approval requirement. But the law did strip the authority of the state Department of Social Services to unilaterally enter into agreements with the federal government for refugee resettlement by repealing SD Codified L § 28-1-47 (2015). That provision allowed the department to “enter into agreements with agencies of the United States for the purpose of participating in the Refugee Act of 1980.”

Increasing reporting requirements is important….

The new law also increases reporting requirements for private agencies in the state assisting with refugee resettlement. Agencies must report information including services provided, demographics and the number of refugees assisted from each country.

But…..

From a practical standpoint, SB124 won’t change much, other than the reporting requirements. Currently, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota runs the state’s resettlement program. That won’t change under the new law and it won’t limit resettlement.

But the law does increase transparency and gives the state more control over future resettlement. It will also prevent the state from directly running resettlement programs without legislative action.

Time for South Dakota to take the leap! Join Tennessee. State legislators who have led this fight should call the Thomas More Law Center to see how to join.
See our South Dakota archive here. I traveled through the state last summer during my 6,000 mile trip to troubled refugee hotspots. Grassroots activists there are increasingly organized.
BTW, the last I heard the Somali charged with attempted murder (who jumped bail) is still missing.

Somali refugee charged with attempted murder is missing in South Dakota

03/02/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Is he headed to the Canadian border—to the welcoming arms of boy Trudeau? (That was my first thought on reading this latest news!)
And, interesting coincidence that he makes his getaway just as the state legislature there is debating whether the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program is good for South Dakota or not! See here.
From Leo Hohmann at World Net Daily:

A Somali man who came to America as a child refugee has jumped bail and remains at large after being charged with attempted murder in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

abdriham-ahmed-noor — Somali refugee Abdirhman Ahmad Noor is on the run in South Dakota (or ????)

Abdirhman Ahmad Noor, 24, is charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly shooting at two men on July 8 in or near the parking lot of the Foxridge Apartments in Aberdeen. Noor was said to have chased the two men down, firing at them. One man, Dar’na Tansmore, was hit and laid wounded on the ground when Noor allegedly walked up, stood over his victim and shot him again.

Tansmore was taken to a hospital in Sioux Falls and survived. Police have not given a motive for the shooting.

About half of the residents at the Foxridge Apartments are Somalis, according to Aberdeen residents. The July shooting was followed by another incident involving a drive-by shooting in early September in which no arrests have been made. On Aug. 14, another incident took place just south of the apartments when a man identified as Ehkhu Poe allegedly charged a police officer with a knife and was shot twice but survived to face charges.

Some residents told the local paper they want to move, while others said they live in fear and keep their doors locked all the time.

Noor was scheduled to appear in circuit court in Aberdeen Tuesday for a pre-trial hearing, but he failed to appear. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

Just before 6 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, the Brown County Jail confirmed to WND that Noor was still not incarcerated there.

His attorneys had also filed a motion to suppress information Noor gave to local police, arguing that English was his second language, according to court documents.

Lutheran Social Services South Dakota has been paid by the federal government to resettle 947 Somali refugees in South Dakota since 2002. Most are sent to the cities of Sioux Falls and Huron, but some make secondary migration to Aberdeen to work in the meatpacking and molded fiberglass plants there.

More than 132,000 Somali refugees have been resettled in more than 200 U.S. cities and towns since civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991. Somali refugees have recently been implicated in terrorist knife attacks on the campus of Ohio State University on Nov. 28 and at the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on Sept. 17 last year. Eleven were wounded at Ohio State and 10 were wounded in the St. Cloud attack.

Noor has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Judge Jon Flemmer set Noor’s bond at $50,000 cash, after the state’s attorney requested it be set at $400,000. Noor was incarcerated for nearly three months, from July 8 to Oct. 11, at which time his family came up with the $50,000 cash bond and he was freed pending trial on March 15.

But that’s unlikely to happen now since no one can find Noor, who became a U.S. citizen about eight years ago, county officials told WND. [And, he still can’t speak English well?—ed]

Aberdeen’s local newspaper, the American News, made no mention in its story Wednesday of Noor’s status as a Somali refugee. The same paper did not cover the trial of another Somali refugee, 39-year-old Liban Mohamed, who was convicted in December of attempted sexual assault against a mentally incapacitated woman at a group home in Aberdeen. After WND reported on the conviction, the American News did publish an article but buried it on Page 3 and did not mention that the sex crime was committed by a Somali refugee.

There is much more!
Continue reading here and note that his lawyer is claiming that Trump’s earlier travel ban will mean he can’t get a fair trial.
See all of our coverage on South Dakota by clicking here.

Repetition Alert!

Refugee resettlement is not first and foremost about humanitarianism, it is about business and cheap legal immigrant labor!
I stopped in Aberdeen in July (on my 6,000 mile fact finding trip) at the behest of citizens there worried about meatpacking companies luring refugee labor to their small cities. BTW, that local newspaper, and the mayor, are really in the tank for the business community that wants the cheap refugee labor. Citizen critics of the program are vilified at every opportunity.