Category: Reforms needed

Help! Forensic Accountant Needed: International Rescue Committee Rolling in Taxpayer Dough!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 4 Comments

And, the most maddening thing about it?  They are working to assure illegal aliens are not deported.

Yesterday, I told you that the International Rescue Committee is diversifying its business model and is soliciting grants to set up legal offices to help illegal aliens fight deportation.

As I have been saying the Refugee Resettlement Contractors are now full service Open Borders organizations that you fund with your tax dollars!

 

Dallas: Refugee Contractor Expands Role, Works to Stop Deportations of Illegal Aliens

David Miliband, a British national and IRC CEO is doing well by doing good. No pay cuts for him! See my David Miliband archive bff Hillary and George Soros. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/?s=David+Miliband+

 

So I figured it was time to see how the big kahuna of the US refugee industry, the International Rescue Committee was doing under the Trump administration especially since they are among the chief wailers and moaners about the low refugee admission numbers that they say has led to a need to close some of their subcontractor offices and let some low level staffers go (hint! It looks like the big honchos are still in a job).

Using data from USASpending.gov I’ve now had a look at five of the nine federal resettlement contractors.  The IRC will be number six.

So far only the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has seen a significant decline in its federal funding.  In fact the three who recently sued to stop the Trump refugee reform effort—Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and HIAS—are doing very well.  USCRI (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants) is financially fine as well.  So I don’t know what all the crying is about!

Follow the money! (if you can)!

First here is how the IRC is doing at USA Spending.

They sure jumped on the federal gravy train in the last couple years of the Obama Administration and are still riding it for all it is worth!

 

A very big chunk of their federal dough comes from USAID—a money pit that doesn’t get enough attention!

 

Next I went over to Charity Navigator where they always provide these handy little pie charts to tell us what percentage of their income you contributed (involuntarily) via the US Treasury—a hefty 60%!

But, wait, notice they say over $422 million is government boodle.

 

 

Okay, so thought I might solve the mysterious discrepancy by visiting their annual reports.

And, too funny, see who is co-chairman of the board!

Remember Obama’s Treasury Secretary who couldn’t get his taxes done correctly!  Turbo-tax Geithner himself!

 

 

Yikes, now Geithner’s annual report shows $544 million from grants and contracts for the same year. That would be taxpayer funding.

 

These numbers would put them at 73% taxpayer funded. They could barely survive if they had to depend on private donors.  You might want to see who they are—you will recognize the names of many rich and famous celebs!

 

Surely their IRS Form 990 would help us!

Here is page nine of the Form 990 for the same recent year:

 

That number for government grants matches Charity Navigator but not their annual report. Don’t ask me why!

 

And, definitely these numbers do not match USA Spending numbers.  I’m guessing that the IRC is getting funding from other governments around the world other than ours.

Alas, there is no taxpayer group working for us that might have the skill to unravel all of this!

However, here is one thing that is not a mystery—doing ‘charitable’ good works is lucrative business as I said in a post at ‘Frauds and Crooks’ this week: Tell your kids to grow up to be non-profit execs!

Just have a look at the salaries at the top of the International Rescue Committee! 

Warning!  Don’t look if you have high blood pressure or a heart condition!

 

https://www.rescue.org/sites/default/files/document/3857/ircfy18990r.pdf

That is largely your money!  See page ten!  Over $300 million for salaries and benefits! And, travel alone was $40 million! Does Miliband travel first class (or private jet!)?

And, now they are making sure illegals scheduled for deportation in Dallas (where else?) have a lawyer.

I wonder, if one of those illegals they defend commits a crime, could the IRC fat cats be sued?  Hmmm!

 

 

Justice Department Appeals Ruling from Pro-Refugee Judge

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I just want you to know that the US Justice Department, as expected, does not agree with the liberal Judge in Maryland and is appealing his order for the President to stop his effort to reform the US Refugee Admissions Program by allowing local communities and governors to have a say in whether refugees would be placed in their states/counties later in fiscal year 2020.

Wouldn’t you think that the refugee contractors that brought the lawsuit in the first place would like to know in which communities more refugees are welcome or conversely not so welcome. 

They are always yapping about how they want refugees to be placed only in those communities where they have the best chance of  “thriving,” yet they apparently don’t really want to know which communities those are!

 

The groups (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and Church World Service) that organized this anti-Trump protest at the White House in 2018 want to continue to make the decisions about which communities will ‘welcome’ refugees and Judge Messitte agrees!  https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2018/01/28/church-world-service-and-hias-join-cair-to-protest-at-white-house/

 

I’m thinking that is because they are working on a long term plan to change America by changing the people, and shoving diversity down everyone’s throats is really the aim—the more resistant your community the more enjoyable the target for them!

