Ho hum! Danes arrest Somalis for terror plot

Two Somali young men, Danish citizens who had lived in Denmark since they were tiny children have been arrested on terror charges linked to Al-Shabaab.

Here is the story from the Associated Press about the two grateful (not!) young men who were given a chance at a good life by Denmark and said basically “shove-it.”

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Two Danish brothers originally from Somalia were given four weeks of pre-trial detention Tuesday after they were arrested by Denmark’s security service on suspicion of plotting a terror attack.

The older brother, aged 23, was also suspected of having received terror training from the Somali militant group al-Shabab, the PET security service said.

He was arrested late Monday at Copenhagen’s international airport as he arrived by plane from an undisclosed location. At the same time, his 18-year-old brother was arrested in the city of Aarhus, in western Denmark, PET said.

[....]

U.S. and European officials fear that young recruits from Somali immigrant communities in the U.S. state of Minnesota,* Britain, and the Nordic countries could train in Somalia and return to carry out attacks.

PET head Jakob Scharf said that between 25 and 40 people “with connections to Denmark have received training or taken part in militant activities with al-Shabab in Somalia,” and at least two people with connections to Denmark have committed suicide attacks in Somalia.

[....]

The 23-year-old had been at an al-Shabab training camp in Somalia from Jan. 18 to Feb. 21, prosecutor Lone Damgaard said. He was the first person in Denmark charged with receiving training with the aim of committing an act of terror.

The charges, which are preliminary, were read out at the Aarhus City Court behind closed doors, as is customary in terror cases.

“We are shocked that some young people who have lived in Denmark for the past 16 years decide to travel to Somalia to make contact with al-Shabab,” said Abdirahman M. Lidle, a spokesman for an umbrella association of 13 Somali groups in Aarhus.

Lidle said he was not sure if he knew the men. “There are 500 to 600 young Somalis in Aarhus and we cannot know everything,” he said.

Denmark has been in the crosshairs of Islamist terror groups since the publication of newspaper cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005, an act that offended many Muslims.

A Somali man living in Denmark was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to 10 years in prison after breaking into the home of one of the cartoonists with an ax in 2010.

* We have written dozens and dozens of posts on the Somalis who thumbed their noses at the good life given to them through the refugee resettlement program of the US State Department and went back to Africa for terror training—search RRW for “Somali missing youths” and all of those posts should pop up.

Kansas governor signs bill to ban foreign laws in Kansas courts

And, of course the Islamic lobby is going nuts.   According to this story at Fox News, Kansas becomes the 4th state to enact the so-called “American laws for American courts” model legislation.  (Hat tip: Greg)

But, Governor Brownback’s signature on this bill is ironic since as a US Senator he helped open the Somali Muslim floodgates to America!

First, here is the story about the bill-signing last week:

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a law aimed at keeping the state’s courts or government agencies from basing decisions on Islamic or other foreign legal codes, and a national Muslim group’s spokesman said Friday that a court challenge is likely.

The new law, taking effect July 1, doesn’t specifically mention Shariah law, which broadly refers to codes within the Islamic legal system. Instead, it says courts, administrative agencies or state tribunals can’t base rulings on any foreign law or legal system that would not grant the parties the same rights guaranteed by state and U.S. constitutions.

“This bill should provide protection for Kansas citizens from the application of foreign laws,” said Stephen Gele, spokesman for the American Public Policy Alliance, a Michigan group promoting model legislation similar to the new Kansas law. “The bill does not read, in any way, to be discriminatory against any religion.”

But supporters have worried specifically about Shariah law being applied in Kansas court cases, and the alliance says on its website that it wants to protect Americans’ freedoms from “infiltration” by foreign laws and legal doctrines, “especially Islamic Shariah Law.”

[.....]

….laws similar to Kansas’ new statute have been enacted in Arizona, Louisiana and Tennessee.

Read it all!  See CAIR go nuts.

Now get this!  This is the same guy (Brownback) who as Chairman of a Senate immigration subcommittee pushed for the resettlement of Somali Bantu into the US (and lots of other refugees as well!).   However, after initially saying ‘we will take some in Kansas,’ he changed his tune when rumblings from his state indicated that it was not something the average Kansan was open to—AND 911 happened.   Here is a short segment from a very detailed article from Thomas Allen at VDARE, written in 2003, about the now ten-year-old Brownback change of heart:

Anywhere but Kansas!

