From a Los Angeles Times story posted online on Nov. 29, concerning the alleged terrorist Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who allegedly tried to assassinate hundreds of men, women, and children at a Christmas celebration in Portland, Oregon, for the alleged reason that he “hated Americans”:
“Officials said Mohamud was born in 1991 in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, at the start of the African country's civil war.
“He and his parents, Mariam and Osman Barre, came to America when he was 5 as part of a diaspora that brought tens of thousands of Somali refugees to U.S. cities. About 6,500 Somalis are said to live in the Portland area.
“Few details were available about Mohamud's early years. It wasn't known when he became a naturalized American citizen. . . . In 2008, the family settled in the newly built Merlo Station Apartments [in Beaverton OR], which provides housing for low-income families.”
Yes, that’s it, isn’t it? Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, tens of thousands of people from a politically primitive area of the world refugee out to . . . where else? America. No one knows why.
Thousands of them “are said” to have congregated in Oregon, of all places. No one knows why. Of course, they take advantage of “housing for low-income families.” I would, too.
But a press release (May 29, 2008) hailing the existence of Merlo Station Apartments should be read by everyone who believes that unrestricted immigration is an aspect of free enterprise:
“Merlo Station Apartments received financing from a variety of sources, including a $6.5 million Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity investment from Enterprise [Community Investment], $9.5 million in permanent financing from U.S. Bank, which includes $5.8 million in tax exempt bonds, a $3.6 million loan subsidized by Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credits, $700,000 from the city of Beaverton and $2.2 million from Washington County Community Development through the federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program, along with permit fee waivers of $226,000 from the city of Beaverton. The project also received predevelopment grants from Washington County Community Development and Home Depot, as well as predevelopment loans from the Federal Home Loan Bank and the Community Housing Fund. TriMet provided a discount on the land price.”
All this do-gooding for 128 apartments.
But to return. Some or all of the Somalis, including the young man in question, became American citizens. No one knows when, or why, or how. “It wasn’t known.”
Is this a good thing?