Refugee contractor head-honcho, Lavinia Limon, gives her prescription for how America should handle the border surge

….invite in more “children” because more migrants means more money for government contractors! (she doesn’t say that! I do!)

Lavinia Limon is the CEO of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, known in the refugee industry as USCRI.  Below, published at the Budapest Business Journal (of all places) is her six-point prescription for what the Obama Administration should do to save the ‘unaccompanied alien children’ (child “refugees” she calls them) because how we respond will “define us as a Nation,” she says.

Revolving door!  Doing well by doing good!

It’s mentioned in her bio at the end of this opinion piece, but keep in mind she is one of several refugee contractors who have moved in and out of the revolving door from ‘non-profit’ contractor to government giver-of-grants and then back out again.

She was Bill Clinton’s head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in HHS) after first working in a ‘non-profit’ resettlement agency, and now she heads up the ‘non-profit’ group USCRI where she seeks grants from her former USCRI VP (Eskinder Negash) who now heads Obama’s Office of Refugee Resettlement.  Did you get that?

And, be sure to have a look at this post we wrote in 2008 when we nicknamed her “whoop-de-do” when one of her resettlement subcontractors was caught dumping (and not caring for) refugees in Waterbury, CT.   It had been revealed to the public that the contractor keeps a cut of what the refugees each are allotted by the feds and she told the reporter that the feds weren’t keeping up with the economic times and she mentioned everyone would squawk if their salaries weren’t growing.  She said:

 “Whoop-de-do” ….“God help us if our salaries had not kept pace with inflation like that.“

So, let’s see how the inflationary times are treating USCRI and her salary!  (I’m going to get to her prescription for handling the southern border invasion, but this is too good!).

In 2008, we reported Ms. Limon’s 2006 salary (while USCRI was taking in $18 million):

In 2006 her salary and other compensation was $195,478.  That is up about $20,000 from the previous couple of years.

Are you ready for this!

First, you need to know that in its 2013 Form 990, USCRI took in $35,676,146 and $35,429,570 came from government grants (page 9)—that is, 99% of their funds are from you—the US taxpayer!  (much worse than any contractor*** we have reviewed so far). They apparently make virtually no effort to raise private funds in what was supposed to be a public-private partnership when the Refugee Act of 1980 was signed into law by Jimmy Carter.

So what is Ms. Limon’s salary today?  Drum roll please!

On page 7 of that Form 990 we learn that Lavinia Limon is making more than the Vice President of the United States whom she ever-so-gently disparages in her op-ed at the Budapest Journal.

Her salary from USCRI and other sources related to her work there is $289,192.  It went up 32% since 2006!  Has your salary increased that much over so short a time?  If she were in the legitimate private sector, then what they pay is none of our business, but she is essentially a government employee, so we have every right to blow our stacks!

Family business?  One Peter Limon is listed in that Form 990 as well pulling down a salary of $115,878 and $23,991 from related income.

Consider all of that information when you read this opinion-piece (that you paid for!).

From the Budapest Business Journal (more migrants please!):

…..we’ve proposed six actions that the United States should take to resolve this issue. We’ve personally handed our proposal to every member of Congress, and we’ve spoken about it with every reporter who’s called. We’re getting some traction on these simple, yet tested ideas:

1. Respect families by allowing parents from El Salvador and Honduras who reside legally in the United States under Temporary Protected Status to apply for their minor children to reunite. The children’s status would then be linked to their parents. This would immediately reduce immigration court backlogs, and would apply to an estimated 30–40 percent of the children surrendering at the border.

2. Keep kids out of the courtrooms by instituting a Children’s Corps based on the Asylum Officer Corps model. Officers will have training in child-sensitive interview techniques and Best Interest Determination standards, and will determine whether a child is eligible for legal relief. This will move the adjudication process from an adversarial judicial process to an administrative process for most children. Reports indicate that 40–60 percent of these children may be eligible for legal protection.

3. Help children avoid the dangerous journey by allowing them to apply for refugee status from their home country. We’ve previously used this process so that Soviet Jews, Vietnamese, and Cubans could avoid life-threatening escapes. Additionally, other North and South American countries may be willing to accept the children for resettlement.

4. Engage the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to determine international protection needs using its well-established procedures. The UNHCR could then refer cases to the U.S. Department of State for further interviewing and approval before resettlement in the United States, and possibly other countries.

5. Forgive the children by granting Children’s Protected Status (CPS) to all unaccompanied children who have already been brought into custody. We used this approach with Cubans and Haitians who arrived illegally in 1980. The government could announce a cut-off date after which new arrivals would be subject to expedited removal. Granting CPS will relieve the government of the burden and cost of adjudicating the cases of the thousands of unaccompanied minors who are at the border, and will increase the Department of Homeland Security’s capacity to handle other immigration cases.

6. Introduce hope by creating a Regulated Entry Procedure for 10,000 unaccompanied immigrant children per year per country from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. As precedent, a lottery system has allowed 20,000 Cubans to enter the United States annually for the past 34 years. The children would enter the United States legally through a process managed and regulated by the U.S. government.

I love the United States, and I have high expectations for its international behavior and reputation. We can do better, and I commit to being part of the solution.

Are you getting your money’s worth?

***The federal refugee resettlement contractors (Grant recipient big dogs Baptist Child and Family Services and Southwest Key Programs  are now on the scene devouring federal cash):

Our complete archive on ‘unaccompanied minors’ goes back several years, click here for all of those posts.