Month: February 2009

Fun with numbers! See the 2007 Yearbook of Immigrant Statistics

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If you are interested in who came to the US (legally) and why (for decades) and you love to pore over numbers, this is the place for you to spend many a joy-filled hour—“2007 Yearbook of Immigrant Statistics.”   Published in September 2008 by the Department of Homeland Security, this is a must-have document for anyone interested in immigration generally.

For example, on page 18, I learned that in 2007, 54,942 refugees became legal permanent residents.   81,183 asylees (definition) became legal permanent residents and 42, 127 diversity visa lottery winners hit the jackpot.

To new readers:   We have a ‘Where to find information’ category, those of you new to the refugee resettlement program might wish to visit from time to time.

NC Perdue chicken plant happy to get refugee labor

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know what exactly is going on in North Carolina.   First we heard that there are no jobs for refugees there.   Then earlier this week I saw confirmation that there is competition between the non-profit government contractors (volags) for territory in NC (more later) to bring more refugees.   Then this morning I see that the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) is happily supplying refugee labor to Perdue (and Perdue is looking for workers).

From the Richmond County Daily Journal:

Since 1962, thousands of Burmese people have escaped government-sponsored social, political and religious persecution – including torture and forced labor – by coming to America.

To date, 53 of them have been hired to work at Perdue in Rockingham.

Community leaders got to learn about the culture of the new employees at an informal luncheon at the plant Thursday afternoon.

According to Jim Brown, complex human resources manager at Perdue, the new Burmese hires fill a void because they are very eager to work, and they meet all of the necessary human resource requirements.

So companies like Perdue call the refugee agencies which act as (taxpayer- funded) human resource agencies.  I wonder, are there taxpayer-funded employment agencies helping Americans compete for these jobs?

“We have a 40 percent turnover rate per year, and it is very costly. If you have 1,300 employees, and 40 percent of them leave every year, that’s over 500 new people that you have to train.”

Which is why Perdue called to see what they had to offer at the Raleigh office of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), a non-profit that provides services and addresses the needs and rights of persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide.

“It’s very common for employers to call us, especially when they get new business contracts and need workers quickly,” said Marlene Myers, a North Carolina State Refugee Coordinator with the NC Department of Health and Human Services.

As usual this article is a refugee story puff piece except for the token mention of a little problem.   One attendee at the luncheon asked— what about American workers in this time of extreme unemployment.

Jamie Moss-Godfrey of RE/MAX Realty, who attended the luncheon, said that she expressed concern over recruiting employees from outside the county when the already high national unemployment rate is expected to rise.

She is comforted by someone who tells her, its o.k., these refugees have been here for 7 years already.   Really?

“Then one of the presenters told me that most of these people have been here for seven years and are already part of the current unemployment statistics, and I felt much better after that. the panel was open to all types of questions and concerns.”

Well, that’s funny.  I just went and looked at refugee databases here.   I went back to 2002 (7 years) and only 16 Burmese were resettled in North Carolina that year.  In 2003, the number was 26, 116 came in 2004, 86 in 2005, 57 in 2006 and guess what else I found?   A whopping 544 Burmese were brought to North Carolina in 2007.  I don’t have the numbers for 2008 but I bet that it is even larger.

I do have the number of Burmese brought to the US in 2008 for the whole country—-18,139.   And, as one of the refugee advocates pointed out at lunch:

…..they aren’t “going back” any time soon.

 

For new readers:  USCRI is the federal contractor whose subcontractor, the International Institute of CT, was suspended by the State Department in Waterbury, CT when it didn’t take care of the Burmese refugees it was contracted to care for.

Some interesting information from Dream Act activists

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I know this is a bit off topic, but wanted to share it with you anyway.   I came across a blog this morning, United We Dream, in which they give numbers for the Asian illegal aliens in the US.  Most of us following this issue think Hispanic when we think of illegals seeking amnesty.   But, according to this blog 14% of illegal aliens are Asians:

The most recent statistics I found from a March 2006 a report estimated the number of undocumented Asians living in the United States in 2005 was about 1.5 million ” 14 percent of the 10.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, and 12 percent of the Asian population. At the time it was estimated that of the 1.5 million 23 percent were Chinese, followed by Filipinos (17%), Indians (14%), and Koreans (11%).

