Free Republic

Despite resistance by Idaho’s top political leaders, 118 Syrian refugees have moved to the Gem State since last Oct. 1, all of them settling in Boise, according to new data from the State Department. Compared with larger cities, Boise took in a disproportionate share, accepting more than twice as many refugees as New York, with 9, and Los Angeles, with 45, combined. ... Overall, the United States had admitted 11,469 Syrian refugees as of Sept. 9, ... no state took in more Syrian refugees than California, with 1,300. San Diego accepted more than half of them, or 690, while Sacramento...

George Soros to invest $500 million in help for refugees http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/20/george-soros-to-invest-500-million-in-help-for-refugees-through-his-open-society-foundations.html George Soros to invest $500 million in help for refugees Nyshka Chandran | @nyshkac 9 Hours Ago CNBC.com Soros invests $500m for refugees Billionaire investor George Soros pledged on Tuesday to invest up to $500 million in programs and companies benefiting migrants and refugees fleeing life-threatening situations. Announced against the backdrop of an ongoing United Nations (U.N.) summit in New York, Soros explained that he wished to harness the power of the private sector for public good. "We will invest in startups, established companies, social impact initiatives, and businesses...

Russia and the US have agreed to a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria from sunset on 12 September after intensive talks in Geneva. Under the plan, the Syrian government will end combat missions in specified areas held by the opposition. Russia and the US will establish a joint centre to combat so-called Islamic State and al-Nusra fighters. The plan follows a day of talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

VIDEO – Bill Clinton: Rebuild Detroit with Syrian Refugees Julia Hahn 29 Aug 2016 Washington D.C.340 In a previously little-noticed video from February at the Clinton Global Initiative, former President Bill Clinton suggested that the U.S. use Syrian refugees to rebuild Detroit. “The truth is that the big loser in this over the long run is going to be Syria. This is an enormous opportunity for Americans,” Bill Clinton said about the Syrian migrant crisis. Detroit has 10,000 empty, structurally sound houses—10,000. And lot of jobs to be had repairing those houses. Detroit just came out of bankruptcy and the...

AT LEAST one person has been killed and 12 more are injured after a Syrian asylum seeker blew himself outside a wine bar in Germany. The attack took place in Ansbach, near Nuremburg, after the 27-year-old was denied access to the nearby Ansbach Open music festival, according to Germany's interior minister Joachim Herrmann. Hermann said the suspect, who was known to police, had lived in Germany for two years but was denied asylum in the country a year ago. He said it is unclear if the suspect intended to kill others or just himself but said he had “tried to...

Less than a week after a man who had claimed refugee status as a 17-year-old Afghan attacked train riders with an axe in Wurzburg, Germany, and after an attack by a German-Iranian teen in Munich on Friday that killed nine, now come reports that a Syrian refugee wielding a machete has killed a pregnant woman and wounded two others in Reutlingen, Germany. Reuters reports: A 21-year-old Syrian refugee killed a woman with a machete and injured two other people on Sunday before being arrested in the southern German city of Reutlingen, a police spokesman said. The asylum-seeking Syrian man had...

A Syrian refugee wielding a machete has killed a woman and injured two other people in Germany before being arrested by police. The attack happened in the south western city of Reutlingen near a doner kebab stand at Listplatz Square. German media have been reporting that the motive for the attack in the city south of Stuttgart was unclear. Pictures from the scene appear to show the knifeman lying on the ground with blood on his face. Armed police officers can be seen pinning him down to the ground before binding his hands behind his back. . One eyewitness told...

AP: Administration Freed Terror Suspect By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Nabil al-Marabh was No. 27 on the FBI (news - web sites)'s list of terror suspects after Sept. 11. He trained in Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s militant camps, sent money to a roommate convicted in a foiled plot to bomb a hotel and boasted to an informant about plans to blow up a fuel truck inside a New York tunnel, FBI documents allege. The Bush administration set him free — to Syria — even though prosecutors had sought to bring criminal cases against him and judges...

The “surge� of Syrian refugee admissions first announced by the State Department last spring hit a new peak during June – 2,381 refugees, or more than double the number permitted to resettle in the United States in May. Of them, eight (0.3 percent) are Christians and 2,364 (99.2 percent) are Sunni Muslims. The remainder comprise eight other Muslims, and one refugee giving no religious affiliation, according to State Department Refugee Processing Center data. In comparison, 1,069 Syrian refugees were admitted during May, of whom two were Christians and 1,060 were Sunnis. The other seven were other Muslims. With the more...

