[SF-TX]

Remind me, why have we given special status to Somalis to emigrate to the United States?

FBI director: Somali jihadists could launch attacks inside U.S.

It certainly stands to reason that if al-Shabaab can get Somalis and other Muslims to leave the U.S. to wage jihad in Somalia, they can get their personnel into the U.S., or use U.S.-based jihadists to wage jihad here instead of going overseas. "FBI Director: Al Qaeda-Linked Somali Group Could Attack U.S.," by Catherine Herridge for FoxNews, October 2:

They could strike the United States. That grim assessment is the first time the FBI director or any other senior law enforcement or intelligence official has stated on the record that the Al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab is no longer content to strike within the East African nation of Somalia.

During a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, FBI Director Robert Mueller was asked if members of al-Shabaab, which translates as "mujahideen youth," would send American recruits back to the U.S. to launch attacks.

"I would think that we have seen some information that the leaders would like to undertake operations outside of Somalia," Mueller told the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Mueller said he is "absolutely" concerned that Americans who traveled to Somalia to train as terrorists would have U.S. legal status and would therefore be able to return to the United States and carry out attacks.

A U.S. counterterrorism official told FOX News that al-Shabaab has exploded since 2006, and it is becoming a full-fledged Al Qaeda affiliate, similar to Al Qaeda in Iraq. Initially the group's militias fought against the Somali government and Ethopian forces who are against an Islamic state in East Africa, the official said, but now the group's focus is turning toward the establishment of a "caliphate" or broad Islamic state not limited to Africa.

It was never just about Somalia. Somalia was just the initial, local expression of a global agenda that is the underlying factor in jihadist conflicts from Chechnya to Thailand: The intent of imposing Islamic law, everywhere. That is the ultimate aim of jihad.

In fact, in an exclusive briefing on Thursday, a U.S. counterterrorism official told FOX News that al-Shabaab's leadership is bona fide Al Qaeda. In many cases, the operatives who guide the group in East Africa have pledged allegiance to Usama Bin Laden in person, and in some cases the Al Qaeda leader has entrusted them with missions outside of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, according to the official.

Training camps are now well-established in Somalia, and as many as 1,100 foreign fighters have joined the al-Shabaab movement, the president of Somalia's transitional government told a crowd gathered at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Wednesday.

A U.S. counterterrorism official said there are other troubling developments. A recent videotape from al-Shabaab pledged a formal allegiance to bin Laden, and the intelligence community is now monitoring jihadist Web sites to see if bin Laden will respond and "officially" bless their relationship, the official said.

In addition, the use of simultaneous attacks and suicide bombings -- the signature of al Qaeda -- has now taken hold in Somalia.

In October last year, a Minneapolis man, Shirwa Ahmed, became the first known American suicide bomber, according to the FBI. Ahmed, who travelled from Minnesota to the training camps of al-Shabaab, is one of nearly two dozen men from the United States who authorities believe joined the group.

The FBI is currently investigating another man, an 18-year-old from Seattle, who may be the second documented case of an American suicide bomber. Investigators are comparing the man's DNA with remains from an attack in the Somali capital last month.

In early September, FOX News exclusively identified the American mouthpiece for al-Shabaab as a native of Daphne, Ala. Born Omar Hammami, the big-eared and bright-eyed teenager now goes by the name Abu Mansour al-Amriki, or simply "The American."...

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/10/fb...inside-us.html

Immigration and Resettlement to the United States

The first Somali immigrants to the United States, mostly sailors, arrived in the 1920s and settled around New York. In the 1960s, Somali students began traveling to the United States, either supported by government scholarships or by family members living in the country. In the mid-1980s, small numbers were admitted as refugees; in the 1990s, the number of refugees increased because of the civil war (Putnam & Noor, 1999). The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement reports that during 1983–2004, 55,036 Somali refugees resettled in the United States. In 2004 alone, nearly 13,000 Somalis entered the country (U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2004). Current estimates of the number of Somali-born persons living in the United States range widely, from 35,760 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000) to 150,000 (Lehman & Eno, 2003). The majority of Somalis have settled in Minnesota, California, Georgia, and Washington, D.C. (U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2004).

Because most Somalis enter the United States as refugees, the government resettlement process is relevant to TB control programs. Appendix F details specific TB screening procedures for refugee resettlement, but other government programs are also worth noting. The Department of Health and Human Services provides newly arrived refugees with transitional cash and medical assistance and provides a range of social and health services to refugees who have resided in the United States for fewer than five years. Employment services are the primary focus and include skills training, job development, orientation to the workplace, and job counseling. Transitional cash assistance benefits are provided to refugees on the basis of family composition: single adults and childless couples are eligible for Refugee Cash Assistance for up to eight months after arrival, and families with children are eligible for mainstream welfare for unemployed families for up to two years. In terms of health benefits, singles and childless couples are eligible for Refugee Medical Assistance for their first eight months in the United States, and families with minor children are covered by the Medicaid program. Though states must meet certain federal requirements, they have flexibility in designing their assistance programs; therefore, benefits and time limits vary by state.

http://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/g...s/chapter1.pdf

Somali arrivals according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement:

FY 08 - 2,510
FY 07 -6,958
FY 06 - 10,330
FY 05 - 10,106
FY 04 - 13,019
FY 03 - 1,708
FY 02 - 242
FY 01 - 4939
FY 00 -6,021