Category: Your State

Kentucky: Tales of woe grow as federal shutdown continues to impact resettlement contractors

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The program is grinding to a halt until possibly the end of the month.  Church World Service (one of nine US State Department contractors) says some refugees may be delayed for three months.

Elizabeth Kaznak: might have to dig into private resources to pay our staff!

Here is the news (emphasis mine) from the Journal-Courier which begins with a sad tale (and intersperses sad tales in between the news-worthy bits):

Now more than 2 weeks old, the shutdown forced the U.S. State Department to suspend most refugee arrivals and enact a travel moratorium, partly because the financial, medical and federal benefits or services aren’t available in some areas to help newcomers from Somalia, Iraq, Myanmar, Bhutan and a host of other countries, officials said.

Although most expect Congress to reach an agreement to reopen the government, resettlement won’t restart until at least Oct. 28 — and even then, the shutdown’s cascading effect on complex approval, documentation and travel logistics will delay many arrivals for months.

[….]

The shutdown “really has a domino effect,” said Darko Mihaylovich, director of Louisville’s Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services.

The Obama Administration had just announced on October 1 the goal of resettling 70,000 more refugees in FY2014, see here.  Some delays might be as long as three months!

In Kentucky, October arrivals have been canceled across the commonwealth — 40 in Louisville, 19 in Lexington and 14 in Bowling Green and Owensboro — according to local and state resettlement officials.

Church World Service, one of a handful of federally approved resettlement agencies, reported that nearly half of the refugees under its authority, initially cleared for travel in October, will be delayed as long as three months.

Refugees here already shouldn’t worry yet—-they will still have their welfare benefits.

Darko Mihaylovich says welfare/food stamps continue (so far).

For the refugees already resettled in Louisville, help is still available. Mihaylovich said state aid such as food stamps and other aid have continued in Kentucky so far.

The shutdown has prevented some refugees from getting Social Security cards, which they need to obtain work permits.

Oh no!  Since “non-profit” resettlement contractors are paid by the head to resettle refugees, they might have to use their own money while times are tight!  Kentucky Refugee Ministries is a subcontractor of Church World Service.

Kaznak [Elizabeth Kaznak, executive director] of Kentucky Refugee Ministries said Kentucky Refugee Ministries, which operates on a tight budget, is having to use reserves to continue to pay caseworkers and provide services, partly because the shutdown has kept the agency from getting the federal reimbursement of $750 per arrival budgeted for October.

Maria Koerner, assistant director of the Kentucky Office for Refugees, said the shutdown has delayed disbursement of some of the $9 million in federal funding Kentucky gets annually to help pay for cash assistance and medical help for new arrivals, but so far it’s not harming services.

Check out Kentucky Refugee Ministries recent Form 990 (here).  They took in $3.7 million (rounded number) in revenue in 2011.  $3.3 million of that came from GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS while only $290,000 appears to have been privately raised (see p. 9).  Just a reminder: these were supposed to be public-private partnerships when the refugee law was first enacted, not quasi-government agencies.

On page 10 we learn that they paid out $1.6 million for salaries and benefits.  Office expenses and rent came out to approximately $285,000.  So we can see things will be tight if the federal government (the taxpayer!) pipeline continues to slow.

Sure, looks like they don’t have much of a private reserve to fall back on.

Migrants, including refugees, evicted from tents under Indianapolis bridge

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So we do have migrant camps in America.

Indianapolis tent city where immigrants and refugees were living until a few days ago.

Although not all of the 60-plus evicted from under an Indiana bridge are immigrants, I’ve been wondering for some time if the overload of unemployable (for one reason or another) immigrants in the US would eventually lead to encampments like those we see in Israel and Europe.  And, then I wonder if those stories (like this one) ever reached the mainstream media would the average American get-it about the perils of open borders and unlimited immigration.

From the AP (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis police arrested several homeless people Monday who ignored the city’s order to vacate a makeshift camp near the city’s downtown area where dozens of tents had been set up beneath a railroad bridge.

The bridge on downtown Indianapolis’ south side was home to about 24 tents, and about half the residents folded up their shelters and left in response to the city’s 9 a.m. removal order.

But city police arrested at least five people who refused to the leave and disposed of the remaining tents.

Maurice Young, the camp’s self-appointed caretaker, was taken into custody along with a handful of camp supporters. Young told The Indianapolis Star (http://indy.st/19TvijU ) all the city has done is disperse the homeless residents.

Mixed group of residents, many with mental illnesses, drug addictions:

Young said he and his supporters want individualized solutions but he said that since Indianapolis doesn’t offer that he and the others have chosen to live outside the city’s homeless shelter system and on their own terms.

He said the homeless camp’s population fluctuates, but until a few weeks ago 67 people lived in the camp.

After the city’s Department of Public Works posted signs Aug. 19 ordering the land to be vacated by Monday, he said that about 10 people moved out.

