Month: October 2012

Office of Refugee Resettlement helps distribute your money to refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars:

This is boring stuff, but you should know a little about the federal agency that is primarily responsible for funding the social services jobless refugees/asylees need when they get here from some third world country.

For some reason this write-up on the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in the US Department of Health and Human Services popped up in one of my alerts this week.  Why now?  I don’t know.  But, the timing is good because it follows the announcement on October 1st that Obama wants 70,000 more refugees for FY2013.

By the way, adding to the confusion for the public in understanding the Refugee Resettlement Program is that the US State Department brings the refugees into the country, but it’s ORR that take it from there; and, helps to spend your more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars!

We have a whole category entitled, where to find information, and this post and over 200 more like it can be found there (for ambitious readers out there).

Here is just a bit of the program description at the Administration for Children and Families in the Dept. of Health and Human Services.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) gives new populations the opportunity to maximize their potential in the United States.  ORR’s programs provide people in need with critical resources ($$$) to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society, such as cash, social services, and medical assistance.

Here is what the Division of Refugee Assistance is responsible for:

Cash and Medical Assistance: This program provides reimbursement to states and other programs for cash and medical assistance. Refugees who are ineligible for TANF and Medicaid may be eligible for cash and medical assistance for up to eight months from their date of arrival, grant of asylum, or date of certification for trafficking victims.

Refugee Social Services: This program allocates formula funds to states to serve refugees who have been in the United States less than 60 months (five years).  Services are focused on addressing employability and include interpretation and translation, day care, citizenship, and naturalization.  Services are designed to help refugees obtain jobs within one year of enrollment.

Targeted Assistance: This program allocates formula funds to states that qualify for additional funds due to an influx of refugee arrivals that need public assistance.  TAG service prioritize (a) cash assistance recipients, particularly long-term recipients; (b) unemployed refugees not receiving cash assistance; and (c) employed refugees in need of services to retain employment or to attain economic independence.

Cuban Haitian: This program provides discretionary grants to states and other programs to fund assistance and services in localities with a heavy influx of Cuban and Haitian entrants and refugees.  This program supports employment services, hospitals, and other health and mental health care programs, adult and vocational education services, refugee crime or victimization programs, and citizenship and naturalization services.

Refugee Preventive Health: This program provides discretionary grants to states or their designated health agencies or other programs that facilitate medical screenings and support health services.  The program aims to reduce the spread of infectious disease, treat any current ailments, and promote preventive health practices.

Refugee School Impact: This program provides discretionary grants to state and other programs.  Funds go to school districts to pay for activities that will lead to the effective integration and education of refugee children between the ages of 5 and 18.  Activities include English as a second language; after-school tutorials; programs that encourage high school completion and full participation in school activities; after-school and/or summer clubs and activities; parental involvement programs; bilingual/bicultural counselors; interpreter services, etc.

Services to Older Refugees: This program provides discretionary grants to states to ensure that refugees aged 60 and above are linked to mainstream aging services in their community.  ORR cooperates with the Administration for Community Living to reach this goal.  [You do know that we bring senior refugees in who benefit from our social security system—ed]

Targeted Assistance Discretionary: This program provides discretionary grants to states and other programs to address the employment needs of refugees that cannot be met with the Formula Social Services or Formula Targeted Assistance Grant Programs.  Activities under this program are for the purpose of supplementing and/or complementing existing employment services to help refugees achieve economic self-sufficiency.

It goes on and on, you can read it all here.  But, don’t expect to figure out all these avenues for the redistribution of wealth anytime soon, heck, I think that is partly why it is so complicated—they don’t want you to know!

Obama: We’ll take 70,000 “refugees” for FY2013

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

70,000 needy people in search of jobs and social services will be on the way to your towns…will cost the US taxpayer in excess of $1 billion!

Every year the President is required by law to send a determination letter to Congress before the first day of the new Fiscal Year which begins on October 1.    Usually some national news outfit runs a big piece heralding its arrival.  This year I didn’t see anything (I could have missed it), but today I actively searched and here it is.

The admission of up to 70,000 refugees to the United States during Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest…

You see that phrase I’ve highlighted.  That means that all those coming are not poor and downtrodden refugees, but we are taking them for some other (political?) reason—to give some benefit to another country that wants its undesirables removed perhaps?    Meshketian Turks come to mind and how about those Uzbek dissidents we scooped up in a special air lift in 2005?   Back in April I sent testimony to the US State Department recommending a moratorium on the whole program, #7 in my ten reasons why it was warranted addressed this concern.

The entire report to Congress for FY2013 is here.  I have only skimmed it and will have to read it carefully, but below are a few points you should have a look at.

For FY2012 Obama wanted 76,000 refugees, but we only got 58,238.  This “low” number is blamed on extra security screening put in place after the arrest of the Iraqi refugee terrorists in KY.   By the way this number, 58,238, can be found here.   When the report went to Congress for FY13, they hadn’t finished bringing in the September refugees.

