Texas city where cops shot Walmart hostage-taker flooded with refugees
'Response by Obama admin makes it clear it has no intention of cooperating with us'
Published: 22 hours ago
A man who took two co-workers hostage at an Amarillo, Texas, Walmart Tuesday was a Muslim refugee from Somalia, and that fact came as no surprise to those who track the federal government’s robust refugee resettlement program.
Amarillo is bursting at the seams with foreign refugees, from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and its mayor has pleaded repeatedly with the government to stop sending refugees to his city.
But they keep coming.
The schools are stretched, and the local police department is having a hard time getting a handle on the rising crime.
On Tuesday, it was just another example. Mohammad Moghaddan, a Somali refugee, was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies after he had taken two Walmart employees hostage.
Moghaddan, 54, was a current employee of the store, and his actions were quickly declared “a case of work place violence” by the sheriff’s office. The hostage taker, armed with a handgun, was shot dead by a SWAT team as terrified shoppers were ushered out of the store.
The city’s mayor has been on a crusade since 2011 to get the U.S. State Department, working with the United Nations, to put a damper on the number of refugees flooding into his city.
So far, Mayor Paul Harpole has had little success.
Whether Tuesday’s event was terrorism or “workplace violence,” Amarillo, a city of 240,000, has had its share of crime. Adding to the problem is the fact that it has the highest per capita ratio of refugees of any city in the world, says Harpole.
“The City of Amarillo gets more refugees per 100,000 population than any city in the world,” Harpole testified April 21 before the state Senate’s Committee on Health and Human Services, which held a hearing on refugee resettlement.
He cited figures from per capita comparisons of other U.S. cities that suggest Amarillo should take in between 65 and 90 refugees a year. Instead, he said, “We get about 500 a year.”
The refugees are stretching the city’s ability to keep up with their needs.
Harpole said Amarillo is building “ghettos” in which bands of refugees from certain countries congregate and even claim to elect their own separate political leaders.
“We create small ghettos,” Harpole told Watchdog.org. “A group of Somalis came in to say they had elected a mayor of their community. Then another faction claimed they had their own leader. We come to find out that rival tribes – slaves and masters – were being settled together.”
Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle has been the main resettlement contractor in Amarillo for years. It agreed in 2011 to bring in 35 to 40 percent fewer refugees after the city leaders complained, but the U.S. State Department was not to be deterred. It simply picked up a second contractor to fill in the gap, said Ann Cocoran, author of the Refugee Resettlement Watch blog.
That second contractor is Amarillo’s Refugee Services of Texas office, which works through Church World Services and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services.
Corcoran says many of the refugees the State Department and its contractors send to Amarillo are placed in jobs in area meatpacking plants. Food giant Cargill is one of the biggest employers in the area.
“Like so many meatpacking towns in America, federal refugee resettlement contractors got a foot hold there years ago, mostly working as ‘head hunters’ for the meatpacking industry, and have continued to pour Third-Worlders into Amarillo despite pleas by elected officials to stop,” Corcoran said.
The bottom line is to keep wages down, and this is why Republicans in Congress typically go along with the Democrats in supporting the refugee program. Even as they talked tough against Syrian refugees late last year, they voted by majority to fully fund President Obama’s expanded refugee program in the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.
“Refugee resettlement is not about ‘humanitarianism’! It is about globalists and greedy industries wanting to improve their bottom lines – the social and economic condition of your towns and cities be damned,” Corcoran wrote in a recent blog.
Flooding in from the Middle East
Not only does Amarillo have the highest ratio of refugees in the world, according to Harpole’s testimony before the Legislature, but it has the highest ratio of Middle Eastern refugees of any city in America.
Amarillo has become home to more than 1,000 Mideast migrants.
When you take into consideration Muslim migrants from outside the Middle East, it’s much more.
According to the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center database, a total of 4,892 refugees have arrived since 2002 from the following countries, all of which have strong Muslim refugee populations.
Refugees sent to Amarillo from Muslim strongholds since 2002:
Afghanistan: 39
Bosnia: 11
Burma: 2,923
Burundi: 97
Eritrea: 72
Iran: 674
Iraq: 393
Somalia: 584
Sudan: 99
Iran 674
William Sumerford, a taxpayer activist in Amarillo, told Watchdog.org that local services are being stretched by refugees. Police say crime is a chronic problem in the resettlement enclaves. The city currently fields 9-1-1 calls in 42 different languages.
