Day: March 19, 2014

Refugees in camps abroad being educated on how to come to America and get welfare

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Buried deep in a story about Niagara County, NY cracking down on food stamp fraud and other types of welfare fraud is a little nugget we have always suspected but never have seen in writing until the ever-watchful ‘pungentpeppers’ spotted it near the end of the story in the Buffalo News.

Remember Buffalo is a “preferred” refugee placement site for the US State Department and its resettlement contractors.

Owners of this store were busted for food stamp fraud.
http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/x1387867593/POVERTY-IN-NIAGARA-Sheriffs-office-unit-has-its-hands-full-fighting-welfare-fraud-in-the-county

Here is how the story begins:

LOCKPORT – The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office is playing hardball with individuals and store owners who try to cheat the public assistance system.

And it’s paying off, with Niagara County taxpayers saving more than $500,000 in overpayments in 2013. The department added a second welfare fraud investigator in 2013, which has easily paid for itself, and says adding a third would do the same.

Read all about the crooks who ran the Indian General Store.  Then this:

And sadly, New York State taxpayers are being victimized not only by their own residents, but also by people from outside of New York.

Niagara County Legislator David E. Godfrey, R-Wilson, who works with the Sheriff’s Office as the community, safety and security liaison, said people are being trained in southern states to get benefits and then are being bused to New York State.

“I spoke with the joint terrorism task force and they say that in refugee camps overseas there are pamphlets of how to come to New York and get benefits,” said Irons-Rindfleisch. But she said Social Services does have access to databases to make sure that people are not getting benefits in more than one state.

“One of the things that the legislatures are looking at – and it’s not just in Niagara County, it’s all of New York State – is welfare fraud by those non-residents,” Godfrey said.

We have a fairly large archive on Buffalo (including other food stamp fraud cases), so if you are from that area, you might want to check it out here.

The expansion of Medicaid is a “key indicator for refugee placement”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Got Obamacare?

If your state is one of those which has expanded Medicaid as a result of Obamacare then yours is a prime target for refugee resettlement.

I don’t know when they did it, but the feds and their contractors seem to have chosen the word “placement” over “resettlement” in their government lingo.

Whatever they are calling it, they are on the hunt for new “welcoming” locations to start seed communities of refugees because many of the old places are saturated and complaining—think Lewiston, ME, Manchester, NH, Nashville, TN, Atlanta, GA and most recently Amarillo, TX.  All “pockets of resistance!”

So, back to ‘Key Indicators for Refugee Placement FY2014’.…

One of their key indicators for the desirability (the “capacity”) of your community as a placement site  is whether your state has expanded Medicaid!

From the Introduction:

Affordable Care Act

ORR [Office of Refugee Resettlement] considers placement to be a key element in facilitating a refugee’s successful adjustment. One major factor that may affect placement is the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Accordingly this year’s data has incorporated information on heath access determinants including updates on states that plan to expand Medicaid during the final implementation phase of ACA, and states that have ruled Medicaid expansion out.

Then check out the handy data on which states have and which states haven’t expanded Medicaid (pages 11, 12, 13).

Someone is selling Wyoming governor a bill of goods!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Wyoming had 5 eligible “refugees” in the state in FY2012 and the Governor thinks they need a federal plan?

This week we reported on Wyoming Governor Matt Mead’s op-ed in which he said Wyoming needed a plan (with the feds and their contractors) to cope with the “refugees” already arriving in Wyoming.  I wondered what the heck he was talking about.

This morning I’m working on another post on the ‘Key Indicators for Refugee Placement FY2014,’ that is the planning document the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in Health and Human Services) are using to determine if your town or city has the “capacity” and the “welcoming” attitude needed for a refugee resettlement seed community.

I wish I could reproduce it here, but see the figures for FY2012 in this table (p.3-4).  It is a state-by-state review of how many refugees/asylees etc. came to your state and what goodies they get there.

By the way, don’t be fooled (don’t start salivating for federal dollars!) by that last column which lists the federal $$$ going to your state—the majority goes to the CONTRACTOR to spend, it is not money that goes into your state or city coffers for your local leaders to decide where to soften the refugee impact.

And, always keep in mind there are NO FINANCIAL AUDITS of the contractors!

So get this Wyoming!

Go to pages 3 & 4 of ‘Key indicators….’  You had a whopping 5 (five!) refugees in Wyoming in FY2012.   And, those were asylees!  Asylees have been granted asylum.  They got into the US illegally (Mexicans are now asking for asylum) or overstayed a visa, claimed they would be persecuted if sent home and were granted asylum.  We recently reported that a Congressional hearing revealed that as many as 70% of those granted asylum may have made fraudulent claims.

For readers new to this subject, the most recent ‘famous’ aslyees were the Boston Bombers!

So Governor Mead wants to turn over Wyoming’s demographic future to the feds for a handful of asylees, another handful of secondary migrants, and a handful of change from the federal taxpayer?   It will be more than a handful of refugees once Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains gets its foot in the door.

Residents of Casper and Gillette must speak up before it’s too late!