When it comes to mass immigration, Sam Brownback is not just another Senator. He played a key role in sabotaging Republican support for the 1996 Smith-Simpson bill, the last serious effort at immigration reduction. And when the State Department accepted the Somali Bantu, and discussions began about where they would go, he was chairman of the Senate immigration subcommittee.

State Department officials say Brownback had told both them and U.N. refugee chief Ruud Lubbers that he was “interested in resettling more refugees in Kansas.” State began exploring the feasibility of resettling the Bantu in Wichita, Kansas.

According to Chris Renner, Program Director of the Kansas Board of Education, the Senator was the catalyst of the resettlement plan and “to make a long story short, he … lent his support to the resettlement of this population in Kansas.”

But apparently Kansas did not like the resettlement proposal any more than Maine and Massachusetts do. And after 9/11, Brownback announced a change of heart.

Change of hearts are O.K. as long as everyone knows the history of what happened and the people involved in bringing the largest groups of Muslim immigrants to the US—anyone involved with refugee resettlement—apologizes for what they are and have done to the country.   There would be no need for laws like this one if we weren’t importing the Islamic foot soldiers for groups like CAIR.

Flood of Somalis to Kansas anyway!

By the way, even if Brownback had a change of heart, he couldn’t stop the flood of Somalis to Kansas.  Remember in 2007 we began writing  many posts on the trouble in Emporia, KS as the town became flooded with Somali workers for Tysons Food (gee I wonder if Brownback was getting campaign donations from Tyson and other meatpackers looking for cheap and captive labor?).  We created a whole category on the problems in Emporia, here.

Tyson Foods closed the Emporia operation and moved the Somalis to other meat packing towns.  One was Shelbyville, TN, but some went to Garden City, KS where the somalification of Kansas is occurring at this very moment.   LOL!  It is Garden City where the Somalis want a special publicly-funded Muslim cemetery so they don’t need to be near infidels even in death.  I mentioned the Garden City cemetery in my post yesterday on Muslims demanding cemeteries in Europe, here.

So, it’s all well and good if there is no Shariah law allowed in Kansas courts, but Shariah is creeping into Kansas anyway in the most unlikeliest of places—local government training sessions (again, see somalification of Kansas) on how to understand Somalis in order to “serve” them better and local government decisions about segregated cemeteries.

Europe getting ready to control immigration if Euro collapses

They get it!  Immigration must be controlled in floundering economies, but will it be too little too late for Europe?

Here is an article from The Telegraph in which a Member of the British Parliament says they are getting ready to halt one of the most important parts of the EU government where people from member states can freely cross borders to work.   They fear most that the collapse of Greece will send thousands upon thousands to the few countries still holding their economic heads above water, especially Britain.

In an interview in The Daily Telegraph, Theresa May says “work is ongoing” to restrict European immigration in the event of a financial collapse.

People from throughout the EU, with the exception of new member countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, are able to work anywhere in the single market.

However, there are growing concerns that if Greece was forced to leave the euro, it would effectively go bankrupt and millions could lose their jobs and consider looking for work abroad.

The crisis could spread quickly to other vulnerable countries such as Spain, Ireland and Portugal, although Britain is regarded as a safe haven because it is outside the single currency.

[....]

The introduction of immigration controls within the EU would undermine a key part of the single market. However, it is allowed in “exceptional” circumstances under European law.

Controls are most likely to include restrictions on people seeking to work in Britain, who could be made to apply for visas.

[....]

David Cameron has already said that Britain has made contingency plans to deal with the break-up of the single currency.

Too late?

But, according to this article (be sure to open the link to see the photo) also from The Telegraph (last month), it may be too late for Britain to control any immigration.  Who is to blame?

Many of us can identify with these concerns. And being sensible, like Joe Public, we do not blame immigrants for failing to integrate: the blame lies at the feet of our rulers for failing to set clear boundaries by requiring them to learn English, respect British culture and obey the house rules. Instead, the British have been exhorted to change the rules to accommodate the newcomers. It may come as no surprise to read that the Office for National Statistics has discovered that one in eight people in the UK is now foreign born.

Israel swamped with African migrants, Israelis riot

This is a story from this past week that I hadn’t had a chance to post until now.

From Reuters:

JERUSALEM, May 24 (Reuters) – Surging street violence against African migrants, including a rampage that an Israeli broadcaster dubbed a “pogrom”, drew empathy for the rioters from the interior minister on Thursday.

