They are changing America by changing the people
As many of you figured out on your own, WordPress took down Refugee Resettlement Watch for about 24 hours claiming we violated terms of our agreement. Although we are grateful to be back up, we wish we knew why this happened.
One very positive outcome however, was the great outpouring of concern from many faithful readers who e-mailed or phoned to show support and encouragement.
Thank you so much! Ann
Why introduce the program to Wyoming when states with refugee resettlement are having problems? That is the gist of what Michael Elmore, a representative of a citizens’ group, told Campbell County Health trustees last week.
Why talk to a hospital board? Because county health departments/hospitals are on the front lines of taking care of newly arrived refugees with myriad health problems.
Just this morning I see a report from Philadelphia where Children’s Hospital is reporting on the Burmese refugees the hospital must clear of health problems at taxpayer expense (or is it at the expense of the hospital?):
The CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) Refugee Program works with three of the 3 resettlement agencies to care for Burmese children who come to Philadelphia within the first 30 to 60 days of their time in the U.S. CHOP physicians perform physicals, give immunizations and ensure the children will have no medical barriers to enrolling in school.
Regular readers know that we have been following the controversy in Wyoming for months.
In September of 2013, Republican governor Matt Mead wrote a letter to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement expressing his intention of welcoming a resettlement program and thus making Wyoming the 50th state in the nation to invite in the UN, the US State Department, the US Dept. of Health and Human Services and a Lutheran resettlement contractor to change the demographic makeup of the state.
For new readers, see our entire archive on the Wyoming controversy, here. Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains*** wanted to keep the plan a secret until it was further along.
The latest from the Gillette News Record:
A representative for Citizens Protecting Wyoming, a group opposed to the state looking into adoption of a foreign refugee program, took his argument to the Campbell County Health trustees on Thursday.
During the public comment time, Gillette native Mike Elmore told trustees he hoped they would “share some of my sentiments on this” after he filled them in on the issue.
[….]
The U.S. Department of Health’s Refugee Resettlement Program “offers support for refugee victims seeking haven within the United States — including victims of human trafficking, those seeking asylum from persecution and survivors of tortures of war,” he said.
While it’s a nice idea, Elmore said the program is “a giant money-making machine using religious organizations, under the guise of federal contractors and a nonprofit organization.”
Six of the nine agencies that carry out the refugee resettlement work in the United States “like to paint themselves as faith-based charity organizations … affiliated with Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopal churches, along with two evangelical groups and one group even tied to reformed Judaism,” he said.
[….]
Elmore said these agencies rake in millions of dollars in federal grant money each year while pretending to be nonprofit organizations.
Because of that alleged corruption in the system, it’s impossible for state agencies to approach the issue of refugees in the proper way, he said.
Elmore said Mead wants to bring a federally funded program to the state, but that decision eventually will place more tax burden onto Wyoming citizens. It will also bring health impacts, such as the spread of diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and gonorrhea, he said.
Wyoming is the only state without a refugee program, but “49 states are in and 49 states have problems,” Elmore said, adding that he asks all members on the hospital board to write a letter to the governor asking him to not bring such a program to Wyoming. [The Governor does not have the final say, thumbing their noses at states’ rights, the feds and their contractors can just open up shop anyway. However a lack of “welcome” from government officials will have a chilling effect on any plan.—ed]
***Lutheran Social Services is a subcontractor of Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS). Note that in this post we wrote in July, LIRS linked a Casper, Wyoming office (Gillette and Casper are two cities mentioned as possible resettlement sites). However, if you go to LIRS website today the link has been erased. Have they given up? Or, are they just laying low until the political storm blows over?
Resettlement plans are very often being driven by federal contractors (like LIRS) looking for fresh territory.
So, I’m guessing that Sweden doesn’t have its own version of the food police. No Michelle Obama?
Here is one more example of the extra costs related to admitting certain ethnic groups to countries where views on health are diametrically opposed to what it is where they came from.
