Month: June 2015

CATO immigration "specialist:" Bring Syrian refugees in, but cut off their welfare

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If any of you are Libertarians and think the CATO Institute is the last word on libertarian good sense, you may not know that crazy CATO is for a free flow of immigrants around the world.   Here Alex Nowrasteh,  CATO immigration specialist, makes an emotional pitch to bring in Syrian refugees, but remembering that he is a Libertarian, near the end of his Op-ED in The Hill, says, but of course no welfare for them.

alex-nowrasteh-cato
Alex Nowrasteh, a Libertarian thinker in Washington: We didn’t save enough Jews in WWII, so now we have to bring in Syrians.

The Hill gave him space to say that we should open our borders to Syrians.  He threw out some tired old bromides and the usual Leftist guilt-tripping about previous refugees (he must be reading the Left’s open borders screeds).
Then finally he suggests it will be fine, bring them in, but don’t let them get welfare (when pigs fly!).  Where has he been?
The whole refugee resettlement apparatus in the US right now is built around our ever-expanding welfare system.  Indeed the primary job of federal refugee resettlement contractors is to get refugees firmly attached to the federal welfare teat!   From cash assistance, to food stamps, to subsidized housing and Medicaid, the non-profit government contractor’s job is to get them their “services” within the first three months of their arrival.
Clearly Mr. Nowrasteh doesn’t have a clue about the intricate web of interdependency between refugees, their contractors and government agencies and programs and the political power behind the refugee program.  Maybe he should read RRW occasionally.
Twenty paragraphs in to a twenty-two paragraph Op-Ed he says something we could support. 
Why didn’t he say it earlier? It is almost as if he says, ‘Oopsy’ I’m a libertarian, I better say something libertarian-like!
Most readers won’t even get this far!  In fact, most readers will be left (dabbing their eyes with tissues) after his emotional appeals of the first three-quarters of his piece.  I didn’t know libertarians are into emotional appeals and sob-stories!
Most on the Hill will say, Yes! CATO supports the Syrian resettlement.
Maybe the headline in the The Hill should have been something like this:  ‘Welfare should be disallowed for refugees, then we can talk about bringing in Syrians.‘  I would have disagreed with that too (about bringing in the Syrians), but at least it would have been an intellectually honest libertarian thing to say.
So, I think they call this burying the lead!   As almost an afterthought, Nowrasteh finally says in paragraph twenty:

Americans shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill!  Churches and charities should do it!

American taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill. Refugees have access to some means-tested welfare benefits before other immigrants do; that should end. Churches, charities and mutual aid associations should fulfill that responsibility.

Is CATO on the Hill actively lobbying for refugees to be disallowed welfare, or like way too many Washington ‘think tank’ experts are they just running their mouths while collecting big salaries for being supposedly ‘smart’ people?

Point me to a bill that CATO supports to disallow refugees to access welfare and I will apologize for calling them crazy!

Something smells in Twin Falls, Idaho; what is going on with the refugee program there?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update June 21:  Now it’s meatpackers to Boise, guess these big industries need cheap immigrant labor!

Some ideas on what concerned citizens must do to save Idaho are below!

Readers, yesterday I received a letter from an attorney telling me I had to take down the snips I had posted from a publication (MagicValley.com) from Twin Falls, Idaho.  The two posts are here and here.
In place of the snips I had used to illustrate my posts, I posted this:

Editor: The article has been removed at the request of an attorney for the newspaper which is clearly unhappy with any of their articles being partially posted here at RRW.

This is just further demonstration of how local newspapers are attempting to silence critics presumably because they are in the pockets of the federal government, the refugee contractors and the big businesses that need this cheap immigrant labor. Who is driving the cheap labor needs in Twin Falls?

You should know that the standard requirement of bloggers is that they may snip a modest portion of a published story and then attribute it (with links) to the original source (which I did).  The letter from the attorney (Benjamin J. Cluff, Coleman, Ritchie & Cluff) for The Times-News and Magicvalley.com was thus a pretty heavy-handed way to silence a critic of the Refugee Resettlement Program of the UN/US State Department’s distribution of third worlders to US towns and cities like Twin Falls, ID.

