Author Archives: Denise Simon

Sudan Govt Use of Chemical Weapons on Civilians in Darfur

Posted on by

   

Primer: Obama’s choice, Samantha Power as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations was an alleged champion of stopping the dying in Darfur by chemical weapons in 2004. Where is she now?

Amnesty says Sudan used deadly chemical weapons in Darfur conflict

(CNN) The Sudanese government has been accused of using chemical weapons against the people of Darfur, according to a report released by Amnesty International on Thursday.

The attacks targeted civilians and may constitute a war crime, the report said. The Sudanese government has denied the allegations, calling them “rumors.”
Amnesty says it has new evidence abuses persist in a war that has been described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian conflicts by the United Nations.
Unidentified witnesses quoted in the Amnesty report said the attacks left a smoke, which turned dark blue and smelled “like rotten eggs,” coating the trees, ground, and humans in a thick black dust.
US lauds state sponsor of terrorism ... for fighting terrorism

US lauds state sponsor of terrorism … for fighting terrorism

Witness testimony

After exposure to the smoke, some said their skin turned white and became rotten or hardened and fell off in chunks.
“When the bomb exploded I inhaled the poisonous air which I am still smelling even now,” said one witness.
Some children vomited blood, the report said. Another witness said: “My youngest child was walking before the attack. Now she is only crawling.”
Pictures obtained by Amnesty International show graphic images of children with large welts, peeling skin, and infected lesions.

Civilians targeted

The alleged use of chemical weapons came during a large-scale offensive by the Sudanese forces and its allied groups against an armed opposition group, the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW), which operates in the Jebel Marra region.
The Sudanese government accused the group of looting and attacking civilians and military vehicles prior to the January offensive.
Since the Sudanese military campaign began in January, Amnesty International says up to 250 people have been killed by chemical weapons.
The report alleges the Sudanese forces targeted civilians: “The overwhelming majority of the attacked villages had no formal armed opposition presence at the time of the attacks. The purpose…appears to have been to target the entire population of the village.”
Chemical attacks in some regions have been taking place for eight months, including just weeks before the report’s release.
Global leaders at UN tackle world's worst to-do list

UN General Assembly: Leaders tackle world’s worst to-do list

‘Rumors’

The Sudanese government has denied allegations it had used chemical weapons against civilians, calling them “rumors.”
“I don’t know from where these rumors are being said,” Sudan’s Information Minister Ahmed Bilal told CNN.
Bilal acknowledged a government offensive in Jebel Marra had taken place, saying it was in response to rebel activity.
“It was started by them,” Bilal said. “The rebels were doing some sort of looting, they were attacking innocent people. This has stopped. There is not an inch occupied by rebels,” Bilal said.
“The whole Darfur is quite in peace and the people are very happy,” he said.

Likely more than one chemical

Journalists and humanitarians have been prohibited from entering Jebel Marra for more than four years, making reporting extremely difficult from the region.
Mustard agent

Amnesty International claims to have evidence of the use of suspected chemical weapons in Darfur. It says two independent experts have concluded the evidence suggests exposure to blister agents.

  • Blister agents include sulfur mustard and nitrogen mustard. Sulfur mustard has long been in use as a chemical weapon — it inflicted horrific casualties in World War I.
  • Mustard agents inflict chemical burns on the skin, eyes and lungs, and can also affect the internal organs. Victims can be disabled as a result of exposure. It can be fatal if they come into contact with large amounts.
  • While damage is caused to the body’s cells within minutes of contact with mustard agent, it can take hours before the full effects are felt.
  • Symptoms can include blistering, itching or severe burning of the skin; weeping eyes, swollen eyelids or even blindness; vomiting and collapse.
  • The effects of severe exposure can last for years.
  • There’s no antidote for mustard agent injury.

Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

Amnesty International had to do all reporting remotely. Collecting soil samples for confirmation was impossible.
Two chemical weapons experts reviewed photographic and video evidence and both found the symptoms consistent with chemical agents such as sulfur mustard, lewisite and nitrogen mustard — or a combination.
“The symptoms varied between the attacks and this tells me there were likely more than one chemical in use as well as the possibility that the chemicals were mixed or that different chemicals were used at different times for different attacks,” said Dr. Jennifer Knaack, one of the weapons experts involved in the study.
The writer of the report, a senior Amnesty adviser, Jonathan Loeb calls it “by far the most substantial, credible release of evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Darfur since the conflict began.”

History of conflict

The conflict in Darfur began around 2003 when several rebel groups in Darfur took up arms against the government in Khartoum. They had grievances over land and historical marginalization.
In response, the government’s counterinsurgency strategy targeted the opposition groups but reportedly expanded to target tribes associated with the insurgents.
The violence escalated into a war and the in 2008, the UN estimated that 300,000 people may have died in the Darfur conflict, although experts say that figure has likely risen since then.
Sudan’s President, Omar al-Bashir, was charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, including genocide, related to the Darfur conflict in 2010.
Bashir has yet to cooperate with the court and continues to travel freely around the continent. South Africa and Uganda have both been criticized for allowing President Bashir to travel to their countries without being turned over to the ICC.

Immigrants Buying Entry into U.S., are Some Terrorists?

Posted on by

…..even if they are corrupt and the money used has been laundered or financed by a terror organization…

Primer:

CIA Director: We ‘have to assume’ terrorist activity in US

‘Impossible to say’ if ISIS has cells here

(CNN) – The director of the CIA said Wednesday despite the government’s best efforts, the likelihood of terrorist activity in the United States is strong.

“So I think we have to assume there’s something here in the states,” said John Brennan, in an interview for CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” that aired Wednesday night. “We have to be relentless in terms of going after them.”

Brennan, who was appointed to lead the CIA shortly before President Barack Obama’s second term, said “it’s impossible to say” whether ISIS has operatives or cells in the United States, and he credited the “tremendous advances in information sharing and interaction between federal officials” in making it difficult for terrorists to operate in the country.

He said he is confident that the US will be “able to remove other senior members” of ISIS, including the organization’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“His time is limited,” Brennan said of al-Baghdadi. “It’s just a question of whether or not he is going to be removed this week, this month, next month or in the coming months.”

But still, Brennan said “you cannot assume there’s nobody in the homeland.”

“What you need to do is to be able to continue to uncover and use intelligence, what they might be doing here,” he said. More details here.

Immigrant Investor Program:

Progress Made to Detect and Prevent Fraud, but Additional Actions Could Further Agency Efforts

What GAO Found   Full report here.

Inspector General Report is here.

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently taken steps intended to enhance fraud detection and mitigation activities for the Employment-Based Fifth Preference Immigrant Investor Program (EB-5 Program) and address previous GAO recommendations.

This includes actions such as conducting and planning additional risk assessments to gather additional information on potential fraud risks to the program. For example, USCIS is leveraging overseas staff to investigate potential fraud associated with unlawful sources of immigrant investor funds and is conducting a site visit pilot to help assess the potential risks of fraud among EB-5 program investments. USCIS is also taking steps to collect more information about EB-5 program investments and immigrant investors through new, revised forms and expanding its use of background checks, among other things, to help improve its ability to identify specific incidence of fraud. However, fraud mitigation in the EB-5 Program is hindered by a reliance on voluminous paper files, which limit the agency’s ability to collect and analyze program information. In its review of a nongeneralizable selection of files associated with EB-5 program regional centers and immigrant investors, GAO found that identifying fraud indicators is extremely challenging. For example, many of these files were several thousand pages long and would take significant time to review. According to USCIS documentation, the program anticipates receiving approximately 14 million pages of supporting documentation from its regional-center applicants and immigrant investor petitioners annually. Recognizing these limitations, USCIS has taken preliminary steps to study digitizing and analyzing the paper files submitted by petitioners and applicants to the program, which could help USCIS better identify fraud indicators in the program; however, these efforts are in the early stages.

