Idaho: Magic Valley refugees don’t have Ebola says resettlement contractor

11/01/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Snake River Gorge Idaho (http://www.strengthinperspective.com/Pictures-USA/Idaho-23/MagicValley.html)

OK? Has there been an Ebola scare in Idaho I missed?

Is the purpose of this news story (based on a press release from a resettlement contractor) the result of a real problem of “hostility” toward refugees in the Twin Falls, Idaho area, or was it meant to head any “hostility” off-at-the-pass before anyone gets an idea to be hostile?

Could there be a ‘pocket of resistance’ forming in Idaho?

Whatever happened to Idaho’s Uzbek refugee alleged terrorist?

The story at KMVT (Fox 14, Sun Valley) caught my attention this morning and led me down a winding trail of trying to figure out exactly why there is a refugee contractor with the name—College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center (CSIRC or P for Program). Why is a college involved in this?

I haven’t written much about Idaho over the years, but here is our archive of what we have.

I see they did have the arrest of that Uzbek refugee alleged terrorist there in 2013, but whatever happened to the case?

So let’s have a look at CSIRP. But first here is the news:

Twin Falls, Idaho ( KMVT-TV / KSVT-TV ) – The South Central Public Health District and the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center Director are speaking out after concerns have been raised over refugees arriving from West Africa.

In a news release, Logan Hudson with the Health District and Ron Black with CSI said, “Refugees come to the Magic Valley area in search of a new life, but right now some are being met with hostility and concern due to stigma from the Ebola outbreaks in West Africa.”

“None of our refugees are from West Africa; they are no more likely to have Ebola than anyone else living in this area. Every refugee goes through several rigorous medical screenings before they can enter into the United States,” said Ron Black, College of Southern Idaho (CSI) Refugee Center Director. “The medical screening and waiting period they go through is longer and more intense than any protocol used for ordinary travelers. Plus, most CSI refugees arrived years before the Ebola outbreak.”

Ron Black, Director of resettlement in Twin Falls: Some refugees are being met with hostility.

Stigma is happening in the Magic Valley due to several factors including myths and fears of the disease, gossip that helps spread the fear, and a lack of knowledge about how Ebola is actually spread.

[….]

This is a daunting time for everyone, especially our refugees. We ask that the community show empathy and most importantly remember that no one in this area, let alone the state of Idaho, has been diagnosed with Ebola.” said Ron Black, CSI Refugee Center Director.

Idaho is a Wilson-Fish state.

That means that the refugee program there is being run jointly between the feds and their quasi-government contractors with little state government control or oversight. Learn more about Wilson-Fish here.

The College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center is a subcontractor of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (one of the big nine) and apparently doesn’t have a separate tax Form 990 (that I can find), so it’s hard to figure out exactly how big they are and how much of your tax dollars are flowing through it. See their history here.

The CSIRP has brought 2,500 refugees to Magic Valley providing workers to local businesses and bringing your federal tax dollars for their social services (aka welfare):

Since it’s inception, the CSIRP has resettled more than 2500 refugees from a variety of different continents; providing local businesses with a steady source of entry level workers. The Program has also brought more than $3 million of federal money and benefits back to the Magic Valley that have been used to purchase goods and services from local merchants.

Check out all the nationalities of refugees resettled in Southern Idaho in the last 20 years:

1993 to 2011

Kosovar
Bosnian
Croat
Serbian
Iranian
Iraqi
Burmese
Russian
Vietnamese
Burundi
Mesketian Turks
Eritreans
Bhutanese

2012 to Current

Afghani
Congolese
Sudanese
Iranian
Iraqi
Bhutanese
Burmese
Eritreans

I recommend if you are a reader from Idaho that you explore their website and also the Idaho Office for Refugees (NOT a state agency) which along with the federal government calls the shots in Idaho.

P.S. If anyone sees news stories about real hostility to refugees over Ebola, please send links to this blog post!

Brits take a beating from “rights” group over decision to not fund rescue of migrant invaders from North Africa

11/01/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Kate Allen, UK Director of Amnesty International: “….dark day for the moral standing of the UK.” Photo: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/kate-allen

The UK attempts to slow invasion of Europe….

