In our previous post we reported that the Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) apparently played a role in getting those 14 Senators signed on to a letter urging Obama to open the flood gates to 65,000 Syrian refugees before his term in office expires!
I’ve mentioned RCUSA over the years, but honestly may have underestimated the role this consortium of non-profits play in advancing an open borders agenda by lobbying Congress and promoting secrecy about refugee resettlement in towns and cities across America (indeed they apparently are informing the 350 plus resettlement contractors to give no information to any of you calling your local resettlement offices looking for information on what is planned for your towns.)
Here are the members which pay “dues” to belong to this lobbying arm for the resettlement industry.
I sure hope they aren’t using our tax dollars for their dues! (Those in red are the nine major resettlement contractors):
- Asylum Access
- Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL)
- Center for Victims of Torture
- Church World Service/Immigration and Refugee Program
- Episcopal Migration Ministries
- Ethiopian Community Development Council
- HIAS
- Human Rights First
- International Catholic Migration Commission
- International Rescue Committee
- Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project
- Jesuit Refugee Service/USA
- Jubilee Campaign USA
- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
- ORAM- Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration
- RefugePoint
- Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration & Refugee Services
- U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
- World Relief
Here is what they do (important to understand that ‘advocacy’=lobbying):
RCUSA is a member-driven coalition and its funding comes solely from member dues. There are a number of standing committees that serve to structure the on-going work of the coalition. In addition to these committees, members are informed daily through RCUSA communications about meetings, events, and other relevant information pertaining to refugee and displacement issues.
General Council: The executives and/or officers from each member agency meet regularly to discuss the council’s work and reach consensus on key advocacy positions and other relevant issues.
Advocacy Committee: Individuals from each member agency meet bi-weekly in Washington, D.C. to coordinate legislative and administrative advocacy efforts at the national and local level.
The committee works together to advance refugee protection, strengthen the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), educate policymakers about the value of refugee protection and a strong resettlement program, and promote adequate funding for refugees. Katie Conway, Immigration and Refugee Policy Analyst, Episcopal Migration Ministries, currently chairs this Committee.
Go here for more!
Leadership of RCUSA
Chairmanship rotates and the present chair is Anastasia Brown of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, here. Brown is the contractor/lobbyist I observed who asked that we resettle more Rohingya Muslims here in 2013.
Refugee Council USA is chaired by the executives of member agencies on a rotating basis and has two full time staff.
RCUSA Chair: Anastasia Brown, Director of Resettlement Services of Migration and Refugee Services, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Anastasia Brown is the Director of Resettlement Services, Migration and Refugee
Services, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (MRS/USCCB). She has over 18
years of experience with refugee resettlement and is familiar with both overseas and
domestic resettlement issues. USCCB resettles approximately 28% of all refugees that
enter the United States. Ms. Brown served as the Chair of the Resettlement Committee
of the Refugee Council USA from 2008-2010. Ms. Brown served as the NGO co-chair
for the joint US Government/Refugee Council USA working group for the East Asia
Pacific Region from 2004-2007 and the Misrepresentation/Fraud Workgroup from 2004-
2006.
Prior to joining MRS/USCCB, Ms. Brown worked for the International Catholic
Migration Commission processing refugees from Vietnam under the Orderly Departure
Program.