Refugee Resettlement Watch

Is yours a “preferred community” for refugee resettlement?

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 5, 2013

Your tax dollars!

Yesterday I opened an alert in my in-box telling me that a new set of grants had been awarded for the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s “preferred communities.”    They intimate that these grants are for communities that are somehow special and welcoming, but they are really communities in refugee overload.

Here are the grants (tax dollars) awarded this week to NON-PROFIT government contractors which give you some hint as to the location of refugee overload.    Note that these grants are not awarded to say local government to deal with some refugee expense, but are administered by contractors who surely must be using some of these funds for office overhead.

Here are the cities:

Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Delray Beach, FL, Atlanta, Wichita, KS, Bowling Green, KY, Malden, MA, Grand Rapids, MI, Lansing, MI, Greensboro, NC, Las Vegas, NV, Buffalo, NY, Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, OH, Dayton, OH, Erie, PA, Philadelphia, Memphis, TN, Nashville, TN and Newport News, VA.

Only contractors need apply!

Here is what the ORR says about its “preferred community” grants (these are grants beyond what the contractors already get on a per head basis for the refugees they resettle).

Since the early 1990s,* preferred communities have provided resettlement services to newly arriving refugees. Preferred communities allow ample opportunities for early employment and sustained economic independence. In addition, they support special needs populations.

Two types of preferred communities programs are available.

*Programs that receive a minimum of 100 new refugees annually.
*Programs that receive a proposed number of cases that will need intensive case management.

These programs require a history of qualifications and experience in serving special needs cases.

Then they go on to make clear that ONLY the contractors who have a monopoly on the program can apply.   That would be THE Nine!   (when you look at the list I linked above, in some cases you will see some of THE Nine listed, but in fact those others listed are THE Nine’s subcontractors).   Again, say you are with a local government agency and need help with your health department because you got an overload of refugee TB cases, forget it, these grants are not for you!

ORR continues:

Applicants

Nine national voluntary agencies** currently resettle refugees under a Reception and Placement Cooperative Agreement with the Department of State or with the Department of Homeland Security. The Preferred Communities program is restricted to the following agencies because placements of new arrivals occur under the terms of the cooperative agreements, and no other agencies place new arrivals or participate in determining their resettlement sites. [Note that these un-elected government contractors are choosing resettlement sites!---ed]

~Church World Service/Immigration and Refugee Program, New York NY

~Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the U.S.A., New York, NY

~Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc./Refugee Resettlement Program, Arlington VA

~HIAS, Inc. (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society)/Refugee and Immigrant Services, New York NY

~International Rescue Committee/Resettlement, New York NY

~Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Baltimore MD

~U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington DC

~U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Arlington VA

~World Relief Corporation of National Association of Evangelicals/Refugee & Immigration Programs, Baltimore MD

Here then is another list of grants (larger grants) received for “preferred communities” by The Nine.  I wonder how much they skim off the top for their office overhead before any grant money flows to a subcontractor or a locality?

Oh good! an annual report!  At the bottom of the list I just re-produced is a link to a PDF document entitled “annual report for 2011.”  As I clicked on it, I thought well maybe we have some serious documentation about how these funds were used in FY2011.  Alas, that is not to be.  It is a less than 2-page superficial (mumbo-jumbo) description of what the purpose of this grant program is, and what they “accomplished.”   Here is how it begins:

The purpose of the Preferred Communities Program is to support the resettlement of newly arriving refugees with the best opportunities for their self-sufficiency and integration into new communities; to support the development of the national voluntary agencies’ capacity to address refugee cases with special or unique needs that require more intensive case management; and to develop new capacity and provide resources for national voluntary agencies to cover the costs of changing community placements so that refugees, including those with special or unique needs, are placed in a particular site where they will have the best chance for integration.

Preferred Communities are proposed for selected localities that have excellent opportunities for newly arriving refugees to achieve early employment and sustained economic independence without public assistance.  Preferred Communities should have a history of low welfare utilization by refugees.  In addition, refugees should have the potential for earned income at a favorable level relative to the cost of living and to public assistance benefits.

Does your community have these amenities for the new immigrants?  If not, too bad for you then because your community will not be “preferred!”   I especially thought #5 was really important!  And, the way things are going, you better have “excellent medical facilities” (#8).  And, come to think of it, how is your labor market?

