Somali terrorist defense: the Ethiopians made us do it

Ever since we started reporting in 2008 on the missing Somali former refugee youths who left the good life in Minnesota to go back to Africa for Jihad training, we have been hearing that it was all about ousting those bad Ethiopians from their homeland (never mind that most of these youths had never even seen their homeland).   It was a convenient excuse for joining Al Shabaab (an Al Qaeda affiliate) and the US Senate Homeland Security Committee was happy to buy into that excuse in March of 2009, here, too.

Now I see that one Somali, whose trial we are told opens today in Minneapolis, will say they were just fighting for their country (never mind that we thought they wanted to be Americans—isn’t that what the refugee program is for? Or, is it for raising healthy Islamic warriors to adulthood?).

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

MINNEAPOLIS – A group of Minneapolis-area Somalis, including some who traveled to their homeland to allegedly take up arms against the Ethiopian army, held secret meetings in 2007 to plan the trips, created fake itineraries to fool family members and challenged one another about their commitment, prosecutors contend in a court filing.

The document was filed this week in advance of a trial for one man accused of being part of the conspiracy.

It sheds new light on how the recruiting operation worked in Minneapolis and how some of the men arrived at safehouses in Somalia, where they received AK-47s and weapons training.

Since the fall of 2007, at least 21 men have left Minnesota for Somalia, where authorities believe they joined the terror group al-Shabab. Eighteen people have been charged in Minnesota in connection with the case, including Omer Abdi Mohamed, who goes on trial next week on terror-related charges.

Mohamed never traveled to Somalia, but he is accused of helping others who did. His attorney calls the allegations ridiculous.

“Omer was never involved in terrorism,” said defense attorney Peter Wold. “It certainly stirs the public sentiment to suggest that, but it is not part of this case, not a part of Omer, and that will be abundantly clear.”

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a socialist dictator and then turned on each other, causing chaos in the African nation of about 7 million people.

In 2006, Ethiopian soldiers, which many Somalis viewed as abusive, occupied parts of Somalia and a militant group called al-Shabab fought against against them. The U.S. declared al-Shabab a terrorist organization in early 2008.

According to prosecutors [even the prosecutors have bought into the Ethiopians made us do it defense---ed], starting in September 2007, Mohamed and others conspired to raise money to send men to Somalia to violently oust the Ethiopians. Others were also recruited to the cause. The group held meetings at mosques and restaurants, and took measures to keep things secretive.

Remember readers these are “youths” who received from taxpayers a roof over their heads, food stamps, jobs, and an education—the American Dream!   They said, s**** America we are going to be Jihadists!

So, now that the Ethiopians are not a problem in Somalia, how do they explain the recent rash of new American recruits who have gone to join Al Shabaab?

And, what do you make of the announcement earlier this month that Al Shabaab is capable of attacking within the US, here?

A little nugget of information on food stamp fraud

This is another article on an immigrant-run convenience store getting in legal trouble for questionable practices involving food stamps.  This guy, Jalal “Jimmy” Israil, has been dropped from the program and it doesn’t seem to be as big a deal as the multi-million dollar scams we have seen elsewhere, but the article in the North County Times had this bit of information I don’t want to lose.

Over the past 10 years, 8,045 retail stores nationwide were permanently disqualified for trafficking, Fox said. She said that in 2010, USDA conducted nearly 5,000 undercover investigations.

It looks like we can thank Obama for something—his administration seems to be going after this food stamp fraud epidemic.

Indians taking advantage of the great American Asylum scam

Thousands of Indians (from the booming economy of India) are being illegally smuggled across the US/Mexican border each year according to this account from AP in the Brownsville Herald.  Hat tip:  Gary.

LOS FRESNOS — Police wearing berets and bulletproof vests broke down the door of a Guatemala City apartment in February hunting for illegal drugs. Instead, they found a different kind of illicit shipment: 27 immigrants from India packed into two locked rooms.

The Indians, whose hiding space was furnished only with soiled mattresses, claimed to be on vacation. But authorities quickly concluded they were waiting to be smuggled into the United States via an 11,000-mile pipeline of human cargo — the same network that has transported thousands of undocumented immigrants from India, through Central America and Mexico and over the sandy banks of the Rio Grande during the past two years.