CSI refugees
College of Southern Idaho Refugee Programs: Changing America by changing the people!

Now my interest has been piqued! 

I thought Twin Falls was just one more small city with do-gooders driving the resettlement of refugees.  Now I don’t think so.
Someone is driving the resettlement in Twin Falls.  Is it some huge industry in need of cheap labor like Chobani, the yogurt maker who built the world’s largest yogurt plant there in 2012? 
Chobani’s Turkish founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, is a huge ‘friend’ of refugees and is pouring a vast fortune into helping refugees (hopefully worldwide and not promoting their shipment to America!).  According to wikipedia:

“On December 17, 2012 Chobani opened one of the world’s largest yogurt-processing plants in Twin Falls, Idaho.”

We know from years of writing about it that meatpackers work with resettlement contractors to get them cheap labor, do yogurt makers do the same?
Or, is it a plan being driven by the White House to colonize rural Idaho with ‘diversity’ (or both?). Note that new mosques are popping up!   I don’t know the answer yet, but I want Idaho citizen activists to continue digging!  Who wants to change Twin Falls?  Find out!
I can tell you what it is not!  It is not a warm and fuzzy humanitarian desire to give the good life to thousands of impoverished third worlders in lovely Idaho.   That is just the cover for a much more diabolical plan.  Local ‘church’ people and others thinking they are doing good works are being used.
What really got my interest this morning, prompting me to write this post, is that one of those two posts cited by the heavy-handed lawyer letter, this one, has gone through the roof overnight as hundreds of readers are clicking on it.  Why?

So what is next? 

Concerned citizens in Southern Idaho who want to maintain their Idaho (American!) culture must now get the facts, publicize them, and step up their community organizing.   Here are some of my recommendations in a list that is by no means meant to be all-inclusive:

* First, find out what big industry (industries?) in need of cheap immigrant labor is driving the resettlement?

* Then you must learn everything you can about the resettlement of refugees in Idaho (a Wilson-Fish state).  Go here to your state coordinator’s website.  Ask Director Jan Reeves for your state plan (Reeves is an Obama ‘champion of change’).

* Then find out who is responsible for resettling the refugees, not just in Twin Falls but throughout the state of Idaho.  You know who it is in Twin Falls.  It is the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Programs, here.

Note that they are an affiliate of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) which means they get their federal payola through USCRI and USCRI sends the refugees to them (after selecting them with the US State Department).  We have written many posts on USCRI and its leader Lavinia Limon who was Clinton’s director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and as such represents the perfect example of the government/contractor revolving door.  Last I looked the private non-profit USCRI was 99% funded by the US taxpayer.

I could not find a Form990 for the CSI Refugee Programs.  You need to dig out their financial docs!

* Next ask the CSI Refugee Programs for its FY2015 Abstract.   The R & P Abstracts are the documents sent by the subcontractor to its contractor and ultimately to the US State Department.  We have been told that all resettlement contractors have been instructed not to give them out!  Try anyway!

* Although your local government will say the refugee program is out of their hands, you must now pressure the mayor, the council or the county commission (not sure what the local government structure is in Idaho) to get involved and fess-up about what role they played in “welcoming” refugees to Twin Falls.  All local government officials are supposed to have been consulted every year.

* Find out if there is an upcoming “stakeholders” meeting somewhere in Twin Falls about now as the resettlement contractor is preparing its R & P Abstract for FY2016—how many refugees Twin Falls will get, from where, and what amenities the town has to offer the refugees.  For an example of a ‘stakeholder’ meeting see St. Cloud, MN yesterday, here.

* Someone in the community must publicize everything you find out either in a website or blog for others to learn from!  I can’t emphasize this enough! You clearly have biased reporting going on in the local mainstream media—The Times-News and Magicvalley.com.  You must go around them with alternative media!

* Focus your grassroots campaign on two indisputable facts about refugee resettlement in America—it is secretive and costly!

More later, this is getting way too long!

Shake up in Denmark as anti-immigration party gains power

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Some countries in Europe ‘get-it’ and are trying to stop the invasion of their country, but I think it might be too little too late as thousands of migrants come ashore elsewhere in the EU.