Characteristics of these communities include:  (1) A moderate cost of living; (2) excellent employment opportunities in a strong, entry-level  labor market; (3) affordable housing and transportation accessible for employment; and (4) low secondary out-migration rates for refugees; (5) communities that meet the religious needs of arriving populations; (6) local community support and positive reception for the refugees; (7) receptive school environments; and (8) other related community features that contribute to a favorable quality of life for arriving refugees, such as excellent medical facilities.

There is no actual accounting of how your money was used, just a glowing list of “accomplishments.”

* The redistribution of your wealth started way before Obama!

** It is still funny to me that they call these contractors voluntary agencies (VOLAGS for short) when in fact they are mostly now funded by you, the taxpayer.

Posted in Changing the way we live, Reforms needed, Refugee Resettlement Program | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Comment worth noting: expert on Texas border comments on Greek landmines post

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 4, 2013

Readers:  Comments worth noting is a category here at RRW where we post comments that interest us and are informative that you might have missed at the time they were posted in response to a story.

Here is ‘Freshideaguy’ on the Greek border security strategy (my title for this comment—Saving lives with landmines!):

The landmines did it!

Sounds kind of cruel, but when you are trying to prevent the collapse of your country, it’s economy and the very ability to continue to exist, some type of control over your borders is a necessary restriction that must be made.

In Texas, for instance, the Rio Grande Valley area is a hotbed infiltration point for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, (read that “gimmie-grants”) that storm into the USA annually, and for those who think that we are talking about Mexicans and Central and South Americans, think again!

At last check, there are more people now coming through the Texas border turnstiles from China, India, Africa, Middle East, Asia than are arriving from Latin America!  [Then they seek asylum!---ed]

What would be the impact if it were possible to stop that flow? In Brooks County, Texas, in 2012, there were more than 120 bodies found in the ranchland, most dying a cruel death in the monstrous Texas heat and buried in mostly anonymous pauper’s graves. All were autopsied and buried at county expense, (Texas State Law), and consider what that does to the county budget. Brooks County is a very poor area.

With landmines, virtually no one would have died trying to enter the USA in this area. Lives saved, money saved, and the enormous resources necessary to service illegals could be applied more appropriately to increasing the support for needy American citizens of all colors.

Right now the “landmines” are sprinkled all over the USA in the form of 1000+ cartel drug distribution centers, and the attendant turmoil created in our towns and cities by the marketing of illegal substances made available to our young people of all colors and millions of other Americans.

Tens of thousands of Americans have been murdered by illegal aliens, killed by drunk driving illegal aliens. Millions of Americans have been victimized in many ways by the presence of the drug infrastructure, countless sex offenders, thieves, burglars, to say nothing of the tens of billions in welfare support for these criminals, money drained from the “empty” pockets of American taxpayers.

Landmines may not be your cup of tea, (they would represent a harsh, but more humane solution), and I don’t recommend them. But enforcement of our immigration laws and the penalties for hiring illegals, (and stop the Obama Cartel from encouraging illegals to come here), would go a long way towards reducing the problem by stopping the illegal immigrant flow before it enters the USA.

Posted in Asylum seekers, Comments worth noting, Crimes, Obama | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Next week: Iran to bully Burma over Rohingya

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 4, 2013

I’ve been telling you lately that Iran and the OIC are pressuring Burma over the Rohingya Muslim issue.  Here is just one more story about a trip by Iranian legislators planned for next week.

I have an idea!  Why don’t all those Muslim countries including Iran just divvy up the Rohingya and take them to their Muslim countries instead of pressuring Buddhist Burma to break their country’s bank by caring for all the destitute Rohingya.  Everyone will live happily ever after!

Hey, isn’t that a good plan all around?  Rich Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia could set an example of Muslim charity both with the Rohingya and with the Palestinians and take them in. *

From Iranian news agency Ahlul Bayt News Agency:

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The representatives of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Imam Khomeini’s Relief Committee and the Iranian Red Crescent Society will accompany the lawmakers in their two-day visit, which is scheduled to start on January 9, deputy chairman of the Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Mansour Haqiqatpour said on Thursday.

He added that Iran has recently dispatched the first consignment of humanitarian relief aid to Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and noted that the second batch of aid would be sent to the country within the next days.