From Science Index:
Physical inactivity presents a major public health challenge and is estimated to cause six to ten percent of the major non-communicable diseases. Studies show that immigrants, especially women, have an increased risk of non-communicable diseases compared to ethnic Swedes. Somali immigrant women have increased rates of overweight and obesity, low fitness levels and low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness compared to non-immigrant women. These findings suggest that Somali women are at increased risk of developing lifestyle-related diseases. Few studies explore determinants of physical activity among Somali women. The aim of this study was to explore Somali women’s views and experiences of physical activity after migration to Sweden. A qualitative focused ethnographic approach was used in this study.
Check it out, there are other articles about problems with Female Genital Mutilation, the problems with lack of Vitamin D (due to being covered all the time) and there is even an article about Somali men in Minnesota not getting exercise.
Another Somali woman who dares to challenge Islam is of course Ayan Hirsi Ali. Wouldn’t you think she would be embraced by young western women instead of being vilified?
See our complete ‘health issues’ category here. And, everything you need to know about migrants arriving in Sweden here.
Longtime readers may remember the case of two Iraqi refugees resettled in Senator Rand Paul’s hometown of Bowling Green (see our extensive coverage of the diversity jungle created by resettlement contractors that is B.G. today by clicking here).
We covered the arrest and trial of the Iraqi pair over the years (go here for an archive on the case).
Perhaps one of the most shocking revelations, and evidence of very shoddy processing of refugees, was the fact that at least one of the Iraqi’s fingerprints was found on fragments of an IED that killed American National Guard troops.
Here is the latest from Kentucky.com thanks to reader Robin:
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — An Iraqi man convicted in a Kentucky terrorism case has asked a federal judge to give him access to his complete case file so he can try to withdraw his guilty plea.
U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell had not ruled on the request from 26-year-old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi as of Friday morning.
Hammadi and 33-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan pleaded guilty in 2010 and 2011 to taking part in a plot to ship thousands of dollars in cash, machine guns, rifles, grenades and shoulder-fired missiles from Bowling Green, Kentucky, to al-Qaida in Iraq in 2010 and 2011. The pair was working with an FBI informant who squelched their plans.
Alwan is serving a 40-year sentence and Hammadi are serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado.
In a letter to his court-appointed attorney that was filed in the court record, Hammadi said he wanted to review the records to file motions to attack his guilty plea before the statute of limitations runs out.
By the way, I would love to see the US State Department made responsible for legal fees incurred by the refugees they let in to the country. And, just imagine what this pair’s incarceration will cost the US taxpayer for the next forty plus years! So much for refugees bringing economic benefits—these two imprisoned refugees will likely offset the small economic benefit of thousands and thousands of non-criminal refugees.
And, don’t forget, right now Iraqis are the top group of refugees we are resettling in your towns and cities, here.
For ambitious readers, we have a huge category on Iraqi refugees, here, with 635 previous posts!
Related (update): More mosque problems in Boston, here.
Yesterday we mentioned Columbus as it relates to Somali Islamists recruiting jihadists in Columbus, here.
Demographics! Demographics! Demographics!
And, today I see that Columbus saw another grand opening of a mosque on Saturday to accommodate the growing Muslim population there of mostly Somalis, Iraqis and other Arabs (secondary migrants) who the article in the Columbus Dispatch actually says are moving to Columbus because of the mosques.
Read the article about the mosques here . And, then any of you Ohioans who want to dig down into the Refugee Resettlement program of the US State Department should visit Ohio Refugees Services in the Ohio Dept. of Job and Family Services.
Get to know the resettlement agencies (contractors) which include at least three of the big nine: World Relief (Evangelicals), Catholic Charities (USCCB) and subcontractors for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. They are every year bringing more Muslim refugees to Columbus.
And, I was interested to see that Ohio has a published Refugee Resettlement Plan.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of pulling the facts together wherever you live.
We have a lot on Ohio, click here to learn more.