http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170134,00.html
 
Half Katrina Refugees Have Records

Thursday, September 22, 2005



MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — After Hurricane Katrina (search) hit New Orleans, federal officials flew Brian Murph and more than 100 other victims to Rhode Island. They were greeted by the governor and cheered by residents.

Then the handcuffs were placed on Murph.

State police did criminal background checks (search) on every refugee and found that more than half had a criminal arrest records — a third for felonies. Murph was the only one with an outstanding arrest warrant, for larceny and other crimes.

Around the nation, state and local authorities are checking refugees' pasts as they are welcomed into homes, schools, houses of worship and housing projects. In some states, half the refugees have rap sheets.

"It's a balancing act," said Kyle Smith, deputy director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (search). "We don't want to treat them like criminals after they have been traumatized, but we want to make sure they are in no danger nor the families they are housed with."

Civil libertarians call the checks thinly veiled race and class discrimination against people who have suffered already. The checks are made on those evacuated or forced to seek help from charities or others — in other words, people who are often black and poor.

"I think it's happening partly because who these people are and where they came from," said Steve Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU. "The mere fact that people have past criminal records in and of itself doesn't say anything about harm to the community."

Some state and local governments screened just those refugees evacuated by the federal government. Others screened anyone placed in private homes — and screened the hosts as well.

In South Carolina, state police checked every evacuee flown there by the government. Of 547 people checked, 301 had criminal records, according to Robert Stewart, state Law Enforcement Division Chief.

While most had been law-abiding for years or had committed minor offenses, the group included those convicted of rape or aggravated assault. Two had warrants, but were not held because the states weren't interested in extraditing them.

"This was all done for everyone's protection," Stewart said. "If you're going to be sheltering people, it would be prudent for people taking them in to know what criminal pasts they might have."

The state police in West Virginia said roughly half of the nearly 350 Katrina victims evacuated by the government to that state had criminal records, and 22 percent have a history of committing a violent crime.

In Massachusetts, where about 200 evacuees were flown to a military base on Cape Cod, criminal background checks turned up six sex offenders and one man wanted for rape in Louisiana. Two of the sex offenders have since left the state, said Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for the state public safety office. The rape suspect was being held on $250,000 bail.

In Tennessee, police checked every federal evacuee flown to Knoxville and found outstanding warrants for two people in Louisiana — but Louisiana did not want to extradite them.

In Texas, with more than 300,000 refugees, local officials have run 20,000 criminal background checks on evacuees, as well as the relief workers helping them and people who have opened up their homes.

Most of the checks have found little for police to be concerned about. Philadelphia police found no criminals as of the middle of last week, even though the local ACLU branch objected to the checks themselves.

Several states with thousands of refugees aren't checking criminal backgrounds at all. Missouri has no formal effort to check its 6,000 refugees. Neither has California, which reported about 3,800 refugees earlier this month, or Maryland, Minnesota and Michigan, which together took in several thousand evacuees.

In Middletown, a community just north of Newport, several evacuees shrugged at the prospect of background checks and said they understood the state's desire to learn more about them.

"I would like to know if there's any skeletons in the closet with my neighbors or the community," said one refugee, 38-year-old Carmen Williams.

Just half?

Quoted: Just half?

only half were successfully prosecuted

In unrelated news, 50% of Katrina evacuees were found to have given false identification to the police.  

"It's a balancing act," said Kyle Smith, deputy director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (search). "We don't want to treat them like criminals after they have been traumatized, but we want to make sure they are in no danger nor the families they are housed with." Civil libertarians call the checks thinly veiled race and class discrimination against people who have suffered already. The checks are made on those evacuated or forced to seek help from charities or others — in other words, people who are often black and poor. "I think it's happening partly because who these people are and where they came from," said Steve Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU. "The mere fact that people have past criminal records in and of itself doesn't say anything about harm to the community."

WTF, the sheeple will complain if they do the checks, or they'll complain if they don't do the checks when one decides to hurt/kill one of their welcoming hosts.

What do you expect when the man has been keepin'em down and settin'em up for all these years.

This is too good to not hotlink.......

