Day: May 27, 2009

Obama White House has scheduled a chit-chat with legislators on immigration June 8th

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update May 28th:  Connection between Sotomayor pick for Supreme Court and the June 8th meeting, here.

Just now Rush Limbaugh said that Obama hasn’t yet scheduled a White House forum of sorts on immigration reform, but I had just read last night that he has.  It apparently will be a little different then the previous Delphi Technique meetings in that it will be with only legislators.

From last week at Politico:

President Barack Obama is inviting members of Congress to the White House for a June 8 meeting to highlight immigration reform, an administration official confirmed to POLITICO Wednesday.

“The meeting will be an opportunity to launch a policy conversation that we hope will be able to start a debate that will take place in Congress later in the year,” the official, who asked not to be named, said.

Asked if the session would be billed as a summit or a forum, like similar meetings on health care and fiscal responsibility earlier in the year, another official said, “This isn’t a forum or a summit with outside groups, this is solely a meeting with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the issue.”

Readers concerned with reform of refugee resettlement, don’t get your hopes up, this reform is strictly involved with Amnesty and may not even be pushed this year.  Can you imagine in the middle of massive unemployment the firestorm such a move would set off among the general public.  I would love to see it happen—-the firestorm, that is!

Immigration reform advocates have been pressing Obama to vow to pass immigration reform this year. He has promised make the issue a priority, but has stopped short of setting a goal of getting a bill through Congress by December.

Iraqi refugees demonstrate in Syria, say they want resettlement now!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

From the Associated Press:

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) – Some 200 Iraqi refugees in Syria staged a sit-in outside the UN refugee offices in  Damascus Tuesday to protest perceived delays in measures to resettle them in a third country.

The protesters were trying to highlight the plight of the refugees, many of whom fled the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and are still waiting for resettlement six years later.

The UN representative told AP:

……more than 200,000 refugees have registered with the agency in the past few years, adding that only 10,500 of them have already been resettled.

I wonder does AP ever do any google searches to follow what is happening to unhappy Iraqis resettled in the US, some of whom want to return to the Middle East because of lousy living conditions and unemployment here.

It was only two months ago that we learned that two Iraqi families who had been resettled in Fredericksburg, VA, borrowed money and RETURNED  to Syria!  Does anyone mention that to those protesters?  NO! 

I know it’s a cliche, but the deeper I get into this issue the more it becomes apparent that the major media outlets are downright disgusting with their politically correct bias.

Comment worth noting: reader says we are being “misleading” in diversity visa story

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Earlier this month I reported that NumbersUSA has begun a grassroots campaign in support of a bill in Congress to do away with the Diversity Visa Lottery.  Here is the post I wrote.

A commenter, Nick, says we are being “misleading”, but I am not sure what we are “misleading” about.

Ummmm- sorry but your article is grossly misleading. I am a recipient of a 2009 Diversity Visa (LPR since March 27th of this year) and simple fact is that no Green Cards are issued to those who do not have 12 years of formal education (I have a law degree, my husband has a Ph.D)or have at least 2 years work experience in a skilled profession. Furthermore we had to either have savings of $26,000 (how many Americans can say that in these difficult times?, a promise of a job (got one- that by the way only 2 Americans applied for- I was chosen for my unique legal skills, without the Diversity Vis I would have waited up to 10 years to get a Green Card) or have an American Citizen agree to sponsor us for the next 3 years. We are per definition excluded from claiming public aid for three years, cannot receive publicly funded health insurance etc so therefore cannot become a burden on American Tax payers (by the way we pay tax too)We were told under no uncertain terms during our Visa interview that the US does not let just anyone enter and is very strict when it comes to enforcing the Public Charge rule.If you can’t take care of yourself you can’t get in……

Note that Nick did keep an American from getting a job.   And, I am curious about what foreign legal skills would be of much value for our American legal system.

Coincidentally only a few days ago the Wall Street Journal reported that Egyptian diversity visa lottery winners were in line with Americans and refugees competing for meatpacking jobs at Tysons Food in Shelbyville, TN.  So what happened to their original “promise of a job?”