Springfield, Mass: Somali girls to stand trial for school fight

05/15/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

They, and the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts (media campaign?), argue that they were responding to 12 years of bullying and that charges should be dropped. I guess that will be the job of the trial court—to find guilt or not.

Are you listening Wyoming?

Springfield, in the “peoples’ republic of Massachusetts,” has been trying to get its refugee overload problem under control for some time. See especially this post of several—Mayor wants moratorium on resettlement, says contractors are “dumping” refugees.

Here is the story re-posted from Masslive at Somaliland Informer (emphasis below is mine):

SPRINGFIELD — A trial date for two Somali immigrant sisters who say they were persistently bullied in the West Springfield school system was continued Wednesday until Aug. 12, as a lawyer for one of the sisters said prosecutors have refused to dismiss charges against them in connection with a fight in the high school cafeteria last year.

Hibo and and Najma Hussein, both seniors at West Springfield High School, were charged with unlawful disruption of an assembly. Najma Hussein also has been charged with assault and battery. A lawyer for Najma Hussein said the girls have been unfairly targeted.

“Our position is that the girls are the victims of this incident, not the instigators,” said Bruce E. Colton after a brief hearing in Springfield District Court, adding that he believes a surveillance video from the school will prove the defendants’ claims.

However, a police report states the alleged victim in the case reported that Najma Hussein punched her in the face and scratched her eye, and that the sisters have been involved in similar incidents at school multiple times. A third sister, Filsan Hussein, 18, also was charged in the case. Charges against her were dropped because she was a minor at the time the alleged fight occurred.

Now get this, look how old they are and if they had been in America since 2000, they would have been only 5 or 6 years old when they came here—plenty of time to have been assimilated through 12 years of schooling in the US. I am not convinced that they have been harassed for all those years.

Najma and Hibo Hussein are 19 and 20, respectively. The family, including 15 siblings and their parents, immigrated to the United States in 2000 after living in a refugee camp in Kenya, where hundreds of thousands of Somalis landed after civil war broke out in their country.

The Husseins are Muslim, and said classmates have labeled them “towel heads” and “terrorists” since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Lawyers for the family members have argued the girls have been systematically abused at school because of their religious and ethnic backgrounds. Attorney Mickey E. Harris, who is representing the family, said their collective experiences have soured them on the American Dream.

“The question becomes does it get better or are they better off in a Third World country,” Harris asked. [LOL! Don’t answer that!—ed]

The sisters’ cause has sparked public discussion and a protest organized by the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts.

Isn’t diversity beautiful!

Update: Springfield, Mass. refugee task force to meet today

10/10/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

For our previous posts on Springfield, Massachusetts where Mayor Domenic Sarno asked the US State Department to halt resettlement of more refugees to the greater Springfield area until the ones already resettled had assimilated and dug their way out of poverty, go here.

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno wants answers!

This is the latest from The Republican, which had been thoroughly covering the controversial issue. It never ceases to amaze me how arrogant the resettlement contractors are and how unwilling they are to release even the most basic information about how the Refugee Resettlement program operates. You can see that as you read through the full story. Here is how it begins (emphasis mine):

SPRINGFIELD — Two months after Mayor Domenic Sarno urged the federal government to stop sending new refugees to Springfield, a local task force will meet Thursday to respond to the mayor’s concerns about hardships faced by the refugees and the city.

Sarno said the meeting, along with documents provided last week by the two refugee resettlement agencies in Western Massachusetts, seem to be a positive first step.

“Hopefully, this is the beginning of an open and honest dialogue with the resettlement agencies,” Sarno said Thursday, after receiving 14 documents that further explain the refugee resettlement program and the assistance received by refugees. “While we are an open and caring city, we cannot keep concentrating poverty on top of poverty.”

Sarno said he continues to have serious concerns that too many refugees are being placed in Springfield, straining city services such as schools, code enforcement, and police because of cases of substandard housing, claims of inadequate services by some refugees and their advocates, and challenges refugees face pertaining to language, education and employment.