“Hospitals, welfare, police, you name it, are strained. That all comes back on our city budget,” Sumerford told Watchdog.org.
Amarillo’s school system is particularly vulnerable.
“Our education system is overloaded with kids who can’t speak English,” Sumerford told Watchdog.org.
More than 15 languages are spoken in the Amarillo school system, and when you include the different dialects, the number balloons to 75, according to Harpole’s testimony before the state Legislature.
“We have 660 (refugee) kids who don’t speak English, and the U.S. Department of Education says they have to be at grade level within one year. It’s a ludicrous requirement – they don’t even know how to use the bathroom,” Harpole told Watchdog.org, adding that Washington pays schools only $100 per refugee student per year.
The Amarillo City Commission has been considering a plan to halt further refugee settlements, but so far no city or state has been successful in ending a federal resettlement program once it gets started. The state of Texas is suing the federal government, seeking a stronger role in the resettlement process, as is the state of Alabama. But Tennessee has the strongest legal case against the feds, suing them on 10th Amendment grounds alleging the program is a violation of state sovereignty.
Harpole told Watchdog.org he isn’t optimistic about the city’s authority to push back.
“We’ve been a giving community, and it’s a huge disservice to bring in refugees in numbers that we’re not able to handle.
“Federal law requires the Obama administration to work with Texas in the refugee resettling process,” Katherine Wise, spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, told Watchdog.org. “The response by the Obama administration makes it clear that it has no intention of cooperating with us.”
The most active congressman to stand against the refugee resettlement program is Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, who represents the Houston area.
He introduced a bill last summer that would halt the arrival of all refugees until a full audit of the program’s costs and risks to national security can be completed.
The GOP-controlled House under Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., ignored Babin’s bill, even though it garnered 80 co-sponsors, and fully funded President Obama’s expanded refugee program.
Ryan has also argued against Donald Trump’s plan to put a temporary pause on all Muslim immigration.
The U.S. is scheduled to bring in 85,000 foreign refugees this year and 100,000 in fiscal 2017 – with about half of them coming from Muslim-dominated countries.
But the full picture of Muslim immigration is much more troublesome. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and other sources, the U.S. issues about 120,000 green cards every year to persons from Muslim countries. If temporary visas are includes, such as those issued to college students and guest workers, the number balloons to more than 240,000 per year.
Refugees, however, are the most entitled of all immigrants. They qualify for all federal welfare benefits on day one of their arrival and are granted green-card status within a year. They can qualify for full citizenship, including voting rights, within five years.
According to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, 91 percent of refugees from the Middle East receive food stamps and 74 percent are on Medicaid.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/u-s-city-where-cops-shot-walmart-hostage-taker-flooded-with-refugees/#!
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/u-s-city-where-cops-shot-walmart-hostage-taker-flooded-with-refugees/#jtDYql9xx1quwQ2O.99
'Response by Obama admin makes it clear it has no intention of cooperating with us'
Published: 22 hours ago
A man who took two co-workers hostage at an Amarillo, Texas, Walmart Tuesday was a Muslim refugee from Somalia, and that fact came as no surprise to those who track the federal government’s robust refugee resettlement program.
Amarillo is bursting at the seams with foreign refugees, from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and its mayor has pleaded repeatedly with the government to stop sending refugees to his city.
But they keep coming.
The schools are stretched, and the local police department is having a hard time getting a handle on the rising crime.
On Tuesday, it was just another example. Mohammad Moghaddan, a Somali refugee, was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies after he had taken two Walmart employees hostage.
Moghaddan, 54, was a current employee of the store, and his actions were quickly declared “a case of work place violence” by the sheriff’s office. The hostage taker, armed with a handgun, was shot dead by a SWAT team as terrified shoppers were ushered out of the store.
The city’s mayor has been on a crusade since 2011 to get the U.S. State Department, working with the United Nations, to put a damper on the number of refugees flooding into his city.
So far, Mayor Paul Harpole has had little success.
Whether Tuesday’s event was terrorism or “workplace violence,” Amarillo, a city of 240,000, has had its share of crime. Adding to the problem is the fact that it has the highest per capita ratio of refugees of any city in the world, says Harpole.