Some 800,000 Rohingyas are deprived of citizenship rights and suffer from a policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of naturalization and made them vulnerable to acts of violence and persecution, expulsion and displacement.

On December 25, the United Nations General Assembly issued a resolution expressing concern over the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar. The resolution called on Myanmar’s government to “protect all their (the Muslims’) human rights, including their right to a nationality.”

Watch for it!  The US refugee contractors will soon be clamoring for their share of Rohingya.  They already are!  The US Conference of Catholic Bishops lobbied the State Department for more Rohingya to come to the US, here last May.

* Silly me, I forgot Saudi Arabia imprisons Rohingya who have gotten in there.

Posted in Muslim refugees, Refugee Resettlement Program, Rohingya Reports | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Face it! We are already Europe!

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 4, 2013

Editor’s note:  This is cross-posted from Potomac Tea Party Report.

Your tax dollars!

How many times lately have you heard someone say, “We are becoming like Europe (meaning broke)!”  Or, “we will soon be Greece.”*    Writer Mona Charen says we are already there, but can’t admit it.

From Townhall (hat tip: Paul):

Following the fiscal cliff melodrama, Senator Richard Shelby appeared on television to declare that we are becoming European. “We’re always wanting to spend and promise and spend and borrow but not cut. We’ve got to get real about this. We’re headed down the road that Europe’s already on.”

There’s no “heading” about it. We’re there. Prof. John J. DiIulio, writing in “National Affairs”, outlined the true size of American government. When state and local government expenditures are added to federal outlays, government spending as a share of GDP easily competes with European nations. In fact, per-capita government spending in the U.S. is higher than in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and our debt to GDP ratio is higher than most European states.

The Obama administration has set records for deficit spending in peacetime, but there is no question that the growth of government at all levels has been a decades-long process. In 1960, total government spending (local, state and federal) amounted to 27 percent of GDP. In 2010, it was about 42 percent. State spending has been almost as irrepressible as federal, leaving only nine states that can now boast AAA credit ratings. Many states are facing crises over unfunded pension liabilities that have the capacity to engender strikes and social unrest in the not too distant future.

We lie to ourselves about the size of government spending and hide the fact that we spend through NON-PROFIT organizations that couldn’t survive without the constant infusion of taxpayer dollars—LIKE CATHOLIC CHARITIES for example!

The difference between Americans and Europeans is that we aren’t honest about our appetite for big government. We hide it through a variety of proxies, private contractors, and public/private partnerships.

[....]

Most non-profits receive few government subsidies. But the largest ones with the biggest budgets are heavily government-dependent. One-third of all non-profit dollars come from government. Catholic Charities USA, for example, a marquee “private-sector” charity, received two-thirds of its funding in 2009 from Uncle Sam.

What galls me so much about the taxpayer cash flowing to groups like Catholic Charities (a supposed non-profit AND a government contractor) is that they use that money to import more immigrants (refugee resettlement) and also lobby on issues as diverse as amnesty, global warming and gay marriage.  Then they have the audacity to scream about their religious rights when it comes to the government telling them what to do.  You take Caesar’s money and you deserve to be under Caesar’s thumb!

We are Socialists now!

Americans prefer small government to big government — in the abstract. But 60 million receive Medicaid benefits, 54 million collect Social Security, 48 million participate with Medicare, 45 million receive Food Stamps, 7 million are in prison, jail, or on parole/probation, more than a million have de facto government jobs working for defense contractors, nearly a million children participate in Head Start and about 40 percent of K-12 students receive free or reduced price meals. There’s some overlap in those categories, but it still adds up.

[....]

We are, in short, a socialist-style society just like Europe.

Related?  Here is a scary story I came across the other day.  Germany, the country that imported tens of thousands of Turkish Muslim workers in a ridiculous scheme to bring young workers into Germany to pay into their social welfare programs, are now shipping their elderly Germans out to Eastern European countries and Asia where it’s cheaper to house the elderly pensioners in need of nursing home care.

* On Greece, readers here know that Greece is SERIOUSLY closing its borders to try to stem the tide of economic migrants many believe are helping sink that country.