I digress, here is the news.  Don’t ask me to predict what this means for the reforms that would have gone into effect June 1.

In the meantime, refugees will be placed as they always have been—by the nine contractors (including the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Church World Service and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service that brought the suit)*** in secret discussions with bureaucrats in the State Department.

From the Associated Press:

Feds Appeal Order Blocking Trump Refugee Resettlement Limit

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — The federal government is appealing a judge’s decision to block the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order allowing state and local governments to turn away refugees from resettling in their jurisdictions.

Clinton Judge Peter Messitte is old, 78 (heck he looks older than that)! If we keep Donald Trump in the White House for 4 more years maybe he and his ilk will be replaced!

A notice of appeal filed Tuesday by the Justice Department says it is asking the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the Jan. 15 ruling by U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte in Maryland.

Messitte said in his 31-page opinion that the order signed by President Donald Trump “flies in the face of clear Congressional intent” of the 1980 Refugee Act.

The Judge says unelected, non-profit groups should continue to decide the future of your communities!  You (deplorables) are not permitted to have a say!

Messitte said the process of resettling refugees should continue as it has for nearly 40 years, with resettlement agencies deciding where a person would best thrive.

Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and HIAS — a Jewish nonprofit — sued in November to block the executive order.

The judge granted their request for a preliminary injunction that preserves the status quo while the lawsuit is pending in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Trump’s order, which was issued in September and had been set to go into effect in June, required agencies to get written consent from state and local officials before resettling refugees in their jurisdictions. Trump said he acted to respect communities that believe they do not have the jobs or other resources to be able to take in refugees.

The agencies said the executive order was an attempt at a state-by-state ban on refugees. Messitte agreed, writing, “It grants them veto power. Period.”

Continue reading here.

 

*** For new readers these (below) are the nine federally-funded refugee contractors that operate as a huge conveyor belt monopolizing all refugee placement and choosing which lucky towns and cities will be ‘welcoming’ refugees.

Church World Service one of the ‘religious charities’ responsible for changing America by changing the people with a ‘Christian message.’

And, they do not limit their advocacy toward only legal immigration programs, but are heavily involved in supporting the lawlessness at our borders.

The question isn’t as much about refugees per se, but about who is running federal immigration policy now and into the future?

(I’ve been remiss in posting my nine contractors spiel for days!)

 

I continue to argue that these nine contractors are the heart of America’s Open Borders movement and thus there can never be long-lasting reform of US immigration policy when these nine un-elected phony non-profits are paid by the taxpayers to work as community organizers pushing an open borders agenda.

 

USCRI Who? This Refugee Resettlement Agency is Laying Low, and Doing Well

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 3 Comments

I’ve been noticing the absence of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), one of the top nine federal contractors***, in all the anti-Trump media hubbub and wondered if they were shrinking financially and therefore laying low to stay out of Trump’s line of sight.

So I checked today, and guess what?

USCRI is approximately 96% federally funded, and…..

They are doing financially better under the Trump Administration than they ever did in the Obama years. 

But, before I give you the data, let me tell you how much controversy they stirred over the years.

Memory lane:

Former USCRI CEO Lavinia Limon with Chobani CEO at the Clinton Global Initiative (all you need to know!).

Longtime readers may remember the huge controversy in Twin Falls, Idaho that I wrote about extensively for months that involved USCRI’s subcontractor there.  It revolved around Chobani Yogurt’s hunger for refugee labor and came to a media explosion over the sexual abuse of a child by refugee boys.

Then there was USCRI’s effort to open a new office in Rutland, VT that ended in failure when citizens rose up, protested, and threw out the ‘welcoming’ mayor.

Earlier I reported on the mess USCRI was embroiled in in Bowling Green, KY when Burmese refugees were placed in substandard housing.

(Here I am going to urge readers to use the search window top right at RRW and enter key words to find out more about Twin Falls, Rutland, Bowling Green, Lavinia Limon, Eskinder Negash etc. and save me some work putting in a zillion links!)

One point on the issue of subcontractors: 

Someone knowledgeable about the big nine recently mentioned that local agencies don’t have the same name sometimes as their parent organization.  Exactly right! Whether they do that on purpose I don’t know, but for those of you wanting to better understand how secretive this program is, that is one important piece of evidence.

Hundreds of subcontractors work for the big nine and those nine move federal funding to their subcontractors usually referred to as affiliates.

