Here we go, yet another Iraqi refugee suffering-in-America story. You know! They had a good life, good job, servants, a BMW, nice house and all until the US invaded Iraq and religious extremism was unleashed. Now, they are refugees in America living on welfare with no job and it’s all our fault. That is pretty much the gist of these stories. I really don’t care if this sounds heartless. I do agree the refugees are suffering.
But, the heartless ones are the bureaucrats at places like the International Rescue Committee (IRC) who, on the one hand, complain bitterly about having no money to properly care for the refugees they contracted to resettle, and on the other continue urging the US State Department to bring more and more refugees.
I finally get it—this is about creating a crisis to bring about change, the refugees are the pawns in all this, the fodder for stories like this one in the Los Angeles Times planted by PR people employed by “struggling” (IRC got $104,622,578 from the US taxpayer in 2007) refugee agencies and spoon-fed to gullible (or worse, complicit) Leftist mainstream reporters. The end goal is to expand the refugee program and send more taxpayer money to the federal contractors like the IRC.
Here is one section of this article I’m posting just so American citizens can see the full range of support refugees receive.
“It’s very much an up-by-your-bootstraps approach,” said Vice President Robert Carey. “I don’t disagree with that approach, but you need to give people an opportunity to get an adequate foothold.”
These days, the financial aid does not go far. Resettlement agencies receive State Department grants of $900 for each refugee, an amount that has gone up only $400 since 1975, according to the IRC. At least half of that is supposed to be used to procure and prepare an apartment — to pay the deposit and first month’s rent, buy furniture and food. The rest is meant to cover the services the agency provides in the first month, such as doctor appointments and registering children for school.
Some refugees qualify for a program funded by the Department of Health and Human Services and a matching grant from a private aid agency. That program provides four to six months of additional financial and other help to those looking for work. But the program has funds to assist only about 30% of resettled refugees, the report says.
Because Anwer and Avan have children, they can get the same help available to needy American families through CalWORKS and Medi-Cal. They were granted $850 a month — $130 less than the rent for their modest apartment.
The help is available for up to five years, but the amount will soon be reduced because of state budget cuts. Medi-Cal will no longer cover the parents’ dental and some other costs, a fact Avan discovered only after having two root canals. She will be on a mostly liquid diet until she can raise the money to replace the temporary fillings with crowns.
Refugees who do not qualify for any other help can apply for Refugee Cash Assistance and Refugee Medical Assistance. Shifa and Ann each were granted $350 a month plus medical coverage under this program. But the coverage lasts for only eight months. When the program was established in 1980, it was available for 36 months.
“People are being brought into the U.S. below the poverty level,” said the IRC’s Carey.
Indeed they are being brought in in poverty and that suits the goals of the Alinsky/Cloward-Piven/Obama community organizers just fine. It’s creepy isn’t it to think that this is all part of a huge scheme, one that actually hurts people, that the average decent American can not comprehend. For Alinsky and friends–the ends always justify the means!
By the way, go back and read the LA Times story and note that the IOM is warning Iraqis now that life will be tough in the US—that is a heartening thing to learn.