I already had two articles worth mentioning about Georgia and refugees before I saw this news from The Atlanta Journal Constitution this morning:

Georgia ranked eighth among states for the total number of refugees it received in the fiscal year ending in September at 2,710, according to a federal report released Tuesday.

That is up 8 percent from the year before. But it is 810 fewer people than originally proposed by resettlement agencies.

The U.S. State Department confirmed earlier this year it had limited the number of refugees coming to Georgia, based partly on requests from Gov. Nathan Deal’s administration for sharp cuts. State officials have cited state and local taxpayer costs associated with taking in the refugees, school budget shortfalls and other concerns.

Deal has continued to push the Obama administration on the issue. In a letter he sent President Barack Obama in July, Deal complained Georgia has received a “disproportionate number of refugee placements over the past few years.”

Last month, the governor’s administration sided with Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson in opposition to resettling 150 refugees there. The Democratic mayor complained resettlement officials had not reached out to enough people in her community early enough about the plans.

Local resettlement agencies are pushing back, saying refugees create a net gain for the state by working and paying taxes and attracting millions of dollars in federal aid money to Georgia.

[….]

The federal government provides refugees with funding that partially covers the cost of rent, furniture, food and clothing.

This last bit above confirms what I have been saying—not the working and paying taxes part (most don’t get paid enough to pay taxes!), but the part about millions of federal aid dollars following refugees.  It’s as if we are expected to believe that there is a money tree growing in Washington!

There is a major disconnect happening—those aid dollars from Washington come from taxpayers, including Georgia taxpayers—it is not free money!  And, there won’t be a net gain for the state when federal aid dollars arrive as refugees use more resources than they draw in from Washington.

Big whup if the feds help pay rent and get them some clothes and food stamps!  It is the cost of health services, education, and the criminal justice system that push states into the red with the immigrant population increase.  And, by the way, never mentioned is the unfairness of rent subsidized housing going to immigrants when poor and disabled Americans need that housing.

Then be sure to see this article from last week about the overall increase in the foreign-born population in Georgia.  Georgia immigrant population increase confirmed by CIS here too.

Georgia Catholic Bishops lecture!

The nerve of the Catholic Bishops of Georgia to lecture Georgians about Christian charity when the US Conference of Catholic Bishops refugee and immigration program is almost completely funded by US taxpayers (98% funded by you) and this screed by ARCHBISHOP WILTON D. GREGORY and BISHOP GREGORY J. HARTMAYER at The Georgia Bulletin never says one word about Caesar’s money which they depend on for their existence!

Please read their guilt-trip laced polemic here.  And, remember this!  It is not only ‘unaccompanied alien children’ and refugees that the Bishops are concerned about, they lobby for amnesty as well and admit it here.  Are they using your tax dollars for their lobbying campaign, that is what I would like to know!

We also urge Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform legislation, which will help fix our broken immigration system.

We strongly encourage you to support these principles by contacting your U.S. senators and congress members through the Catholic bishops’ Justice for Immigrants website.

On the State level, we ask legislators and officials to support policies that enhance the dignity of all people who come to our state.

See our complete Georgia archive by clicking here.  See especially Athens, Georgia mayor attempting to put brakes on refugee resettlement (mentioned above).

Note that over a year ago, Georgia was identified (by the Office of Refugee Resettlement) at a meeting I attended in Lancaster, PA as a ‘pocket of resistance’ to refugee resettlement and was cited as a reason that the ORR hired Welcoming America (to get peoples’ minds right)!

Also, there is a grassroots group opposing more refugee resettlement in Georgia, click here, that you should know about.