Waving Israeli flags and chanting “Deport the Sudanese”, residents of a low-income Tel Aviv neighbourhood where many of the border-jumpers from Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan live held a march late Wednesday that turned violent.

Police said 20 people were arrested for assault and vandalism. Trash cans were set alight, storefront windows were broken and a crowd attacked an African driving through the area, breaking his car’s windows. No serious injuries were reported.

Interviewing Interior Minister Eli Yishai, Army Radio likened the incident to pogrom attacks on Jews in 19th century Europe. Yishai bristled at such language, citing police findings that Sudanese and Eritrean migrants were a crime risk.

[....]

Fleeing poverty, fighting and authoritarian rule, some 60,000 Africans have crossed illegally into Israel through the relatively porous desert border with Egypt in recent years.

[....]

Unchecked, the number of Africans illegally in Israel could reach millions and overwhelm the citizenry, Yishai predicted.

“So what, the State of Israel, as the Jewish state, in the name of democracy, in the name of honouring U.N. resolutions, (should accept) a recipe for suicide?” he said.

“The truth has to be told, and believe me it is hard and it hurts, as we are the Jewish people, a merciful people.”

A recipe for suicide—indeed!

Update:  Yikes!  I hadn’t thought of this, but Patrick Cleburne writing at VDARE suggests we could get some of Israel’s illegal alien Africans.  After all, that is precisely what I’ve predicted could happen elsewhere as we continue to tout the Malta-model of resettlement—illegal aliens arrive on Malta and we take them off Malta’s hands because we want something from Malta!

NH Senate kills refugee moratorium bill; phony “grassroots” group organized

The New Hampshire on-again-off-again refugee resettlement moratorium bill is apparently dead for now.

Here is the short story from AP:

CONCORD, N.H.—The New Hampshire Senate has killed a bill that would have let cities and towns enact moratoriums of up to one year on allowing refugees to settle in their communities.

Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has pushed for the moratorium due to the demands for services on his city. The House had wanted to negotiate a compromise on the issue, but the Senate rejected that request Wednesday.

Scott Spradling, spokesman for Granite Staters for Strong Communities, praised the vote, saying lawmakers should focus instead on the economic, cultural and social benefits of refugee resettlement in New Hampshire.

For background and for new readers, search RRW for Manchester and you can catch up on the story.

“Grassroots” organize to defend refugee program

My interest this morning is in this Granite Staters for Strong Communities, a supposed grassroots group that sprang up spontaneously (I know stop laughing!) to defend the refugee program in New Hampshire!   Check out Scott Spradling—he runs a public relations firm and my first question is who paid him to start a phony-baloney “grassroots” group?  (Note that the AP reporter above knew to call the Lefty PR guy for a quote!) This is how the Left and people who have a financial (corporatist) interest in some government program operate—George Soros (and before him Saul Alinsky) taught them their tricks.  First, you set up a “group” and attract some naive people to join you and everyone thinks it is some spontaneous uprising of the ‘good’ people!

Here is a story I missed from last month at the Union Leader about the Granite Staters who want to flood New Hampshire with third-worlders (like the Rohingya Muslims I mentioned in my last post).

MANCHESTER — A group is forming in support of refugees who have come to New Hampshire through the federal resettlement program and are battling a proposal to allow communities to impose a 1-year ban on it.

Granite Staters for Strong Communities is still early in the formation stage. Spokesman Scott Spradling described it as a bipartisan coalition of business owners, concerned citizens, civic leaders and religious groups that hopes to raise public awareness about the issue, which has been the subject of debate of lawmakers in Concord.

[....]

Spradling said the group had about 50 members as of last week and is expected to decide on leadership roles soon.

Regardless of the committee’s position or a vote in the general Senate, Spradling said Granite Staters for Strong Communities expects the issue to come up again.

Besides Spradling (who is surely being paid for his work), the article mentions another person whose livelihood depends on the immigrant flow to New Hampshire—an immigration lawyer!   Oh sure, he doesn’t want NH to look racist!

George Bruno, a Manchester-based immigration attorney and member of the group, said he doesn’t want to see New Hampshire gain the same reputation as other states that have had highly-publicized anti-immigration efforts.

Not connected to Soros-funded group (or so they say)!

Bruno and Spradling said the group is focused on New Hampshire and not affiliated with the national “Welcoming America” initiative.

Don’t miss the comments to this story.  See especially what Jack Alex has to say (too long to post here).

