Day: April 2, 2013

Announcement: State Department hearing on FY2014 refugee admissions to US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t have much time to write about this today, but wanted readers to have this announcement so you may begin to prepare your testimony.  This is the only opportunity you have to tell the US State Department what you think about refugee admissions.

Last year I created a whole category to cover my attendance at the hearing and to report on some of your testimony.  Please go here to see all the posts related to that hearing/meeting.  Here is my summary post for the hearing itself.  Testimony sent by citizens far out-numbered testimony from those in the refugee industry—those paid to be there that day and largely looking for the numbers admitted in the next fiscal year to be increased.

Here is the Federal Register Notice for this year’s meeting on May 15th!

[Public Notice 8241]

Notice of Public Meeting on FY 2014 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program

There will be a meeting on the President’s FY 2014 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Department of State’s Harry S. Truman Building’s George C. Marshall Conference Room, 2201 C Street NW., Washington, DC 20520.

The meeting’s purpose is to hear the views of attendees on the appropriate size and scope of the FY 2014 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

Persons wishing to attend this meeting must notify the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration at telephone (202) 453-9257 by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, to reserve a seat.

Persons wishing to present written comments should submit them by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 via email to spruellda@state.gov or fax (202) 453-9393.

The use of any video or audio recording device, photographing device, or any other electronic or mechanical device designed for similar purposes is prohibited at this event.

If you have questions about the public meeting, please contact Delicia Spruell, PRM/Admissions Program Officer at (202) 453-9257.

Information about the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program may be found at http://www.state.gov/g/prm/ g/prm/. Dated: March 12, 2013. David Robinson, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Department of State.

Please send this to anyone you know who would be interested in voicing their opinion.  And, remember, if you send testimony, please copy it to your US Senators and Member of Congress, plus other elected officials in your state.  

Always ask a question in your communication with your elected officials so they are forced to answer your letter/e-mail.

Turks and Caicos: They are refugees if the UN says so

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Seems six asylum seekers arrived in the Turks and Caicos (four from Cuba and two from Columbia).  They then proceeded to protest their detention in a novel manner, and lo-and-behold the UN High Commissioner for Refugees clears the way for four of them to stay and work in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Cuban asylum seeker: One way to make sure your hunger strike is not interrupted!

When you read this it will make you laugh how many times everyone insists that the illegal aliens’ novel protest method had nothing to do with expediting their case.

Here is the gist of the story from TC Weekly (it isn’t often we get reports from this part of the world).  And, it makes me wonder what is up with these Cubans when we (US) are allowing thousands and thousands of Cubans into the US as refugees annually, why aren’t these guys on their way to America?  Were they rejects?

FOUR of six immigrants detained in the Turks and Caicos Islands were granted asylum this week.

But this is not as a result of their shocking protest action, according to the Government s Border Control Minister.

They claimed that they were being denied basic human rights at Providenciales Detention Centre where they were being held, and retaliated by going on a hunger strike.

One other Cuban man and a Columbian were also being detained at the centre waiting on a decision from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) a UN agency mandated to protect and support refugees.

Minister of Border Control and Labour, Ricardo Don-Hue Gardiner, spoke about the issue during a post-Cabinet press briefing at the Arch Plaza in Providenciales on Thursday.

He said that he received reports from the UNHCR on the asylum requests of three of the Cuban men on Friday and the two others on Tuesday.

“As a result of those reports the Ministry of Border Control has made a decision to grant asylum following the recommendation of the UNHCR to three of the Cubans.

The two who were rejected on the first round can appeal.  The UN will again tell us what to do!

“Should they appeal, those appeals will then go in the usual course to the UNHCR who would then advise us of having further investigated the claims.

“They will then advise us of what they think we should do, but then it again becomes the responsibility of the TCI Government to make a decision on those claims.

LOL!  And, just so you understand (again!) that their tactic to draw attention to themselves did not sway the decision!

“The TCI Government does not lend itself to be swayed by those kinds of activities; we look to the facts that we ve been given and we take the decision based on those facts.

“It is coincidental only that the reports from the UNHCR were received on the same day of last Friday before these actions, and so they are in no way as a result of these actions.

So, these guys in detention had needles and string handy for their little protest….hmmmm!   Wonder where they got the idea?