USCIS has incorporated selected leading fraud risk management practices into its efforts but could take additional actions to help guide and document its efforts. GAO’s Fraud Risk Framework is a set of leading practices that can serve as a guide for program managers to use when developing efforts to combat fraud in a strategic, risk-based manner. USCIS’s actions align with two key components of the Fraud Risk Framework: (1) commit to combating fraud by creating an organizational culture and structure conducive to fraud risk management such as by providing specialized fraud awareness training; and (2) assess risks by planning and completing regular fraud risk assessments. However, USCIS has not developed a fraud risk profile, an overarching document that guides its fraud management efforts, as called for in the Fraud Risk Framework. Instead, USCIS’s risk assessments, spanning multiple years, were developed as separate documents and reports, and there is not a unifying document that consolidates and systematically prioritizes these findings. Without a fraud risk profile, USCIS may not be well positioned to identify and prioritize fraud risks in the EB-5 Program, ensure the appropriate controls are in place to mitigate fraud risks, and implement other Fraud Risk Framework components.

Why GAO Did This Study

Congress created the EB-5 visa category to promote job creation and capital investment by immigrant investors in exchange for lawful permanent residency and a path to citizenship. Participants must invest either $500,000 or $1 million in a business that is to create at least 10 jobs. Upon meeting program requirements, immigrant investors are eligible for conditional status to live and work in the United States and can apply to remove the conditional basis of lawful permanent residency after 2 years. In August 2015, GAO reported on weaknesses in certain USCIS fraud mitigation activities, and made two related recommendations.

GAO was asked to review actions taken by USCIS to address fraud risks in the EB-5 program since its August 2015 report. This report examines the extent to which USCIS (1) has taken steps to enhance its fraud detection and mitigation efforts; and (2) has incorporated selected leading fraud risk management practices into its efforts. GAO reviewed relevant program documentation and information; selected and reviewed a random, nongeneralizable sample of immigrant investor petitions and regional-center applications submitted between fiscal years 2010 and 2014; and compared USCIS’s actions against GAO’s Fraud Risk Framework.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that USCIS develop a fraud risk profile that aligns with leading practices identified in GAO’s Fraud Risk Framework. The Department of Homeland Security concurred with GAO’s recommendation.

DHS Allows Refugees into U.S. with only Testimony, no Documents

Posted on by

Europe, now then the United States…

Related reading: Presidential Determination Signed to Accept 85,000 Refugees

VIDEO: Obama Administration Official Admits to Allowing Refugees in to U.S. Based on Their Testimony Alone

Cruz questions administration officials on refugee program at Judiciary Committee hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in today’s Judiciary immigration subcommittee hearing, highlighted serious problems with the Obama administration’s refugee resettlement efforts, including the federal government’s inadequate refugee vetting process. While questioning State Department Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Simon Henshaw, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Director León Rodríguez, and Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Carey, Sen. Cruz specifically noted that the administration’s willful blindness to radical Islamic terrorism has prevented Christian refugees from the Middle East from escaping the genocide of ISIS and has also seriously undermined counterterrorism efforts in the United States.

Moreover, during an exchange with Sen. Cruz, Director Rodríguez acknowledged publicly that refugee applications can be approved based solely on the applicant’s testimony, without any documentation.

Sen. Cruz: Is it true or false that the testimony of the applicant alone can be sufficient for approval? 

Director Rodríguez: There are cases where the testimony is not necessarily corroborated by documents…I am acknowledging that, yes, testimony can be the basis for the grant of a refugee…

Watch Sen. Cruz’s full opening remarks and first line of questioning, where Director Rodríguez admits that refugee applications can be approved based on testimony alone, here. Sen. Cruz’s second line of questioning can be viewed here. Below is the full transcript of Sen. Cruz’s opening remarks:

“America has long shown an incredible generosity of spirit welcoming refugees and offering them safe haven. Indeed, I am the son of a refugee who fled prison and torture in Cuba and came to America seeking freedom. But our immigration laws are not a suicide pact. The refugee program should not become a vehicle for terrorists to come murder innocent Americans.