The two resettlement agencies — the Lutheran Social Services of New England and the Jewish Family Services of Western Massachusetts – said they were unable to release information sought by The Republican last week regarding the numbers of refugees resettled in Springfield and the region in the past fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. In addition, they did not respond to a question if the refugees have continued being resettled.

There is more, read it all.

They say they can’t get the numbers easily?

They know how many were resettled in previous years, and here is where you find the number for FY2013 Arrivals by Destination City by Nationality by FY as of Sep 30, 2013

Holy cow! They resettled 1,771 refugees in Springfield just this year! (Update! The more I think about this, it can’t be right, something is missing at the data table. Maybe this is for the last ten years!)

Also, remember this may only represent a portion of the refugees who arrived in Springfield over the years because others may have come from other cities to join their relatives and friends there, so no one has the complete number of secondary migrants (they are not tracked).

Here are the countries from which they came (the highest number, 368, were Somalis):
Afghanistan
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bhutan
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Burma
Burundi
Dem. Rep. Congo
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Iran
Iraq
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Liberia
Moldova
Russia
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
Vietnam

I don’t know the names of surrounding cities and towns, but a local reporter could visit the site and put it all together for the area surrounding Springfield.

State Department responds to Springfield Mayor

08/31/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Barbara Day, the US State Department Office of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) Domestic Resettlement Section Chief, in a letter Wednesday, said PRM would be reviewing the three major contractors resettling refugees to Massachusetts when they make their plans for FY2014 (which happens very soon as FY’14 begins October 1).

When you read this consider that Barbara Day came to the State Department from Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota (a subcontractor of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, one of the three agencies she will be reviewing).

This is another example of the close ties between the grantors and the grantees. As we have reported many times on these pages, the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Health and Human Services (Eskinder Negash) is also a former contractor. I am sure they are honorable people, but there really should be a law against contractors becoming the federal grantor to their former organization.

***Update*** How could I forget that the Asst. Secretary of State for PRM, Anne Richard, is also a former contractor!

Here is Day’s letter, and by the way, she is the person you should contact at the State Department if you have problems in your city!

This news (and the copy of the letter) was reported in The Republican which has been doing a great job following this story. Read the whole informative article. This little segment (below) caught my eye because it shows what a large percentage of the money allotted to refugees goes to the “church” middlemen to run the operation.

I have said on these pages that these middlemen contractors (faux non-profits) should be shut out of the process and if a state agrees to resettle refugees it should be done through a state office COMPLETELY ACCOUNTABLE TO ELECTED OFFICIALS AND TAXPAYERS.

Here is what caught my eye:

Lutheran Social Services received $1,238,200 in refugee resettlement and refugee services funding in Hampden County in fiscal 2013. Of that amount, $362,500 goes directly to clients [refugees—ed] and $875,700 goes for operating the services, a spokeswoman said.

A significant portion of the funds, however, is not only for newly arriving refugees but for all refugees served, some for up to five years, the spokeswoman said. The grants include funding for services such as case management, education and employment efforts, according to a summary.

Read it all.

If you are arriving here for the first time, you can review all of our coverage of the controversy in Springfield, Massachusetts by clicking here.

Springfield MA Mayor stands by moratorium demand, says agencies “dumping” refugees

08/29/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an update of our post from Tuesday about the meeting that was held in Springfield, Massachusetts last evening where Mayor Domenic Sarno invited representatives of the refugee contractors to a gathering to discuss the city’s complaints about refugee overload.

08/28/13-Springfield-Republican Staff Photo by Dave Roback-Archbishop Timothy Paul, left, president and CEO of the Council of Churches of Western Massachusetts listens to Katheryn Buckley-Brawner during a press conference after meeting with Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno on the refugee matter in the city of Springfield.

Let me say at the outset—Springfield is not an isolated case.