More than 800,000 people from Muslim majority countries have gotten green cards since 2009, wth the number set to hit 1 million before President Obama leaves office. The data, released by a Senate subcommittee on immigration and the national interest, reflect a steady uptick in migration from Muslim nations in recent years – even as Donald Trump seeks to put a pause on Muslims visiting the United States.

One of the sitting members on the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s (HSAC) Subcommittee on Countering Violent Extremism is a 25-year-old immigrant of Syrian heritage who said that the 9/11 attacks “changed the world for good” and has consistently disparaged America, free speech and white people on social media. Laila Alawa was one of just 15 people tapped to serve on the newly-formed HSAC Subcommittee on Countering Violent Extremism in 2015 — the same year she became an American citizen. Just last week, the subcommittee submitted a report to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, recommending that the DHS avoid...

Obama Administration Surge Agenda Threatening U.S. With 100 Syrian Refugees Per Day by Lana Shadwick 11 Jun 2016 http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2016/06/11/obama-administration-surge-agenda-threatening-u-s-100-syrian-refugees-per-day/ Over 100 Syrian refugees have been admitted every day in June according to the federal government’s own database from the Refugee Processing Center. More than 1,000 were admitted in May. The rate of those admitted has sky-rocketed when compared to the 3,755 accepted in fiscal year 2016.

A Syrian man who was detained in France and exposed a terror ring in Germany, told officials that the cell contained more people than the three who were arrested last week, according to officials familiar with the man’s testimony. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the man’s revelations are increasing concerns that the Islamic State (ISIS) could be close to carrying out an attack in Europe once again.

Screening all refugees before their arrival in Germany would be “unaffordable” and calls for this measure have come too late, the country’s police trade union chief has said. Germany remains on alert following the arrest of three Syrians with alleged links to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) this week on charges they were planning suicide terror attacks in Duesseldorf. Checking the backgrounds of all refugees already in Germany would be impossible because of ongoing budget cuts in the public sector, while demands to carry out this measure are wise but too late, Rainer Wendt, chief of the police trade union,...

The United States has approved 4,700 Syrian refugees who are awaiting resettlement to the country, while an additional 7,900 are awaiting security review, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Thursday.

There was a time when people weren't against Syrians seeking refuge in the United States. There is now a disease that has been linked back to the refugees, and it's making some of those supporters question their decision. Even the people who are still in Syria are spreading the diseases that have been thought to be dismissed in the western world. Polio, measles and a flesh-eating disease have plagued Syrians, and wherever they go, the diseases seem to follow. In 2013, the World Health Organization noted that there were 139 cases of measles and polio in Syria when only a...

The Obama administration’s “surge” of Syrian refugee admissions approved for resettlement in the United States jumped by 37 percent in April – to 451 from 330 the previous month. Of those 451, 426 were Sunni Muslims and one was a Christian, according to State Department Refugee Processing Center data. The remaining 24 comprised nine Shi’a Muslims, five other Muslims and 10 Yazidis. The first ten days of May have brought a further 99 admissions, all Sunnis. President Obama last fall pledged to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees in fiscal year 2016. After a slow start – four months into FY2016, only...

When GOP front-runner Donald Trump first announced his temporary ban on non-citizen Muslims entering America, his idea was condemned by virtually the entire Republican Party. Jeb Bush responded, “Seriously?” Speaker of the House Paul Ryan addressed the nation to condemn it. Even Ted Cruz wouldn’t support it. But there’s one massive group of people that overwhelmingly backs Trump’s proposal for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration: Republican primary voters.

But, contrary to what you might think, it isn’t New York City they are going to. Resettlement contractors operating in the state are placing them in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Utica along with a whole host of smaller cities throughout the state. On these pages over the years we’ve told you about problems and especially made note of the UN designated ‘Town that Loves Refugees‘ (Utica) having serious problems now with schools overloaded with educationally needy children, here. It does not take a genius to figure out that there is a huge cost associated with educating children who do...

HAMILTON -- An influx of Garth Brooks fans to Hamilton is temporarily pushing some Syrian refugee families out. Various local media reports say more than 200 Syrian refugees were bumped from their accommodations at downtown Hamilton hotels to make way for thousands of Brooks fans who already booked rooms. The country music legend is playing a series of concerts in the city Thursday through Sunday night. Reports say the refugees were shuttled to St. Catharines -- about 55 kilometres away -- to stay at another hotel for the duration of the shows. Wesley Urban Ministries handles the reception of some...

