Wall Street Journal investigates immigrant jobs conflict in Shelbyville, TN

Entitled, ‘Job Fight: Immigrants vs. Locals’ reporter Miriam Jordan filed a lengthy and thorough story this morning about the little town of Shelbyville, TN and the on-going turmoil there involving refugee and immigrant labor competing with local residents for scarce jobs.

Read the whole WSJ piece here.

By the way, we have been following the immigrant problems in Shelbyville for at least a year and a half, and recently wrote this post about refugees being bused there for jobs.  However, it was a shock to learn that refugees are applying for jobs in Shelbyville from as far away as Boise, ID.

If you want federal grants it helps to inflate the numbers

Your tax dollars:

That’s the message I took away from this article in the Columbus Dispatch yesterday.  Apparently there is much back and forth debate in Ohio about how many Somalis actually reside there. 

Past estimates of Franklin County’s Somali population have ranged from 30,000 to 80,000. But a new report says that it’s more like 15,000.

An accurate number helps government agencies funnel funds for social services — English classes, jobs programs, etc. — to specific groups.

“Is it possible we have a grant proposal that says 40,000 Somalis? Yes,” said Angie Plummer, executive director of Community Refugee and Immigration Services.

But she said that grant proposals must include the specific number of people an agency expects to serve with the funds. That means while a grant proposal might refer to a population estimate, it will ask for funds to serve a specific number.

No one could say how much money has flowed in to help Somalis based on population estimates.

It’s a very interesting article, please read it all. 

Then here is a line from near the end:

Communities stand to gain money [taxpayer money!] and power by overestimating numbers, she ( Barbara Ronningen, with the Minnesota State Demographic Center) said.

Community Immigration and Refugee Services is a subcontractor of one of the Top Ten federal contractors, Church World Service.

‘Lynch mob’ runs refugees out of small Swedish town

Ah, that “welcoming” multicultural utopia we call Sweden where refugees flock by the tens of thousands for Sweden’s vaunted cradle to grave welfare system seems to be cracking a bit.   Hey State of Maine, you may have a “cadillac” welfare sytem but Sweden’s got a Rolls-Royce.

This morning there is news that in the little town of Vannas a ‘lynch mob’ gathered recently and succeeded in scaring a number of refugees out of town.

Nearly half of the predominantly Iraqi-refugees residing in Vännäs in northern Sweden have decided to permanently move out of the area after being terrorized by what police called “a lynch mob” in early May.

“I thought that Vännäs was the perfect place for us. And there are many, many friendly people here. But we still don’t dare to stay; I’m seriously concerned about my children’s safety,” said father of five Ismail Ramadan to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper.

Ramadan’s family and several others have decided to abandon plans of starting a life in the small community outside of Umeå less than two weeks after a group of 30 to 50 young people assembled outside the apartment building in which the refugees lived and began shouting threats and throwing stones.

The May 9th incident resulted in several broken windows and many frightened refugees.

The local refugee coordinator took action.

The weekend of harassment prompted municipality refugee coordinator Ingrid Lindroth to evacuate the refugees to safety.

The police said the incident was not that serious.   Read the whole story, but apparently it stemmed from an incident where a refugee boy was accused of assaulting a local girl.  We told you recently about the high rate of sexual assault cases Sweden was experiencing here.

But the move was criticized by police, who characterized the decision to evacuate around 40 refugees as “significantly more drastic” than necessary, adding that it complicated the police’s investigation into the incident.

Other townspeople and the local politicians begged the refugees to come back.

Muslims and Leftists riot in Greece (again!)

Update May 25th:  Jihad Watch has a good update with lots of comments today.

Check out the full story at the excellent blog, Islam in Action, but here is the gist of it:

ATHENS: Muslim immigrants clashed again with Greek police on Friday during a second day of protests in Athens over charges that officers tore up a Koran during an identity check of immigrants.

Nearly 1,000 Muslims rallied in the city’s central Omonia square in a demonstration organised by leftist, immigrant and anti-racism groups.

Several men in their 20s and 30s from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria and Somalia marched to parliament and the interior minister shouting “Allah! Allah!” and slogans in Arabic.

The Greek capital’s main streets were closed amid a heavy police presence.

Start here to read our previous posts on Muslim illegal immigration to Greece and what it is doing to the country.

Look to Europe with its Muslim immigrant problems and say after me:  we won’t let it happen here, we won’t let it happen here, we won’t let it happen here!

Why Maine, we are broke!

In a letter to the editor today at the Kennebec Journal, reader Larry Davis tells the governor to take a meat ax to the budget and asks some questions, No.1 interests us:

The budget deficit has grown from $340 million to $580 million and is expected to grow to $800 million.

