Who are the 525 Syrian refugees admitted to the US in recent years; where have they been resettled?

Everybody is talking about the Syrian refugees admitted to the US, including the British press, here at the Daily Mail.  But, let me be clear, most news outlets are reporting that we are going to quadruple the number already here from recent Syrian crisis to around 2,000 in the coming year.

Please remember that the US State Department has 9,000-10,000 in the pipeline created by the UNHCR and in fact until the recent revelation by the FBI, they had every intention of getting the flow up to that level this fiscal year!

The resettlement contractors have been agitating for 15,000 a year!

First Syrian refugee family arriving in Louisville, KY being helped with a grant from an Islamic charity. Hey! Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul—are you paying attention! https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2015/02/15/first-syrian-refugees-arriving-in-louisville-ky-helped-with-grant-from-islamic-charity/ Photo: http://www.wave3.com/story/28105459/first-refugee-family-from-syrian-civil-war-arrives-in-louisville

From the Daily Mail:

More than 500 refugees from Syria’s bloody civil war have already been resettled in the United States, and U.S. officials and members of Congress are becoming increasingly worried that jihadis linked to the ISIS terror army could slip into the country along with them.

Since war broke out in Syria nearly four years ago, America has welcomed 524 people from the rapidly disintegrating country with open arms. U.S. intelligence agencies lack the resources to vet them properly, but the Obama administration plans to admit a few thousand more this year.  [My stats beginning January 1, 2012 indicate 525 Syrians have been admitted—ed]

‘The United States has admitted 524 Syrians since 2011,’ State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Feb. 13.

‘We’re likely to admit 1,000 to 2,000 Syrian refugees for permanent resettlement in Fiscal Year 2015 and a somewhat higher number, though still in the low thousands, in Fiscal Year 2016.’

You can read the rest of the Daily Mail article.

As I said yesterday when I told you where Somalis have been resettled in the US in recent years, I’m doing a series of posts on facts the media (and you!) need to know.

The vast majority of Syrian refugees entering the US right now are Muslims (89%)

Here is how the religions of our newest Syrians break down (from Refugee Processing Center data).  Arrival dates between 1/1/12 and 2/23/15.   These are the exact category names used by the State Department:

Atheist (1)

Bahai (2)

Catholic (1)

Christian (36)

Jehovah Witness (8)

Moslem (20)

Moslem Shiite (8)

Moslem Sunni (437)

No Religion (2)

Orthodox (3)

Other Religion (6)

Yazidi (1)

So where did the US State Department resettlement contractors*** send them?

Arizona (19)

Arkansas (1)

California (72)

Colorado (8)

Connecticut (3)

Florida (21)

Georgia (15)

Idaho (9)

Illinois (50)

Indiana (25)

Kansas (5)

Kentucky (5)

Maine (1)

Maryland (19)

Massachusetts (21)

Michigan (20)

Missouri (1)

New Hampshire (3)

New Jersey (17)

New Mexico (6)

New York (8)

North Carolina (33)

Ohio (6)

Oregon (1)

Pennsylvania (30)

Tennessee (8)

Texas (79)

Utah (5)

Virginia (16)

Washington (16)

West Virginia (1)

Wisconsin (1)

*** For reporters and other interested media, here is a list of the federal contractors and the percentage of tax dollars they use to do their work of distributing refugees around the country via their approximately 350 subcontractors.

Australia: Tony Abbott cracking down on radical Muslims and mosques; welfare mooches

Sigh!  How wonderful it would be to have a real leader….

From Top Right News (Australian Leader Abbott Slams Muslim Imams, Launches Crackdown on Radical Mosques, Muslims Furious) thanks to Fatherjon:

Australian Muslims were outraged on Tuesday after Prime Minister Tony Abbott hurled criticism at their leaders to “get with the program” to combat Islamic extremism, and launched a nationwide crackdown on radical Muslims and mosques.

It was a speech that many Americans wish their own leader might give.

In an address to the nation about security, Abbott slammed Islamic leaders and their attitudes toward extremism:

“I’ve often heard Western leaders describe Islam as a ‘religion of peace’,” the conservative leader said. “I wish more Muslim leaders would say that more often, and mean it.”

Abbott’s speech comes in the wake of a hostage siege by a Muslim radical Imam in a Sydney cafe that left three dead last December.

