Month: November 2012

Federal grants geared to help older refugees (and contractors!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars!

You know we bring old people into the US along with young working-age refugees.  

And, for some reason every once in awhile up pops some information on federal grants for refugee contractors and in this case for some state government agencies.  Today this list of new grants for services to older refugees showed up in my in-box.  Looks like we just gave out another $3 million in federal grants so that elderly refugees would get “services.”

People ask me all the time:  What is all this costing us?  My answer is who knows!  There are myriad grants like this one with not much information on how the money is to be used, and if you look carefully, it appears the grant involves getting elderly refugees hooked up with state and county welfare programs and the cost of that is never known because no one on the local level tracks whether someone getting welfare is a refugee or not!

I wonder how much office overhead say Catholic Charities can write-off for administering this grant?  How much oversight is there?    Here is what they claim it is used for:

The Services to Older Refugees Program ensures that refugees age 60 and above have access to mainstream aging services in their community. Successful programs:

*Provide appropriate services to all older refugees who are not currently being provided in the community

*Enable older refugees to live independently as long as possible  [I guess we pay for their nursing home eventually—ed]

*Establish and/or expand a working relationship with state and local agencies to ensure refugee access to aging services

*Develop or provide access to naturalization services  [We gotta get ’em voting!—ed]

As part of the Division of Refugee Assistance (DRA), this program provides grants to states and state-alternative programs, public and private non-profit organizations. ORR partners with the U.S. Administration on Aging to identify ways in which the aging and ORR networks can work together more effectively at the state and local levels to improve elderly refugees’ access to services.

Have a look at the Administration for Children and Families executive summary of its budget for FY 2013, here (go to page 13).    It is $805 million for FY2013 (up $37 million) for refugees.  That does not include the State Department’s additional millions for bringing in 50,000 plus refugees a year.  Three million for the old people is a drop in the bucket you might say.  However, remember these “services” do not include the cost of medical care that we are surely providing, and will provide! into their ripe old age.

Endnote:  If you think any of this will change in a Republican administration that we might have in 2013—forget it!  Democrat or Republican President—doesn’t matter. The beat goes on ….. why?  (click here)

New Obama policy: LGBT immigrants cannot be deported if in homosexual relationship

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It’s official now.

Presumably includes illegal aliens…..

From Human Rights Brief (title: US Recognizes LGBT rights for Immigration, Asylum and Refugee Purposes)

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated as official, written policy that non-U.S. citizens in long-term same-sex relationships with U.S. citizens and facing deportation are eligible to have their deportations suspended under a 2011 policy of prosecutorial discretion. Under this administrative framework, U.S. law does not change but DHS will not enforce existing orders of removal for this particular class. The DHS policy under the Obama administration has been to focus enforcement resources on deporting unauthorized aliens who pose a security risk to the United States, and consider other factors when a person is not a risk. If an immigrant does not have past criminal convictions, immigration officials deciding whether to pursue removal are instructed to consider factors such as family relationships and the age at which the individual entered the United States.  The new instructions clarify that “family relationships” can include same-sex partnerships.

DHS officials previously indicated that that LGBT partners are protected under the prosecutorial discretion policy, but this is the first time the department has clarified that position in written instructions to its enforcement officers. The guidelines will prevent confusion in the field and also serve as documentation that can strengthen individuals’ cases for deferment after they have been apprehended. However, because the program is only an administrative policy, it can be withdrawn under a subsequent presidential administration.

So, here is the trick—enter the US illegally and find a same-sex partner and bam!—you are in!  And, truth be told, no one is coming into the bedroom to check-out your claim.

Oh, and by the way, look for more edicts like this from the Obama Administration if Romney should win tomorrow.  For the next two months they will be busy doing more of this and then if Romney tries to change it later, he will be called out as a racist homophobe—a twofer for the extreme Left wing!

Poll: 40% of American Muslims want Shariah Law rather than American law

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editors note:  This is cross-posted from Potomac Tea Party Report, my other blog, here.

WND poll:  Four in 10 said Muslims in America should not be judged by U.S. law and the Constitution, but by Islamic Shariah law.

That is the crux of this article a few days ago from World Net Daily.

Another interesting statistic is that 46% want to limit free speech and see criminal prosecution of anyone who criticizes Islam.   So, much for the myth that Muslim immigrants who come to America want to be just like us, and to share our Constitution based on freedom of speech and the liberties that spring from that.

Here is the story from reporter Bob Unruh:

Nearly half of 600 Muslim-American citizens polled who plan to vote in the 2012 presidential election believe parodies of Muhammad should be prosecuted criminally in the U.S., and one in eight say the offense is so serious violators should face the death penalty.

The results came in a groundbreaking scientific poll for WND by the public-opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies. It was taken Oct. 22-26 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.98 percentage points.

The poll also found 40 percent of Muslims in America believe they should not be judged by U.S. law and the Constitution, but by Shariah standards.

And the big winner among Muslim-Americans in the presidential election is Barack Obama, the poll found. More than 72 percent said they are definitely supporting Obama, and another 8.5 percent are leaning that direction. Only 11 percent are for Romney.

[…..]

“Almost half of those Muslims surveyed – an astonishing 46 percent – said they believe those Americans who offer criticism or parodies of Islam should face criminal charges,” said pollster Fritz Wenzel in an analysis of the survey’s results.