It is time, dear governor, to get out the old meat ax; no, not the small one, but the extra large, double-bladed one you can hardly pick up. That’s right, heft it on your shoulder and ask yourself:

1. Why does Catholic Charities of Maine bring in wave after wave of refugees to one of the poorest states in the nation, and put them on our Golden Cadillac of a welfare system?

Mr. Davis, it’s because you do have a Golden Cadillac of a welfare system.   That’s why the Somalis went to Lewiston (see one of our many posts on Lewiston here), and the Sudanese to Portland (very latest on Portland refugees here, just two days ago).  We recently learned the Iraqis are on the way too.

From our post on unhappy Iraqis in Georgia:   

Refugees in Georgia are not immediately eligible for subsidized public housing, prompting some to migrate to states such as Maine where such housing is available. 

See more about Iraqis going to Maine here. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  You can’t stop secondary migrants (refugees resettled elsewhere who hear about “welcoming” Maine), but you can say no to the Refugee Resettlement program—the state of Wyoming did.

As a matter of fact, maybe it’s time for states to look into whether it’s even Constitutional for the federal government (through a government contractor which is what Catholic Charities is) to place immigrants in your states.  Or, at the very least start demanding of the federal government that this unfunded mandate be funded.

Somali with terrorist ties pleads guilty in Minnesota

Years ago Somali immigrant Mohammed Warsame was arrested on charges involving material support of terrorism after traveling to an Afghanistan training camp.  Yesterday the case came to an end according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

More than five years after FBI agents first knocked on the door of his Minneapolis apartment, terrorism suspect Mohammed Abdullah Warsame brought an abrupt end to his legal battles Wednesday by pleading guilty to a single charge of conspiring to provide material support and resources to Al-Qaida.

Four other charges against Warsame, 35, will be dropped, including providing material support to the terrorist organization and making false statements to the FBI.

[....]

Prosecutors described the plea agreement in a news release, saying that Warsame attended two training camps in Afghanistan in 2000, met Osama bin Laden at one camp, and later worked at an Al-Qaida guesthouse and clinic. In 2001, he traveled from Pakistan to Canada, establishing e-mail contacts with several Al-Qaida associates he had met in Afghanistan, the news release said. He sent money to one of his former training camp commanders, it said. After moving to Minneapolis, he maintained e-mail contact in 2002 and 2003 with several people associated with Al-Qaida, the release said.

Read on.

So why does this interest us?   We first told you that we had discovered that Minneapolis Somali Justice Center head honcho, Omar Jamal, was a relative of Warsame here.   We have written extensively about how Jamal, who had been convicted of immigration fraud and was expected to be deported, curiously places himself  in the middle of many issues involving Somali refugees and immigrants in the US.   He even went to New York recently to defend the Somali pirate.

Here his family connection to Warsame is mentioned in a 2004 CNN report:

Omar Jamal, Warsame’s uncle and executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in Minneapolis, told CNN he is prepared for a lengthy process.

And, here is what he said to Minnesota Public Radio a month later.  No mention of the family connection.

A spokesman for the Warsame family, Omar Jamal of the Somali Justice Center, said it’s important to keep in mind Warsame is innocent until proven guilty.

“We don’t have to lose the sight that this is an allegation from the government. This is subject to proof, burden of proof on the government side. This will be the thing in the court. This trial will go on very long period of time. And it’s going to be the part of the government to prove that,” says Jamal.

By the way, it is believed that Jamal himself came into the US through Canada.

Here is our archive on the many posts we have written on the flamboyant Omar Jamal.

Debbie Schlussel has an interesting (and new to me) immigration fraud story

The gist of the scam is that apparently in order to get out of the English proficiency portion of the American citizenship test, one has to get a letter from a doctor attesting to the immigrants mental incapacity.   Enter doctors who lie!  In this case, according to Schlussel, hundreds of Muslims from the Dearborn, MI area became citizens.  Check out the whole story at Debbie Schlussel’s excellent blog here.

Geert Wilders to be prosecuted for inciting hatred

I have no time to comment on anything today, but I want to do a couple of posts just to present some news. We’ve been following the case of Geert Wilders, the Dutch political leader who speaks the truth about Muslim immigration. The Dutch News reports:

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam party PVV, will definitely be prosecuted for inciting hatred against Muslims and Islam, news agency ANP writes on Wednesday.

A request by Wilders’ lawyer Bram Moscowicz to have the decision to prosecute quashed has been rejected by the Dutch supreme court.

Amsterdam appeal court said in January Wilders should stand trial for hate speech and discrimination. The public prosecution department had said earlier there were not sufficient grounds to prosecute the MP.

