Certain immigrants aren’t choosing red states, and red states won’t benefit!

“Immigrants ‘find their way’ to ______(city or state)!”

Joel Kotkin is a Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University

Although Joel Kotkin writing at New Geography doesn’t use that phrase I’ve come to hate, he implies it.

They don’t ‘find their way’ to your city by magic!

The majority of the cities he cites in his wrong-headed assessment of immigrant demographics are cities the US State Department and their nine major contractors CHOSE for refugee resettlement.  Once refugees from certain ethnic groups take up residence, those same contractors do the paperwork to bring in the family and others of that ethnic group—like Catholic Charities did with Kurds in Nashville.  Then secondary migrants of the ethnic group move there to set up their little Nation within our Nation.   Nashville is known now as Little Kurdistan (and it isn’t a positive thing!). Minneapolis is Little Mogadishu represented by Keith Ellison (as I said yesterday).

I believe that the State Department and the Left-leaning contractors are purposefully changing the demographics of cities in order to turn them from Red to Blue expecting the state to soon follow.

Immigrants largely vote for Democrats because they, for the most part, want to be taken care of by the government.

And, if cities are benefiting I’m not seeing it unless you count the federal welfare dollars that come to the cities with the refugees and other low-skilled immigrants.  As for the businesses they establish and Kotkin touts, they are funded by you, the taxpayer, through micro-loan programs also administered by the immigration contractors.  Furthermore, Kotkin isn’t factoring in the drain on the local school systems and the criminal justice system (Kurdish gangs in Nashville!).

Here is Kotkin (Why The Red States Will Profit Most From More U.S. Immigration) emphasis mine (hat tip: Richard Falknor, Blue Ridge Forum):

In recent years, the debate over immigration has been portrayed in large part as a battle between immigrant-tolerant blue states and regions and their less welcoming red counterparts. Yet increasingly, it appears that red states in the interior and the south may actually have more to gain from liberalized immigration than many blue state bastions.

Nashville the fastest growing immigrant city in U.S. Muslim Kurds and Somalis brought there by Catholic Charities.

Indeed an analysis of foreign born population by demographer Wendell Cox reveals that the fastest growth in the numbers of newcomers are actually in cities (metropolitan areas) not usually seen as immigrant hubs. The fastest growth in population of foreign born residents–more than doubling over the decade was #1 Nashville, a place more traditionally linked to country music than ethnic diversity. Today besides the Grand Old Opry, the city also boasts the nation’s largest Kurdish population, and a thriving “Little Kurdistan,” as well as growing Mexican, Somali and other immigrant enclaves.

Other cities are equally surprising, including #2 Birmingham, AL; #3 Indianapolis, IN; #4 Louisville, KY and#5 Charlotte, NC, all of which doubled their foreign born population between 2000 and 2011. Right behind them are #6 Richmond,VA, #7 Raleigh,NC , #8 Orlando, Fl, #9 Jacksonville,Fl and #10 Columbus, OH. All these states either voted for Mitt Romney last year or have state governments under Republican control [Just wait until all those immigrants of the last decade are voting!—ed]. None easily fit the impression of liberally minded immigrant attracting bastions from only a decade ago.

[I don’t know about Birmingham, but all of the other cities mentioned by Kotkin are cities aggressively being populated with refugees by federal refugee contractors.  Is it possible that the cities were thriving because they didn’t have a lot of immigrant poverty (until now!)?—ed]

Although the New York metropolitan area still has the greatest numeric growth in immigrants since 2000, a net gain of more than 600,000, there’s no question that the momentum lies with these fast growing immigrant hubs.The reasons are not too difficult to fathom. In the modern global economy, migrants represent the veritable “canaries in the coalmine”. They go to economic opportunities are often the greatest, which often means thriving places like Nashville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Columbus or #11 Austin, TX. Housing prices and business climate also seem to be a factor here; all these areas have lower home prices relative to income than many traditional immigrant hubs.

[Again, all US State Department refugee resettlement target cities—ed]

As a result, many immigrants are moving from their traditional “comfort zone” cities with historical larger immigrant populations — New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago — to generally faster growing, more affordable cities.

This is insanity!  Studies show that the majority of new immigrants are a drain on the economy and that they take much more from public assistance than they return through paying taxes (most don’t make enough to pay taxes!).

Kotkin continues:

This is drastically reshaping the demographic future of the country. Over the past decade the increase in foreign born residents accounted for 44% of the nation’s overall population growth rate. With the U.S. birthrate heading downwards, at least for now, immigration represents perhaps the one way regions can boost their populations and energize their economies. It may be America’s biggest hope  as well in keeping Social Security and Medicare from collapse

[Ask the Germans and the French if their wholesale importation of immigrants saved them using this ridiculous supposition—ed]

It might be a surprise to Kotkin (maybe he really doesn’t know about refugee resettlement) or new readers here, but we knew and Catholic Charities knew that Nashville was being “changed” with the importation of Somalis and Kurds and others!

