Colorado refugees lobby for more money for ORR as a result of border surge

Update:  Alaska chiming in too—wahhhh! we need money for refugees!  (Hat tip: Joanne)

You have to hand it to them, the refugee industry federal contractors*** sure can gin-up a media/lobbying campaign when threatened with the prospect that their funding (through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)) might be slashed.

Here is a Denver Post story saying much the same as we are seeing around the country—waahhhh! we are going to lose funding because of all the “children” surging across the border.  But, of course they want the children too (as clients and as potential Democrat voters)!

A Colorado Republican Congressman agrees the money shouldn’t be cut!

From the Denver Post:

People who help refugees in Colorado are concerned that their program funding may be diverted to help the unaccompanied children coming over the border, and the refugee community is taking action by visiting local politicians to lobby for their cause.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement — which funds a variety of programs including refugee assistance and the needs of unaccompanied child migrants — has proposed redirecting $94 million in funding from refugee programs to use for the humanitarian crisis of children coming across the borders.

The number of children this year has swamped projections, creating a funding shortfall, and in June the agency notified Congress that it must reduce refugee services.

Here is USCRI again (99% funded by you!):

If Congress approves the emergency funding, there will be no cuts to the refugee programs, said Stacie Blake, spokeswoman for the U.S. Committee for Refuges and Immigrants. But without that funding, she said, across the United States, programs in English as a second language will be eliminated, critical employment programs for refugees will be shut down, and thousands of Americans who serve refugees will lose their jobs.

Refugee lobbying delegation visited Congressional office:

A delegation of about eight refugees recently visited the Aurora office of U.S.Rep. Mike Coffman. Narabada Bhandara from Nepal learns how to make a resume in the workshop at the Africa Community Center in Denver, Colo., Tuesday, July 8, 2014.

“We explained that you cannot solve one crisis by creating another crisis,” said Bhuwan Tyakurel, a community leader with the Global Bhutanese Community Colorado.

Coffman agrees.

“It would be wrong to divert any funding that is already dedicated to serving the African, Burmese, Bhutanese and Nepalese refugees in my district who are already in this country,” he said via email. “No doubt, what is occurring at the border is a humanitarian crisis but arbitrarily punishing one immigrant community for the benefit of another is wrong, and what is needed right now is a solution that stops the problem at our border from getting worse.”

All of our reporting on the ‘unaccompanied minor’ invasion may be found by clicking here.

***The contractors