Those that stayed until Monday ranged in age from about 30 to 74 and included about 15 women, two of them pregnant, and 10 veterans. The others are immigrants or refugees from Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Liberia, Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico.

Young estimated about 80 percent have mental health issues, while others have addictions.

Indiana Overload!

For new readers, Indiana has had quite a problem with an overload of refugees especially in the Ft. Wayne area, although Indianapolis is also a “preferred” resettlement site.  Catholic Charities of Indianapolis is a primary refugee contractor there and I hope they have been contacted to see if any of their ‘clients’ have been living under the bridge.  Maybe the good Catholic parishioners of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis will take some of these destitute people into their homes?

Back in 2010, then Indiana Senator Richard Lugar requested a GAO study of the refugee program as a result of the lack of communication between the federal government/contractors on one side and local governments/citizens on the other who felt they were being swamped with refugees they couldn’t possibly afford to care for.  The GAO report is here and it is well worth your time to read it.  Whether it mattered one bit to the State Department and the ORR is not evident.

For more information type ‘Indiana’ or ‘Fort Wayne’ into our search function.

Tennessee legislators want answers about fiscal impact of refugee resettlement

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a report from Bobbie Patray of the Tennessee Eagle Forum about the first meeting of a select committee of the Tennessee legislature to address  the 10th Amendment of the Constitution and the encroachment by the federal government on states’ rights in regards to the resettlement of migrants in the state by Catholic Charities (through the US State Department).

Holly Johnson, Catholic Charities TN, with her Idaho counterpart at 2010 Refugee meeting. In Tennessee, Catholic Charities calls the shots on resettlement.

See our earlier coverage here.  (You will find links there for reports from The Tennessean and Nashville Public Radio.)

Patray:

It was an exciting day to be at Legislative Plaza and see history being made yesterday.  The first official meeting of the Joint Legislative Advisory Committee was convened. This creation of and mission of this committee grew out of the increasing concern of both legislators and grassroots activists about the ongoing encroachment of the federal government on the constitutional rights of the sovereign states.

Members of the committee are: Rep. Judd Matheny, Chairman, Rep. John Ragan, Rep. Joe Carr, Rep. Josh Evans, Rep. Mike Turner, Sen. Mike Bell, Sen. Janice Bowling, Sen. Ferrell Haile, Sen. Thelma Harper, Sen. Jim Summerville.  All members were present except Sen. Harper.

There was enough interest in this important issue that other legislators attended: Rep. Jeremy Faison, Rep. G.A. Hardaway, Rep. David Alexander, Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, Rep. Shelia Butt, Sen. Mark Green, M.D., Sen. Frank Niceley.

It was that concern that drove the motive for taking up the first issue of this committee:  The Federal Cost Shifting of the Refugee Resettlement program.

As one article stated: “A newly-created legislative committee met for the first time Wednesday to investigate the indirect fiscal impact of refugee resettlements. They were given an unsatisfying answer: no one is keeping track.”

That is the problem.   Each year, lawmakers are responsible for passing a budget and certainly have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayer to know where these dollars are going.  Except….in this case…they don’t!!!

Chairman Judd Matheny CLEARLY laid out the parameters of the discussion:  It was ONLY about the COST SHIFTING to the states.  It was NOT about the value of the refugee resettlement program, it was NOT about what the refugees bring to this state, it was NOT about the work that the providers or participants do.

It is not just Tennessee lawmakers that  have these concerns.  Two years ago, the National Governors Association stated: “The federal government’s unwillingness to provide adequate funding for costs attributable to migration and resettlement services has resulted in a dramatic shift of program costs from the federal government to state and local taxpayers.”

The first speaker, Kasar Abdulla,  started telling her personal story, which, of course, was compelling. However, as was stated earlier, the value of the program was NOT the subject of the hearing.  Chairman Matheny asked her a couple of time to please stick to the topic, but she did not and, in fact, clearly was not prepared to do that.  So the Chairman called for the next speaker, Holly Johnson, State Refugee Coordinator, Tennessee Office for Refugees, Catholic Charities of TN, Inc.  After Miss Johnson spoke, Don Barnett and Joanne Bregman, Esq.  addressed the committee.  Bregman’s testimony was incredible as she revealed the cold, hard facts and figures.  The last speaker  Stephen Fotopulos, with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition was totally out of line with his testimony.

Just as a snapshot, Sen. Mark Green, M.D., observed that using the two numbers provided in the testimonies, the refugee program would be costing TennCare between $7.2million  and $12.1million over a four year period.  This is the kind of information that is desperately needed for budget purposes and that we have not been able to get hard figures on.  The committee passed a motion to ask the Fiscal Review Committee to do a comprehensive study of all aspects of this program with emphasis on any cost shifting, expenses incurred, what enabling legislation they are acting under, including a proportionality of refugees coming to TN versus other states to present at the November 12 meeting.