Posted in Changing the way we live, Community destabilization, Europe, Refugee Resettlement Program | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Suicide rate high in US Bhutanese refugee communities

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 3, 2013

I told you about Director Eskinder Negash’s year-end review for the Office of Refugee Resettlement here and here recently.  There was one paragraph in his report that I noted to follow up on.  It was this:

ORR has been working with CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to try to understand what is triggering suicides in Bhutanese refugee communities, undertaking an Epi-Aid study focusing on eleven communities in four states: (1) Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson), (2) Georgia (Atlanta Metropolitan Area, including Atlanta, Clarkston, Decatur, and Stone Mountain), (3) New York (Buffalo, and Syracuse) and (4) Texas (Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston). Results of the study were shared with ORR in October, and ORR is following up on CDC recommendations and next steps.

Here is the report from the CDC dated October 2012.  Sixteen newly resettled Bhutanese/Nepali refugees killed themselves in a three year period alarming the social engineers at the ORR in Washington DC, and within a year of getting to the US.   Researchers had data on 14 of those and interviewed family members to try to ascertain why they killed themselves (13 by hanging).  The reasons were in order of importance:  language barriers, worry about family back home, separation from family, and difficulty in maintaining cultural and religious traditions.

You will have to go to the report for the CDC’s recommendations which include more mental health screening for refugees, building support in communities among families etc, and expanding mental health facilities for refugees.

Just a reminder to readers that there was much angst and consternation in the refugee camps in Nepal where these refugees had lived for going on two decades about coming to the US in the first place.  We wrote about it on several occasions as the great emptying of camps began in 2007.  We reported last month that in the ensuing years we have resettled over 60,000 Bhutanese/Nepali people, so that meatpackers would have some more good docile workers, the contractors could get your taxpayer dollars, the Dems could get more voters and Americans could feel all warm and fuzzy about giving them this opportunity (I just threw that last part in there because I’m so cynical now!).

And, just so you know, some Bhutanese are doing well. Here is one glowing report from Pittsburgh, PA.   But, oops! it is the location of one of the suicides as we reported here in 2010 (Sheesh, I googled Pittsburgh Bhutanese and my own post came up!).

Posted in health issues, Other refugees, Refugee Resettlement Program, Resettlement cities | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

To add diversity, Minneapolis and Columbus, OH recruiting Somalis for police and fire department jobs

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 3, 2013

We know those Somalis in Columbus know a bit about fires because back in 2009 we had a report that one group of Somalis tried to burn down the mosque of another group of more moderate Somalis, read all about it here.

Here is yesterday’s story from the Columbus Dispatch:

About 35 young men showed up at a meeting in Minneapolis last week to find out how to join the city’s fire department.

They were all from the local Somali community, which is the nation’s largest.

Community leaders organized the meeting because Minnesota’s largest city is making an effort this year to recruit from the Somali and eastern African communities, said Casidy Anderson, the fire department’s community risk-reduction officer. “It’s important for the fire department that it reflects the face of the community,” Anderson said.

Columbus is making a similar effort and is hiring a consultant to work with both the fire and police divisions to increase diversity.

“There is a targeted approach to reach out not just to the Somali community but to all immigrant communities,” said Napoleon Bell, the executive director of the Columbus Community Relations Commission. Columbus is home to the country’s second-largest Somali population. Some are hesitant to apply to become a police officer or firefighter because they don’t trust authorities, based on bad experiences where they came from, Bell said.

The city is to begin a 35-member fire-recruit class in June.

Authorities might think it’s logical to aim for the younger Somalis who have grown up here, but remember it was virtually all young Somalis (who had grown up here!) that were recruited to join the Jihad in Africa a few years ago, remember!

Minneapolis is aiming for younger members of the Somali community who have grown up in America and are more comfortable with the idea of joining the fire department, Anderson said. “It’s almost like they’re straddling two cultures,” Anderson said.

Then I am guessing that maybe those fire departments have looked to European cities (Paris and Malmo, Sweden come to mind) where police and fire fighters do not enter the Muslim “no-go zones” even to fight fires.

The Minneapolis fire department wants to make sure it reflects the changing face of the city, Anderson said. “The Somali community is here. They are here to stay.”

It might be a good idea for Minneapolis and Columbus officials to keep the famous Ricci Supreme Court case in mind as they proceed.

For new readers:  Columbus Somalis made news just last month, here, when they had to be dispersed by the police while seeking subsidized housing applications.

