Human rights activists complain about stricter asylum rules…

….but don’t get too excited about the possibility that the Obama Administration is seeing the light because as we learned last week, thousands of illegals who entered the country this past summer aren’t even showing up for court!

Thousands have just disappeared into the woodwork of America presumably planning to wait it out until Obama and Congress give them amnesty!

From the Wall Street Journal (hat tip Richard):

Watch Eleanor Acer of Human Rights First testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Asylum fraud last February. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mxDxtHAszU

Immigrants who enter the country illegally are becoming less likely to be deemed eligible for asylum, as federal authorities tighten standards amid an increase in Central American migrants this year.

As an initial step to request asylum, apprehended migrants who say they are scared to go back to their home country are screened to determine if they have “credible fear” of persecution or torture. In July, the most recent month available, 63% of those who claimed they were afraid to return were found to have met that criterion, down from 83% six months earlier, according to a report released to immigrant-rights groups by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The decline comes after the agency’s Asylum Division toughened the criteria its officers use during the interviews. The goal of the new guidelines, according to an agency official, is to ensure that immigrants with little to no chance of obtaining asylum in immigration court are quickly sent home.

Immigrant advocates say the tougher screening criteria are preventing many immigrants from being able to make a case for asylum before a judge.

“It’s turning away people who may very well have been entitled to asylum protection,” said Eleanor Acer, refugee protection director at Human Rights First, a New York-based nonprofit group.

The Asylum Division is one of many federal agencies that have been taxed by an influx of tens of thousands of immigrants who have illegally entered the country from Central America this year, many saying they were seeking refuge from gang violence and poverty. From October to June, the Asylum Division received 36,334 credible-fear claims from immigrants, surpassing the 36,035 in the 12 months of fiscal 2013, data from the office shows. Immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras accounted for the majority of the claims.

The office is responsible for screening migrants apprehended at the border, asking, for example, whether they are being persecuted because they belong to a specific social group or feel threatened because of their race or religion. If their claims are credible, the immigrants are referred to immigration court, where a judge ultimately decides whether they qualify for asylum or other protection. Immigrants who go through that process, which can take years, are sometimes released in the U.S. until their cases are resolved.

Unaccompanied children arriving from Central America don’t go through the credible-fear process, as they are routed to the court system directly.

Now be sure to see Hot Air last week where we learned that 70% of the families ordered to appear for a hearing never showed up!

DHS secret revealed: Tens of thousands of illegals released during the border crisis didn’t show up for their immigration hearings

Big smooch from Eleanor to Grover!

About the photo and Acer’s testimony to Congress:  I had to laugh when I watched the clip because she praises and enters into the record the Grover Norquist/Suhail Khan Republicans-want-more-refugees letter which we reported here.

American Jews beat up on Israel for not allowing African migrants to stay

African protesters at US Embassy in Tel Aviv in January demanding to be allowed to stay in Israel. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/01/07/waiting-for-the-unhcr-to-blast-saudi-arabia-as-they-did-israel-yesterday/

Whew!

This article in the Jewish Times featuring Jewish leaders in Maryland leading a campaign against Israel on the issue of asylum for tens of thousands of African migrants who got into Israel illegally is just too much.  I’ll let you read it yourself.

We have covered the issue extensively in our category ‘Israel and refugees.’

The gist of it is that tens of thousands of African migrants that many believe are in Israel as economic migrants (not legitimate refugees) are seeking asylum claiming they will be persecuted if returned to Africa.

The issue has split the country down the usual lines—Leftists want the Africans to be allowed to stay and accuse Israel of being “unwelcoming” and those on the Right believe that Israel will ultimately die if allowed to be overrun by the third world.

BTW, Israel is paying some of the illegal migrants to return to Africa.

Here is the whole story (albeit slanted toward the American Left) from the Jewish Times.

You should know that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, one of the nine major US refugee resettlement contractors is also bashing Israel on the issue.

Joe Biden’s Delaware one of the states hammered with ‘Unaccompanied alien children’

This is from an AP story so the reporter is looking to balance her piece with some nice sounding quotes from beleaguered educators, but it is nonetheless informative.

Joe Biden: We (me and Ted, God rest his soul, and Jimmy) love refugees, just don’t drop ’em off in Delaware.

According to AP almost all US states are experiencing the problem of trying to educate teenagers many of whom are illiterate in their own languages (some are tribal languages).   AP features Delaware.

And, this couldn’t be happening to a more deserving state!

Senator Joe Biden was one of the chief sponsors of the Refugee Act of 1980 which was pushed through Congress by Senator Ted Kennedy and signed into law by Jimmy Carter.  Yet, surprise! Delaware only takes a few refugees every year—you can count the number on two hands most years!

The ‘Unaccompanied alien children’ are under the legal protection of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (although they are not refugees).

From the Associated Press:

FRANKFORD, Del. (AP) — American schools are scrambling to provide services to the large number of children and teenagers who crossed the border alone in recent months.

Unaccompanied minors who made up the summer spike at the border have moved to communities of all sizes, in nearly every state, Federal data indicates, to live with a relative and await immigration decisions. The Supreme Court has ruled that schools have an obligation to educate all students regardless of their immigration status, so schools have become a safe haven for many of the tens of thousands of these young people mostly from central America living in limbo.