“The City of Amarillo gets more refugees per 100,000 population than any city in the world,” Harpole testified April 21 before the state Senate’s Committee on Health and Human Services, which held a hearing on refugee resettlement.
He cited figures from per capita comparisons of other U.S. cities that suggest Amarillo should take in between 65 and 90 refugees a year. Instead, he said, “We get about 500 a year.”
The refugees are stretching the city’s ability to keep up with their needs.
Harpole said Amarillo is building “ghettos” in which bands of refugees from certain countries congregate and even claim to elect their own separate political leaders.
“We create small ghettos,” Harpole told Watchdog.org. “A group of Somalis came in to say they had elected a mayor of their community. Then another faction claimed they had their own leader. We come to find out that rival tribes – slaves and masters – were being settled together.”
Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle has been the main resettlement contractor in Amarillo for years. It agreed in 2011 to bring in 35 to 40 percent fewer refugees after the city leaders complained, but the U.S. State Department was not to be deterred. It simply picked up a second contractor to fill in the gap, said Ann Cocoran, author of the Refugee Resettlement Watch blog.
That second contractor is Amarillo’s Refugee Services of Texas office, which works through Church World Services and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services.
Corcoran says many of the refugees the State Department and its contractors send to Amarillo are placed in jobs in area meatpacking plants. Food giant Cargill is one of the biggest employers in the area.
“Like so many meatpacking towns in America, federal refugee resettlement contractors got a foot hold there years ago, mostly working as ‘head hunters’ for the meatpacking industry, and have continued to pour Third-Worlders into Amarillo despite pleas by elected officials to stop,” Corcoran said.
The bottom line is to keep wages down, and this is why Republicans in Congress typically go along with the Democrats in supporting the refugee program. Even as they talked tough against Syrian refugees late last year, they voted by majority to fully fund President Obama’s expanded refugee program in the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.
“Refugee resettlement is not about ‘humanitarianism’! It is about globalists and greedy industries wanting to improve their bottom lines – the social and economic condition of your towns and cities be damned,” Corcoran wrote in a recent blog.
Flooding in from the Middle East
Not only does Amarillo have the highest ratio of refugees in the world, according to Harpole’s testimony before the Legislature, but it has the highest ratio of Middle Eastern refugees of any city in America.
Amarillo has become home to more than 1,000 Mideast migrants.
When you take into consideration Muslim migrants from outside the Middle East, it’s much more.
According to the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center database, a total of 4,892 refugees have arrived since 2002 from the following countries, all of which have strong Muslim refugee populations.
Refugees sent to Amarillo from Muslim strongholds since 2002:
Afghanistan: 39
Bosnia: 11
Burma: 2,923
Burundi: 97
Eritrea: 72
Iran: 674
Iraq: 393
Somalia: 584
Sudan: 99
Iran 674
William Sumerford, a taxpayer activist in Amarillo, told Watchdog.org that local services are being stretched by refugees. Police say crime is a chronic problem in the resettlement enclaves. The city currently fields 9-1-1 calls in 42 different languages.
“Hospitals, welfare, police, you name it, are strained. That all comes back on our city budget,” Sumerford told Watchdog.org.
Amarillo’s school system is particularly vulnerable.
“Our education system is overloaded with kids who can’t speak English,” Sumerford told Watchdog.org.
More than 15 languages are spoken in the Amarillo school system, and when you include the different dialects, the number balloons to 75, according to Harpole’s testimony before the state Legislature.
“We have 660 (refugee) kids who don’t speak English, and the U.S. Department of Education says they have to be at grade level within one year. It’s a ludicrous requirement – they don’t even know how to use the bathroom,” Harpole told Watchdog.org, adding that Washington pays schools only $100 per refugee student per year.
The Amarillo City Commission has been considering a plan to halt further refugee settlements, but so far no city or state has been successful in ending a federal resettlement program once it gets started. The state of Texas is suing the federal government, seeking a stronger role in the resettlement process, as is the state of Alabama. But Tennessee has the strongest legal case against the feds, suing them on 10th Amendment grounds alleging the program is a violation of state sovereignty.
Harpole told Watchdog.org he isn’t optimistic about the city’s authority to push back.
“We’ve been a giving community, and it’s a huge disservice to bring in refugees in numbers that we’re not able to handle.