Posted in Africa, Changing the way we live, Muslim refugees, Refugee Resettlement Program, Resettlement cities | Tagged: , , | 5 Comments »

Thailand to deport latest groups of Rohingya asylum seekers

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 3, 2013

What is a country to do—just about anywhere in the world these days massive numbers of migrants are on the move looking for jobs and social services.

In and around Southeast Asia it’s impossible to do the Greek model of border security.

Thailand won’t let this latest group of Rohingya Muslim asylum seekers stay and the UN is not happy.

In Australia those arriving by boat get to stay, but are placed in detention and there is almost daily news about the pressure on the government there to not be so inhumane.   So, what is a country that wishes to survive do?

Here is the latest fuming from the NGOs and the UN:

Thai authorities say Rohingya Muslim refugees allegedly fleeing sectarian violence and persecution in western Burma must be sent back to their homeland.

The 73 migrants, including women and children, were found drifiting in a small, overcrowded boat off the Thai resort town of Phuket, well short of their final destination of Malaysia.

Thai authorities intercepted the boat, which had been at sea for 13 days, and provided the refugees with food and supplies on Tuesday. But local media reported Wednesday they have been arrested and ordered to return to Burma by land.

Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, says that Thailand should suspend any plan to deport the refugees until the United Nations refugee agency has a chance to determine whether they have legitimate claims for protection.

He says Thai authorities, who are reluctant to absorb migrant workers from neighboring countries, must come up with a better policy for dealing with boat people.

Then here is more—UN puts pressure on Thailand.  (see the photo, Camp of the Saints anyone?)

It is just a matter of time before the US steps in and says to countries like Thailand (as they did Malta), heck we will take a few off your hands.

Come to think of it, where are the nations of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) with their Muslim charity?  They should be taking in their Muslim brethren!

For new readers:  This is our 130th post on the Rohingya issue, here.

Posted in Asylum seekers, Australia, Muslim refugees, Refugee Resettlement Program, Rohingya Reports | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

St. Paul school system gives ethnic tours through its food services facility

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 2, 2013

We have gone completely insane!

I have no problem with giving parents tours of the food services tax payers fund, but to segregate those tours based on ethnicity is sheer madness—there is apparently no attempt to assimilate immigrants in cities being taken over by assorted refugee/immigrant groups!  Just like the ‘culturally appropriate’ day care centers we pay for, stunts like this one only seek to further divide people.

And, let me ask you?  If while you were in school, or when you had kids in school, didn’t you just bring (or send) a brown bag lunch from home if  you, or your kid, didn’t like what was on the school lunch menu.  Is that forbidden now?  LOL!  I detect Michelle Obama and the food fascists lurking somewhere behind all this.

Here is the story that has me steaming this morning, from the Minneapolis Star Tribune (we assure you that we don’t serve pork in our school system!):

School was out, but for the Somali families touring the St. Paul school’s central kitchen on a recent Friday, it was a time to learn — and to ask important questions.

Mothers went past gleaming kettles and walk-in ovens, and then stopped at a photo display of what looked like pork products, consumption of which is forbidden in the Muslim world.

Questions flew, among them: How could pepperoni be anything but pork? But after being assured that it was chicken or turkey, and that, in fact, St. Paul’s menus were entirely pork-free, the women, satisfied, joined a line serving a school lunch for dinner.

Everyday life can get complicated in a district where students speak more than 100 languages and dialects. Lunch preparation can be a source of mystery, too, for new immigrants, and to ease concerns the district has begun hosting kitchen visits for its Somali, Karen, Hmong and Latino parent groups.

St. Paul’s nutrition services budget is $24.9 million annually, with $21 million covered through federal reimbursement. Last week, Jean Ronnei, the district’s nutrition services director, acknowledged that to cover costs and remain self-sufficient, with no local tax contribution, you need customers — like any restaurant. But that’s not the reason for the outreach efforts, she said.

“We want to make sure our families are happy,” Ronnei said.

We promise!  No pork served here!

After receiving cookie samples, the guests moved on to the display of pork lookalike products, and at the very front, asking questions of nutrition specialist Tessa Acker, was Basro Mohamud, the mother of a Cherokee Heights second-grader.

One day, Mohamud said, her son, Hamza Abdiwhab, 10, told her that he’d been given a ham sandwich at school. He assured her he was careful to remove the ham, but she didn’t want him to eat the bread, either. Since then, she has told him: “Just eat the fruit.”