They have been wailing and moaning about having to close offices in the Trump era, apparently Trump isn’t hurting USCRI.

Go here to see USCRI’s affiliates:

 

Revolving door!

Also, USCRI is notable as a prime example of the revolving door between government contractors and the agencies from which the organization gets most of its funding.

Both USCRI’s previous CEO Lavinia Limon (headed Clinton’s Office of Refugee Resettlement) and its present CEO Eskinder Negash (headed Obama’s ORR) revolved in and out of government.  Both have done very well themselves in the process as you will see below.

First, here is the stunning financial information at USA Spending.  (I told readers how to use the invaluable site in Knowledge is Power V.)

Remember that we are only 4 months into FY2020 and that is why that number is so low. So check back in September.

 

Looking at the most recently available IRS Form 990, we can say that USCRI is 96% federally funded—that is funded by you, the US taxpayer!

That means they are acting like a government agency but without any of the checks and balances of a federal agency. For example you can’t use the Freedom of Information Act to get information out of a ‘non-profit.’

Check out the 6-figure salaries you pay!  Some are higher than US Senators or Supreme Court Justices!

Ms. Limon is gone, but apparently not at the time this Form990 was filed. By the way the next page lists four additional employees making above six-figures. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2018/131/878/2018-131878704-1108fd6f-9.pdf

 

See all of my Knowledge is Power series.

*** Here are the nine major federal refugee contractors.  I’ve analyzed five so far including USCRI today and only the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken a serious budgetary hit under the Trump Administration.  Congress and the Deep staters are making sure these fake non-profits are staying in the black.

So far only the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has seen a significant decline in its federal funding.  In fact the three who recently sued to stop the Trump refugee reform effort—Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and HIAS—are doing very well.  Now we know that USCRI is doing exceedingly well.

I will work on the remaining four in the coming days and weeks.

I continue to argue that these nine contractors are the heart of America’s Open Borders movement and thus there can never be long-lasting reform of US immigration policy when these nine un-elected phony non-profits are paid by the taxpayers to work as community organizers pushing an open borders agenda.

 

Some Counties Still Debating Refugee Consent even as Court has Blocked Trump Reform

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Every morning I scan dozens of refugee stories and am seeing that some counties are still debating and voting to support refugee placement in their counties even as the US State Department says it has stopped seeking consent due to the success of Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in finding a friendly court to enjoin the President’s reform initiative.

(In Minnesota the contractors sent out letters to counties to say they could stop debating the issue, and I assume that is going on elsewhere as well.)

Florida Governor DeSantis was one of a handful of Republican governors who did not say whether he was for or against more refugees for 2020 before the refugee contractors succeeded in halting the President’s reform plan.

Any governors who had not yet said yea or nay are keeping their powder dry—especially the Republican governors of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

I was surprised to see how few counties and states got their letters into the State Department prior to the Maryland court enjoining the whole process on January 15th.

Presumably the administration is working on a legal response, but in the meantime the US Refugee Admissions Program will continue to run as it has been for decades with the nine contractors*** pretty much calling the shots with the help of deep staters in the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in HHS).

Of course at least for now the number of refugees coming in has been greatly reduced (will have numbers on Saturday).  And, whatever happens going forward the exercise was useful for flushing out governors and city and county elected officials who are eager to admit more impoverished people to America for you to take care of with your tax dollars.

Below is what the DOS is telling visitors to their website on the Executive Order:

Remember the consent period as described in the ‘funding guidance’ would only have been in effect from June through September so that timetable must surely be seriously impaired now.

Executive Order 13888 on Enhancing State and Local Involvement in Refugee Resettlement provides that refugees may be resettled only in U.S. jurisdictions where both the state and local governments have provided their consent. Close cooperation with state and local governments ensures that refugees are resettled in communities that are eager and equipped to support their successful integration into American society.

The requirements of Executive Order 13888 are incorporated into the annual notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for resettlement agencies that wish to participate in the initial resettlement of refugees in the United States. The NOFO directs resettlement agencies to seek written consents for that fiscal year from the state governor’s office and the chief executive officer of the local government (county or county equivalent) for each state and locality where the resettlement agencies propose to resettle refugees. Currently, this NOFO is closed due to a January 15, 2020 preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court in HIAS v. Trump, PJM 19-3346.

Executive Order 13888 provides that the Secretary of State shall publicly release any written consent of states and localities to the resettlement of refugees. The following is a list of such written consents that the Department of State had received and processed as of January 13, 2020. Currently, the Department of State is not processing or publishing such consents due to a January 15, 2020 preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court in HIAS v. Trump, PJM 19-3346.

