Athens, Georgia: Here we come!

 

They are not talking about the border crashers from Central America (yet!).

The International Rescue Committee, one of the top ten*** federal refugee resettlement contractors has selected Athens as its next target site to be a new refugee resettlement city.

Readers, this article is full of the usual phony baloney gushy language about how Athens has so many amenities to make it desirable, welcoming, and open to receiving impoverished people from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

They need fresh territory!

The bottom line, however,  is that they are all (the US State Department, ORR and their contractors) out scouting new locations because they have worn out, or are in the process of wearing out, their welcome in their “preferred resettlement sites.”

You need to know a little about the International Rescue Committee headquartered in New York City and led by former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband (with his $400,000 plus a year salary).  Click here and follow links.

Below is the story on Athens, they say they will bring Congolese and Burmese, but the top refugees being resettled in the US right now include also Iraqis, Bhutanese and Somalis.  They will get a smattering of all of them.

Georgia readers need to especially note that the IRC implies that they have cleared it with local officials.  Does the governor know?

Truth-be-told, the Atlanta area has become a pocket of resistance to more resettlement which is why they are now spreading out throughout the state and into small cities.

From the Athens Banner-Herald (hat tip: Joanne):

Athens-Clarke County this year will begin welcoming an increasing number of refugees fleeing conflict in their native lands for a new home in the U.S.

The Atlanta office of the International Rescue Committee plans to open a sub-office in Athens by end of the year, and hopes to begin resettling refugee families in Athens as soon as October.

Opening an Athens outpost has been in the works for five years, said IRC Atlantic regional director Ellen Beattie. The organization has opened similar sub-offices in cities like Charlottesville, Va., and Lincoln, Neb.

College towns like Athens have an “international flavor” because of their worldly academic staff, and universities possess strong language resources that new refugee arrivals rely on, Beattie said.

For newly-arrived refugees, whose journey to the U.S. has been long and stressful, a smaller town makes for an easier transition.

“Small towns are more navigable,” Beattie said.

LOL! More “navigable” or more naive?  Smaller towns don’t usually ‘get it’ about what it means for them until the seed community is well-established, then the contractor begins bringing in the relatives and it becomes too late to turn off the spigot.

Beattie said IRC staff has already met with county, school and health department officials to prepare Athens for the refugees’ needs.

The Athens office, at first, will have one full-time staff member, soon increasing to two, and will bring in necessary support.

Beattie said between 120 and 150 people, roughly 40 families, will resettle in Athens in the first year. Most of these refugees will come from Myanmar [Burma–ed] and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Once the office is established, Beattie estimates a city of Athens size can handle up to 250 refugees, about 60 families, a year.

Not mentioned here, but I suspect industries in the Athens area are looking for cheap immigrant laborers.  This article says that Athens is doing well economically.

For new readers from the Athens area, see our fact sheet on refugee resettlement.  And, be sure to visit a Georgia website—Refugee Resettlement Relief—-to learn more about what is happening with refugees in your state.

Georgia has received 1,968 refugees so far this fiscal year (the 8th largest resettlement state) from 40 different locations around the world.  Go to Wraps.net here and click on Arrivals by State and Country to see from where refugees are arriving.   By the way, they previously made public which city refugees were going to but now keep that secret from the general public.

The chart (Arrivals by State and Country) is a little deceptive because, for example, when they say Kenya, that doesn’t mean those are Kenyans, it means they are probably Somalis located in Kenya.  Likewise, we don’t take Malaysians, but hundreds arrived in Georgia from Malaysia this year—they were certainly illegal aliens caught in Malaysia, probably Afghans or Somalis trying to reach Australia.   They could just as easily have a chart for State and Nationality, but this is just one more way to keep you in the dark about who is coming to your state.

Update (sort of on August 19th): Here is an older article involving Athens and Georgia resettlement generally, that we saw today and don’t want to lose.

***The contractors (we may have to start adding grant recipient big dogs Baptist Children and Family Services to our list):