“I and, I think, a great many Americans are deeply concerned by the willful blindness of this administration to the threat of radical Islamic terrorism. That was characterized powerfully just a few minutes ago when our Democratic colleague Senator Al Franken said we should not even ask refugees if they are Muslims. If one is trying to prevent radical Islamic terrorists from coming in, the suggestion from my Democratic colleague that we shouldn’t even ask, to me, is nuts.

“As we look at what is happening in Syria and what is happening in the Middle East, ISIS is evil. They are waging a war of genocide against Christians. They are murdering Jews. They are murdering fellow Muslims, and yet, the refugee program as administered by this administration seems to have an enormous preference for Syrian Muslim refugees and seems to actively keep out Syrian Christian refugees.

“In 2014, the Obama administration admitted 249 refugees from Syria, 224 of those, 89.9 percent, were Muslim, only 13 were Christian – 5.2 percent. In 2015, the Obama administration admitted 2,192 refugees from Syria; 2,149 were Muslim – that’s 98 percent – and only 29, 1.3 percent, were Christian. In 2016 to date, the Obama administration has admitted 11,717 refugees from Syria, of those 11,624 were Muslim – that’s 99.2 percent – and 49 were Christian – that’s 0.41 percent. All told since 2011, 14,267 Syrian refugees have been admitted to the United States and more than 14,000 of them were Muslim. Fewer than 100 were Christian.

“Now, those numbers are not even close to the proportional population in Syria. Ten percent of the pre-war population in Syria was Christian, and yet, 0.68 percent of the refugees being admitted by the administration are Christian.”

Dept of Treasury, Judgement Fund and Obamacare, Ruh Roh

Posted on by

That Judgment Fund is the same financial account out of which the United States paid Iran the ransom money of an estimated $1.7 Billion. By the way, the funds in this account are taxpayer dollars and not from other sources. So…..while Obamacare exchanges are going bankrupt, up to 11 so far, the other major health insurers are demanding the White House and Treasury make good on the contracts to pay them what they are owed. Looks as though….it will come out of this ‘judgment fund’ and the taxpayers are fleeced again.

As a matter of fact, the Department of Justice has to approve payments out of the Judgment Fund, with this transmittal form. If you can stand it, this page has many forms, procedures and requirements regarding monies in and out of the Judgment Fund.

Obama administration may use obscure fund to pay billions to ACA insurers

WashingtonPost: The Obama administration is maneuvering to pay billions of dollars the government owes to health insurers under the Affordable Care Act, potentially resorting to an obscure Treasury Department fund intended to cover federal legal claims.

Justice Department officials have told several health plans suing the government over the unpaid money that they are eager to negotiate a broad settlement, which would allow the administration to compensate about 170 other insurers selling coverage in ACA marketplaces, according to insurance executives and lawyers familiar with the talks.

The efforts in recent weeks reflect the partisan thorns that still surround the sprawling law six years after its passage. The payouts probably would be made from the Judgment Fund, a 1950s creation that is allowed as much money as it needs to satisfy valid claims against the government. Such a move would bypass congressional Republicans, who have criticized certain ACA provisions as industry “bailouts” and blocked the Health and Human Services Department from paying health plans what they are owed.

In the waning months of the Obama White House, administration officials are continuing their upbeat portrayal of all aspects of the health-care law, one of President Obama’s main domestic achievements. Behind the scenes, they think that settling these claims — $2.5 billion for 2014 and an as-yet-undisclosed sum for 2015 — is crucial to the exchanges’ well-being at a time when the high cost of covering ACA customers has driven some small insurers out of business and prompted several large ones to defect from marketplaces for the coming year.

