Day: August 24, 2016

Georgia mosque plan: Commissioner asks will it bring refugees here?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yes, it most likely could, mosques are part of the hijra (the migration), however a resettlement contractor spokeswoman quickly said, NO.  She doesn’t believe refugees can be successful in this county.
Hmmm! Wonder where all the new Muslims (enough for a big new mosque and cemetery) are coming from then?
Here is the news from AP at Fox News (is Fox calling CAIR a civil rights group in its headline?):

ATLANTA – A proposal to build a mosque and Muslim cemetery has so angered some residents of Newton County outside Atlanta that their commissioners have temporarily banned all building permit approvals for religious institutions.

amy crownover
Crownover: Newton County need not fear it will become a refugee magnet. Refugees could not be successful there she said. Photo: http://www.pointsoflight.org/blog/2014/10/10/how-dose-reality-made-me-leader

The moratorium prompted the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the NAACP to request a federal civil rights investigation in Newton County. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney John Horn confirmed receipt of this complaint Tuesday, but declined comment.

Mohammad Islam, the religious leader behind the proposal, said he doesn’t intend to take any legal action; instead, he met Tuesday with local leaders of other faiths in Newton County, seeking their support for a fresh start.

[….]

One commissioner questioned whether the project would make Newton County “a prime area for the federal government to resettle refugees from the Middle East” in an interview with The Rockdale Citizen, a local newspaper. Two public meetings were held, both crowded with angry opponents who clapped and cheered when people expressed fears about global terrorism.

[….]

But places like Newton County need not fear becoming magnets for refugees, said Amy Crownover, spokeswoman for New American Pathways. The organization is one of five refugee resettlement organizations in Georgia that are contracted with the federal government to assist refugees arriving in the United States.

“We work in partnership with communities, looking for communities where refugees can be successful,” which requires easy access to public transportation, jobs, English classes and other services. Newton County “isn’t an ideal setting,” Crownover said.

I’m wondering if she is implying the folks there are unwelcoming? But, of course, we know that hasn’t stopped the contractors in other locales.
Georgia has been a real hot bed of controversy and is one of the original pockets of resistance to the Refugee Admissions Program, click here for our Georgia archive.

NC Rep confirms it: The buck stops with him and others in Congress

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’m not sure that Rep. Mark Meadows’ goal in holding the town hall in the Ashville area last night was to direct his constituents right back to him and other members of Congress when it comes to stopping, slowing, or putting on steroids the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program, but that is what he did with these comments.

Meadows answers questions
Rep. Mark Meadows answers questions about refugee program in his district. Will he be one of the leaders to remove funding for refugee resettlement in funding battles this fall?

The President, Obama, can make determinations all he wants about how many refugees the US tax payer will pay for next year, but it is Congress that supplies the cold hard cash for the federal agencies (both the US State Department and the Dept. of Health and Human Services).
Bringing in large numbers of refugees obviously requires more money!

So, the question this fall will be this: Will Speaker Paul Ryan and the Republicans fully fund the Obama invasion or not?  It is that simple!

Here is the news about the town hall meeting.  The article doesn’t say it, but it sounds like most of those present OPPOSE more refugees for the US (and none for their community!).

FLAT ROCK, N.C. — Congressman Mark Meadows held a town hall Tuesday night to discuss efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in our area.

International Rescue Committee, a resettlement agency, said it is still looking at Asheville. Meadows said Saint James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville is backing off the idea, in part, because of the community reaction.

[….]

One man said the money was better spent on Americans. [A sentiment we hear everywhere.—ed]

“I just feel that we have enough people now that we have to take care of,” Tom Mcrary Jr., from Brevard, said.

Meadows explained the money for refugees comes from the U.S. State Department. Once the money is budgeted to the State Department, it cannot be moved to another department.

Well, Rep. Meadows don’t give it to the State Department this fall! The State Department doesn’t grow it on trees, you appropriate it to them!

Meadows informed the crowd refugee resettlement is a federal program, and state legislators cannot prevent refugees from coming. 

But, you can Mr. Meadows!  Will you?

See Refugee program is major issue for November election!  Your member of Congress is home right now (for the next two weeks) and every one of them is up for re-election.  Find them and ask them if they will be funding Obama’s invasion or not!

Trending? Connecticut resettlement contractor farming out refugee families

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This may be happening already where you live, but this is the first time I’m seeing such a strategy.
A subcontractor of both Episcopal Migration Ministries and Church World Service (two of nine major contractors) in Connecticut is lining up towns to take refugee families, raise money for them and take over much of the responsibility for the family.

Blumenthal
Senator Blumenthal with the Connecticut Director of CAIR. We want Syrians resettled in CT!

I would really like to know if this is a new strategy for the federal contractors who are in fact doing a pretty lousy job of assimilating new refugees as the numbers keep rising beyond what they can handle. The article I’m posting (below) says there are 50 such arrangements in CT.
Connecticut politicians have made it very clear over the last year that the state is going to welcome as many Syrian Muslims as possible.  See this post from last fall where CT Senator Blumenthal announces that he wants to see a reduction in screening time for Syrians (he got his wish since the Obama Administration did indeed reduce the normal 18 months or more down to 3 months to get his 10,000 Syrian Sunnis here by the end of September).
Here is the news item that caught my eye this morning at the Hamlet Hub. Mark your calendars:

In response to the global refugee crisis, a group of area residents has applied to sponsor a refugee family in Ridgefield in partnership with Integrated Immigration and Refugee Services (IRIS), a non-profit agency that has been resettling refugees in Connecticut for over 30 years. This local group, the Refugee Resettlement Committee—Ridgefield (RRCR), will host an information session for the public at the Ridgefield Library on Thursday, September 15 at 10am.

According to IRIS, there are 19 million refugees in the world today, the largest number since World War II. The U.S. Government is inviting 85,000 of those refugees to become Americans in 2016; that number will increase to 100,000 in 2017. Eight hundred are arriving in Connecticut this year; 450 of them will be welcomed by IRIS and its more than 50 state-wide co-sponsors. These refugees will arrive legally, fully vetted, fully documented and with many skills, but most likely without English or money.

Ridgefield-1.8
IRIS is headquartered in New Haven, home of Yale University.

As an IRIS co-sponsor, the RRCR will help the family secure affordable housing, find jobs, access language training, and navigate the education, health and social services systems. The goal is that the family be relatively self-sufficient in six months. During that first six months, however, they will need help with transportation and living expenses, so the committee is recruiting volunteer drivers and trying to raise $15,000 for the family.

To learn more about the process and how to get involved, come to the information session or contact the committee at RRCRidgefield@gmail.com. To make a tax-deductible donation, go to the ‘online giving’ tab at www.ststephens-ridgefield.org, which is managing donations on behalf of the committee.

A cautionary tale….
Just about the time I started RRW, a church in my town privately sponsored an African family.  It became a nightmare for the church that finally ended when the family left for Minnesota to be with others of their African ethnic group.  Church members were ultimately left with a bitter taste in their mouths.  They first became weary of driving members of the family everywhere, and then were left with a mess in the donated home they permitted the refugees to use free of charge as the family packed up and left.  The appliances in the home had to be trashed and the place repainted.
I would like to know who will be responsible for rental property etc. (or if some crime occurs) in Ridgefield, IRIS or the local welcoming citizens? And, do the Ridgefield citizens get to pick their family—perhaps a quiet Buddhist or Christian family?