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170134,00.html

Why is LA rolling over and not extraditing the criminals? That's just insane!

LOL

I bet Fox is racist just for putting that story up there.

How can the libs/Al Sharpton types spin this one?
"The NeoCons created this situation for the sole purpose of arresting black people"

Quoted: Civil libertarians call the checks thinly veiled race and class discrimination against people who have suffered already. The checks are made on those evacuated or forced to seek help from charities or others — in other words, people who are often black and poor. "I think it's happening partly because who these people are and where they came from," said Steve Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU. "The mere fact that people have past criminal records in and of itself doesn't say anything about harm to the community."

Ah, yes, once again the ACLU is objecting to someone exercising common sense.  

Quoted: Why is LA rolling over and not extraditing the criminals? That's just insane!

The governor doesn't want to piss off her and her fellow democrat's voting base.

Quoted: Why is LA rolling over and not extraditing the criminals? That's just insane!

Hell, they are just happy to get rid of 'em, they don't want them coming back.....



ETA:  This country is doomed....the bad half......

I live in LA and I don't want them extradited.  Let Rhode Island keep them

Finally, my state is doing something right!

They didn't blindly take in these refuges without doing some homework.

Next maybe we can get some Minutemen to patrol the Mass/RI border.

They are not ENTITLED to any housing or rescue at all.  I know I wouldn't be welcoming someone I didn't know from Adam into my home w/o some kind of precautions like this.

Quoted: They are not ENTITLED to any housing or rescue at all.  I know I wouldn't be welcoming someone I didn't know from Adam into my home w/o some kind of precautions like this.

My In-Laws were going to take in some folks from NO, but decided against it.  

My wife and I talked them out of it, they are too trusting.  

My bro is an emt with an ambulance service. He tells me that they've had to do 17 transfers to and from detox/hospital in three days for refugees at Camp Williams suffering from heroine withdrawals.

I'm all for helping people out. I just want to have some sort of assurance that I'm not housing people that I'd normally try to shoot should then enter my home.

In other news, the crime rate in La dropped by 95% this past 3 weeks.

Quoted: LOL I bet Fox is racist just for putting that story up there. How can the libs/Al Sharpton types spin this one? "The NeoCons created this situation for the sole purpose of arresting black people"

Well the can't put it on Fox.

That is not a Fox story that is a Associated Press story. And it is not getting much play in other papers... wonder why.

I Understand they have already arrested two in WV for Rape at the Refugee Center and several more for B&E.

Quoted: I Understand they have already arrested two in WV for Rape at the Refugee Center and several more for B&E.

The criminal element is going to do what they do, no matter where they are.  If you transplant a cockroach from one house to another, it will find the food in that house.

Quoted: LOL I bet Fox is racist just for putting that story up there. How can the libs/Al Sharpton types spin this one? "The NeoCons created this situation for the sole purpose of arresting black people"

LOL It'll be a CNN headline tomorrow.

Civil libertarians call the checks thinly veiled race and class discrimination against people who have suffered already. The checks are made on those evacuated or forced to seek help from charities or others — in other words, people who are often black and poor.

So, a criminal record check is discrimination..............against "criminals"? The Dastards

Just saw a similar story being promoted on my local NBC news affiliate......suprised someone has picked up the story other than FOX.........kinda refreshing that the news is not being so politically correct........

Gee, I have a "criminal arrest record" too, but haven't ever been convicted of anything more serious than an infraction.

Quoted: Quoted: Why is LA rolling over and not extraditing the criminals? That's just insane! Hell, they are just happy to get rid of 'em, they don't want them coming back..... ETA:  This country is doomed....the bad half......

I would think the governer would extradite them so ALL so she could regain her base.

Quoted: Why is LA rolling over and not extraditing the criminals? That's just insane!

The cost involved, most likely. The state has other spending priorities at the moment.

Quoted: Just half?

You racist!

Sounds like a wise approach to me. Extend one hand to help, and keep the other on your gun. It sounds like the authorities realized that they weren't going to be importing a bunch of saints and are prepared to deal with the problems that helping the bad guys will entail.