RRW is filled with stories of resettlement contractors “dumping” refugees on communities. I am here to tell you, the agencies are paid to get refugees into their first apartments, try to find them some menial job (even if it is short-lived so their records show they did find them employment), arrange for the refugee’s legal social services and health care and then basically let the refugees sink or swim—sometimes as soon as three months, but rarely does any agency hang around over 8 months.

From The Republican:

SPRINGFIELD – Mayor Domenic J. Sarno did not budge from his request for a moratorium on new refugees in Springfield on Wednesday, but agreed to have the city take part in a joint task force to evaluate the current resettlement program and consider improvements to reduce any hardships on the refugees and the community.

Sarno and numerous city officials met for 90 minutes with approximately 30 representatives of agencies and advocacy groups involved in the refugee resettlement program.

During the meeting, and thereafter, Sarno continued to say the influx of refugees in recent years has strained city services, including the schools, police and code enforcement officials. He said he has serious concerns about refugees living in poverty and substandard housing, and not getting enough help and follow-up services from the service agencies.

He described the situation as “dumping” them on the city’s doorstep with language gaps, and lack of knowledge to get help and basic services.

“This is not an attack on refugees,” Sarno said. “It is about accountability of the agencies following through. What we are saying now is we are at a tipping point.”

Catholic Charity’s spokeswoman, Kathryn Buckley-Brawner, says they (the resettlement agencies) will investigate themselves about the “alleged” failure to follow-up on refugees (seems more and more lately, Catholic Charities is involved somewhere!):

Kathryn Buckley-Brawner, a spokeswoman for the coalition of refugee service groups, said there were “healthy disagreements” during the meeting, but it was “certainly very encouraging,”

“It’s our position that we want to maintain open communication with the mayor’s office,” Buckley-Brawner said. “What we want is to create a pipeline, so decisions are made in collaboration and communication with each other so that small problems don’t become huge problems, and to ensure resourses are there.”

The agencies will research the alleged lack of sufficient follow-up services “to determine to what extent the service agencies can do a better job with the city in meeting the needs of the refugees,” she said.

In your face Mayor!

The mayor cannot legally block refugee resettlement in the region, advocates said.

Frankly, I don’t think this is true! No one has ever tried it! I think there is a 10th Amendment (state’s rights) case to be made here. The problem is that the side that wants to bring the decision about refugees back to the state level hasn’t the resources to take this through the legal system, or politicians like Sarno don’t have the political will to do it.

But, short of a long drawn-out legal battle, citizens in the city can make such a political (media!) fuss that sometimes the State Department will step in and close a program so as to avoid bad publicity that might go national and damage the whole effort.

Maybe some of you remember that the State Department yanked the contract of another resettlement agency in nearby Waterbury, CT in 2008. The agency had come under fire in the newspaper for refugees living in sub-standard conditions. They may be up and running again by now, I don’t know, but they were at least stopped at that point in time.

The State Department and its contractors have been doing this, quietly resettling refugees to target cities for over three decades, and they have done so because the program is under the public’s radar screen, and heretofore the word “refugee” has invoked only warm, fuzzy feelings in the general public. I think all that is changing and I hope we have helped just a little to elevate the issue.

Click here for all of our coverage on Springfield.

Springfield, MA Somali says resettlement agencies don’t follow through

08/27/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a complaint that is at the root of how RRW got started in the first place. Friends and I noticed that refugees brought to Hagerstown in Western Maryland were being placed in sub-standard housing in crime-ridden neighborhoods and one local teacher said that other teachers felt compelled to find them coats for cold weather and sufficient bedding.

Calls to the resettlement agency went unanswered and consequently one sick refugee woman sent a child (who did not speak English) out to knock on doors to find help (that really blew up the situation). Word spreads fast in a small community prompting the inevitable questions: Why are they here? Who brought them? And, why isn’t that group taking proper care of them?

Coincidentally, just the other day I came across this report from Thomas Allen writing at the Social Contract about some of what happened in Hagerstown that led up to the closure of the resettlement program in my county seat in 2007 (in the wake of a public meeting!).