Apparently they mostly got here legally with student visas and such and have overstayed their visas.    Then this interested me, the Vietnamese aren’t so sympathetic because they came legally (as refugees):

….when you talk to Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants about the issues, there can be less sympathy because they largely came here legally and don’t understand….

If you don’t know about the proposed Dream Act, go here.

Then scouting around at United We Dream, I learned there is a petition campaign underway to have Attorney General (we are all cowards) Holder investigate the flamboyant and successful Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  The petition begins:

We, the undersigned, respectfully request that you direct your office to investigate Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, for gross civil rights violations in the name of immigration enforcement.

I guess this is what they mean by changing the tone.

Obama’s attorney general Holder calls us cowards for not talking about race

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In a speech yesterday, newly appointed Attorney General Eric Holder has managed to stir a hornets nest by saying Americans are “cowards” for not talking about race. 

Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” said Holder, nation’s first black attorney general.

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, Holder said, but “we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”

Mr. Holder, if people aren’t talking about race enough for you, you can blame your politically correct elitist friends for that.   Most  “average Americans” are afraid to open their mouths on the subject because some snotty leftwing goon will tell them they are racist xenophobic hatemongers.

And then, as for your comment that people of various races work together but don’t socialize together, so what!   People spend their free time with people they relate to for myriad reasons.  It has nothing to do with race it has to do with culture, values, lifestyle, and the way one grew up.  Here is what Holder said:

Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

If you leftwingers in the Obama Administration have a hang-up about race, could you keep your hang-ups to yourself.  You might be surprised that “average Americans” are doing just fine.

And, besides Mr. Holder, didn’t we just elect a black President, aren’t you the first black Attorney General, didn’t you all tell us we were now a post-racial country, so maybe you could find more positive, constructive or useful things to say about the American people.   Or, maybe don’t say anything and do your job.

Tent cities coming to a neighborhood near you?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Jumping from Syracuse, NY to Boise, ID this morning, we have another story of US refugees about to be evicted, this time because they have no jobs and their rent subsidies are about to end.

One Iraqi family, brought to the United States from war-torn Baghdad and resettled in Boise with refugee status, may soon face an eviction notice at their new home.

In two weeks, Walid and Samira Waheed and their three children will reach the end of their six months of rental assistance. They have no savings, and, largely because of the declining job market, they have not found work. They do not have rent money for March.

“I am happy in Boise,” Walid Waheed said. “Please help us.”

Waheed is just the tip of the iceberg. More than 1,000 refugees resettled in Idaho in the last year, most expecting to quickly find jobs and become self-sufficient.

But now, with their welcome benefits running out and no work in sight, refugee families are facing the stark possibility of becoming internally displaced people in the very nation that offered them refuge.

Tent cities!  A Boise community manager is shocked to learn there are no solutions.  Although I feel for her, it wasn’t too long ago I read about how wonderful and welcoming Boise was to refugees and immigrants generally.   I’m not sure I can find it now*, but they even reportedly had city benches painted with “welcoming” messages to immigrants.  So the city shares some blame for not looking ahead.

According to community manager Barbara Seguin Du Haime, another two families have funding through March, but come April, she will have nine refugee families facing eviction.

“I was just amazed to learn that there aren’t solutions out there,” she said. “What happens to Boise? Are we going to have tent cities?”

World Relief says they are short $5000 a month for upcoming rents.

Jones said World Relief is still compiling the numbers, but needs about $5,000 a month to continue paying rent for unemployed refugees.

Tent cities in the US or left to die?   Oh, come on, the choice is not that stark.  Many of the refugees we have written about are not on the verge of death where they were, some like the Iraqi family we told you about yesterday were doing o.k. in Jordan.

Moore, at IRC, said communities across the country that have taken in refugees are all facing the same dilemma: a potential wave of refugees losing their housing.

“It’s a real possibility across the country,” Moore said. “It’s almost a question of playing God. Are you going to bring them here to have a difficult resettlement experience, or are you going to leave them there to die?”

How about going to the top dogs at the IRC and asking them to contribute their six figure salaries (from the US taxpayer) to these poor families you are bringing to Boise and other US cities.   Maybe if that happened the refugee spigot would be turned off for awhile.

*Update:   I found it!  The “Welcome the Stranger” campaign.  Now maybe they can use those benches for seating in the tent cities!