Indians have arrived in droves even as the overall number of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. has dropped dramatically, in large part because of the sluggish American economy. And with fewer Mexicans and Central Americans crossing the border, smugglers are eager for more “high-value cargo” like Indians, some of whom are willing to pay more than $20,000 for the journey.

[.....]

Between October 2009 and March 2011, the Border Patrol detained at least 2,600 undocumented immigrants from India, a dramatic rise over the typical 150 to 300 arrests per year.

[.....]

Most of the border-jumpers are seeking jobs, even though India’s economy is growing at about 9 percent per year. Once safely inside the U.S., they fan out across the country, often relying on relatives who are already here to arrange jobs and housing.

Indians have flooded into Texas in part because U.S. authorities have cracked down on the traditional ways they used to come here, such as entering through airports with student or work visas. The tougher enforcement has made it harder for immigrants to use visas listing non-existent universities or phantom companies.

The four Central American countries that have given the Washington DC area the greatest number of illegal aliens are some of the jumping off points as the Indians travel across the world to get to the US via drug routes through Mexico.

Also contributing to the spike was a quiet change in travel requirements in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. Beginning in 2009, those nations sought to attract investors by allowing visitors from India to enter without visas.

[.....]

Smugglers often move their cargo from India to Mexico via intermediate stops such as Hong Kong and Macao and other parts of China, as well as Singapore, Amsterdam, Ecuador, Brazil, Belize and Panama.

The pipeline shuffles Indians north using the same “plazas,” or corridors, preferred by cartels moving drugs into the U.S., Hinojosa said.

If they are not caught they disappear into the United States, if caught they claim they are persecuted back home!

Indians caught by U.S. authorities often claim they fled their homeland because of religious persecution. Then they wait for months in federal detention centers like Port Isabel, in the town of Los Fresnos, about an hour’s drive from the Texas-Mexico border.

On a recent morning at Port Isabel, young Indian men wearing navy blue detention uniforms filled the benches in Immigration Judge Keith Hunsucker’s courtroom. Sixteen of the 32 cases on the docket were Indian immigrants, including Salimbhai Mansiya, from the state of Gujarat, who had been detained more than a month earlier.

Through an interpreter, Mansiya told the judge that he needed more time to find an English speaker who could help him fill out an application for asylum. The judge ordered his case delayed.

The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review received 951 requests for asylum from Indian nationals between October and March — a six-month tally nearly equal to 1,002 asylum requests received from Indians in all of fiscal 2010.

Some seeking asylum can arrange to have their bond paid and are set free. Then they melt into American society and skip subsequent court dates. Immigration courts eventually order them deported, but only in absentia.

[.....]

Many of the Indians apprehended are Sikhs, followers of India’s fourth-largest religion, who tell authorities they face persecution back home and want asylum. Applicants need to convince officials that they have a credible fear of persecution in India. If so, the case is referred to an immigration judge.

Such persecution was common in the mid-1980s, when the state battled a Sikh secessionist movement, Kumar [Pramod Kumar an Indian Political Scientist] said. But today the ruling party in Punjab is Akali Dal, a Sikh party, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also Sikh.

“It’s all nonsense,” Kumar said of asylum claims.

There is more, read it all.

To understand more about our flawed and increasingly abused asylum system visit our category Asylum seekers.  Note the most recent case of a highly publicized asylum scam, here, when it was learned that the alleged rape “victim” in the DSK case lied magnificently in her asylum application.

Just a little background.  Asylum and refugee resettlement are the two halves of the Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980 (Kennedy/Biden/Carter).   Refugees are screened elsewhere in the world and brought to the US, asylum seekers arrive in the US on their own steam and say they are persecuted for one of several reasons—political views, religion, sexual orientation (that’s a biggy now).  Here is a definition from the Migration Policy Institute*:

Asylees: According to the US Refugee Act of 1980 and based on the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, any aliens, whether their current immigration status is legal or not, who are physically present in the country or at a port of entry may apply for asylum. An asylum seeker acquires asylee status when his or her application has been processed and approved and asylum is granted. A person granted asylum in the United States is entitled to a social security card, employment authorization, and other assistance.