You can see from the chart on Page 5 (of the President’s recent report) that although we were aiming for 80,000 in FY 2011 we brought in 56,424.  Obama dropped the target to 76,000 for 2012 and we got the 58,238.    For the year that started last week, the target has dropped further to 70,000.   The resettlement contractors are having a helluva time finding enough jobs for the refugees and I suspect that is the major reason for the further reduction in numbers.

Some other interesting nuggets that jumped out at me were:

* We are looking forward to getting more Rohingya Muslims as soon as Bangladesh stops holding up their applications. We are taking some Rohingya from “Indian urban areas.”   What is up with that?  Can’t India deal with its own so-called “refugees?” (really illegal aliens/economic migrants).  It is a prosperous country!

* We are opening the P-3 family reunification program for Somalis.  The State Department had put a moratorium on the program in 2008 after figuring out that over 30,000 Somalis got into the US by claiming a family relationship with Somalis here before them. Turned out they weren’t related at all.  There will be some DNA testing of some relationships.

* On pages 52 and 53 you can see where everyone came from in FY2011.  That year we brought in 3,161 Somalis.  In FY2012 the Somali admission numbers jumped to 4,911 (you have to go back here for that number).

* On page 59, note that we take roughly 70% of the world’s refugees.  The next 4 countries in the top 5 are Canada, Australia, Sweden and Norway.

* The top receiving states in the US (for 2011) were as follows:

During FY 2011, 63 percent of all arriving refugees resettled in 12 states. The majority were placed in Texas (10 percent), followed by California (8.8 percent), New York (6.3 percent), Pennsylvania (5.3 percent), Florida (5.2 percent), Georgia (4.7 percent), and Michigan (4.6 percent). The states of Arizona (3.8 percent), Washington (3.8 percent), North Carolina (3.8 percent), Illinois (3.4 percent,) and Minnesota (3.3 percent) also were in the top twelve states where refugees were resettled. (See Table VI.)

* On page 58, you will see that the program costs us over $1 billion dollars to resettle less than 60,000 refugees.  This figure does not include: healthcare, subsidized housing, food stamps and education for the kids.

More, when I have time to read the whole thing.

Update:  In case you don’t ever look at our few comments, reader Tomasrose made the following point a few minutes ago:

The refugee industry wants higher numbers. One way they have gotten higher numbers is by being able to serve (for pay of course) “unaccompanied minors” as well as refugees, Cuban-Haitians, successful asylum seekers and trafficking victims. All of these numbers are in addition to the 70,000 refugee cap. The number of “unaccompanied minors” is surging now in order to take advantage of Obama’s deferred action plan – i.e. work and welfare permits and the promise of eventual citizenship.

At least 12,000 “unaccompanied minors” have come in this year. Many are obvious gang members – assaults on guards at processing centers, etc.

When an “unaccompanied minor” assaults a guard at a border processing center, he is merely moved to another center and eventually will be placed into the U.S. welfare system.

Somali mosque on the hot seat in Minneapolis terror trial

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

While Somalis in Lewiston, ME have been taking to the streets to proclaim that they have been maligned by the words of the local Mayor, some of their fellow Somali refugees in Minneapolis are on trial for helping support terrorists in Somalia and for sending some of the young men we raised with our tax dollars to Somalia to get jihad training.

From near the beginning of our reporting on this story of the ‘missing Somali youths’ in 2008, here, fingers have been pointed at the Abubakar as-Saddique mosque as the headquarters for the recruitment effort.  Now we see from reports of the trial of mosque janitor Mahamud Said Omar that the mosque was indeed jihad recruitment central.

From reporter Ami Forlitti at the Associated Press:

Isse [a witness] said he knew Omar as the janitor at Abubakar as-Saddique mosque, where Isse spent a lot of time after moving to Minnesota from Seattle in 2007. It was there where he also met other men who would eventually travel to Somalia.

Under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney John Docherty, Isse testified that someone at the mosque named Farhan began talking to him about going to Somalia for a “jihad” against Ethiopians, which many Somalis viewed as invaders.

The men began making plans to travel — meeting in private rooms at the mosque, or at restaurants and in cars. Three other men, two of whom have been identified as travelers by prosecutors, led the discussions because they knew more about traveling and had contacts in Somalia, Isse said.

[…..]

The men raised money for airline tickets by going door-to-door under the guise of raising money for a mosque, Isse said.   [LOL! I bet the Imam will insist he didn’t know about this money raising venture—ed]

Rich kids can get their own weapon money!

Then get this! You know we have reported many times in recent months that the US government has made it almost impossible for Somalis in the US to send money Somalia now.   Somalis have been screaming bloody murder that their relatives in Somalia will starve.  (Rep. Keith Ellison is working overtime to get the money flowing to Somalia again.)  Seems it was pretty darn easy to send money for weapons to the ‘youths!’

Since the men were from the West, they were told to buy their own AK-47s. Isse said they began calling friends in the U.S. and asking for money, and eventually got assault rifles at another safe house. One weapon arrived with Omar’s name on it, Isse said.

Read the whole story.   Our previous post on the trial that began last Monday is here.

By the way, one thing that might point to holes in Isse’s testimony is when he reported that new recruits were told to turn over their travel docs upon arrival at the Al-shabaab safe house.  How did Isse manage to keep his and get back to the US?

