Thread: State Dept. 'going out of its way' to accommodate Muslims

State Dept. 'going out of its way' to accommodate Muslims
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 8/6/2008 5:00:00 AM

The head of an immigration reform organization says the recent controversy over a union contract at a Tyson Foods processing plant in Tennessee can be traced to the State Department going out of its way to allow Islamic "refugees" into the United States.





Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). His new book is called The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal. It is "outrageous," says Krikorian, that union employees at the Tyson processing plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee, will not have Labor Day as a paid holiday this year, but instead will be celebrating the end of Ramadan on October 1. The plant has also provided a "prayer room" to accommodate the 250 Muslim employees, mostly Somalis, who work at the plant. (See earlier story: "Small Tennessee town outraged over Tyson Foods decision")



Krikorian contends this is a far cry from a century ago when Henry Ford set up English classes at his plants for new immigrants.

"The first sentence that immigrants learned in Henry Ford's English classes [was] 'I want to be a good American.' And today, what is Tyson doing? It's giving all workers, Muslim and non-Muslim workers, an Islamic holiday off and replacing Labor Day," he explains. "I mean it's really pretty outrageous."

And Krikorian says a significant element of Somali refugee resettlement to the United States is completely unnecessary in the first place.

"Tanzania and Mozambique actually offered to take these people. But they needed the United States and the U.N. to provide funding for resettlement," he adds. "Instead the State Department said, 'No we're just going to bring them into the United States.' It's insane!"

The policy, according to Krikorian, undermines the basic concept for refugee resettlement, which is that bringing refugees to the United States should be the last option.


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Tanzania and Mozambique actually offered to take these people. But they needed the United States and the U.N. to provide funding for resettlement," he adds. "Instead the State Department said, 'No we're just going to bring them into the United States.' It's insane!"

Welcome to George Bush's America.