I told you about this White House petition here, and I know that the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and possibly the International Rescue Committee (two federal resettlement contractors) were initially involved, or I wouldn’t have mentioned USCRI (their affiliation with the petition must have been removed) in my original post.
However, now we are told that it was one Syrian immigrant guy from Chicago, one stalwart young activist, who single-handedly came up with the idea and succeeded in getting over 100,000 signatures.
Of course all of those open borders activists who signed the petition have been identified by the White House as potential future allies for the Democrat party.
And, as a secondary benefit, the resettlement contractors and others pushing for more (mostly Muslim) Syrians to enter the US get a news hook (and more media pressure for Obama to raise the number of refugees to be admitted).
Here is the Huffington Post reporting on young George Batah:
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has responded to a petition calling on the U.S. to resettle tens of thousands of Syrian refugees within its borders, inviting the man who started the petition to the White House for a meeting.
George Batah, 23, came from Syria in 2013 and now lives in Chicago. He said he started the petition in late August because he felt the United States has a moral obligation to continue being “the leader in refugee resettlement.” [What is young George’s immigration status? It doesn’t say he is a refugee.—ed]
His petition asked the White House to accept at least 65,000 Syrian refugees by 2016. The administration did not commit to that number in its response Thursday, instead reiterating that it intends to bring at least 10,000.
[….]
Batah told The Huffington Post Thursday that while he was pleased to see the administration’s response, he intends to keep pushing officials to take more refugees.
“Ten thousand by 2016 is very meaningful, because 10,000 people’s lives would be saved,” Batah said. “But at the same time, I feel that a country like the U.S., with its resources, can contribute more in terms of the number.”
[How many readers here are infuriated that young George (here since 2013 with immigration status unknown) “feels” that you can spend more of your hard-earned tax dollars on Syrians running from THEIR civil war?—ed]
Why the secrecy?
After Batah started his petition, administration officials invited him to the White House for a meeting in mid-September. He met with staff members from the National Security Council and other departments, but said he wasn’t allowed to disclose exactly who was there.
“When we met, they clearly cared about the issue and wanted to help address the crisis overall,” Batah said. “I’m not in politics, it’s not my strength, but I felt they genuinely care about it.”
Now young George (“not in politics”) wants to start more petitions to get US mayors to ask for more Syrian refugees for your towns and cities.
Readers, beware of signing any petitions at Change.org!
Batah said he is continuing his activism on the issue, recently working with Change.org to encourage people to start petitions calling on their mayors to welcome more refugees.
Grrrr!
Don’t forget to help ACT pound those 18 mayors who have been demanding Obama admit 100,000 Syrians, here.