Delaware’s rural Sussex County has long attracted immigrants, partly because of work in chicken factories, and soybean and corn fields. The district’s population is more than one-quarter Hispanic, and for years has offered an early learning program for non-English speakers.

Still, officials were caught off guard by about 70 new students mostly from Guatemala – part of the wave crossing the border – enrolling last year, mostly at Sussex Central High School. The Indian River School District over the summer break quickly put together special classes for those needing extra English help.

[….]

The students are eager but face barriers. Some can barely read or write in their native language.

The district’s goal is to get them assimilated – and eventually into a regular high school. There, they can earn a diploma, even if that means participating in adult education programs and going to school until they are 21. [At the expense of US and local taxpayers!—ed]

The federal government (that would be good ol’ Joe) just dropped them on us!

Donald Hattier, a school board member, said advance warning would have helped with planning. The federal government, he said, “just dropped this on us.” He wonders what’s next.

“The kids are still coming across the border. This problem has not been solved,” Hattier said.

There is more, read it all.

All of our posts on ‘Unaccompanied minors’ can be found by clicking here.

International Rescue Committee study: refugees like cash better than services

“Mrs Clinton, (then) 62, spoke last year of her unlikely crush on Mr Miliband, 44.” Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260660/Move-Miliband-Hillary-Clinton-special-relationship-new-man.html#ixzz3EiTH4IZZ

They did not study refugees resettled in the US, but I’ll bet they would opt for cold hard cash over stuff too.

Former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the CEO of one of our top nine resettlement contractors, the International Rescue Committee, who himself likes cash (and is paid nearly a half million dollars as CEO if the IRC), co-authored this piece that reveals refugees like money! 

The study apparently concluded that giving refugees money didn’t encourage alcohol consumption, drug use, or smoking (duh! most are Muslims who don’t have those infidel vices anyway).

The study also found that giving them cash was not a dis-incentive to work.  Really?

Are “humanitarian” bucks going to fund Jihadists?

They don’t drink or smoke it up but I wondered if they might give some of their cold hard cash to fund more terrorist activity.  I bet researchers at Yale didn’t ask that question!

Here is the article, read it yourself since I am out of time and energy right now!

I also wondered if the “refugees” might prefer cash to being resettled in your home town, but alas I assume they didn’t ask that question either.

Come to think of it, we might be able to save ourselves some serious money if we paid them to stay right where they are!

Liberians can thank Ebola (and Senator Jack Reed) for extended stay in the US

Temporary Protected Status for Liberians should have ended years ago, but now, thanks to Ebola, they will get a reprieve and stay for what will amount to another decade or forever.

I wasn’t going to post this story (I mentioned the possibility of the Ebola excuse, here already) until several readers sent it to me and I had some time to read some of the comments.  People are generally becoming more educated (and disgusted) by these LEGAL immigration programs and loopholes.

Rhode Island Democrat Senator Jack Reed is the champion of Liberians in America. As commenter Pete F. suggests below, find his home address and pass it out to Liberians telling them that is where they can be housed and fed.

From Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Liberian immigrants living in the United States without a visa won’t be sent back to the epicenter of Ebola crisis in West Africa for at least another two years, the Obama administration said Friday.

President Barack Obama signed a memo extending a legal protection called “deferred enforced departure” that continues a protection from deportation that has been in place for more than a decade.

The government first granted Liberians temporary protective status during that country’s bloody civil war, which started in 1991 and ended in 2003.

That original protection expired in October 2007. President George W. Bush then approved deferred enforced departure for the community.

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island continues to be the champion of Liberian migrants in America. We have written several posts on Senator Reed and Liberians over the years, here.

Comments that caught my eye—but there are about 90 more….

Here is one from Kolchak:

Sweet! This provides a huge incentive for Liberians to escape their country, get smuggled into the US and then claim they’ve been here for long enough to avoid being deported if they get caught. Paid ‘witnesses’ will vouch for them.

We’d better just hope none of them are sick.

Oh, I forgot to mention, most of them will be allowed to stay indefinitely. (This will be done by executive order late on a Friday afternoon when nobody is paying attention.) Those who become citizens will be reminded the Obama saved their lives and thus they are to be Democratic voters for life.  [I don’t think they have to wait to become citizens to vote, I bet they are already voting!—ed]

Patti:

Obama won’t send Liberians back for fear they might catch Ebola, but he’ll send 3,000 American soldiers there to possibly catch Ebola. How ’bout we send the Liberians back with some carpentry tools and blueprints to build their own damn treatment centers!

Pete F:

What we should do is get the addresses of every single Liberal that supports Amnesty and open borders. Give those addresses to every single Illegal that comes into our country, and tell them that these people will take you in, house you, feed you, cloth you, provide you with healthcare, etc.

This should also apply to Limousine Liberals such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Lady gaga, Bill Mayher, Matt Damon, and Micheal Moore.

Someone should write a blog just on Temporary Protected Status, the Diversity Visa Lottery and those Investor Visa programs that allow all the Middle Easterners in here to buy convenience stores—-all LEGAL immigration programs in need of being exposed!

Here are all of our posts on TPS.  Syrians have that special refugee status now too!