Abbott also announced a national security crackdown that would deny welfare payments to people seen as potential threats, strip the passports of those with dual nationality and curb travel overseas — a move designed to curb Australians from fighting with ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

[Actually on this bit—stopping them from leaving Australia—I wouldn’t stop them.  In fact, I might offer a free ride out to the Syrian wilderness and revoke their passports.  All aboard!—ed]

He linked welfare to terrorism

Abbott said new laws would remedy failings on the immigration, welfare, policing and intelligence fronts by clamping down on supporters of radicals, especially Muslim welfare recipients, and also target “hate preachers.”

He explicitly linked welfare to terrorism, accusing dozens of Australians fighting in Syria and Iraq of having been on the dole, and adding that payments to “individuals assessed to be a threat to security” could soon be cancelled.

We have an extensive archive on Australia, here, one of the only countries in the world actively trying hard to save itself from Muslim migration (from the Hijra!).

Robert Spencer (Jihad Watch): Wouldn’t you think that cutting off the spigot of Islamic immigration would be part of any plan to keep us safe?

Leo Hohmann at World Net Daily has yet another important read about the Refugee Admissions Program of the US State Department and he quotes Islam expert Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch asking that fundamental question about the Obama Administration’s “comprehensive approach” to taking on the ISIS/Islamist threat to America.

World Net Daily (emphasis is mine):

Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson warned that a Somalia-based terrorist group is encouraging “independent actors” to carry out attacks in Western countries, with the Mall of America in Minnesota among the specific targets, but he failed to mention that the U.S. continues to import hundreds of high-risk Islamic refugees from Somalia every month.

Like so many outside the State Department, I’m going to bet that Homeland Security chief Johnson has no real understanding of the more than three-decade-old refugee resettlement program that is responsible for a large percentage of the Muslim population in the US.

The U.S. State Department’s refugee-resettlement program has placed more than 100,000 Somalis into U.S cities and towns since the early 1990s – all of them Muslims hand-selected by the United Nations refugee agency. And Minnesota has become the most popular destination, with secondary hotspots in Maine, Ohio, Colorado and southern California. More than 800 new refugees from Somalia arrive in the United States every month, according to Refugee Resettlement Watch.

The constant influx has earned parts of Minneapolis the nickname “Little Mogadishu.”

Johnson told CNN Sunday that terrorist groups such as Somalia-based al-Shabab are “relying more and more on independent actors to become inspired” and “attack on their own.”

But he made no mention in any of his interviews on Sunday morning news shows of the program that brings these potential “independent actors” to the U.S. in the first place.

Johnson said there was a need for a “comprehensive” approach to fighting the ever-present threat posed by terror groups, including al-Shabab and the Islamic State or ISIS.

One would think that cutting off the spigot of Islamic immigration would play a role in any truly comprehensive approach, said Islam expert Robert Spencer, who runs the JihadWatch blog at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

To talk about tackling the problem without addressing the refugee pipeline is disingenuous, Spencer said.

“The government’s ‘concern’ about these threats is completely undercut by the Obama administration’s immigration policies,” said Spencer. “More than 800 Somalis a month are entering the country.”

[….]

In fiscal year 2014 the U.S. admitted 9,000 Somali refugees. In the first four months of fiscal 2015 the U.S. admitted 3,536 new Somali refugees, or 884 per month.

 

Be sure to read the whole article and see what Pamela Geller (Atlas Shrugged) and Debra Anderson, a resident of Minneapolis, had to say!

See our latest stats on which states have received the most Somali refugees in the last ten years.

Op-ed: While Europe pulls up the welcome mat for Muslim migrants, are we rolling it out?

Paul Sperry is the author of several important books on Islam in America. http://www.amazon.com/Infiltration-Muslim-Subversives-Penetrated-Washington/dp/1595552480/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Reader Joanne sent this Op-ed by Paul Sperry at Investor’s Business Daily that includes this stunning information.  I had no idea that we had that many ‘Americans’ fighting with ISIS (and returning).

 

The British press is reporting that IS has threatened to release a huge wave of migrants from Libya across the Mediterranean disguised as refugees to cause chaos in Europe.

Who’s to say they aren’t setting a similar immigration bomb for America?

Authorities can’t even get a handle on homegrown IS jihadists who are already in America. Why would we risk adding so many potential jihadists from abroad to the already overloaded terrorist threat matrix?