The anti-immigration MP said he expected ‘a political trial’. ‘I am being prosecuted for something millions of Dutch people are thinking… Freedom of speech is being sacrificed on the altar of islam. But I am ready to fight back with my head held high’, he added.

Hat tip: Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch.

Obama Administration sends $110 million to Pakistan for refugee aid

This story has been all over the  news (Washington Post, Politico, Fox and more), so surely you have seen it already. 

I had planned to post it while it was fresh but I was trying to find out if Clinton and Obama used ERMA (Emergency Refugee Migration Assistance) funds for this.  The fund itself stands at around $100 million and we know the Administration already sent $20 million from the ERMA account to Hamas (oops! Gaza Palestinians), so this Pakistan gift would wipe out the fund.  That $20 million of course has been the source of unending rumors that it was being used to bring Palestinians to the US.  Judy has twice clarified this story here and here  in response to a commenter.

So, if you didn’t see that we are sending $110 million to Pakistan for refugees (in addition to untold millions to Pakistan in general) here is the Washington Post story.  If anyone finds from which pot of money this refugee aid has been sent, please let us know!

The Obama administration said yesterday that it will provide $110 million in emergency aid for Pakistani civilians displaced by recent fighting in the Swat Valley, as a Pakistani military offensive against the radical Islamist Taliban and allied foreign fighters continues to drive people from their homes. 

The aid, announced by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is intended to help the Pakistani government meet the needs of nearly 1.2 million internal refugees who have fled the fighting in the past month in an exodus that U.N. officials say rivals that caused by the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Tens of thousands of Pakistanis are living in tents in squalid, sweltering refugee camps. Others are staying with relatives or host families or have rented temporary lodging.

Read on.

The Politico story (linked above) says that our military is going to give the money and supplies to the Pakistani military and aid groups to distribute.   How much military do we have in Pakistan?

Meanwhile, see this post about why we should not contemplate bringing Pakistani refugees to the US.

Bhutanese brutalized in Denver: No, not safe in America

Update May 21st:  Apparently this APFA story came from a longer Denver Post article, here.   The Denver Post had a couple of additional items that add to the story.  We have heard this frequently, caseworkers were not available to help frightened refugees (sick refugees where we live were unable to reach their caseworkers):

Dahal tried calling a caseworker instead, but nobody could come to speak with Mishras that night.

And understandably the refugees lament:

Our feeling is that we may be targeted,” Dahal said. “We’re new here. We’re lost. What do we do?”

 

Bhutanese refugees resettled in Denver have become the latest refugee victims of crime.  It seems that the Bhutanese (really Nepalese) and Burmese Karen Christians, both longtime refugee camp residents make attractive targets for robbers.   From APFA a Bhutanese news service:

Denver, May 20, 2009: The newly resettled Bhutanese in Denver, Colorado are getting passing sleepless nights due to increasing attacks on them  in the recent days. 

“Before leaving the refugee camp, I was thinking: We have problems. . . . I’ll feel safe in the United States. Now my feeling has changed. I’m not safe in the United States,” said Yadav Rizal, 39, who was robbed of $250, beaten and dragged behind a liquor store in northeast Denver.

Due to the attacks, he has to change his apartment, again becoming refugee in America. His family shifted to a new place on Tuesday.

Denver and Aurora police are investigating three crimes. This was the fourth instance of attack on the Bhutanese. After the May 8 robbery, Rizal was unconscious for five hours in a hospital. Seven stitches closed a gash over his blackened right eye. His head and neck still ache today, he said.

Arrrrrrgh!  Same old excuse from the resettlement professionals, we only have so much money and so we put refugees in the cheapest crime-ridden slums we can find, then we expect them to travel extreme distances to get to work and then we wonder why they are having a tough time.  Maybe consider bringing smaller numbers of refugees and giving them a better quality of life.

The attacks aggravate a difficult situation for resettled Bhutanese. The government grants them only $450 a month for eight months to resettle, forcing most to live in rougher areas where police and caseworkers say street crime is more frequent.

Since most resettled Bhutanese work for long hours, it is always late when they get back to home.

“Our promise is not just to bring them here,” said Paul Stein, Colorado’s refugee coordinator, who is planning emergency meetings with the Bhutan immigrants to help them improve their personal safety. “Our promise is to help them integrate. We have to do a better job.”

I will bet you a buck that Mr. Stein and whatever agency has the federal contract to resettle the refugees in Denver is busy right now lobbying for MORE refugees for Denver.   It is all about the almighty buck (taxpayer funding to keep them in jobs) and about patting themselves on the back for doing good works.  Good works, my foot!

BTW, in light of the crimes perpetrated by refugees in places like Portland, ME that I just told you about this morning, or the crimes where refugees are targets, I wonder what the law enforcement costs are for the refugee resettlement program.  I bet no one knows.