Day: July 17, 2016

Syrians arriving in Nebraska, governor notified

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’m dashing off this post as I run out the door to make it to the next city this morning on my RRW road trip…

pete-ricketts-governor-320
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts is being notified about refugees arriving in the state. This is new news….

This is your usual fluffy puffy piece about happy, grateful refugees.
However there is a little nugget in here that I didn’t know.  Apparently governors are being notified by the feds about who is coming and how many. It is not clear if they are being notified where they will be placed.
If they are being notified, this is new news and a demonstration that our complaints about the secrecy of this program are changing how the US State Department and its contractors have operated for decades.
From the Omaha World-Herald:

During June alone, 2,406 Syrian refugees arrived — more than the previous six months combined. Such numbers appear to have the Obama administration on track to meet its stated budget year goal of resettling 10,000 refugees in the United States by the end of September.

Nebraska’s Syrian refugees arrived without fanfare, which was by design.

Local agencies settling the families on behalf of the U.S. government said they didn’t treat these arrivals any differently from the hundreds of other refugees they help relocate each year.

[….]

The Ricketts administration — which despite its protestations last November has acknowledged being powerless to stop the federal government’s resettlements — was aware that Nebraska had received its first Syrians. The governor receives a monthly report from the federal government with general information on refugees settled in the state, including nationality, gender and age.

In a statement to The World-Herald last week, Ricketts called on President Barack Obama to answer his and other governors’ calls to tighten security checks on new refugees.

More here.
Gotta run.  We have lots of previous posts on Nebraska especially interesting is one where a town rejected a meat packing plant because they didn’t want the disruption of immigrant/refugee labor.  Type the word Nebraska in our search window to learn more.

New Hampshire: Are they priming Laconia for a new resettlement site?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I could be wrong, but the fact that a refugee is going to tell you his success “story” at a roundtable discussion tomorrow night sure looks suspicious to me. Why bother with a propaganda event if they aren’t getting Laconia primed for a new resettlement site?

Laconia map
Manchester has been overloaded with refugees and so are they out scouting more sites in the state?

Here is the news at the Laconia Daily Sun:

LACONIA — As present global conflicts are forcing millions of individuals to flee their home countries, nations around the world are opening their borders to refugees in need of a place to resettle. Recognizing that Laconia has been one of the cities in New Hampshire welcoming refugees for the past 20 years, the Laconia Human Relations Committee is hosting an educational refugee resettlement roundtable forum in Laconia which will allow community members to better understand the process of resettlement in the region.

The forum will be held on Monday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m., at the Woodside Building at the Taylor Community. The forum aims to educate citizens on why refugee resettlement occurs and the process individuals must go through to get refuge in the United States. Carol Pierce, director of the Laconia Human Relations Committee, will facilitate a conversation with local refugees who have first hand accounts of how the process works in our region.

[….]

Stories like Ragassa’s will be shared at the roundtable forum, specifically discussing what challenges refugees had when they came to the United States and how they overcame them, as well as an informational presentation explaining the difference between immigrants and refugees. The forum is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested by calling 524-5600.

What the heck? Laconia has been welcoming refugees for 20 years we are told.  Well, I’ve been following the refugee program and Laconia has not been a resettlement site.  I didn’t go back 20 years, but I did go back into the data for the last nearly 8 years and other than 35 Bhutanese resettled there in 2009 and 2010, Laconia has not been a target site.
This ‘forum’ sounds to me like Laconia is in their crosshairs next!
For an extensive archive on New Hampshire (and especially Manchester) click here.

Top posts for the last week

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

rrw-logo-1Well, I am finally on the road—so far I’ve traveled about 400 miles from home on my month-long RRW road trip. As time goes on, and if I have interesting news to report, I’ll have more details.  But, I am mostly on a listening tour to hear directly from citizens concerned about the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program and how this federal program is impacting their towns (both culturally and economically).
I’m hoping I will be able to sneak a little time each day to post other news, but yesterday’s struggle with a hotel wi-fi was pretty discouraging.  As you saw though I was able to get a few bits of news posted and tweeted some other information as well. (Find me on twitter @RefugeeWatcher)
Here then are the Top Three most-read Posts of the last week at RRW (top daily posts are in the right hand sidebar):

Minnesota ‘sharia law’ billboard causing a stir

Massachusetts: Alleged assault by Syrian refugee exposes secretive nature of refugee program

Minnesota victim speaks in case of roving Somali gangs in upscale neighborhood

Thank you!!! I want to sincerely thank everyone who sent a donation in the last ten days.  I promise to e-mail each of you individually soon.
For new readers!  If this is the first time you’ve visited RRW, you might want to go back to the May roundup where I provide a long list of all the ways to research the refugee program at RRW where we have now written over 7,700 posts.  Go here for that information!
All previous roundups are archived here.