Kotkin concludes with this:

A decade ago, after all, who would have seen Nashville, the ultimate symbol of our country heritage, as a rising immigrant hub?

Readers, we have a whole category on Nashville(45 posts!), go here and weep.  My most cynical side wonders if indeed Nashville was targeted for Muslim immigration because it was the buckle of the Bible Belt—what an opportunity to stick it in the faces of rednecks.

A quick question: If Iraq is safe enough to give refuge to Syrians….

….why are we still bringing Iraqis to the US?

The New York Times had an article yesterday about the UNHCR warning of dire consequences if the Syrian refugee tide continues to rise.  I’ll be watching for the first sign that Obama wants to help his buds in Turkey by bringing Syrians to the US.  Using the refugee program for other political purposes is one of the worst flaws in the flawed system.

In Turkey, 183,000 registered Syrians live in camps, and an estimated 100,000 unregistered Syrians live in urban areas. Iraq is now home to more than 100,000 Syrians, and Mr. Guterres said 37,000 Syrians had been registered in North Africa.

Holy cow!  We have brought 6,030 Iraqis to the US in the first 4 months of this fiscal year (began Oct.1), here.  I can assure you that most are not Christians!    For readers concerned about the Iraqi Christians, although the State Department knows what percentage of Christians are in this group they do not tell the public, so we can only make assumptions.

And, by the way, the Iraqis arriving here aren’t finding work and are largely on welfare, here.

Ahhhh! Australia housing asylum seekers on college campuses, students didn’t know….

….until a female student was allegedly assaulted when a Sri Lankan young man entered her dorm room in the middle of the night.

There are lots of news stories from Sydney about the incident that at first was not blamed on one of the illegal alien boat people Australia is swamped with.

Here is an early account from ABC Australia on the 26th of February:

Macquarie University where asylum seekers were being housed while their asylum claims were being processed. Photo credit: ABC

There are claims security guards at a university accommodation campus failed to call police after a 20-year-old female was allegedly sexually assaulted last week.

Triple j’s Hack can also reveal that students are concerned the alleged perpetrator was an asylum seeker who was living at the accommodation, but that is yet to be proven.

The alleged attack happened at a Macquarie University student accommodation centre in Sydney.

[…..]

It is only since this incident that hundreds of residents at the village learned there were 80 asylum seekers living among them.

This was an arrangement struck between the Red Cross and Campus Living Villages, the company running the Macquarie Student Village.

Students at the village say they believe most of the asylum seekers are Sri Lankan men.

No-one connected to this incident has confirmed the alleged perpetrator was one of the asylum seekers but the alleged victim and lots of campus residents are suspicious.

Yup!  An asylum seeker was arrested and demands soon followed that the program of granting “bridging visas” be halted.

From the Newcastle Herald on February 27th:

Coalition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison has called for an immediate freeze on the provision of bridging visas for asylum seekers, after it was revealed a man released into the community on a bridging visa had been charged with indecent assault.

Mr Morrison said that a review was needed into the guidelines for how boat arrivals were released into the community.

He said that such a review must detail a “requirement” to notify police and neighbouring residents about people on bridging visas or community detention in their area and the establishment of “behaviour protocols … with clear negative sanctions for breaches of such protocols”.

Mr Morrison also called on Labor to suspend the further release of boat arrivals into the community on bridging visas and community detention, “in all other than exceptional circumstances”, while the review was under way.

He said the freeze should not be lifted until Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor and his department could give the community a “clear guarantee” that there were safeguards in place.

His comments come in the wake of the arrest of a 21-year-old Sri Lankan asylum seeker, charged with indecently assaulting a student at Macquarie University last week.

Then here is the latest—this is fast—from The Australian on February 28th (LOL! tomorrow):  Contract dumped!

A PRIVATE company that billeted dozens of asylum-seekers in student accommodation at two Sydney universities has terminated its contract with the Red Cross in the wake of an alleged sexual assault on a female student.

Campus Living Villages, a wholly owned subsidiary of infrastructure giant Transfield Holdings, had been providing temporary accommodation for the refugees on campus at Macquarie University and the University of Western Sydney.

This is crazy, I wonder whose bright idea it was to put young illegal alien men on college campuses?

And, by the way, I have other news about Sri Lankan boat people in an update from Canada—some are Tamil Tigers—tomorrow.

An afterthought:  This is our 92nd post on Australia’s immigration/refugee problems, check it out here.

Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison is the go-to guy in Congress for refugee contractors

Everyone is buzzing about the ‘epic battle’ last night between Sean Hannity and Ellison here on Hannity’s Fox News show.