The FBI director says he’s got open cases against IS suspects in every state but Alaska. More than 100 American Muslims have hooked up with the vicious terror group in Syria or Iraq, and at least a dozen fighters already have returned to America and may be forming sleeper cells to attack the homeland.

These suspects are hard for agents, who already are overstretched, to monitor. They’ve discarded their Islamic beards and garb and have blended into society. Analysts suspect some may have even infiltrated the military and government.

While America ushers in Islamic immigrants, Europe is pulling up the welcome mat.”

There is much more, read it all.

So, why can’t Congress fix this immediately by revoking passports of anyone who has left the country to join ISIS?

Where have all the Somalis been resettled in the US? Minnesota takes the prize!

My plan (ha! ha! if I don’t get distracted!) is to try to do a series of posts to answer the many questions I’m getting from the media in recent days.  The US State Department has an extensive data base called the Refugee Processing Center.  Sometimes you can access the data and sometimes you can’t!

First a few basic points:  The UN High Commissioner for Refugees chooses most of our refugees.  The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for screening them.  The US State Department sends them out via contractors they euphemistically call Voluntary Agencies (VOLAGs).  They are not voluntary—you pay them through your tax dollars to place the refugees through their offices in 180 cities across America.  The nine major VOLAGs have 350 subcontractors to form an extensive network.   The contractors spread the refugees out to surrounding towns if the main resettlement city gets overloaded (especially if ‘pockets of resistance’ form).

Reporters!  Find the resettlement contractor contact information in your city by clicking here.

The Department of Health and Human Services (Office of Refugee Resettlement) makes sure the nine contractors are well paid for myriad activities.

Back to the data…

Minnesota ‘welcomed’ 17% of all Somalis resettled in the US since 2005. Three resettlement agencies were responsible: Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services of MN, and World Relief MN (aka Arrive Ministries).

I searched this morning for Somali refugees resettled to which states from February 1, 2005 to February 1, 2015 and here is what I learned:  The US State Department distributed Somalis to 45 states and the District of Columbia basically establishing “seed communities” or colonies.

Remember though that this is America and people can move without permission so some originally resettled in one place may have long-since moved.  The professionals in the refugee industry call those who move “secondary migrants.”   The state receiving the most secondary migrants is Minnesota-–why? because Somalis want to live with their kind of people.

Here is the link for the data base I used for the following information.  You will need to put your own search parameters in.

From February 1, 2005 to February 1, 2015 we brought a total of 64,332 Somalis to the US from all over the world!

By the way, our Somali refugees don’t come directly from Somalia, but we pick them up all over the world including from Kenya, South Africa, Malaysia, Malta and even it appears Saudi Arabia (more on that later).

The states not (yet!) getting Somali refugees resettled directly are:  Delaware (LOL! Joe Biden was one of the original sponsors of the Refugee Act of 1980), Arkansas, Montana, Wyoming, and West Virginia.  We know that ‘secondary migrant’ Somalis are going to Wyoming.

(Any state over 1,000 is in red)

Alabama:  207

Alaska:  224

Arizona: 3,727

California:  2,375

Colorado:  1,803

Connecticut:  696

District of Columbia:  1

Florida:  274

Georgia:  2,720

Idaho:  733

Illinois:  1,284

Indiana:  374

Iowa:  395

Kansas:  254

Kentucky: 1,631

Louisiana:  118

Maine:  1,181

Maryland:  371

Massachusetts:  1,936

Michigan:  1,316

Minnesota:  10,804

Mississippi:  3

Missouri:  2,132

Nebraska:   322

Nevada:  331

New Hampshire:  270

New Jersey:  41

New Mexico:  161

New York:  3,721

North Carolina:  1,212

North Dakota:  690

Ohio:  5,439

Oklahoma:  76

Oregon:  1,492

Pennsylvania:  1,053

Rhode Island:  136

South Carolina:  94

South Dakota:  635

Tennessee: 2,091

Texas:  4,716

Utah:  1,990

Vermont:  368

Virginia:  939

Washington:  3,182

Wisconsin:  813

That should total:  64,332

If you are visiting RRW for the first time, you might want to visit this 2008 post where we did an original accounting of the Somalis resettled in the US going back to the early 1990’s.