*Incidentally, the Migration Policy Institute, although neutral sounding, is actually a pro-Open Borders outfit in Washington.

Oh, this is funny, I thought I would check on some numbers and came across this UN report with the blaring headline: ‘Asylum seeker numbers nearly halved in last decade, says UNHCR.’

But, get this, go down to the eighth paragraph and see that the US is the largest recipient of asylum seekers and our numbers are up!

Three more grateful (to be American) African refugees arrested in Portland

…..Police keeping busy in Maine’s “welcoming”city thanks to Catholic Charities and refugee resettlement (see here just in the last few weeks).  Hat tip: Susan

From Portland Press Herald:

WESTBROOK — Police arrested three Portland men Friday night on charges of burglarizing cars in the parking lot at the Cinemagic movie theater.

Officers dressed in plain clothes were investigating a string of car burglaries at the theater when they saw three young men entering several vehicles around 9 p.m., according to a news release.

Police said the men appeared to be targeting unlocked cars.

They arrested Ayub A. Hersi, 19, Mohamed A. Ali, 18, and Munye A. Mohamed, 18, all of Portland.

All three were charged with burglarizing a motor vehicle and taken to Cumberland County Jail.

Hersi also was charged with resisting arrest and was still in custody today, a jail official said.

Ali and Mohamed each paid $210 cash bail and were released.

Police urged drivers to lock car doors and keep valuables out of view.

How’s that diversity working for you Portland?   That reminds me, I wonder what ever happened to that Portland non-profit that was going to travel around the country to teach other cities how to be more open and welcoming to their growing immigrant populations?  Remember that story!  They were planning to visit Frederick, MD and Manchester, NH among other places to teach those folks how to appreciate their multiculturalism—oh yes,  LOL!, the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence!  Guess they got too busy in Portland.

North African refugees on NATO ship turned away by both Italy and Malta

Update July 18th:  “Refugees” European goal thwarted as they are sent to camps in Tunisia, hat tip Charles.

Malta dug in its heels and refused the warship entry, insisting the rescue had taken place closer to the other countries and that they should therefore have been transferred there.

Just so readers don’t forget that thousands of North Africans are (still) attempting to escape the joyous Arab Spring (Summer etc. etc) and get the heck to civilization in Europe, here is a short story about both Italy and Malta turning away a NATO ship which rescued just over 100 “refugees” from Obama’s Libyan war.

Over 100 African refugees from Libya rescued in the Mediterranean by a Spanish NATO ship four days ago have been refused shelter by Italy and Malta and are stranded at sea, officials said on Friday.

The ship was taking part in the naval blockade on Libya when it came across a battered boat crammed with “around 105 immigrants from North Africa,” said David Taylor, spokesman for NATO’s Allied Maritime Command in Naples.

Italian news agency ANSA identified the boat as Spain’s “Almirante Juan de Borbon” and said it had intercepted the fishing boat with 17 women — four of them pregnant — and eight children on board about 100 miles off Libya.

Italy has said its centres are already stretched by other refugees fleeing the conflict in Libya and does not have space for new arrivals, while Malta has said the Almirante is too far away and therefore not its responsibility, the report said.

Malta’s Interior Minister Carmelo Mifsud Monnici called on NATO Thursday to resolve the issue after the Almirante brought its human cargo towards Valletta only to be refused permission to enter Maltese waters.

[.....]

He said the refugee boat had been intercepted 141 miles off Malta.

“The problem is certainly NATO’s not ours, and it’s up to them to resolve it,” he said.

Hey, here is an idea, maybe they can just send them to South Africa, the Rainbow Nation, with its “welcoming” Constitution which will guarantee them all their rights whether legally or illegally in the country.

Some hope for Canada as Muslim leader seems to ‘get it’ about multiculturalism?

Just a little while ago, reader K. aka Kell sent this news from Canada.  I got all excited and thought, oh good, things will turn around if a Pakistani immigrant to Canada, a Muslim leader, dares to say things like this in response to Muslims demands for Muslim children to be excused from public school gym class and music class for religious reasons.  (Remember we learned here just a couple of days ago that Muslim prayers, sans menstruating girls, are permitted in Canadian public schools already.)

