Catholic Charities gets cool couple of million $ in New York, calls it win-win

Your tax dollars

Catholic Charities calls it a win-win.  I call it lose-lose.   

From Hope for All (immigrants only need apply):

BUFFALO, N.Y., May 12, 2011 – Catholic Charities of Buffalo has received a $2 million federally funded Targeted Assistance Grant from the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, which will be utilized by the Agency to support its Immigration and Refugee Assistance Program with various aspects of refugee employment and job training.

The grant will allow the Agency to help its clients prepare for employment, obtain jobs and retain employment. It will also provide a number of training programs to enhance the employability of clients. The grant also reflects a collaborative effort involving two other refugee resettlement agencies, The International Institute of Buffalo and Jewish Family Service of Buffalo and Erie County, which will function as subcontract providers.

“This is a win-win situation,” said Ann H. Brittain, director of Catholic Charities Immigration and Refugee Assistance Program. “The local economy wins because employers get dependable, hardworking employees and the refugee population benefits by being able to support themselves and their families. Many of the individuals who receive services under this grant will buy cars and homes within the next few years. They will pump money into the economy.”

And, we lose when Catholic Charities gets a couple of million of your tax dollars to manage with little oversight.  The federal taxpayer loses when money that should go to offset our monstrous debt is sent to Buffalo, and the American unemployed workers lose because they don’t get the job training and the subsequent jobs.    It really is a reverse discrimination isn’t it!

I am asked frequently what the Refugee Resettlement Program costs taxpayers.  Because, in addition to all the welfare usage by refugees and asylees that is not tracked and grants like this one, it is virtually impossible to put a price tag on what this is costing the US.   But, please go here for the link to read the 2008 Annual Report to Congress (even if it’s years out of date) to begin to get a handle on the size and scope of this program.