THE GREAT AMERICAN ASYLUM SCAM

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.  Emma Lazarus, "Colossus" (1883)

Professor Peter Kwong of Hunter College recently noted that the great majority of Chinese asylum cases in New York City are fraudulent.  And the New York Times has run stories during the last year of ongoing arrests in Flushing, Queens, which have seen up to 10 law firms involved with more than 1900 Chinese asylum-seekers in elaborate schemes to defraud the U.S. asylum process.

MAMA TSARNAEV LAMENTS
FATE OF BOMBING BROTHERS

                 

If the Tsarnaev family bombers did not serve as a wake-up call about the slipshod procedures involved in applying for asylum in the U.S., then our elected representatives in Congress and those bureaucrats charged with administering asylum law are deserving of a very strong shake-up.  Please recall that the family Tsarnaev had claimed persecution in their native Chechnya; but, very strangely since they were supposedly victims in Chechnya, regularly made pilgrimages back to their country of origin.  In addition, they managed to defray expenses in Massachusetts with extremely generous public benefits.  In return, through their radicalized version of Islam, they spewed forth hate for the country that sheltered them, and the brothers Tsanaev will forever live in infamy for the 21st century's version of the Boston Massacre.

Since 1980, more than 2 million individuals have successfully sought asylum in the U.S.  Those applying must supposedly substantiate persecution on the the basis of race, religion, nationality, political point of view or social groupings.

25 years ago, most asylum-seekers were from Europe.  However, since that time and based on presidential recommendations to Congress concerning  world regional ceilings numbers for seekers, Middle Easterners, Asians and Africans are now more numerous.  During 2010, of those successfully applying for asylum, 24.6% were from Iraq, while 22.8% hailed from Burma.

The Supreme Court has ruled that asylees fleeing persecution must be pursuing asylum on the basis of  "...a well founded fear."  Such ethereal language tends to lead to indistinct legal procedures, opening a Pandora's box of extralegal means of taking advantage of the system.

Those who wish to apply for asylum - including even those who have entered the U.S. illegally - must present their case to an asylum officer, who more often than not sends the application further into the bureaucracy to an immigration judge.  Applicants who have been in the country for 150 days are eligible for work permits, and those who have been in the system for a year are immediately eligible for an immigration visa and a green card.

KUSHEN AKHMEDOV

DECEASED MOM WITH 2 CHILD
VICTIMS OF AKHMEDOV

Although the sensationalism of the Tsarnaev abomination captured national attention, many violations by asylees essentially go unnoticed.  For example, a Meskhatian Turk from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia who had gained asylum on the basis of religious grounds, had a penchant for speed, which ultimately led to his crashing into a young mother and her 4 children in Philadelphia while drag-racing.  Only 1 child survived. The Turk, Kushen Akhmedov, had several reckless driving convictions prior to the fatal crash.

Now, on our southern border, the magic words of  "...well-founded fear" have been discovered by enterprising Mexicans hoping for a pass into the land of milk and honey.  Hundreds of Mexican citizens who might have once tried for surreptitious crossings into the U.S., have now simply presented themselves to ICE and Border Patrol personnel, claiming fear of persecution from Mexican drug cartels.  Once uttered, the magic words result in the speakers being escorted to hotels - all at taxpayer expense - and an eventual court date before an asylum judge.  Pending the court date, the "persecuted" Mexicans are relocated - once again at taxpayer expense - to various locales throughout the country.  If past experience may serve as an indicator, these Mexican asylum-seekers will not keep their court dates and will, instead, melt into the general population, joining the millions of illegal aliens already on American soil.

And, finally, here is a bit of weird mental gymnastics in justification of even more asylum-seekers taking refuge on these golden shores.   Professor Fabian Shupert, of Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has opined that, since America is the greatest villain in the warming of the globe, we will of necessity have to shoulder the burden of relocating millions of asylum-seekers fleeing the deleterious effects of climate change.  These "climate refugees," largely from the Third World, will require ample resources of land and water, which will necessitate a rethinking of our concept of private property!  Will the asylum scam never end?