Update April 30th: There will be no opportunity to testify in person this year, here.
Here we go again! The US State Department is inviting public comment on how many refugees/from where should be resettled in the US in the next fiscal year which begins October 1, 2014.
Longtime followers of RRW know that in the past couple of years we have flooded the State Department with critical testimony, while the majority of the give-us-more-refugees crowd was comprised almost exclusively of the contractors who gain financially from each refugee resettled (they are paid by the head).
Here are the pertinent facts about the upcoming opportunity to comment:
Inviting Public Comment on the size and scope of the refugee admissions program.
Comments to be submitted by 5 p.m. May 29th by e-mail to spruellda@state.gov or fax to 202-453-9393
Don’t hesitate to contact Ms. Spruell if you have a question.
In the past, some of us attended the ‘hearing’ at the State Department. I’ll check and see if that opportunity is available this year and when it is.
We will also plan to re-post some of the good testimony from the last couple of years in the coming days. If you are eager to find out what critics said in previous years, note we have two categories in the left-hand side bar. One is entitled Testimony for 5/1/2012 and the other Testimony for 5/15/2013. Note that not all posts are the actual testimony but might just include my references to someone’s testimony.
Just now, we have created a new category for all posts referencing the 2014 State Dept. invitation to comment.
For those who say this is a hopeless exercise, that the testimony goes into a black hole, you can make your testimony goes farther by sending it to your Senators, Members of Congress, Governors, Mayors etc. and ask them for a response to your concerns. Even consider using it as a press opportunity for a local group.