(See our entire ‘invasion of Europe’ series including posts on the boat people problem by clicking here. Thousands of mostly Muslim aliens have been rescued by the Italian navy and then sneak out of Italy and spread throughout Europe.)

We reported the incredible news from brave Brits the other day—the UK does not want to participate in the rescue of illegal aliens who find themselves in trouble while attempting to break into Europe by sea. They say that such efforts serve as a “pull factor” for more and more aliens to try to make the dangerous voyage.

But, they surely will be taking a drubbing from the ‘human rights industrial complex’ as we see just beginning here at the news site for the UNHCR:

Rome’s Mare Nostrum mission, which saved 150,000 people fleeing poverty and warzones in Africa in the past 12 months, will be wound down, its budget slashed by two thirds in the two-month phase-out period.

Instead, Europe’s border protection agency, Frontex, launches its Triton operation to help monitor and patrol the waters off the Italian coastline, with resources of just €3m a month – a third of what the Italian navy has been spending in the past year.

“No matter how it is dressed up, Triton is not a search and rescue operation,” said Nicolas Beger of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office. “As the world faces the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War, the EU must urgently and collectively… plug the imminent gap in these life-saving operations.”

Britain’s refusal to contribute to the scaled-down replacement operation was also decried. “This is a very dark day for the moral standing of the UK,” said Amnesty UK Director Kate Allen. “The Italian navy’s… operation has saved thousands of lives and other European countries should now be stepping up to share that responsibility with them, not shirk it.”

There is more here.

CIS: New Hampshire employment growth goes to immigrants

11/01/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In its on-going series on the employment picture in various US states, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) this past week released its finding from New Hampshire. See also reports on Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

Readers here know that New Hampshire is being inundated with refugees and for several years now the mayor of Manchester has begged for a moratorium on further resettlement, but to no avail.

Nashua, NH mayor: Sure! Bring in more immigrant labor to compete with New Hampshire natives! https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/10/22/nashua-nh-to-take-150-new-refugees-this-year-contact-the-mayor/

If (if?) the contractors have slowed the flow to that city they have found other places such as newly “welcoming” Nashua (see our post here late last month) to send them because, once they have set up shop in a state, they have investments in office space and staff they want to protect and thus need the federal cash to keep operations running in high gear.

And, as they bring in the family members of the original “seed community” they want to place them near to their relatives.

Dover, NH, another pocket of resistance!

Also, if you are a new reader, you might be interested to see that the contractors attempted to move into Dover and some other smaller cities this year, but were thwarted when elected officials there had the good sense to ask for a plan from the federally contracted agencies that would be dropping-off the refugees. See posts on Dover, here.

Here is the latest finding from CIS. 71% of the increase in the number of working-age people holding jobs went to immigrants!

The Gang of Eight immigration bill (S.744) passed last June would have roughly doubled the number of new foreign workers allowed into the country, as well as legalized illegal immigrants. Both of New Hampshire’s senators voted for it. An analysis of government data by the Center for Immigration Studies shows that since 2000, 71 percent of the net increase in the number of working-age (16 to 65) people holding a job in New Hampshire has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal) — even though the native-born accounted for 65 percent of population growth among the working-age. As a result, the share of natives holding a job in the state has declined significantly. The decline in employment has been felt primarily by natives without a college education.

[….]

Two conclusions from the state’s employment situation:

~First, the long-term decline in employment for natives in New Hampshire and the large number of working-age natives not working clearly indicates that there is no general labor shortage in the state — especially among the less educated. Thus it is very difficult to justify the large increases in foreign workers (skilled and unskilled) allowed into the country in a bill like S.744, which many of the state’s politicians support.

~Second, New Hampshire’s working-age immigrant population grew 70 percent from 2000 to 2014. Yet the number of working-age natives working in 2014 was only slightly above the number in 2000 and the share with a job actually fell. This undermines the argument that immigration on balance increases job opportunities for natives.

Read it all.

By the way, NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen voted for S.744 (amnesty) and she could have lifted a finger to help the mayor of Manchester but apparently did nothing. I can guarantee you that if Senator Shaheen had publicly gone to bat for the Manchester mayor in his wish for a moratorium, he would have gotten it.