Tuesday, June 18, 2019

The Asylum Seeker Racket



It says: “Comments are disabled on some stories about sensitive topicsat the bottom of articles about hundreds of African “asylum seekers” coming into Portland, Maine on buses from San Antonio, Texas. That tells me The Portland Press Herald, Maine’s largest newspaper, knows illegal immigration is unpopular with Mainers and millions of other Americans across the country. The paper wants only its view presented and restricts opposing views.


Press Herald coverage amplifies anecdotes about the hardships endured by African families from Angola, Congo, and Cameroon who travel to Brazil, then Central America, and through Mexico to arrive at the Texas border demanding asylum. There’s no investigation, however, into who supported them on that long journey. Who paid their passage across the Atlantic? Who fed, clothed, and housed them on their months-long journey? Who told them to ask for asylum immediately after crossing the border and then ask to be bussed to Portland, Maine? Photographs of them arriving in Portland don’t depict people worn out after a harrowing journey. They’re well-dressed and some appear overweight.


A Swiss journalist named Urs Gehriger tried to interview these “asylum seekers” on the streets of San Antonio about how they got there. According to Fox News: “…he met hostility from people who didn’t want to share details about their experiences … and had rolls of $100 bills. They offered conflicting answers and contradicted each other.” They had crossed the Rio Grande illegally but immediately became “legal” after asking border officials for asylum because of the federal law congressional Democrats refuse to change. So, we can expect “asylum seekers” to just keep coming and they’re not illegal aliens; they’re “asylees.” Gehriger believes the illegals were coached on giving answers to authorities. “I had the impression that somebody told them not to speak about it,” and acting like “now we’re here, you have to help us, give us money,” he said.


Hundreds of Africans have arrived and as many as 1500 more are expected. There’s no hint in the PPH coverage about Mainers who believe Democrats support open-borders and who are unhappy about spending their tax money on people from anywhere in the world who make their way to Maine claiming “asylum.” How do “asylees” know that in little Portland, Maine they can get free food, medical care, housing, and education? When they arrive in Texas, they ask to be bussed here. Government officials in San Antonio also know Portland offers more free stuff for “asylum seekers” than almost anywhere else in the country.


When Democrats controlled Maine prior to 2012 and Portland gave illegal immigrants and “asylum seekers” General Assistance (welfare), the state reimbursed the city for 90% of it. Then former [Republican] Maine Human Services Director Mary Mayhew said in 2015: “For too long, legislators in Augusta have taken Maine citizens’ tax dollars and prioritized welfare dollars for illegal aliens over aid to elderly and disabled Maine citizens.” Former Governor LePage [also Republian] cut off state reimbursement for payments to illegal immigrants and “asylum seekers” in spite of efforts by then-Attorney General Janet Mills [a Democrat] to stop him. Now Democrats are back in control of Maine’s government and Janet Mills is governor. Expect them to restart the gravy train very soon.


It looks like Democrats are willing to pay for any number of people from anywhere in the world, yet they deny they support open borders. Yes, it’s nice to help people who are fleeing war and oppression, but is that the case with all of them? Many Mainers doubt it. Life in America is better than most places in the world and, according to a Gallup poll, a hundred fifty million more would like to come here. How many of those should we pay for? A million? Ten million? Fifty million? Ask a Democrat official and you won’t get a straight answer. Portland’s social services infrastructure cannot handle the ones we have already so local officials reach out to surrounding communities like South Portland where I’m also a taxpayer.


According to the Washington Examiner, Catholic Charities pays to bus the “asylum seekers” around the country. A ticket to New York for a family of five to seven cost $2000. Why would they do that? Is it because most of their budget comes from the federal government for resettling refugees and asylum seekers? American Catholic bishops support open borders and, according to newsmax.com: “Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services [in the USA] received $202,000,000 and $426,943,000 respectively in 2016.”

There are at least 3000 asylum seekers in Maine who wait two years for their cases to be heard by an immigration court. However, US Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan reported earlier this month that 90% of asylum seekers in the country never show up. Is that because their asylum claims are phony? After defaulting on their court appearances they all become illegal aliens again and McAleenan says very few will ever be deported.


Quite a racket, huh? Expect to read none of this in the Portland Press Herald.

13 comments:

Uber_Fritz said...

Tom:

The last sign says it all: "No Deportation for 'Asylem' Seekers." All of this nonsense funded by the working population who receive NONE of the benefits. I cannot say anything else; it makes me sick!

Elect Democrats and more of the same!

CaptDMO said...

Portland? (and surrounding areas.....
Why, it's ALMOST as if an advance group came in, to set up the siege for
the main force of "asylum seekers" desperately in need of Progressive "thinking" that's so passionate with other peoples money.
Of course, we're going to need a BUNCH more in taxes for..um...the schools.
Or something like that.
Wait....wait....does it get cold in Portland? (and surrounding areas)?
Wait...wait....airport, rail terminal, AND shipping port!

Brian said...

“Comments are disabled on some stories about sensitive topics”

That tells me that a lot of ignorant a-holes are leaving racist and profane comments.

Why all the questions about who helped support asylum seekers? People trying to help others....duh.

Here is some of what the non-partisan "Pine Tree Watch" had to say about the Maine immigrant situation:

“The chambers, CEOs and the economists are saying we have a big problem and that immigration has got to be part of the solution. Maine’s birth rate is less than our death rate. We need to get people from elsewhere."