Tim Macy, Chairman of Gun Owners of America, wrote an open letter to Second Amendment supporters exposing Republican presidential candidate John Kasich’s real anti-gun agenda.Labeling Kasich the “wolf in sheep’s clothing� still in the presidential race, Macy points to Kasich’s close relationship with Leftist, Communist, billionaire George Soros. In fact, the Soros Fund Management is one of John Kasich’s top financial contributors.“This can hardly be a surprise,� Macy writes. His full letter can be read here. An abbreviated version is below.Kasich and Soros share two important traits: (1) their desire to mess up the Republican selection process for devious motives,...

President Barack Obama has been quietly pushing new plans to bring thousands of additional Syrian refugees into the country, despite the concerns of state and county officials and the outrages committed by welfare-dependent migrants in Europe. Obama’s special assistant to the president for immigration policy, Felicia Escobar, recently announced plans to increase America’s intake of migrants, according to the Washington Examiner. “We want to make sure that we can increase our numbers of refugees that are able to settle here,� Escobar said. “The need globally is so, so, so massive right now, given all the displacement and conflict around the...

The White House is quietly pushing for an increase in refugees from Syria, despite new concerns raised by state and county officials that federal help is often missing when they arrive. President Obama's assistant for immigration policy told a task force set up by the National Association of Counties that the U.S. is eyeing a bigger role to help alleviate the growing crisis. "We want to make sure that we can increase our numbers of refugees that are able to settle here," Felicia Escobar said. "The need globally is so, so, so massive right now, given all the displacement and...

STATE AND CITY REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT 2015 STATE AK Anchorage 125

Syrian rebels have brought at least 2,000 reinforcements through Turkey in the past week to bolster the fight against Kurdish-led militias north of Aleppo, rebel sources said on Thursday. ...Turkish forces facilitated the transfer from one front to another over several nights ..."We have been allowed to move everything from light weapons to heavy equipment, mortars and missiles and our tanks," Abu Issa, a commander in the Levant Front, told Reuters ..."We are getting fresh supplies of everything from missiles to mortars to armoured vehicles. Almost everything is now being delivered to us," said the rebel source.

Somehow I assume Russia sees this very differently. CBS’ Charlie Rose can’t quite swallow this either, reminding Defense Secretary Ash Carter that Russia has strengthened their hand in Syria and pushed the US aside to at least some degree as a “player.� That won’t matter, Carter responds, because America will win this political and military battle — and then Moscow will rue the day, or something:

Japan accepted only 27 refugees last year and rejected almost all applications, officials said Saturday, as rights groups urged the government to allow more people in. The country has long been nervous about an influx of refugees into its homogeneous society and has tightly restricted the number it accepts. Of the thousands seeking refugee status, five were Syrian, only three of which were accepted -- a far cry from the massive influx of Syrians into Europe from the war-torn Middle East nation last year....

A pair of Algerian asylum seekers living in Germany and suspected of robbing an elderly woman's handbag used multiple identities to claim asylum and hide previous arrests. The pair, aged 17 and 31 told police in Essen, western Germany they had fled war-torn Syria after they were arrested on suspicion of stealing the 63-year-old woman's handbag. However, police soon discovered that both men, whose names have not been released, had been arrested on a number of previous occasions using different identities.

As Texas officials spar with Obama administration lawyers over refugee resettlement, Amarillo is building Muslim “ghettos.� Under federal refugee programs, the North Texas town has become home to more than 1,000 Mideast migrants – giving Amarillo the highest refugee ratio in the country. “Our education system is overloaded with kids who can’t speak English. We have something like 22 languages spoken in our schools,� said William Sumerford, a local taxpayer activist. City Commissioner Randy Burkett is considering a plan to halt further refugee settlements. Burkett could not be reached, but Mayor Paul Harpole isn’t optimistic about the city’s authority to...

Since China introduced its "one child" policy in 1978, the imbalance between the sexes has increased to the point where in today's generation there are 119 boys for every 100 girls. The pioneer generation of that male surplus are now adults. Professor Valerie Hudson, a Texas A&M University professor, said gender imbalances could cause serious problems in the community. She said societies where men outnumbered women were more susceptible to higher levels of violence, insurgence and mistreatment of women. Sweden is of particular interest to Professor Hudson, because it has the second-highest number of asylum applications in Europe, relative to...