Acker explained that what appeared to be ham stacked in a sandwich actually was smoked turkey. But Mohamud pressed on. What about the hot dog casing? she said. Eventually, she was put at ease, and for Hamza, that could be good news.

Asked if her son might now be eating corn dogs, she replied: “Next week.”

I wonder, when will goat meat follow in St. Paul’s corn dogs?

Posted in Changing the way we live, Community destabilization, Muslim refugees, Refugee Resettlement Program | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

Tel Aviv rocked by demonstrations in wake of arrest of African in rape of elderly woman

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 2, 2013

Residents of the neighborhood in south Tel Aviv say their community has been taken over by “refugees” and they want them deported.

Here is one of several stories on the latest crime, from YNet news:

“Today was a really hard day since aside from going to work, we didn’t leave our homes. We are afraid of the police and afraid of the Israelis, hatred is felt on the streets.” This is how Salman, 32, a Sudanese asylum-seeker has described the situation in south Tel Aviv.

Salman, like many of his friends and acquaintances who live in the vicinity of Tel Aviv’s central bus station, fears the vengeance likely to take a toll following the arrest of the Eritrean man suspected of raping an 83-year-old woman.

Go to the YNet story from the day before about how the “horrendous rape” of an old woman rattled the neighborhood, here, leading to the demonstrations.

“Refugees” say they aren’t all criminals and say the Israelis just don’t like blacks.  The migrants to Israel have had it good so far, they aren’t placed in detention as they are in Australia.  (Australia faces criticism daily for that detention policy).

A refugee from Darfur, who infiltrated Israel two years ago said that “the situation is really difficult here, we hear people calling out ‘we don’t want the Sudanese’ and we stay in our homes. The Israelis don’t differentiate between us – to them, we are all black.

“I want to tell them that we are not criminals we are refugees who fled war. Just like in every place, there are people who commit crimes but most of my friends and I just want some peace and quiet.”

Residents:  deport them all.

As a result of the horrifying rape of the elderly woman, an uproarious demonstration was held on Monday night in which dozens of south Tel Aviv’s residents and right-wing activists demanded the deportation of the African migrants.

Maybe the Israelis should go study that Greek border security success story.

Posted in Africa, Asylum seekers, Crimes, diversity's dark side, Israel and refugees | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Greece sealing its borders; dramatic decrease in ‘asylum seekers’ results

Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 2, 2013

Operation Xenious Zeus began in August and shows it can be done!

Greece, the European country whose name we invoke when we worry about financial chaos coming to America has one up on us with its newest strategy to seriously close the border.   Most Greeks blame the flow of illegal impoverished migrants into Greece in the last ten years as the source of much of its financial ruin.

But, check this out!  Some sections of the Greek border are now sealed!

From EU Observer:

Orestiadas, Greece – A chief of police in a border town in northeastern Greece says irregular migrants are no longer crossing into the country from its land border with Turkey.

Barbed-wire fences, landmines, thermal night vision cameras and regular patrols are among the tools used to stop a phenomenon the Greek state considers a national security threat.

Some 55,000 people were detected attempting to wade across the Evros River into Greece from Turkey in the region in 2011.

The figures have now dropped to near zero, says Pashalis Syritoudis, director of police in the run-down Greek border village of Orestiadas.

“In July 2012 we had 6,500 illegal migrants who passed the border. In August, we had only 1,800. In September, only 71 illegal immigrants, in October only 26 and now there are none,” he told EUobserver on 22 November.

[....]

He says the trend stopped since Greece launched Operation Xenious Zeus in early August.

Migrants are now targeting the more treacherous sea crossings near Lesvos, Sumos, Symi and the Farmkonis islands instead.

“We have given a very clear message to the facilitators [migrant smugglers] and their source countries in North Africa and other countries that Evros is no longer an easy passage to enter Europe,” Syritoudis noted.

There is more, read it all.

We have reported on struggling Greece, here, many times over the last few years.

Here is an idea!

Remember those Libyans who came to Texas recently to see how we seal our borders?  They should be going to Orestiadas, Greece to see how successful professionals get it done!

Posted in Asylum seekers, Europe, Other Immigration | Tagged: , , | 8 Comments »

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