We have written before about the work of Chris Coen and his organization, Friends of Refugees. He wrote to us recently out of sheer frustration, but still filled with determination to get the government’s attention about the plight of some refugees who have been brought to America and virtually dumped by agencies contracted to care for them. Here is his letter to us. Keep in mind this has been going on for a long time and his letters to these agencies span years.
Dear Refugee Resettlement Watch,
Although I recently commented about our previous complaints to the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of State (DOS), I have a few more details to share. The first complaint we filed to the DOS’s Inspector General’s Office managed to be ‘lost’ by that office! Cute, isn’t it? They said that maybe the old Inspector General took it with him when he went to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He’s now no longer with DHS either. They rotate people in and out quick to avoid any accountability. It’s very effective.
THEN, we put it in AGAIN – but we beefed it up with a lot more discrediting information about the refugee resettlement agencies that we had managed to get from the DOS’s own inspection reports. BUT, 2-3 months later our complaint letter to the Inspector General, sent via certified mail, was returned to us. They would not claim it. They use a post office box so that a USPS delivery person cannot get anyone to sign for it – and they just refuse to acknowledge all the notices left by USPS to claim it. They got us again! Then, we wrote to various Senators, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, etc. about this trickery — nooooooo response back from anyone.
Okay, then, we put in some complaints with the Inspector General’s Office at HHS[Health and Human Services] about their Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR’s) failure to investigate our specific complaint about World Relief in New Port Richey, FL. It went nowhere. The Director of the ORR, who we targeted for complaint, then took retirement – he retired unscathed. He must be laughing now, living off the taxpayers via his government pension, and never had to answer for one bit of irresponsible stewardship of his refugee programs.
Not to say we won’t try again. We never give up. They’ll never wear us down – not via any length or level of corruption.
Christopher Coen
Director
Friends of Refugees
You can reach Mr. Coen by e-mail. FORefugees@hotmail.com