Three female students - ages 14, 15 and 16 - say they were repeatedly assaulted and groped by the boys for months at the Schlossstrasse Middle School in Salzburg ... The victims only came forward after hundreds of women reported being sexually assaulted by migrants on New Year's Eve in Cologne, Germany.

VANCOUVER -- Police said they were looking for a suspect after more than a dozen Syrian refugees were pepper sprayed late Friday night in Vancouver. The attack happened outside the Muslim Association of Canada Centre during a "welcome night" event for newly-arrived Syrian refugees. City police said a crowd of men, women and children had gathered outside the MAC centre when a man wearing a white-hoodie apparently rode by on a bicycle and sprayed 15 to 30 people. Witnesses said several of those who were hit started coughing and complaining of burning eyes. Police said that a number of people...

But they're just good people looking for safety. If you think refugees are going to come to the United States and support the very same Islamic terrorist organizations they’re fleeing, you’re just being paranoid. ...Or you’re an idiot. ...Or worse, you’ve allowed your mind to be warped by Donald Trump. Whatever the reason, you live in a world of unfounded fear and you are to be ridiculed and ignore, in that order. Or, according to Reuters, you’re just a person who has a modicum of common sense. Yesterday, while the President was busy lecturing you about your stubborn refusal to...

Leaked police report claims senior police officers feared fatalities and that one of those involved in attacks told officers: “I am Syrian. You have to treat me kindly. Mrs Merkel invited me" Some of those involved in a series of sexual assaults against women in the German city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve claimed to be Syrian refugees, according to a leaked police report. The outbreak of violence was also far more serious than previously thought, and at one point senior police officers feared “there could have been fatalities�. Two newspapers have published what they claim is an internal...

Two weeks ago, Turkish police arrested an Islamist with ties to many upper tier al-Qaida members. The man not only tried to get asylum in Germany, but claims to have known about the London bombings beforehand and to have helped the 9/11 pilots. The Turkish interrogators in Istanbul's high-security prison wanted to be polite; they wanted to show respect for Islam. They offered their prisoner, an Islamist named Luai Sakra, 31, a chance to pray during a pause in questioning. They'd done the same thing with earlier suspects. The move was supposed to establish trust. But this prisoner reacted a...

Syrian refugees are being settled in South Carolina, despite a request from Gov. Nikki Haley that they not be placed in the state because of security concerns. ... The Department of Social Services has been notified by Lutheran Services Carolinas that another family from Syria has been approved for resettlement in the State,� DSS spokeswoman Karen Wingo told The Greenville News. “However, the Department does not have any additional information at this time regarding their estimated date of arrival or planned location of placement.� The federal government did not communicate with Haley’s office that it was resettling the Syrians in...

Have police foiled an ISIS chemical weapons plot in Europe? Two Syrian terror suspects are arrested in Geneva for 'making and transporting explosives and toxic gases' Two suspected Syrians were arrested in Geneva on suspicion of transporting 'explosives and toxic gases' as part of a probe into a terror threat. Switzerland's attorney general said the men were also suspected of making and hiding the dangerous materials. But Geneva prosecutor Olivier Jornot today said only traces of explosives were found in the car, and did not elaborate on claims about potential chemical weapons. More arrests are expected to be made in...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday called for "a pause or a moratorium" on resettling Syrian refugees in the United States. Republicans on Capitol Hill are coalescing around the position that refugees from Syria should not be allowed into the country until the vetting process is more thoroughly examined, with a vote in the House possible this week. McConnell said that "the ability to vet people coming from that part of the world is really quite limited." He pointed to a refugee from Iraq who was resettled in Kentucky and later implicated in a terrorist conspiracy despite being...

About 160 Syrian refugees will be arriving at Toronto's Pearson airport this week as the Liberal government attempts to fulfil its pledge to welcome 10,000 by the end of the year. Immigration Minister John McCallum told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday morning that there are 11,932 applications in process from refugees who want to come to Canada and 1,451 visas have been issued. Most of the 10,000 refugees arriving by the end of the year will be sponsored by private groups and Canadian citizens.