So, I thought this might be a good time to tell readers that Minnesota Rep Ellison, Congress’ first Muslim representative, is carrying the water for so-called volags (refugee contractors) by pushing “reform” of the Refugee Resettlement Program of the US State Department.

Ellison gets emotional while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 10, 2011. He was testifying about the Somali youths who left Minnesota for Jihad training in Africa. Crocodile tears? (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Last fall (I wrote about it here) he introduced his Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act and taking advantage of all the excitement over possible amnesty for illegals on the horizon, he re-introduced it in February.

Incidentally, I don’t see a single word of concern from the good Congressman about how illegal aliens are competing with refugees (and with American blacks) for jobs.  (See abysmal refugee employment numbers, here).

Sounds like his bill is all about getting more refugees into the country and getting more money to the contractors.  Contractors like Church World Service are singing his praises, here.  Another contractor, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society likes his bill too.

Before I get to Ellison’s recent press release announcing his bill, remember that it is widely understood that Ellison was elected to Congress with the help of the large Somali refugee population in Minneapolis (Ellison’s district).   Yeah!  He wants to make Refugee Resettlement part of the “comprehensive” reform and bring in more voters from the third world!

Here is Ellison’s press release (with commentary from me):

WASHINGTON–Rep. Keith Ellison (MN-05) today reintroduced the “Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act,” to increase coordination and provide much-needed resources [more $$$ please!—ed] for new Americans fleeing war, persecution, or natural disaster.  The bill is being introduced at a time when the momentum for immigration reform is growing. Congressman Ellison will be pushing to ensure that comprehensive immigration reform includes the issues of the refugee community addressed in this bill.

The bill streamlines refugee processing abroad [bring ’em in faster!—ed], while taking advantage of that time to provide refugees with English classes and work orientation training. It also allows refugees to be admitted to the United States as lawful permanent residents, saving scarce government and non-governmental organization resources[$][Now they have to wait a year and apply for a green card—ed].

The bill also strengthens refugee integration into local communities. In particular, it expands the public-private Matching Grant program, which has been highly successful in helping refugees become economically self-sufficient.  [more $$$ please because that is what ‘Matching Grant’ is—ed]

 “With Congress addressing comprehensive immigration reform in the coming months, there is no better time to pass the ‘Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act.’ This bill makes sure refugee families have the resources [more government $$$ to my district!—ed] they need to be self-sufficient as quickly as possible, and allows families to be reunited with their loved ones. The ‘Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act’ not only helps the 34,000 refugees who have come to Minnesota since 2000 by allowing their family members to be granted permanent residency, but improves America’s image abroad.”  [and so maybe they won’t become terrorists!—ed]

This bill is particularly important for Minnesotans. According to the University of Minnesota, Minnesota has historically had the highest number of refugees per capita. Between 1999 and 2007, over 34,000 people resettled in Minnesota, from 30 different countries.

Over 50,000 Somalis alone—many of them refugees—currently live in Minnesota.  [and they elect me to Congress—ed]

For new readers, here are all of our previous posts on Keith Ellison.

Unemployment rate for legal refugees through the roof; contractors should oppose amnesty for illegals

But, they won’t of course.  Most of the federal refugee contractors are out stumping for so-called “comprehensive immigration reform”* which will only mean more destitute immigrants competing with refugees and Americans for jobs.

A NumbersUSA ad circulating this morning (watch it!) in opposition to Lindsey Graham and the ‘gang of eight amnesty plan’ prompted me to look at the shocking unemployment rates for LEGAL immigrant labor—refugees—in the newest stats we have from the FY 2009 Annual Report to Congress on Refugees which I mentioned here and here (food stamp use skyrocketing) yesterday.

The unemployment rate for all refugees (who wish to work and are able to work, some are too old or too sick) for FY 2009 was 50% for those arriving that year If you argue that things have improved since 2009, then where are the statistics?   By not producing the legally required reports for 2010, 2011, and 2012, the ORR forces us to rely on the latest statistics available.  By the way, our total number of ‘refugees’ (of all sorts) admitted in FY 2009 was 89,500.  And, we are now proposing to legalize 11 million competitors for jobs?

Shocking graphs

Look at the graph on page 95 for example.  In 2004, 60% of refugees worked an average of 44 weeks.  By 2009, only 32% of refugees were working for (get this!) an average of 14 weeks.    What this says to me is that the resettlement contractors were finding refugees any work they could get, even if it lasted only 14 weeks or less, in order to get their employment stats up.

So, tell me why do we need more immigrant labor when these poor LEGAL immigrants aren’t working?

Next time you see your Catholic priest ask him why the Catholic Church is pushing legalization of illegal immigrants while getting paid to resettle tens of thousands of refugees who will find no work and go on welfare.

* Not “comprehensive” reform anyway because it doesn’t consider the Refugee Resettlement Program.