Mahfooz Kanwar, a member of the Muslim Canadian Congress, says he has some better ideas.

“I’d tell them, this is Canada, and in Canada, we teach music and physical education in our schools. If you don’t like it, leave. If you want to live under sharia law, go back to the hellhole country you came from or go to another hellhole country that lives under sharia law,” said Kanwar, who is a professor emeritus of sociology at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

Read the whole article.

And, as I said, I got excited for a minute that there might be some hope when along came reader PorkchopsforIslam with a dose of reality.

I would like to ask the Pakistani immigrant opinion on what Canada can do about its muslim immigrants now that
they are inside Canada? It seems that there is slight change in Canadian awareness about the implications of MultiCulturalism.

It seems that Canada has second thoughts. GUESS WHAT??? IT’S TOO LATE.  Like a virus once it gains admittance to the body nothing can be done. Can Canada ban the reading of the Koran that commands Muslims to obey Sharia?

Can Canada ever build a big enough security system to monitor its exploding muslim population..tracking down every appearance of Jihadist sentiment? Can it afford that? Can it afford to do it for the next thousand years as it tries to keep Muslims from reading and doing what their religion says?

So Canada traded its security, its sanity, its identity, its culture, its future…FOR WHAT? FOR WHAT?  What could possibly compensate Canada for what it has to go through now. All the West every had to do was say…NO!. Now all the West CAN DO is beg, hope and pray.

Nice trade off eh?

The fact that there are a few nice muslims in the mix? What is “nice” today will turn out quite differently tomorrow.
We have seen this over and over. A “nice muslim” is found with bomb materials, or supporting jihad..and everyone
is “shocked”. A “nice muslim” wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, loses his job, or is insulted, or becomes
religious..and VOILA..the whole cycle begins again.

There is only one answer and that is polite and complete repatriation.

A nice cash settlement to GO HOME and stay there. Now lets all go turn on the TV and read about today’s
Islamic terror activity…

As I said, dose of reality.

ANC official told to apologize over xenophobic remarks

Here is a story from South Africa you didn’t hear in the Western media.  Why? because it continues to destroy the myth of South Africa as the RAINBOW NATION and the multiculturalists (aka communists) don’t want you to know their little African experiment is failing.

On many previous occasions we have reported on the so-called “xenophobic” riots in which immigrants to South Africa were beaten and some killed by black South Africans basically trying to protect their livelihoods and families from the huge influx of other Africans flowing into “welcoming” South Africa.  [Of course those same South African blacks are terrorizing and sometimes killing the whites too, but that isn't my focus this morning.]   By the way, one man’s xenophobia is another man’s ethnic nationalism or tribalism (aren’t we all tribal?).

Back to my story….

An important member of the Leftwing ruling party, the African National Congress, Maggie Maunye, asked basically, WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH ALL THESE AFRICANS COMING IN HERE?  She was forced to apologize but in the process we get a glimpse into a nation that foolishly enshrined in its Constitution that anyone was welcome and all rights (except voting) would be extended to anyone who manages to get into its borders.

From Sowetan Live  (obviously this author is pretty ticked-off that Maggie Maunye would, through her politically incorrect words, demonstrate to the world that the old rainbow is imploding):

SOUTH Africa is known throughout the world as the rainbow nation.

This is so not only because of the colourful variety of people, cultures, religions and customs indigenous to South Africa alone, but also because of the openness with which we have welcomed many other foreign nationals, especially from other African countries such as Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and even as far away as Nigeria, the Congo and Somalia.

Since South Africa’s transition to full democracy in 1994, there has been a very large influx of especially African foreign nationals into the country, some of whom are seeking refuge from conflict, tyranny and-or persecution in their own countries.

Most, however, are simply trying to build a better life for themselves in Africa’s economic powerhouse. The presence of foreign refugees has, however, become a matter of national concern – particularly in the wake of recurrent xenophobic attacks.

The offending Maggie Maunye (see photo and credentials)

The critical comments on refuges that were recently made by ANC MP Maggie Maunye, chairperson of the Parliamentary portfolio committee of domestic affairs, require further analysis, even though she and the ANC have since apologised.

