I’ve only said this about a million times (exaggerating of course!): To be a legitimate refugee one must claim that he or she would be persecuted for one of several reasons if the refugee claimant should return (or be forced to return) to his or her home country.
The wannabe refugee makes that claim and is then processed by the UN which arranges resettlement to a third country!
Imagine my surprise to see this news that gives me the rare opportunity to praise the United Nations!
The story at Syria Direct is headlined:
UN-registered Syrian refugees in Jordan return home for visits, unexpectedly lose refugee status: ‘If we had known, we wouldn’t have visited’
The report begins by featuring refugee applicant Abdel Rahman (not his real name) who, along with his family, had been living in Jordan and was being processed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for resettlement to some western country.
But, alas, his wife missed home and family….
“When the border opened, I said [to my wife]: ‘Go visit Syria and see your family, maybe your state of mind will improve.’ So that’s what happened.”
Abdel Rahman’s wife stayed in Syria for 20 days before returning to Jordan, he says. But soon after her return, the couple were left blindsided: they went in to the office of UN refugee agency UNHCR to check on their family resettlement process, only to find that their file had been closed altogether.
Their resettlement case would be halted, and food vouchers and other UNHCR services to the family cut off.
The key to this entire story is reported in the 13th paragraph after the reporter has you emotionally distraught (well, maybe not you, savvy readers, but uninformed readers)!
It is a cornerstone of refugee law that a refugee relinquishes their status when they return to their home country.
And yet Abdel Rahman is one of several Syrian refugees in Jordan who tell Syria Direct they were not informed of or counseled on longstanding UNHCR policies that would effectively strip them of refugee status if they were to travel home to Syria—even on short visits without the intention of moving back permanently—before returning to Jordan.
Much more here if you want to read more sob stories about the loss of refugee status (and benefits!) for those popping back and forth to Syria.
It isn’t just Syrians going home!
Recently I told you about Rep. Ilhan Omar going back ‘home’ to Somalia and asked if she was a poster child for refugee fraud.
The answer is yes!
If Somalia is safe enough for visits, then why are we admitting any more fake refugees from Somalia?
Which brings me to this news from Breitbart, thanks to reader Joanne for bringing it to my attention.
Somali Parents Fly Sons to Africa to Escape Deadly Knife Violence in Khan’s London
Spiraling knife, drugs, and gang crime in London has been leading many concerned Somali parents to send their teenage offspring, who grew up in Britain, away to Africa for their own safety.
Read the whole story here.
Unfortunately, the Trump Administration missed a great opportunity during its early months to send a package of reform measures to the Republican Congress.
One key measure would be to disallow anyone who has been designated a refugee (and given all the privileges of refugee status) to visit the country of their supposed persecution. The minute such a ‘refugee’ leaves for ‘home’ their US passport should be yanked.
Aliens granted refugee status by the USG don’t get U.S. passports. They have “Lawfully Admitted Permanent Resident” status (LAPR), and get what is commonly called a green card. They have to go to one of their consulates to get either a passport from their native country, or a travel authorization document. Something that a commercial airline will accept to issue them a ticket.
I haven’t a clue if there are many green card holders returning to places like Syria, or Somalia. Probably most wait the five years until they are eligible to apply for U.S. Citizenship. This way they can get a U.S. Passport. From my experience most will have both, so they can travel to other countries hostile to America. They will conceal their U.S. Passport, and use it only if they get hassled in a foreign land, and they need help from the American embassy.
Unfortunately, your excellent idea “Keep telling the President what you think he should do about issues like these” is neutralized by the lefties’ one “Keep electing all kinds of Quran-sweared Omars into Congress”
So what do we do, just give up and go spend our days at a beach somewhere? (I have to admit it is tempting!)
Decent Americans leaving for some beach to reclaim their wonderful country? God forbid: I suspect the strategy would be tempting for omars only. My guess there is a lot of non-beachy options in such cases but I do not feel it would be proper to mentor the Leader of the Free World’s citizens about their own problems from my Down Under. The Aussies’ experience says that the best decisions are – even during bushfires! – achieved by using our individual ability to think, to analyze, to compare. Wasn’t the same mighty weapon of human brains used most fruitfully by your great Founding Fathers to create the United States? Of course the good old patriots of the Land of the Free were sometimes quite different in their personal views; however, I am absolutely sure: all of them did belong to the proud HOMO SAPIENCE species (that is, they could and loved to think, while the open-borders mob, on the contrary, just hates the very process of independent thinking).
And stay out!