New political force in Denmark, Kristian Thulesen Dahl of the Danish Peoples Party, does not want to be co-opted and may stay out of the government to wield power from outside.

From the Guardian:

Denmark woke up on Friday to a radically altered political landscape after the anti-immigrant Danish People’s party finished second in the country’s general election and demanded stricter border controls to stem the movement of migrants.

The DPP took more than 21% of the vote and 37 seats in the country’s 179-seat parliament. On a night of political contradictions, the centre-left Social Democrats, who increased their vote and were easily the biggest party, conceded defeat and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark’s first female prime minister, resigned as party leader.

[….]

Despite becoming the new strongman of Danish politics, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, the DPP leader, held out the prospect that he would stay out of government, preferring to wield influence by propping up a minority coalition of the centre-right while maintaining his party’s independence, even at the expense of ministerial positions.

Dahl is wary that the party’s image may be damaged by power, as has happened in Norway where the anti-immigrant Progress party has suffered a sharp loss of popularity since joining a coalition with the Conservatives. In Finland, the rightwing populist Finns party entered a coalition government in April.

In a speech on Thursday night, Dahl listed four priorities for the DPP: cutting the number of asylum seekers; reintroducing border controls; reforming the EU, with Britain as a close ally, to prevent migrants claiming benefits; and raising welfare spending on sick and elderly people.

For our complete archive on the ‘Invasion of Europe’ click here.  And, for our previous posts on Denmark, go here.

What about America?  Anyone with guts here?

I’m watching Donald Trump, the only US Presidential candidate willing to make the case about the problem of mass immigration.  Here he is on twitter this week:

Druggies, drug dealers, rapists and killers are coming across the southern border. When will the U.S. get smart and stop this travesty?

Retweets 755

Southern Poverty Law Center's war on women!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The filthy rich Southern Poverty Law Center announced its list of 12 women it claims are anti-sharia activists according to Judicial Watch blog yesterday in a post entitled, ‘SPLC Issues Hit List of U.S. Women Against Sharia Law.’
***Update*** The full report is here.

Mark Potok is one of the authors of the hit on twelve brave American women.

So this is what I would like to know, if any of these women are harmed (God forbid), could the Southern Poverty Law Center be sued and possibly charged with instigating a ‘hate’ crime? Just wondering…..
Here is JW:

The Obama-tied leftist group that helped a gunman commit an act of terrorism against a conservative organization has assembled a starter kit for Islamists to attack American women who refuse to comply with Sharia law, the authoritarian doctrine that inspires Islamists and their jihadism.

It’s the summer special from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an extremist nonprofit that lists conservative organizations that disagree with it on social issues on a catalogue of “hate groups.” A few years ago a gunman received a 25-year prison sentence for carrying out the politically-motivated shooting of the Family Research Council (FRC) headquarters after admitting that he learned about the FRC from the SPLC “hate map.” Prosecutors called it an act of terrorism and recommended a 45-year sentence.

Now the SPLC, which has conducted diversity training for the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ), is targeting female bloggers, activists and television personalities who refuse to comply with Sharia law which is rooted in the Quran.

There is more, continue reading here.  I wonder how much the SPLC gets from CAIR?
Readers will remember that last year we learned about a Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society report in which HIAS said it was bringing in the SPLC to investigate anyone who is involved with pushing back against the refugee resettlement program, here.  Haven’t seen any sign of them yet!

US State Department contracts with nine major refugee resettlement contractors which are not allowed to proselytize

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Recently members of the ‘church’ community in Spartanburg, SC, involved with resettling refugees there, told the media that they expected to use the opportunity of resettling the refugees as an opportunity to bring them to Jesus Christ.  See our extensive coverage on Spartanburg by going to our first post with updates, here.

However, such evangelizing is strictly forbidden in a contract prospective resettlement agencies sign with the US State Department.  