“It’s a legacy item for the White House,” said Dan Mendelson, president of the health consulting firm Avalere and an adviser on the payout effort. “It’s more than just a lawsuit. It’s really about the future . . . and stability of these markets.”

Even with a settlement still uncertain, GOP lawmakers are beginning to cry foul. “It’s an end run on the clear . . . intent of Congress,” said Rep. H. Morgan Griffith (Va.).

The money in question involves one of three strategies to help coax insurers into the ACA marketplaces by promising to cushion them from unexpectedly high expenses for their new customers. This particular strategy, known as “risk corridors,” was for the marketplaces’ early years, when it was unclear how many people would sign up and how much medical care they would use.

The risk corridors started in 2014 and run through this December. The idea, patterned after a similar arrangement for health plans that sell Medicare drug benefits, is to balance out insurers’ costs by requiring those with unexpectedly low expenses to pay into a fund that would be used to compensate companies with unexpectedly high expenses. The program originally was not supposed to pay for itself, but two years ago the Republican-led Congress restricted HHS from using any of its other money for that purpose.

The crunch first became apparent last fall, when federal health officials announced that they could make less than $400 million in 2014 risk corridor payments — just 12.6 percent of $2.9 billion overall. About 175 insurers are owed money, according to an HHS list.

Health officials have not said how many insurers need to be paid for 2015, how much they are due or how much money is available. But in a five-paragraph memo this month, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said that any available money will be put toward what the government still owes for the previous year.

The risk corridor payments are “an obligation of the federal government,” Andy Slavitt, CMS’s acting administrator, told a recent House hearing.

The shortfall has contributed to the collapse of more than half of the 23 nonprofit, consumer-oriented health plans created under the ACA. Four of those co-ops are among the seven insurers suing the government, the most recent this week.

CMS spokesman Aaron Albright referred questions to the Justice Department. Justice spokeswoman Nicole Navas declined to confirm the settlement talks because the litigation is pending.

One health plan executive, whose attorney has spoken with Justice officials, said the department is trying to reach an agreement with suing insurers in the next two weeks on what percentage of the remaining $2.5 billion would be paid out for 2014, as well as for a 2015 amount. At that point, the same offer would be made to every other insurer owed money. A judge would need to approve the arrangement, according to the executive, who spoke about the pending litigation on the condition of anonymity.

Treasury’s Judgment Fund would most likely be the source of the money, the executive and others involved said. The fund’s website shows that it has been used for a few hundred claims against HHS in the past decade. Taken together, they amounted to about $18 million — a fraction of what the insurers are owed.

News of the settlements talk Thursday morning prompted an immediate online debate, with some people condemning the potential use of Treasury’s fund for the payments and others wondering whether those should be guaranteed through the risk corridors’ third year as well.

Stephen Swedlow, a lawyer for Health Republic Insurance in Oregon, a co-op that was forced to close early this year, said he is preparing a settlement proposal to send to Justice. Said Health Republic chief executive Dawn Bonder: “I don’t think DOJ is making a secret that they would like [the lawsuits] to go away.”

Why Did DHS Honor Antonia Hernandez?

Posted on by

DHS Agency That Enforces Immigration Law Honors Open Borders Activist Who Helps Illegal Aliens

The Homeland Security agency responsible for enforcing the nation’s immigration laws is honoring a renowned open-borders activist dedicated to defending illegal aliens in the U.S. with a prestigious award. Known as “Outstanding American by Choice,”it’s bestowed annually by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to recognize the “significant contributions and achievements of a naturalized” American citizen. This year’s winner is being crowned today at a ceremony in Los Angeles, California where she runs a billion-dollar charity largely dedicated to assisting immigrants.