" For years, economists have warned that Maine faces a severe workforce shortage because of a double whammy: declining birth rates and an aging population of Baby Boomers. "

“If people aren’t exposed to minorities and other cultures, Maine will be out of it in terms of what’s happening demographically in the rest of the country,”

"Advocates of helping immigrants enter Maine’s workforce point to the fact that immigrants have a higher rate of professional education than U.S.-born Mainers. This education edge is especially true for asylum seekers,"

"In fact, many Maine companies already are heavily dependent on immigrant workers. Without them, company managers say they couldn’t meet current workforce needs or expand."

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce has become a leading voice in supporting an increased role for immigrants in the workforce – a direction that diverges from current Trump administration policies toward reducing legal immigration to the United States and making the process of employing foreign workers more onerous.

“Immigrants can play a significant role in addressing Maine’s workforce challenge,” says Dana Connors, president of the chamber. “Maine’s history makes the case for the importance and impact of immigrants on this state.”

https://pinetreewatch.org/help-wanted-the-immigrant-opportunity-maine-employers-look-to-immigrants-to-fill-severe-gap/

And this from the Press Herald:


A new report by the city of Portland and the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce offers a glimpse of how people born in other countries – the ultimate “people from away” – can contribute to a local economy. The experience in southern Maine shows that an influx of immigrants is something to welcome, not fear.

There are costs to integrating a foreign-born population, but it’s a mistake for Mainers to focus only on the costs and not the benefits.

Maine’s future will be bleak if we don’t grow the workforce.

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/08/30/our-view-immigrants-contribute-to-portlands-economy/


But I know, different looking brownish people talking in a language you don't understand freaks many people out. But that has nothing to do with rationality.

Uber_Fritz said...

How many are you willing to house?

Brian said...

Only have room for one, but I don't think they need me. Most immigrants are hard working and industrious as proven by the fact that most Boston valedictorians this year were immigrants.

Here is some more facts and information to educate yourself:

"Some conservatives seem to adhere to the belief that immigrants are thieving slackers like it’s a religion. Maybe this is less because of truth or evidence and more because of ease. It’s far easier to believe that the job market is so poor because of overwhelming numbers of immigrants accepting federal or state job assistance than it is to delve into the complexities of economics. It’s far easier to see reports on minorities and crimes and attribute this rise and coverage of crime to the idea that it is the minorities who are responsible for most crimes than to ask what media and racial dynamics could be at play. It’s a lot easier to look at the world and see it as it appears than to peel back the layers that make up the circumstances surrounding each event."

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/immigrants-dont-get-handouts

Tom said...

Sunday after church my wife and daughter and I went shopping for necessities for asylum seekers and dropped them off at Hope Gateway on Forrest Ave. I don't think that God hates us for doing that.

Brian said...

Of course God doesn't hate you for that.....but he may be a little upset about some other things.

And speaking of immigration issues, any military intelligence, law enforcement, or ICE agent would tell you that it is moronic and counter-productive to announce upcoming raids as fool boy Trump is now doing.

Reality Check said...

"You are apprehensive of foreign interference, intrigue, influence-so am I"

-John Adams, 1787


"Foreign powers will not be idle spectators. They will interpose, the confusion will increase, and a dissolution of the Union will ensue...Nothing was more to be desired that every practical obstacle should be opposed to foreign powers gaining an improper ascendant in our councils"

-Alexander Hamilton, 1787


"They have information. I think I’d take it. ... It’s called oppo research."

-Trump, 2019

Tom McLaughlin said...

Brian replied to Tom: "Of course God doesn't hate you for that but he may be a little upset about some other things."

Brian is more perhaps more right than he knows here, Tom. Proclaiming your goodness in that way brings to mind the gospel reading from Matthew I heard at mass recently. It goes like this:

"When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you..."

Tom: Are you virtue signaling? I'm seeing a lot of that in Portland these days.

Tom said...

No Tom, absolutely not. What the broad meaning of what I said is this: helping out the less fortunate is a good thing and should not be demeaned as 'fools errand'. This society that makes it claim as the light of the world should act as a light if it wants to carry that banner. I am well aware of that Bible verse and most of them and I hear that message. What you significantly and ideologically fail to mention is that the name Tom is nothing more than a moniker and you have no idea who I really am--but God does. I suggest you get back to your Bible and try to get some understanding of Jesus's words. Being a Christian is more than just an idle claim.

Brian said...

So self righteous Tom M. Trying to put down others for mentioning that they helped others, while you did nothing to help those in need he was talking about.

Our country went meddling With Guatemala in 1954, deposing a popular democratic government, and then endorsed a coup of a freely elected leadership of Honduras in 2009 resulting in both countries succumbing to waves of oppression and violence, and when refuges flee these horrific conditions and travel great distances under dangerous conditions for a better life, they are met with unthoughtful, uncaring ignorant dolts like you who claim the whole thing is a big "racket", and that our country (which had a great deal to do with their countries conditions) owes them nothing.

That anybody thinking like this considers themselves to be religious is a laugh. You seem to embody none of the values of Jesus.

Cute that you have picked up on the moronic term of "virtue signaling". You could never be accused of this as you have no virtue to begin with.

Empathy, fellowship, society, love? To the critic of the “virtue signaller”, they are all vanity...this is psychological projection...and a lazy put down used to cast aspersions as an alternative to rebutting arguments. In fact, it’s becoming indistinguishable from the thing it was designed to call out: smug posturing from a position of self-appointed authority. Saying virtue signalling is hypocritical, used to try to show that the accuser is above virtue signalling and that their own arguments really are sincere. Of course, this is really just another example of virtue signalling!

sami gay said...

With all the self-aggrandizement Tom exhibits in his "articles", it is ironic
that he would call someone out for making a simple statement about giving charity.

Reality Check said...

Exactly my thoughts, sami. You can see why Tom likes Trump, both making ridiculously hypocritical statements and both pompous as hell.