Now go here and see the consent letters that had been processed before January 15.

 

*** For new readers these (below) are the nine federally-funded refugee contractors that operate as a huge conveyor belt monopolizing all refugee placement in America.

Church World Service one of the ‘religious charities’ responsible for changing America by changing the people with a ‘Christian message.’

And, they do not limit their advocacy toward only legal immigration programs, but are heavily involved in supporting the lawlessness at our borders.

The question isn’t as much about refugees per se, but about who is running federal immigration policy now and into the future?

(I try to post this information once a day, or at least every few days!)

 

I continue to argue that these nine contractors are the heart of America’s Open Borders movement and thus there can never be long-lasting reform of US immigration policy when these nine un-elected phony non-profits are paid by the taxpayers to work as community organizers pushing an open borders agenda.

 

Lutherans to TX Governor Abbott: We are Paid to Take Care of Foreigners NOT Americans!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 4 Comments

That is the response to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s suggestion on Fox News earlier this week that groups like Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service focus their ‘Christian’ charity on vulnerable Texans.

Governor Abbott’s plea: ‘Humanitarian’ groups should take care of Texans first!

Abbott is the only governor who has said his state needs a break from the massive influx of illegal aliens, asylum seekers and refugees the state has received (like it or not!) for a decade or more.

He suggests that the ‘non-profit’ groups that are pushing refugee resettlement reprioritize and take care of Texans first, especially the homeless, because he says he does not want Texas to be California.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service‘s new CEO, former Michelle Obama staffer, shot back in a story at the Texas Tribune on Wednesday:

Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas nonprofits helping refugees should focus on homelessness. Refugee groups say it doesn’t work that way.

Former Obama staffer, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, became President of LIRS when Linda Hartke was pushed out over some sort of mismanagement scandal.

Gov. Greg Abbott dug his heels in Tuesday in a TV interview explaining why Texas will be the only state in the nation to reject refugees seeking resettlement, saying that aid groups working with refugees should instead prioritize other Texans in need, including the state’s homeless population.

[….]

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said money for resettlement can’t be spent on homelessness or any other safety net programs.

“The federal funding that nonprofit resettlement agencies administer limits its use so it can only be spent through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program,” she said in an email.

More here.

Ms Vignarajah is saying that they aren’t paid to take care of Americans, their millions come from the taxpayers to take care of foreigners only!

So how many millions are we talking about?

Let’s visit USASpending.gov and find out.

Well, this is interesting!  Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) has in the last 12 months received as much as the US Conference of Catholic Bishops!

And, although the Bishops have experienced a steep reduction in their federal taxpayer provided ‘gifts’ since their top Obama year, LIRS has not!

Haven’t they been crying the blues that the President is causing them to close offices?

One reason for their steady stream of funding appears to be that the Lutherans’ budget is being propped up via $38 million from Unaccompanied Alien Children grants, while the USCCB in the same time period received $21 million for what should be more accurately labeled Unaccompanied Alien Teens.  84% of the ‘children’ crossing the border without a parent are above the age of 13.  Two thirds of the teens are males.

Yup! Ms. V is right, all of their federal funding is to take care of foreigners, many here illegally, so, silly Abbott, why on earth would the humanitarian Christians bother with Americans, with vulnerable Texans—there is no MONEY in it!

From USA Spending:

Note that they are down only about $3 million from their top Obama year while the US Catholic Bishops were down by $50 million. Why? I don’t know.

 

See that 60% of their federal boodle is for whatever they are doing with the Unaccompanied Alien Teens (illegal aliens). Close the border and save the taxpayers millions!

 

BTW, I’ve been told by a reliable source that it was the Obama Administration that made this revealing USASpending.gov resource available to us.

Now, it is always fun to have a look at a recent IRS Form 990 for these ‘religious charities.’  This is the salaries page for the most recent one I found for LIRS which is 85%-90% FEDERALLY FUNDED in any given year.

Former CEO Linda Hartke was hitting the $400,000 mark just as she was headed out the door. You were paying 85-90% of that salary and the salaries of the other six-digit employees.  I wonder if they are paying Ms. Vignarajah that much?  (We will find out when their next Form 990 is made public).

 

This is fun. I can’t wait to have a look at the other ‘religious charities’ which use our money to “welcome the stranger” rather than to take care of  Americans.

I sure hope good Lutherans are speaking up and making it clear that LIRS does not represent them!

Oh, and I should have mentioned that LIRS is one of the three federal contractors that filed a lawsuit and successfully halted, for now, President Trump’s first effort to reform the UN-driven Refugee Admissions Program.