The poll was conducted among Muslims who have been here long enough to have gained citizenship:

Virtually all of the respondents (98 percent) are American citizens and 97 percent are registered to vote.

So how many people are we talking about?

If this (total Muslim population) is correct and the poll is fairly representative (although since the respondents are citizens one would think the general Muslim non-citizen population would even be more anti-US Constitution than this group).

The Pew Research Center estimates America is home to some 2.6 million Muslims.

Then:

~ 1,040,000 Muslims in America want Shariah Law

~ 1,196,000 want you to be criminally prosecuted for criticizing Islam

~ 187,200 would like to see you executed for parodying Mohammed   (Remember these respondents are 98% US citizens already, we are not talking about the third worlders who just got here!—ed)

~ 858,000 believe that Israel does not have a right to exist or were not sure.

~  One fifth of the Muslim men surveyed said they want more than one wife in America.  Watch for it!  After gay marriage the next big push for “human rights” will be polygamy!

Readers should know that through various LEGAL immigration programs (asylum, refugee resettlement, diversity visa lottery, temporary protected status, investor visas and the list goes on) we are bringing in thousands and thousands of Muslims to become permanent residents from Iraq, Somalia, Egypt, etc. to the US each year.

An afterthought:  No wonder CAIR was so ticked-off at the Republicans for the anti-shariah law platform plank, here.

ORR official goes to Indiana, there must be problems brewing!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Eskinder Negash, was in Indiana this past week to meet with people involved with the refugee program there.  They want more money, he says there is no more.

We first became aware of Indiana’s problems way back in 2007 when the health department in Ft. Wayne (Allen County) was crying out for federal help because they couldn’t handle all the medical problems (including TB!) that were coming in with the huge influx of Burmese refugees the feds were sending to Indiana.

And, even former Senator Lugar asked the GAO for a study of the program and the refugee overload some communities were facing.   A study was released in July, here.  Who knows, maybe that inspired Negash to get out to Indiana.

From the News-Sentinel:

Eskinder Negash, Office of Refugee Resettlement director, paid a visit Thursday to Indianapolis to meet with Indiana refugee resettlement agencies, local government officials, refugee-serving organizations and community members.

A crowd of several hundred gathered Thursday morning at the Indiana Historical Society, where Negash congratulated the group on serving the Indiana refugee population and applauded their commitment to restoring dignity and freedom to people who had none in their homelands. He spent most of the session taking questions from the crowd.

It quickly became clear there would be no funding increases from the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Some people were looking for more assistance with housing. Educators were hoping for more money to fund programs for at-risk refugee students. Negash explained funding from his agency is based on the number of refugees coming into a state.   The total dollar amount it has to work with during a year for the whole country is $15 million.   [He is probably speaking here about some ’emergency’ type funding account, this is a billion dollar program and they spend every bit of it—somewhere?—ed]

This is their standard line!

Negash said refugees should stand on their own and become independent, and that prolonging their dependence on federal aid was not a solution.

Sounds good right?  Well, that isn’t reality.  These are third world people who have little education and virtually no skills. They don’t speak English and they have enormous health needs.   They are not ready to “stand on their own” at 3 months (or 6 months) when the federal contractor’s taxpayer funding runs out.   So guess who is burdened?  The local government!

The Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980 set up this floundering government-funded system.  Prior to that civic groups and churches sponsored refugee families PRIVATELY with PRIVATE CHARITY.  That is what Negash is talking about in the bit below.    These 1,400-1,500 groups he is referring to are FEDERAL CONTRACTORS!  They get taxpayer funding to take care of refugees for a few months!

Since 1980, 3 million refugees have been resettled in the United States. Negash said there are 1,400-1,500 different organizations around the nation working with resettlement refugees. When the United States first began taking refugees in 1975, after the fall of Saigon, there were no resettlement organizations. Negash suggested reconnecting with more church organizations could also help the process, something he believes has fallen off over the years.

No refugee resettlement annual report to Congress for any of the Obama years!

Instead of making public relations trips to overloaded resettlement areas, Eskinder Negash should be doing his job in Washington.  The Office of Refugee Resettlement is supposed to report to Congress each year, within three months of the close of the previous fiscal year, about how the refugee program is doing—how much they are spending, if refugees are getting employment, how much welfare they are using, etc.

There has been no report to Congress for fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011!  They are three years behind.  There are only two possible explanations—incompetence or they are hiding something!

Check here periodically to see when they get around to doing their legal requirement of reporting to Congress.

But, you know, it isn’t completely Negash’s fault!  No one in Congress cares or has the guts to look into this lawbreaking!

Ho hum Haitians get to stay

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Obama Administration has extended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians who were already (some illegally!) in the US prior to the earthquake in 2010 (or likely some who snuck in after the earthquake!).  This is nothing new for Democrat or Republican administrations.  No one ever goes home who was granted TPS status.  After years and years (decades!) in the US, the pitch is made—-how can we send them back now after they have bought homes, started businesses and sent kids to school?

From Immigration News:

The Associated Press reports the U.S. government is giving Haitians displaced by the 2010 earthquake more time to legally live and work while their Caribbean homeland rebuilds. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has extended Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for an additional 18 months. The immigration benefits had been set to expire in January but now Haitians with TPS status can register for an extension beginning January 23, 2013 through July 22, 2014.

But remember!  There is no path to citizenship and these Haitians, although they will have drivers’ licenses and the right to work, cannot VOTE!

They are all waiting for the big amnesty to come if Obama is reelected.