Tip for you folks in NH—-you need to infiltrate this “grassroots” group!  Get some unknown people to join and report back on what they are doing.  Be sure to examine their incorporation docs (if they get that far) and their financial statements.   Be sure to note who benefits financially and politically from the importation of impoverished immigrants to NH.  Even more fun would be to start a blog and report their activities to the public!  Nothing like a little sunshine!

California citizen: refugee program a fraud!

Russian:

“Who would not tell a white lie in order to get everything for free”?

Readers, I haven’t forgotten that I plan to continue to post testimony from that May 1 State Department meeting which was ostensibly to give you an opportunity to voice your opinion on how many refugees the US will take in FY 2013 and from where.  But, the Refugee program head honcho, Lawrence Bartlett, said at the meeting that they wouldn’t make the testimony available on-line (those in attendance received the testimony in hard copy).   All of the testimony I’ve posted so far is here in our special category for the meeting.

This is what one California citizen had to say (emphasis mine):

I have been in the photography business since 1973 in a town called Rancho Cordova, California. It is a suburb of Sacramento. We do not need any more refugees in our community. We have been the destination point for over 150 thousand alleged religiously persecuted refugees from the former Soviet Union. It is nothing more than a scam against taxpayer. It is under the Lautenberg act of 1989. There is no religious persecution in Russia. And if there was, is it our duty to support them?

The churches are behind it in order to receive free money for putting phony refugees on public assistance. I cannot describe in words the resentment of my customers who work in the banks, grocery stores, and in the medical field who are extremely resentful of this largesse.

The women who work at the banks and grocery stores are witnesses to the scams and the fraud that is committed on a daily basis. As my friend who works at the bank states if I cash one more social security check for someone who has never paid into the system and is drawing more than my parents who worked all of their lives I will scream. The resentment is palpable.

Particularly when the community found out there is no religious persecution in Russia. That it is nothing more than a scam to obtain a middle class life on the backs of someone else.

I have proof it is all fraud and not even my congressman Lungren [Dan Lungren] will discuss it out of fear of being destroyed politically. I have brought the fraud to the attention to ICE. They responded with they know it is fraud. They said they would be sued if they dare try and stop it.

I am a Viet Nam Vet as is my brother via the law in those days. My brother’s neighbors from Cambodia never worked a day while they lived next to my brother. He and his wife worked to support them. How can you justify that. The nice folks from Cambodia received section 8 housing and their kids went to college at my brother’s expense.

If we took that money and spent it on the black community maybe there would not be cities full of Ghettos?

We cannot afford it period. We need to follow the original law. Meaning they cannot be a burden on taxpayers. They are supposed to have sponsors who support them. It is shameful the only reason the churches are interested in resettling is money for themselves.

You forget the domino effect in our community such as crime and gangs in the Russian community. I had a Russian friend who worked for me, by the name of Alex Sukonof tell me “Who would not tell a white lie in order to get everything for free”?

Alex also told me that he thought “It was ok that his in laws claimed religious persecution like the others.” That they only receive about $1300.00 between them, including free health care that we pay for. Apparently as alleged Refugees: they are entitled to SSI for 7 years. If they become citizens within that time, it is now a lifetime entitlement. Even though they have never worked a day in their life here.

The real sad part is that according to Alex they are allowed to take the Citizenship test in their native language. I know for a fact his in laws do not speak a word of English, as I have called their house looking for him several times.

The bottom line is: by telling a little white lie about religious persecution, they are allowed an income for life that they did not earn. That is persecution of hard working taxpayers. This entire Refugee program is an upside down cake.

Furthermore: even if it was all real as there are others that are real, this directly affects Americans who are in need of a job. We need to shut it down totally until we become flush with cash again as a country.

We need to eliminate the entire program and operate it on an individual basis with true volunteers.

The reason you do not hear from the public is fear of losing their job or demonized as a racist.

The face of Lancaster, PA refugee resettlement

Only last week we had a widely read post about the problems in Lancaster, PA with an overload of refugees.   A commenter from Lancaster to the US State Department May 1 meeting said that Church World Service (CWS) was bringing thousands of refugees to Lancaster.   Then a commenter to that post said that was hogwash, there weren’t thousands being resettled in Lancaster.  But, here CWS tells us about the person responsible for resettling “thousands upon thousands” in her home town of Lancaster.

Not many people can claim to have resettled thousands upon thousands of refugees to their hometown – but Sheila McGeehan can.