Syrian families have been settled in Texas and in Indiana, the groups helping them said Tuesday, defying efforts by the conservative states' governors to stop their arrival. A family of six went to live Monday near relatives already living in the Dallas area, said Lucy Carrigan, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee. "They seem very happy," Carrigan said, noting that they were put up in an apartment with basic furniture and a stocked refrigerator. "And it was almost like breathing a sigh of relief that they have arrived. This has been a long journey for them, and it's been...

A dozen Syrian refugees arrive in Texas today hoping to start a new life far from their war-torn homeland. But they're not being welcomed by the state. Six of the 12 refugees are members of one family. Two small children with their parents and grandparents will join relatives in Dallas. The other six refugees will be greeted by relatives in Houston. The Bayou city will get another nine refugees on Thursday.

(full title) New concerns about Syrian refugees. Just because the prime minister has extended the timeline for bringing them to Canada, doesn’t mean the public’s legitimate questions have been addressed Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has released more details about resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada and recalibrated its overly ambitious timetable, the exaggerated rhetoric has started to subside. Rather than ending the debate, however, it raises other policy questions, since even more than 25,000 refugees could be on their way to Canada in 2016. If not handled carefully, this has the potential of exacerbating anti-Muslim sentiment in...

Canadians who have difficulty accessing the healthcare system, finding an affordable housing or who are living in or close to poverty do not matter to this government. They simply are not a priority To begin with, the use of “Canadians� in this article is not restricted to “old stock;� people who are born in this country. It includes immigrants who are now citizens of Canada and legal permanent residents of Canada. Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have been in power a couple of days short of a month. In this short time period, Trudeau and his Liberal Party have shown...

Since the start of the Syria's civil war in the spring of 2011, the U.S. has admitted 2,311 Syrian refugees and resettled them in 36 different states. According to data from the State Department's Refugee Processing Center the top three destinations for Syrian refugees since the beginning of the conflict are California, Texas, and Michigan. From March 15, 2011 through December 1, 2015, California received the most (261) Syrian refugees, Texas received the second most with 242, and Michigan has received the third most with 217. Other states that have received Syrian refugees since March 2011 include: Arizona (182), Illinois...

While Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, Putin in his own style, sent a gift to the Turkmen who killed his pilot: hell, fire and brimstone coming from all directions; land, air and sea.

As the United States prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving - a holiday that American legend traces back to a dinner between Native Americans and bedraggled, immigrant pilgrims - some of the country's top political leaders are calling to block the arrival of Syrian refugees, would-be immigrants fleeing chaos and possible death in the Middle East, a situation some think the U.S. may have helped create. In the wake of the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks, newly elected U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the U.S. government needs to "balance our compassion and our safety," when it comes to processing refugees...

AP November 20, 2015, 12:55 PM In America's Little Syria, a divide on accepting refugees ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- A few days ago, a pastor asked Syrian-born restaurant owner Marie Jarrah to donate food to a welcoming event for recently arrived Syrian refugees. Jarrah, who said she regularly helps people in need, declined. Like many of Allentown's establishment Syrians, she doesn't think it's a good idea to bring refugees to the city. She clung to that view even before last week's terrorist attacks in Paris. "Problems are going to happen," said Jarrah, co-owner of Damascus Restaurant in a heavily Syrian enclave....

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders about the crisis in Syria. On his first trip to Iran in eight years, Putin met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday, as Russia nears a third month of military engagement in the conflict. The discussions come on a sidelines of a one-day trip to Iran for a summit of gas-exporting countries. Tehran and Moscow have supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the ongoing civil war that has crippled the country since 2011 and killed over 250,000 people. The violence has displaced millions more. On...

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum condemned the U.S. treatment of Syrian refugees on Thursday and compared their plight to the ordeal of Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust..."We cannot and should not blame [refugees] for the actions of an evil terrorist organization," ...Georgette Bennett, the president of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding and the daughter of Holocaust survivors, said that U.S. politicians' opposition to receiving Syrian refugees reminded her of "the refusal to allow the passengers of the St. Louis to disembark in an American port, sending them back to Europe -- many to their deaths."

Congressman Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, was one of 47 democrats in the United States House of Representatives who voted for H.R. 4038, which would pull more agencies into the refugee vetting process. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, also voted in favor of the bill, and U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-McAllen, did not vote. H.R. 4038, which passed the House on Thursday, would require the FBI and Director of National Intelligence to certify every refugee, in addition to already existing Department of Homeland Security screening. Vela said it would be “streamlining� the process.