Click here to watch the proceedings.  For more on Tennessee and refugees, click here.

Photo is from this story about a Wilson-Fish (Office of Refugee Resettlement) meeting in Washington, here.  When you click that W-F link you can see if your state refugee program is now being run by a non-governmental agency.

Oops!  Depending on your screen size, in an earlier version of this post, the TEF logo blocks Johnson’s face… should have checked that first!

Handy data on your state/city and refugee admissions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

One of the stories on the Tennessee meeting this week, linked this handy chart (click here) for you to see how many refugees and from what country came to your state in fiscal year 2012.   The Obama Administration/feds and their contractors were shooting for 70,000 refugees last year but resettled 58,238.

Check the numbers here (Refugee Admissions Report as of Jul 31, 2013 ) at WRAPS (Refugee Processing Center) and note that again Obama wants 70,000 and they may come close to that for FY2013.  As of July 31st they had resettled 57,030 with two months to go until the fiscal year ends on September 30th.  (These numbers do not include asylees)

You should open some of the other data tables at WRAPS, they are very informative.

I often forget about it myself, but we have an entire category entitled “Where to find information” that you might find useful.

Boston: Man stomped by gang which escaped into Eritrean Community Center to play pool, watch TV

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Mid-week diversity is strength alert!

A reader sent this story from Boston via The Southend Patch.   Sometimes those ‘Patch’ papers have more news than do primary media outlets.   The crime happened earlier this month.

Eritrean Community Center on Shawmut Ave. working to alleviate problems Eritrean refugees and immigrants have in the US. Editorial Note: More work needed now for sure!

Boston Police found a wounded man on Shawmut Avenue at about 3:20 a.m. on August 8.

Officers stopped to investigate and saw multiple bruises on the victim’s head as well as several abrasions on his knees, ankles, arms and face. The victim was barefoot.

The victim told police that he arrived on Shawmut Avenue in a cab, when a man stole his iPhone from his pocket and climbed a fence into the Eritrean Community Center. The victim confronted the suspect, and several young men climbed over the fence and stomped the victim as he lay on the ground. The suspects also took the victim’s sandals and threw them away.

Police walked into the Community Center and found a room full of young men playing pool and watching T.V. [at 3:20 a.m.! Guess they aren’t working in the morning!—ed]

The victim was able to identify the suspects.

LOL!  Looks like they have some diversity among the alleged “stompers!”

Officers arrested Farah Amed of 35 Fields Way, Brighton, Sharmake Ibrahim of 268 Washington Avenue, Chelsea, Mohamud Hashi of 50 Decatur Street, Charlestown, Abdikeyer Mohamud of 45 Tufts Street, Charlestown, Christopher Hobin of 4 Shushala Way, Plymouth, Merih Tekleghiorghis of 7 Egmont Street, Brookline were each charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Here is more on the Eritrean Community Center

Eritrea, in Africa: Church World Service testified in May that they want the US to bring in more Eritreans!

This is what they say on their website, click here (emphasis is mine):

Massachusetts and particularly the Greater Boston area has one of the oldest and largest Eritrean-American communities in the U.S.  The earliest members of the community migrated to the Boston area in the early ‘70s, mostly seeking higher education.  A large influx was experienced in the1980s due to the escalation of the war for independence of Eritrea.

Concerned Eritrean-American residents of the Greater Boston area met and took action to organize around issues affecting their families, their community and their homeland. They formed The Eritrean Community Center of Greater Boston (ECC-Boston) in 1983. The organization is one of the first grassroots Eritrean community development corporations founded and operated by Eritrean refugees and immigrants in the U.S.

[….]

The Eritrean community in Greater Boston has grown significantly over the last two decades in numbers as well as in its critical needs.  Total number of the Eritrean-American community in the greater Boston area is estimated to be upwards of 700.

[….]

ECC-Boston aims to help alleviate some of the problems faced by Eritreans in the Boston area by bridging the cultural and linguistic barriers and by helping its members integrate and contribute their share in the society. It provides a forum for members to organize and work together to find solutions to the challenges that its members are facing in the US, while addressing issues affecting their country of origin.

So who is funding the ECC in Boston (here)?  “Enriching lives” they say!

Putnam Investment
City of Boston – Safe Neighborhood Youth Fund
U.S. Office of Disease Prevention & Health Promotion(ODPHP)www.healthierus.gov
Regional Health Administrators
University of Massachusetts Boston
Institute of Community Inclusion
Children’s Hospital Boston
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Office for Refugees and Immigrants

Church World Service (one of nine major federal resettlement contractors) testified in May to the US State Department and asked for more Eritreans to be resettled in your towns!    See their testimony, here.  They are probably not alone in their appeal, but I just happened on their testimony as I wrote this post.

An afterthought:  I can’t help but think that the criminal element is “embracing diversity” faster than the the average American.  See, the dreadful murder of the Australian young man in Oklahoma by some diverse killers, here.