Ibrahim, translator Bedel Omar and Mayor Domenic Sarno at press conference Monday. Photo: David Roback / The Republican

Here is the latest from Springfield, MA where Mayor Domenic Sarno has called for a moratorium on further resettlement and plans a community meeting for tomorrow night. From WGGB/ABC40 (hat tip: Joanne):

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) — Springfield mayor Domenic Sarno finds an ally in his fight to reform the refugee program.

The ally is a refugee himself.

Abdulahi Ibrahim came to Springfield from Somalia.

He says Lutheran Services helped him settle here.

But speaking through an interpreter from the East Africa Cultural Center,*** Ibrahim says there was a number of areas where he felt isolated after he got here.

One in coming to a climate he’s never seen,”We have seen a new climate, cold, snow, which we have not seen in our lives,” says Ibrahim.

Ibrahim says he even felt alone when it was time to daily chores like shopping,”We don’t know where to shop, what to shop, we don’t know the language, what we are going to buy,” says Ibrahim.

Mayor Sarno says Ibrahim came to him, thanking the mayor for bringing up many of these same issues when the mayor said he was calling for a moratorium on refugees coming into the city,”We asked them about cold weather months, whether coats are provided , they’re saying no education, transportation, social followup, health followup, they’re not there,” says Sarno.

The mayor says there needs to be accountability from the social service agencies who are bringing refugees to Springfield,”It really highlights what my people have brought to me of their non-followup,” says Sarno.

The refugee problems that have come up will be brought forward on Wednesday when Mayor Sarno meets with social service agencies.

The mayor reiterates his decision to call for a moratorium on refugees coming into the city in Springfield.

Be sure to watch the news clip.

The Somali man is an older man. He surely gets SSI and other welfare help, and probably has no prospect of working. Indeed remember that Massachusetts is one of the top states in the Nation where welfare pays better than working for a minimum wage. The Wall Street Journal, reporting on a study from CATO last week, says that in Massachusetts’ welfare for a family is worth $42,515 per family (a figure which does not include the cost of educating the kids).

Editor’s note: Just as I’m writing this post I see there is a much more detailed report at The Republican about Sarno’s surprise press conference here. Ibrahim does have a wife and FIVE children, so he would be getting a boatload of goodies from the taxpayer.

The answer is NOT more taxpayer money for refugees and their resettlement contractors.

The logical answer to the resettlement agencies—mostly the Lutherans and Jews in Springfield—is to not bring more refugees to a town than they can do a quality job caring for. But, here is the catch, they are paid by the head (through the US State Department and then with more grants from the Dept. of Health and Human Services) to resettle refugees. So if they bring fewer numbers, their income drops. The original refugee law from 1980 envisioned that the non-profits would put in substantial funding themselves, but that isn’t happening.

If you are planning to attend the meeting in Springfield tomorrow evening, please have a look at our fact sheet for some help in coming up with questions!

Photo of Bedel Omar at the website of the East Africa Cultural Center. Same man?

The ECBO!

***Good luck finding out much about the East Africa Cultural Center in Springfield. This is about all I see (click here). This 2011 article says Bedel Omar was running something called the Somali Development Center which must have been transformed into the East Africa Cultural Center.

We’ve seen a lot of these ECBOs (Ethnic Community Based Organizations) which started as Somali-community organizing outfits broaden their mission and I’m guessing someone told them if they want to get federal $$$ to run their organization it needs to be broader than just for Somalis.

Here are the federal grants from ORR to ECBOs for 2012 (if you don’t believe me that our tax dollars are going to essentially encourage, not assimilation, but further ethnic division in resettlement cities.)

I haven’t written much about ECBOs lately, new readers can visit our entire category on the topic by clicking here. Basically they are mini-ACORNS helping their people get the “services” they are entitled to and then the organization serves as a conduit for political activity, voter registration etc.