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Affairs Anne Richard arrives for a press conference at a hotel in Putrajaya, Malaysia Monday, June 1, 2015. Richard said resettlement in a third country is not the answer to the swelling tide of boat people in Southeast Asia and called for Myanmar citizenship to be given to Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution there. (AP Photo/Joshua Paul)
Anne C. Richard, Asst. Secretary of State for Population Refugees and Migration: Thou shalt not discuss Jesus Christ with refugees (if you have signed a contract with the federal government)! (AP Photo/Joshua Paul)

I knew I had seen it somewhere (and written about it!), but this week a young researcher reminded me of where I had seen that prohibition. It is here at a US State Department website explaining exactly what contractors can and cannot do when receiving money from you and me.
This is the complete page from the State Department website (this will be filed in our ‘where to find information’ category for future reference).  There is a lot of good information here and I’ve highlighted some points that we need to remember.
Note that the unelected contractors sit down with the State Department and decide which of your towns will get the refugees.

The Reception and Placement Program

Planning for Refugees’ Arrival in the United States

The Department of State works with nine domestic resettlement agencies that have proven knowledge and resources to resettle refugees. Every week, representatives of each of these nine agencies meet to review the biographic information and other case records sent by the overseas Resettlement Support Centers (RSC) to determine where a refugee will be resettled in the United States. During this meeting, the resettlement agencies match the particular needs of each incoming refugee with the specific resources available in a local community. If a refugee has relatives in the United States, he or she is likely to be resettled near or with them. Otherwise, the resettlement agency that agrees to sponsor the case decides on the best match between a community’s resources and the refugee’s needs.

Information about the sponsoring agency is communicated back to the originating RSC, which then works with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to transport the refugee to his or her new home. The cost of refugee transportation is provided as a loan, which refugees are required to begin repaying after they are established in the United States. [A large percentage do not repay the loan money and of the money collected, the contractor gets to keep a share of it!—ed]

Once in the United States

The Department of State has cooperative agreements with nine domestic resettlement agencies to resettle refugees. While some of the agencies have religious affiliations, they are not allowed to proselytize. The standard cooperative agreement between the Department of State and each of the domestic resettlement agencies specifies the services that the agency must provide to each refugee. All together, the nine domestic resettlement agencies place refugees in about 190 communities throughout the United States. Each agency headquarters maintains contact with its local affiliated agencies to monitor the resources (e.g., interpreters who speak various languages, the size and special features of available housing, the availability of schools with special services, medical care, English classes, employment services, etc.) that each affiliate’s community can offer.

As the cooperative agreement requires, all refugees are met at the airport upon arrival in the United States by someone from the sponsoring resettlement affiliate and/or a family member or friend. They are taken to their apartment, which has basic furnishings, appliances, climate-appropriate clothing, and some of the food typical of the refugee’s culture. Shortly after arrival, refugees are helped to start their lives in the United States. This includes applying for a Social Security card, registering children in school, learning how to access shopping facilities, arranging medical appointments, and connecting refugees with needed social or language services. [The contractors are paid by you to supply these services.—ed]

The Department of State’s Reception and Placement program provides assistance for refugees to settle in the United States. It supplies resettlement agencies a one-time sum per refugee to assist with meeting expenses during a refugee’s first few months in the United States. Most of these funds go toward the refugees’ rent, furnishings, food, and clothing, as well as to pay the costs of agency staff salaries, office space, and other resettlement-related expenses that are not donated or provided by volunteers.

Though the Department of State’s Reception and Placement program is limited to the first three months after arrival, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement works through the states and other nongovernmental organizations to provide longer-term cash and medical assistance, as well as language, employment, and social services.  [They have three months to cost-shift this program and the care of the refugees to state taxpayers!—ed]

Refugees receive employment authorization upon arrival and are encouraged to become employed as soon as possible. Based on years of experience, the U.S. refugee resettlement program has found that people learn English and begin to function comfortably much faster if they start work soon after arrival. Most refugees begin in entry-level jobs, even if they have high-level skills or education. With time, many if not most refugees move ahead professionally and find both success and satisfaction in the United States.

After one year, refugees are required to apply for permanent residence (commonly referred to as a green card) and after five years in the United States, a refugee is eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship. [And these same contractors/subcontractors are being paid (by you!) to get as many through the citizenship process as they can before 2016!—ed]

If you are a new reader, here are the nine major federal contractors that monopolize refugee resettlement in America.  LOL! You could never break into this cabal of contractors because in order to get these federal grants and contracts you have to prove you have experience resettling refugees, but you can never get experience because of the way the system is set up!