Yesterday, I told you about the Refugee Council USA’s “Recommendations and Actions for the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress.” Today, in Part II, Im reporting on this preposterous proposal: they want to double the number of refugees we take in 2010 and yet we aren’t able to find work for the ones we are bringing now.
Just this week we heard about a fight that broke out in an employment line in Shelbyville, TN where World Relief (among others) had trucked in refugees to compete with local people for jobs at Tyson’s Food. World Relief is one of the organizations that makes up the Refugee Council USA. The disconnect from reality demonstrated in these recommendations to Obama is stunning.
The problem they say, “US refugee admissions targets are far below historical averages.” For “Background” from Page 9 of the report:
The admissions target* has stagnated at around 70,000 in the past eight years, a low number considering a historical average of admissions targets closer to 100,000 per year. Refugee admissions levels are similarly lower than in past years, and the target-to-admitted ratio has experienced an all time low between 2000 and 2007. Refugee admissions levels must be determined based on the global need** for resettlement.
* The Presidential Determination each year is not a target, it is a CEILING! There is a lot of difference and these advocates know it. A ceiling means that it is a number we don’t exceed, but we don’t necessarily have to get to it! They have been wanting to make it a target number and so now they are just telling Obama et al that that is what it is.
** The global need! What about our need!
So what actions do they recommend. Since we can’t employ or take care of the 60,000 we brought this past year, lets just bring more!
Actions:
Propose admitting 125,000 refugees in fiscal year 2010 and commit to gradually increase the number of refugees admitted each consecutive year, with a goal of admitting 200,000 refugees in fiscal year 2013.
And, of course they go on to recommend that they need more money for all of this. Many of the groups that make up the Refugee Council USA survive only through your tax dollars.
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