I’ll be reporting back tomorrow morning about the meeting.
In the meantime, I have been posting comments sent to the State Department from people who send their comments to me. Below is the latest. To see others go to our new category (Testimony for 5/1/2012 State Dept. Meeting) here.
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am writing to submit written comments on the President’s FY 2013 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program as part of the upcoming May 1st public hearing in Arlingon, VA. Overall, I am writing to request that Refugee admissions be cut back dramatically to less than 5,000 admittances annually. There are many reasons for this:
1) The USA cannot afford the high welfare cost of refugees. Welfare use by refugees is staggering and is a huge cost to the USA at a time when it cannot afford this. According to the 207 Report to Congress by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (p.91), among refugees who arrived during the 5 years previous to the survey 51% are on government medical assistance such as Medicaid, 25% have no health insurance at all, 49% are receiving food stamps, 25% are in public housing (an additional percentage is on a public housing waiting list), and 32 % are getting cash assistance such as TANF or SSI. Related to this, I understand that 47% of loans made to refugees for transportation to the U.S. are unpaid leaving a balance of 450 million. If interest is included on some of these unpaid loans, then the unpaid amount is well over a billion. This is not affordable in a time of massive federal deficits.
2) Refugees and recent immigrants are often a source of Islamic terrorists and extremists – Somali refugees have been a source for Islamic terrorist recruits from Lewiston (Maine), Minnesota, and other parts of the USA such as Minnesota. We should stop accepting refugees from countries with a history of producing Islamic terror as this brings terrorism and Islamic extremism into our country. This should include Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran, Somalia, northern Nigeria, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and northern Sudan at a minimum.
3) I am especially concerned that refugees from the Muslim faith will and are advocating for Shariah Law in the USA which is incompatible with our society and governmental system in many ways. This is happening much more extensively in Europe which has a higher Muslim population. The incompatibility with our system includes:
a. Shariah involves a merging of church and state, rather than separation.
b. It opposes freedom of speech as criticism of Islam is prohibited under Shariah.
c. Since a Muslim cannot leave Islam without threat of death or serious injury by other radical Muslims, their religion does not support freedom of religion which is a key part of our society.
d. Islamic Shariah law opposes equal protection under the law since Muslims and Muslim men are treated much better under Sharia Law than nonbelievers and Muslim women. This is contrary to our notions of equality.
4) Muslim refugee immigrants are not integrating – they are staying separate. They are highly unemployed even after many years here. Many of the refugees are a source of crime in the USA such as the recent Somali sex trafficking case in Tennessee. Muslim refugees and recent immigrants are known for sending money home to support extremism back in their home countries. All of this is even more true in the United Kingdom and Europe which have much larger Muslim populations – showing that the hope that these patterns will change with time is wrong.
Thank you for considering my views (author wishes to remain anonymous)
Look for more testimony tomorrow.