Since she began her work with the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program (CWS/IRP) 25 years ago, she has introduced refugees from all around the world to Lancaster, Pa. – the “tranquil, prosperous, safe, pretty” city she loves.

In turn, newcomers from Russia, Vietnam, Sudan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Burma, Bosnia, Iraq and numerous other countries have transformed this small city in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country into what McGeehan calls a “very cosmopolitan” community, population 55,000-plus.

[.....]

“I don’t take credit.  This is a great area for resettlement, and it would have happened without me,” said McGeehan, Director of the CWS/IRP Lancaster Office.  “But it’s been very satisfying to contribute to making Lancaster more open and diverse.”

Hmmm!

Read it all!

Get ready for it! Next they will ask for us to resettle “refugees” from South Africa!

And, they don’t mean the persecuted white minority!

As I have written many times on these pages, the Rainbow Nation*, that supposed model for racial inclusion and socialist harmony is imploding.  Can you believe it!  They have xenophobia.  They can’t use the word racism because all those busy persecuting each other are various ethnic groups from around Africa.

I have written many posts on South Africa and how the flood gates (the borders) are open and people throughout destitute Africa are arriving in South Africa asking for asylum.  South Africans (blacks!) have reacted violently at times as they try to hold on to their country and their livelihoods in the wake of the tsunami of illegal aliens, the large majority of whom are economic migrants.

And, it is no wonder they are coming, here is what the African National Congress—the ruling party in the “model” nation—offers its people.  “There shall be peace and friendship!” (dammit!)

The Freedom Charter, which was adopted by the Congress of the People in 1955, remains the basic policy document of the ANC.

The Freedom Charter declares that:

* The people shall govern
* All national groups shall have equal rights
* The people shall share in the country`s wealth
* The land shall be shared among those who work it
* All shall be equal before the law
* All shall enjoy equal human rights
* There shall be work and security
* The doors of learning and culture shall be opened
* There shall be houses, security and comfort
* There shall be peace and friendship

Any idiot knows you can’t offer that and then expect people to respect your borders!

So are we now going to mop up the mess?   Are we going to use the Malta-model?

Ethiopian Community Development Council (one of nine major federal refugee contractors) plants the seeds for resettlement of South Africa’s illegal aliens.

At the May 1 US State Department hearing/meeting/scoping (whatever you want to call it), the Ethiopian Community Development Council said this (below) in their testimony (and they surely aren’t talking about the persecuted whites of South Africa who have begun to ask for asylum in the West).

Refugees in South Africa

In 2010 and 2011, South Africa received the most asylum application of any country in the world, according to UNHCR, with 107,000 asylum seekers registered in 2011.  The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) reports that according to empirical estimates, the number of Zimbabweans alone in South Africa is between one to two million, though only a small percentage is legally recognized.  Other major asylum seeking and refugee populations in South Africa come from Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Somalia.  Regardless of their status, all refugees in South Africa face serious life and livelihood-threatening issues tied to xenophobia and discrimination.  Though laws allow refugees to access basic services, in practice they are denied public health care, discriminated against by government institutions, and often face violence, including sexual and gender-based violence.  [How can that be! This is the rainbow nation, the socialist model for the world!---ed] Refugees are often located in areas where they share their poor socioeconomic status with local communities, and are therefore seen as competition for housing and work.  As a result, refugees live in poor conditions in informal housing, squatting in abandoned buildings, or have become homeless.  Additionally, refugees face difficulty with legal documentation, and UNHCR documents are often not recognized and provide little protection or legitimacy regarding work.

Watch for it!  They are priming the pump for us to take some of South Africa’s illegal population off its hands—after all, they have seen what we have done in Malta with the precedent-setting Malta model where we transform another country’s illegal aliens into refugees destined for the United States!   Speaking of which we have a new story this week about Africans (mostly single young Muslim men again!) who got to Malta and then were given their refugee ticket to your town!   For more on the Malta-model, use our search function for Malta, but here is one post that will give you some idea of what we have done.

*Search RRW for ‘rainbow nation’ for more on the situation with South Africa’s new form of apartheid.

New website compiles data on huge increase in number of refugees and immigrants in the Midwest

It isn’t just happening in Western New York state!

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune (hat tip: Joanne):

A new online database from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs* offers some revealing information about immigrant and refugee populations in Minnesota and across the Midwest.

The interactive site (immigrationtaskforce.hhh.umn.edu), will be unveiled Wednesday before the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.**

It pulls together data from the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Office of Refugee Resettlement and from published reports from research organizations such as the Pew Center and the Brookings Institution.