“Federal law requires the Obama administration to work with Texas in the refugee resettling process,” Katherine Wise, spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, told Watchdog.org. “The response by the Obama administration makes it clear that it has no intention of cooperating with us.”
The most active congressman to stand against the refugee resettlement program is Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, who represents the Houston area.
He introduced a bill last summer that would halt the arrival of all refugees until a full audit of the program’s costs and risks to national security can be completed.
The GOP-controlled House under Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., ignored Babin’s bill, even though it garnered 80 co-sponsors, and fully funded President Obama’s expanded refugee program.
Ryan has also argued against Donald Trump’s plan to put a temporary pause on all Muslim immigration.
The U.S. is scheduled to bring in 85,000 foreign refugees this year and 100,000 in fiscal 2017 – with about half of them coming from Muslim-dominated countries.
But the full picture of Muslim immigration is much more troublesome. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and other sources, the U.S. issues about 120,000 green cards every year to persons from Muslim countries. If temporary visas are includes, such as those issued to college students and guest workers, the number balloons to more than 240,000 per year.
Refugees, however, are the most entitled of all immigrants. They qualify for all federal welfare benefits on day one of their arrival and are granted green-card status within a year. They can qualify for full citizenship, including voting rights, within five years.
According to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, 91 percent of refugees from the Middle East receive food stamps and 74 percent are on Medicaid.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/u-s-city-where-cops-shot-walmart-hostage-taker-flooded-with-refugees/#!
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/u-s-city-where-cops-shot-walmart-hostage-taker-flooded-with-refugees/#jtDYql9xx1quwQ2O.99
» Parliamentary Oil Committee reveals details of the Oil and Gas Law and the reason for not legislatin
» Oil and Gas Law.. The Unsolvable Knot
» Abdul Latif attacks Jordan and rejects the Basra-Aqaba pipeline project
» Revealing an agreement for 3 scenarios to decide the position of the Speaker of Parliament
» Parliamentarian reveals reasons for suspending the oil and gas law
» Integrity Commission calls for removing encroachment on 26 properties belonging to the General Compa
» Despite its economic importance, cotton cultivation is suffering in Iraq: Will it disappear?
» Government confirmation: "Ur Gate" contributed to reducing the phenomenon of corruption
» Allocating one trillion dinars for it.. Al-Sudani issues a directive regarding Diwaniya service proj
» Disclosure of the latest developments in the Baghdad Metro project
» Parliamentary Integrity points out observations on the work of some ministers: Pressures brought abo
» Central Bank of Iraq sales exceed one billion dollars in a week
» Parliamentary Oil Committee reveals details of the Oil and Gas Law and the reason for not legislatin
» Electronically.. Trade launches supply operations in Muthanna
» Record number of dollar sales by the Central Bank in a week
» Al-Sudani's advisor: Iraq is in the process of paying off long-term development loans to the World B
» Parliamentary Oil Committee calls for speeding up the legislation of the Oil and Gas Law
» MM&C 7/4/24 Tabaqchali: An Unfolding Structural Economic Transformation in Iraq
» utube 7/4/24 MM&C IQD Updates - Iraqi Dinar - Relations w / Baghdad & Kurdistan - Good - Financial
» Significant decline in oil derivatives exports to Jordan
» MP calls for expulsion of Turkish forces from Iraq
» Al-Salami reveals collecting parliamentary signatures to amend Article 57
» Unveiling a strategic line that supplies electricity to 6 cities in western Nineveh
» Al-Shammari arrives in Karbala to review the mechanism for implementing the Muharram plan
» MP sets timing for deciding on House of Representatives presidency
» Al-Zayer on the deterioration of electricity: failed companies and corrupt contractors
» Iraq ranks 61st globally and 7th in the Arab world among the safest countries in the world
» Will the exchange rate reach 1600 dinars?
» Iraq's lungs are suffering.. Gaseous pollutants increase the incidence of cancer in Basra
» Government plan to raise gasoline production to 35 million liters per day
» Parliamentary Committee announces the establishment of the first water management council.. What wil
» US messages to Iraqi leaders: Dollar cash flow may stop
» Al-Mandlawi: Iraq is keen to involve Polish companies in investment opportunities
» The Iraqi Private Sector and Improving the Investment Environment in the National Development Plan 2
» Dollar exchange rates in local markets.. Learn about them
» How much is Iraq's loan from the IMF?