Lewiston: A Somali demonstration of five turns into 50 as the week goes on

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Got Somalis?  Will this be your town in years to come?

We reported, here, a couple of days ago that five demonstrators turned out to protest remarks made by the Mayor of Lewiston, Maine.   Not satisfied the Somalis gathered 50 for another demonstration yesterday to demand the Mayor resign over remarks they didn’t like.

For new readers, Lewiston, Maine has a population of over 6000 Somali refugees.  We have covered the turmoil there for years and wrote this post back in 2009 reporting on how it all began.    Catholic Charities brought the first Somalis to Maine and others followed when they found there were readily available social services.  Since then the town has had a little bit of every problem you might expect when the Somali culture arrives in mass.

If you type ‘Lewiston’ into our search function, you will see what I mean.   Since it looks like this latest controversy isn’t going away any time soon, when I get a few minutes, I will write something that lists all of the problems Lewiston has had over the years.  But, in the meantime, curious readers should check our archives.

The AP story made it to the Washington Post:

LEWISTON, Maine — Ten years after a Lewiston mayor set off a firestorm by saying the city’s Somali population was growing too fast, a new mayor’s remarks about the immigrant community is sparking another wave of anger and calls for his resignation.

Somali immigrants and their supporters in this former mill city in central Maine say Mayor Robert Macdonald should apologize and step down for what they call repeated anti-immigrant remarks, including telling a British Broadcasting Corp. interviewer that immigrants should “accept our culture and leave your culture at the door.”

A group of about 50 protesters rallied outside City Hall on Thursday before delivering 1,400 petitions to Macdonald’s office, asking for his resignation.

The mayor’s remarks sounded like he was telling immigrants to abandon their religion, their language and their identities, said Nimo Yonis, 26, one of an about 6,000 Somali refugees who live in Lewiston and the neighboring city of Auburn. The mayor’s words were painful, hurtful and “represent hate,” she said.

“Basically, he’s telling us to forget who we were,” Yonis said. “Just leaving your culture at the door is leaving what you believe, what you stand for and who you are at the door.”

This isn’t the first Mayor to be pressured out of office:

His words have rekindled memories of a decade ago when then-Mayor Larry Raymond wrote a letter in 2002 asking Somali leaders to discourage friends and family from relocating to Lewiston, saying the city’s resources were “maxed-out.”

The first Somali immigrants arrived in Lewiston in early 2001, moving 40 miles north of Portland because of plentiful, cheap housing. By the time Raymond wrote his letter, nearly 1,000 Somalis had moved to the Lewiston area.

By the way, there was another mayor the Somalis liked and he encouraged more Somalis to come to town.  He was feted for his good work in calming tensions by none other than John Podesta at the Center for American Progress, here, in 2010.

Here is some of what Mayor Macdonald is accused of saying:

He wrote in a local weekly newspaper that “submissive Somali women turn into obnoxious customers at the grocery store cash register.” He also wrote that he was tired of news stories about Somalis being treated poorly; most complaints, he wrote, came from “boo-hoo white do-gooders and their carpetbagger friends.”

He later told a reporter that immigrants shouldn’t “insert your culture, which obviously isn’t working, into ours, which does.”

Here is Mayor Macdonald’s contact information.  He does have a point about failed cultures arriving in the US, resisting change and then expecting that their failed culture will add to America’s successful one.  Is that what they mean when they say “diversity is strength?”

“Group” says Lewiston Mayor should step down

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Why?  Because five people standing on a sidewalk said so….  They don’t like what he said!  They want to shut him (and by extension you) up.

Don’t you just love it, they make up a fancy-sounding name—African Diaspora Institute of Maine—and then attempt to get their way by bullying.

For all of their talk about being Americans and being assimilated, I guess these Maine Somali-Americans don’t understand our system of government yet.  We have elections in America—you don’t like your mayor, you replace him next time.

And, last I checked, we still have free speech in America (even Mayors have free speech!)—so far anyway!

Here is the latest news on the Mayor of Lewiston, see our previous post here:

LEWISTON, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — A Somali advocacy group is asking Mayor Robert Macdonald to step down, after some controversial remarks he has made recently.

The African Diaspora Institute of Maine held a news conference Monday in front of Lewiston City Hall to respond to Mayor Macdonald’s comments to the BBC that immigrants should leave their culture at the door.

The group was joined by Lewiston High School students, who say they support the city’s Somali population.

“A lot of people, they grow up kind of sheltered to be honest, and when they go out into the world they’re not sure how to handle it” [Huh?—ed] Lewiston High School student Nicholas Burpee said. “A lot of people fear it [fear what?–ed] and that’s where we are today with a lot of these situations like with the mayor.”  [These are the students we are raising in our public school system—get your kids out now!—ed]

Watch the news clip here.   See five guys on a curb demanding that the Mayor resign.

Grand Island, NE

This story reminds me of the attempt by Somalis to pressure the Mayor of Grand Island, NE to resign back in 2008, here, when they didn’t like what she said either.  Could this bullying of Mayors be a cultural trait from the homeland that the Somalis want to hold on to?