The information was compiled this semester by University of Minnesota Professor Kathy Fennelly and graduate students from her Immigration and Public Policy class.

Their report highlights immigration trends across 12 states: Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

“There’s a lot of interest in having current data,” Fennelly said. “Sometimes we have all sorts of opinions about immigration that aren’t based on data. There are groups that are hungry for data. We have created this website for exactly that purpose.”

Check out the study it’s very interesting—and I think you will be shocked at the high numbers!

Just a reminder we have a category entitled, “where to find information,” and this post with links is filed there.  This is also posted in our category “legal immigration and jobs!”

* Former Asst. Sec. of State for PRM, Eric Schwartz (a Soros protege), left the State Department recently to take a job at the Humphrey School, here.  Obama then appointed another globalist, Anne Richard, to the job.

** Michelle Obama is on the Board of this global organization, here (take a gander at all the big corporations represented on the board).  Tamar Jacoby (remember in 2009 when NumbersUSA called Jacoby and Grover Norquist Republican “traitors” ?) is also involved, here.

Buffalo, NY: Christians and Jews declining in number, Muslim population increasing

Ho hum, as the US Conference of Catholic Bishops asks the US State Department for more Muslims to resettle in your towns and cities, the number of Catholics and Jews are declining in “welcoming” Buffalo.

[If you are interested, here is a database to help you figure out who is coming to your town.]

Before reading on, you might want to check our archives on Buffalo here.  Wow!  We have a lot of stories from Buffalo! It was just two weeks ago we read about the Somali father who beat his young son to death in Buffalo over homework.

From Buffalo News:

Nearly half the residents in the Buffalo Niagara region are considered “unclaimed” by a religious group — a stunning change from just a decade ago, when the percentage of the population affiliated with a faith tradition was higher here than in any other metropolitan area in the country.

Catholicism, most mainline Protestant denominations, Judaism and some evangelical denominations in the Buffalo Niagara region experienced huge membership declines between 2000 and 2010, according to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, which last week released the results of the latest U.S. Religion Census.

The study also showed exponential growth of the local Muslim community, which is now estimated at 18,483 people in Erie and Niagara counties, up from about 5,400 a decade ago.

That makes Islam the second most-practiced world religion in Western New York, behind Christianity.

Judaism slipped to third, with a total of 8,084 adherents in Buffalo Niagara, down from an estimate of 20,150 in 2000.

[....]

Catholicism alone lost more than a third of its members in Erie and Niagara counties — 217,944 parishioners in all — over the last decade, according to the census.

[.....]

The membership declines already have resulted in widespread closings of houses of worship, particularly in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, which has shuttered about 75 church buildings since 2005.

I suspect the Catholic population is kept somewhat steadier, but still dropping, in other parts of the country because of the large number of Hispanic (legal and illegal) immigrants helping to inflate the numbers.

Nationally, Catholicism lost about 5 percent of its membership from a decade ago.

My guess is that a lot of Catholics have fallen away because they are sick of the sex scandals and the increasingly leftwing politics of the church (which may change somewhat as the church begins to stand up to Obama).

In Buffalo a “whopping 242% increase” in Muslims:

The presence of Muslims grew by 67 percent nationwide, with estimates now pegged at 2.6 million, according to the census.

But in Buffalo Niagara, the percent increase for Muslims was a whopping 242 percent.

The 18,483 estimate appeared to be accurate, according to Dr. Khalid Qazi, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York.

US government policy encourages immigration from Muslim countries (no kidding!):

Qazi attributed the growth to several factors, beginning with immigration changes dating back to the Lyndon Johnson administration that allowed immigrants from primarily Muslim countries to enter the United States.

……in Buffalo, the resettlement of refugees from Bosnia and Somalia has added to the local Muslim community, which also tends to have families with more children, he said.

“As much as we saw loss of population [overall for Buffalo], it would be far higher if we did not see refugee resettlement,” Qazi said.

So, other than federal money for welfare (and food stamps) flowing to the Buffalo region with refugees, how does the increase in population of low income people help Buffalo?  And, how is that working out for the Catholic Church?

Related story (hat tip, Robert):   Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York encourages mosque building (this time in Wisconsin).   When will some of those shuttered Catholic Churches in Buffalo become mosques? Maybe that is happened already!  Hey, that is an idea, the Catholic Church can make money by selling unused church property to Muslims!