» Barzani in Baghdad to end Erbil's problems with the center
» Basra pursues land contract fraud
» PM to Barzani: We have made significant progress in building trust
» Baghdad Council threatens to confiscate illegal generators
» Iraqi Creatives Museums and Cultural Centers
» Oil: Gas investment reached 62%
» Barzani in Baghdad
» Private universities and the labor market
» Experts expect the money supply to invest in stocks
» Stock market trading exceeds 281 billion shares
» Extensive government measures to curb the “madness” of housing unit prices
» World Bank: Iraq is among the middle-income countries
» Experts praise agricultural policies and call for supporting farmers
» In response to an appeal via "Baghdad Today", Al-Badran adopts adding a district to the project plan
» The Central Bank in Erbil debunks fears and speculations about the localization of salaries in the r
» Iraqi innovation turns plastic waste into electricity fuel
» Withdrawing advances "without the employees' knowledge".. Maysan Education threatens Rafidain Bank
» Iraq begins establishing first water management council
» Drought in Kurdistan reaches 'dangerous' stages, residents overuse groundwater
» Due to the "assessment exam", a minister fails the final exams at a private university
» Al-Samarrai appreciates the efforts of the Fiqh Council: Its moderate discourse completes the consti
» Al-Sudani expresses to Starmer his aspiration for the continuation of bilateral relations between Ir
» The Central Bank explains the mechanism for travelers to obtain dollars
» Will Iraq witness a new displacement?
» Holiday in the region on the occasion of the first of Muharram
» Al-Hakim warns of new targeting of Iraq and directs an invitation to the government regarding electr
» Sudanese to new British PM: Support international peace
» The President of the Republic congratulates the new Iranian President
» Find out the dollar exchange rate in local markets
» MP: Parliament did not perform its supervisory role over the executive authority
» Development Road.. Formation of a government committee for this file
» MM&C 7/4/24 Official: Iraq's accession to the World Trade Organization is imminent
» utube 7/2/24 MM&C IQD Update Part 2 - Iraqi Dinar - Automation for Revenues - Singapore Agreement
» utube 7/2/24 MM&C part 1 Iraqi DinarPart 1 - IQD Update - Progession of Intergr
» Slight increase in inflation rate for last May
» The President of the Republic stresses the importance of expanding the horizons of cooperation and a
» Border outlets announce the completion of the first phase of network connectivity by 100 percent
» Transparency: Sulaymaniyah and Halabja imports during the past week amounted to more than 17 billion
» MM&C 7/2/24 The dollar in the parallel market.. Al-Sudani’s advisor presents a different vision and
» Between Development and Silk... American-Chinese Conflict on the Iraqi Arena
» In the oil fields...gas flaring rates in Iraq are decreasing
» Iraq's North Oil Company production rises to about 400,000 barrels per day
» Al-Sudani: Iraq is witnessing the highest growth rate in the region
» In numbers.. Numbers of those covered by health insurance in its first and second phases
» Planning: Alternatives to slums will be found based on population census.
» Parliamentary Committee to Al-Eqtisad News: The Oil and Gas Law is Almost Complete, and This is What
» Central Bank: Delivery of dollars to travelers will be exclusively through company and bank outlets
» Electricity announces the operation of the (400 kv) line and the Al-Faw secondary station to relieve
» Government source announces the amount of debts collected for the benefit of the Trade Bank of Iraq
» To stop greed and exploitation.. the work of private generators on the parliament's table
» An "important" reason reduces citizens' interest in buying northern cars
» Water Resources: Water storage has tripled
» Daily.. North Oil Company's production increases to about 400 thousand barrels
» Parliamentary Electricity Committee prepares for "a series of hostings".. What is the reason for gen
» In response to an appeal via "Baghdad Today", Al-Badran adopts adding a district to the project plan
» Sweden takes action after three of its citizens sentenced to death in Iraq
» Iraq prepares to declare itself pollution-free
» Parliamentary Finance: The Staff Law will be passed in the next legislative session
» Iran looks with interest at President Barzani's visit to Baghdad, Turkey supports resolving Iraqi co
» Marwan Ahmed: 75,000 employees in Erbil will receive their salaries this month via (My Account)
» Parliamentary Services Reveals the “Optimal Solution” to Control Real Estate Prices
» President Barzani and Maliki discuss mechanisms for cooperation with the parties of the framework an