Maunye’s comments came just a day after two Somali men were brutally murdered in Delft on the Cape Flats, though the South African Police Service has stated officially that the motive for the crime is unknown.

Maunye, after visiting a refugee centre in Maitland, said she wondered “if there was anyone left in Somalia” and that she wondered “for how long is South Africa going to continue tolerating this influx of people”.

She continued: “In Spain one sees on television how they send refugees back and here we are told of human rights and laws … all types of excuses. Here we have people living in poverty, people who are unemployed. We have never enjoyed our freedom as South Africans”.  [And it just isn't fair---Mandela and the Leftists promised us a better life than when the whites ran the country!---ed]

Such statements can have an incendiary effect in the current climate of high unemployment and service delivery failure that pervades many communities.

Constitution says immigrants (legal or illegal) have rights! So suck it up Maggie!

Our courts have been very consistent in the view that the benefit of the so-called “universal rights” may be claimed by anyone within our national territory, irrespective of whether they are here legally or illegally, temporarily or permanently. These include Sections 10, 11 and 12 of the Constitution which entrench the rights to human dignity, life and freedom and security of the person.

Maggie spoke the truth, now we can all watch as South Africa (the former economic powerhouse) dies and hope that enough people in the West watch its death-throws and learn the lesson!

Addendum:  It was only a few weeks ago that Michelle Obama traveled to the Rainbow Nation to pay homage to Nelson Mandela, here.

Minneapolis: Somali robs bank in hopes of going to jail or being deported

This is a very strange story and a reminder that all refugees are not overjoyed to be here. I’ve advocated previously that the US State Department should have an option for refugees to go home if they want to.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune  (Hat tip Cliff):

A 20-year-old man told police he was hoping for prison or deportation after he threatened to blow up a downtown Minneapolis bank and then waited to be arrested, according to a criminal complaint.

Hassan M. Farah, of Minneapolis, was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree aggravated robbery in the holdup Friday of the Wells Fargo branch at 8th Street and Park Avenue. He remains jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Farah gave a teller a note that demanded $33,000 and a threat to “blow the bank right away,” according to the complaint. After being given $1,805, Farah sat in a chair in the lobby, the complaint said.

Farah told police he robbed the bank and was hoping to be imprisoned or deported to Somalia, the charges read. He was unarmed.

Update on that refugee-murders-refugee trial from Portland, ME

You can read all about it here in the Portland Press Herald.  (See earlier post here).  I’m wondering if Catholic Charities (the primary resettlement agency in Maine) might help pick up the tab from the taxpayers for the cost of the trial?

Our reader who sent this just now says there is one bright spot in the story—-the refugees are killing each other and not us!

Canada way ahead of the US with its ‘diversity is beautiful’ program

We have a whole category here at RRW about Canada and its “welcoming” refugee and immigrant policies.  Here then is a shocking column by Mark Steyn to serve as a warning to America.   You must open the link to see the photograph because this text does not do it justice.

From Steyn (How Clean was my Valley?):

Take a look at this photograph. It appeared in The Toronto Star’s education section on Saturday:

It’s the scene every Friday at the cafeteria of Valley Park Middle School in Toronto. That’s not a private academy, it’s a public school funded by taxpayers. And yet, oddly enough, what’s going on is a prayer service – oh, relax, it’s not Anglican or anything improper like that; it’s Muslim Friday prayers, and the Toronto District School Board says don’t worry, it’s just for convenience: They put the cafeteria at the local imams’ disposal because otherwise the kids would have to troop off to the local mosque and then they’d be late for Lesbian History class or whatever subject is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The picture is taken from the back of the cafeteria. In the distance are the boys. They’re male, so they get to sit up front at prayers. Behind them are the girls. They’re female, so they have to sit behind the boys because they’re second-class citizens – not in the whole of Canada, not formally, not yet, but in the cafeteria of a middle school run by the Toronto District School Board they most certainly are.

And the third row? The ones with their backs to us in the foreground of the picture? Well, let the Star’s caption writer explain:

At Valley Park Middle School, Muslim students participate in the Friday prayer service. Menstruating girls, at the very back, do not take part.

Indeed, have we returned to the Middle ages?  And, where is the women’s liberation movement?