Day: February 10, 2016

Greenwich, CT not getting refugees anytime soon (so they think!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday we told you about the Sanders ‘plant’ in a Trump townhall meeting in New Hampshire.  See that story first so you know what we are talking about here.

Screenshot (23)
Darren Ornitz a bearded Sanders supporter and former resident of Greenwich, CT implies Greenwich could get Syrian refugees.

The ‘plant’ Darren Ornitz implied that Greenwich, CT (where he ostensibly grew up) would soon see Syrian refugees resettled there. Since Greenwich is an upscale town, I’m figuring that is unlikely despite the fact that Connecticut elected officials are all for “welcoming” large numbers of Africans, Asians and Middle Easterners to the state (see Senator Richard Blumenthal here with CAIR CT).
Apparently alarmed by what Ornitz said, the Greenwich Time was quick to make sure the citizens there were safe for the time being.

Greenwich officials said Tuesday that they were not aware of any plans to settle Syrian refugees in town, a day after a Greenwich man pressed Donald Trump on his controversial immigration policy.

The unnamed man, who identified himself as being from Greenwich, asked Trump at a campaign event Monday in Salem, N.H., whether the Republican presidential candidate’s refugee policy would bar Syrian children from the country.

[….]

Trump’s stance is contentious, with many of his opponents disputing his characterization of Syrian refugees.

But the question that the Greenwich man asked Trump appears to be a moot one – at least for the moment – in Greenwich. Both Town Hall and school district officials said that they were not aware of any plans to relocate Syrian families to the town.

I recommend that the town fathers stay on top of the issue.

blumenthal and CAIR CT
Keep an eye on Senator Blumenthal (here with CAIR CT director) who wants to make security screening easier for Syrian refugees to get into the US!

Although the town’s wealth may be an impediment (rich, politically well-connected, people don’t want refugees in their towns), it is no guarantee it couldn’t happen.
State Department data base…
Connecticut has gotten 3,397 refugees since Obama took office.  The largest numbers went to Hartford and New Haven. None went to Greenwich.
I was surprised to see that Connecticut got 479 Somalis.  And, even more surprised to see that 61 Syrians have already been placed in the state (the largest number of those went to New Haven).
Go here for more on Connecticut.

Syrian refugees will need lots of mental health treatment in America

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..and you, the US taxpayer, will be paying for it! (or else!)
An estimated 1000-2000 of the coming 10,000 Syrians could need (costly!) mental health treatment!
Here is the AP story at ABC News (emphasis is mine):

For the thousands of Syrian refugees expected to arrive in the U.S. in coming months, the first order of business will be securing the basics — health care, jobs, education and a safe home.

But what organizations helping resettle them might not be prepared for, and what refugees themselves might be in denial about, is the need to treat the mental scars of war, experts said.

[….]

Organizations that work with refugees said it’s too early to assess the full scope of arrivals’ mental health needs. But experts say it’s important to keep tabs on the emotional state of new arrivals, since symptoms may not appear until months or years later — well after most resettlement support services have ended. [It is all on the community then which must come up with the $$$ for all of this care!—ed]

The U.S. has taken about 2,500 Syrian refugees since the conflict there began in 2011, including about 100 in Massachusetts. The Obama administration expects to take in at least 10,000 in the federal fiscal year that began in October. Experts estimate 10 to 20 percent of incoming Syrians will have war-related psychological problems warranting treatment.

mollica
At about two years after arrival reality hits and mental health problems appear according to Dr. Richard Mollica at Harvard. Photo and bio: http://www.williamjames.edu/about/profiles/faculty/richard-mollica.cfm

“They’re in the honeymoon phase,” said Richard Mollica, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School who has spent decades working with torture and genocide victims. “In the first year, they’re so happy to be out of that situation. They feel something wonderful is going to happen in America.

And “wonderful” doesn’t come and that is where I believe the mental health crisis begins!  
The streets are not paved with gold, they have to work (find work!) and the mythical city of El Dorado is just that, a myth. Many will want to go home.

“It’s only about two years later or so when there’s a mental health crisis,” he said. “It’s at that point that reality hits and they really need a lot of mental health care.”

And get this!  If you don’t take care of their mental health they could turn into Islamic terrorists!

Failure to address them could lead some refugees to withdraw from society, increasing the chances they’ll be drawn to extremist groups, Arnetz [Michigan professor] warned.

Some good news!  Syrians are only trickling into the US and at the present rate, Obama won’t get to that magic 10,000 by September 30th (the end of the 2016 fiscal year).  See numbers (so far) here.  I’m guessing the security screening is going very slowly.
For ambitious readers we have 289 previous posts in our ‘health issues’ category (refugees have a lot of health issues!).