Her name is Antonia Hernández, a civil rights attorney who spent two decades litigating on behalf of illegal immigrants at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the powerful open borders group that specializes in discrimination lawsuits on behalf of illegal aliens. Promoted as a “Latino advocacy” group, MALDEF also pushes for free college tuition for illegal immigrants and lowering educational standards to accommodate new migrants. The group’s leadership says it’s racist to make English the country’s official national language and inhumane to protect the southern border with a fence. Hernández was president and general counsel at MALDEF before becoming president and CEO at a like-minded nonprofit with deep pockets called the California Community Foundation. The charity ranks among the nation’s top100 foundations by size and giving with an endowment exceeding $1 billion. Among its focuses is “immigrant integration.”

Hernández is the oldest of seven children born to poor Mexican immigrants, according to a magazine profile that says before she could drive Hernández walked the picket lines in support of California’s farm workers. During twenty years at MALDEF Hernández successfully defeated a California measure—passed by voters—that would have denied health and education benefits to illegal immigrants, worked to create voting districts that equitably represented Latinos and litigated on behalf of limited-English proficient students in the nation’s public school system. A California congresswoman who honored Hernández with a public service award years ago described her as a “tenacious defender of immigration reform”and a “devoted advocate on behalf of fair and just immigration reform.”

Under Hernández’s leadership the California Community Foundation has dedicated large amounts of resources to assist illegal immigrants, especially in the last two years. In 2014, Hernández led an effort to form an emergency relief fund to help the influx of illegal alien minors—mostly from Central America— that the Obama administration allowed to enter the U.S. through Mexico. The government calls them Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) and many have ties to gang members in the U.S., specifically MS-13. In fact, earlier this year Judicial Watch reported that the execution-style murder of a Massachusetts man was committed by two Central American teens that came to the U.S. as UACs under the president’s open border free-for-all. Many of the UACs have also brought in dangerous diseases, including swine flu, dengue fever, Ebola virus and tuberculosis. Nevertheless, Hernández said this about the UACs when her nonprofit scrambled to help them: “They are our children.”

The award that Hernández is accepting today is supposed to go to a candidate that demonstrates “their commitment to this country and to the common civic values that unite us all as Americans,” according to a USCIS announcement. The agency purports to consider candidates’ civic participation, professional achievement and responsible citizenship. The government’s goal is to recognize individuals who chose to become Americans and have made significant contributions to both their community and the United States. Deputy Security of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, shamefully ousted as a Clinton federal prosecutor after orchestrating the pardon of a big-time drug dealer, will give Hernández the award at today’s ceremony. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement of the event describes Hernández as a civil rights attorney who has demonstrated her commitment of social justice and civic engagement for over four decades.

IN 2015:  

Readout of Deputy Secretary Mayorkas’ Trip to California and Arizona

Release Date:
February 3, 2015

For Immediate Release
DHS Press Office
Contact: 202-282-8010

PHOENIX – Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas today concluded a trip to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix for a series of workforce engagements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) personnel. Deputy Secretary Mayorkas also met with local elected officials and law enforcement to discuss the ongoing collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security to safeguard local communities.

While in Los Angeles, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas participated in a panel discussion with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the Mayor’s Chief of Immigrant Affairs Linda Lopez and California Community Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Antonia Hernandez. During the panel, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas discussed the Department’s implementation efforts related to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and the economic benefits of the recent administrative actions on immigration for the City of Los Angeles. Deputy Secretary Mayorkas reiterated the need for Congress to pass an appropriations bill to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security as soon as possible.

While in Los Angeles, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas also met with Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck and Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, emphasizing the importance of enhanced communication and information sharing between the Department and state and local law enforcement.

Deputy Secretary Mayorkas then traveled to San Francisco, where he met with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Police Chief Gregory Suhr, and other local officials to discuss the Department’s commitment to working with local communities to ensure that we effectively and sensibly enforce our Nation’s immigration laws.

In Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas participated in DHS employee town hall discussions with ICE and USCIS personnel, to thank them for their service and for responsibly implementing the Department’s policies and enforcement priorities.