This is a major blow to the US Refugee Admissions Program since Texas is, by far, the largest resettlement state in the nation. Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Governor Greg Abbott seem to be in sync this week on protecting Texas from not adequately screened refugees. The governor’s complaint is that the federal government cannot adequately assure the state of Texas that all of the refugees from the Middle East and Africa being placed there are thoroughly screened.
And, in fact, that was confirmed in Senate testimony we heard this week (click here). At that hearing Senator Cruz of Texas elicited some damning testimony from federal officials.
The arrogant federal resettlement contractor will of course claim they can still operate in Texas as a so-called Wilson-Fish state like more than a dozen other states operate where there is no state government involvement. However, the Wilson-Fish program itself is constitutionally questionable and Governor Abbott, if serious, could block that too with a legal challenge.
But, at least in the short run, the program will be seriously disrupted and that alone will send ripples through the entire refugee industry. Here is the news (at Breitbart) that happened on the eve of the new fiscal year (tomorrow!) which will see a massive inflow of refugees especially from Syria and other hotbeds of terrorism unless the Republican Congress cuts the funding for the program when Congress reconvenes after the election in November.
Governor Greg Abbott has officially pulled the plug on Texas’ participation in the federal refugee resettlement program after the Obama Administration rejected specific security conditions.
The move by the Texas governor stops the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (THHSC) from coordinating the resettlement of these refugees that the Obama Administration has repeatedly said they cannot certify not to be a threat to the residents of the state. His action follows the rejection of a proposal announced previously where Texas officials demanded a certification that the refugees were not a security threat and a limit on the number of refugees to the original 2016 plan.
“Texas has repeatedly requested that the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Director of National Intelligence provide assurances that refugees resettled in Texas will not pose a security threat, and that the number of refugees resettled in Texas would not exceed the State’s original allocation in fiscal year 2016 – both of which have been denied by the federal government,” Abbott said in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “As a result, Texas will withdraw from the refugee resettlement program. As governor, I will continue to prioritize the safety of all Texans and urge the federal government to overhaul this severely broken system.”
Update of the update! Here is the Senate Judiciary Committee fax number: 202-224-9102. Please revisit the postfrom earlier this afternoon for updated instructions on how to send your testimony.
Unfortunately, unless I get further clarification, you will need to send your testimony in the form of a letter and please mail it Monday so it has the best chance of getting there in time.
This is the Update I just posted there: ***Update***Please take the time to write letters, in a letter format, I’ve been notified by the committee staff that they can’t simply post a couple of lines of e-mails. They have also asked that I remove the e-mail address I had originally published. You know how important this issue is to you, so spend a little time writing a formal letter!
Sorry for all the confusion! But, honestly, you all know that saving this country isn’t going to be easy! It will be a lot of work and take a lot of time if we are serious!
Update October 1: You can fax your testimony using the address below and send it to 202-224-9102. Update: This post has been updated, both in the post and here. Please follow the new instructions and as I said in my update—saving America isn’t going to be easy so take the time and write a formal letter! Tell the US Senate what you think about the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program by next Wednesday, October 5th. Senator Jeff Sessions wants to hear what you think about the plans for over 100,000 refugees proposed by Obama for resettlement in the US in 2017 (which begins tomorrow!).
I know you are very angry, however, while being forceful, be polite. Remember you are writing to Senator Sessions who has been the shining light in the Senate for years on the issue of immigration and jobs.
If you didn’t see the hearing this past Wednesday, watch it here to get inspiration. See Leo Hohmann’s good summary of what happened here.
For those of you in overloaded and stressed towns, or in towns where secrecy has surrounded an existing or planned program, report on what is happening where you live.
If you don’t have refugees (yet), don’t hesitate to say what you think. This program requires billions of your tax dollars! It would be a good idea to copy your letter to Sessions to your own US Senators and to your Representative in Congress. Be sure to reference the hearing on the President’s FY2017 Refugee Admissions Program and ask them in your cover note to them where they stand on this program. ***Update***Please take the time to write letters, in a letter format, I’ve been notified by the committee staff that they can’t simply post a couple of lines of e-mails. They have also asked that I remove the e-mail address I had originally published. You know how important this issue is to you, so spend a little time writing a formal letter! Address letters (testimony) to:
The Honorable Jeff Sessions
Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest
US Senate
Washington, DC 20510
You probably will have to snail-mail your testimony unless I can find a way to send it electronically (will update here if I can). Ask that your testimony/letter be included in the hearing record.
Get it there by October 5th!
P.S. Then take advantage of the fact that you testified to the US Senate and use it as a media opportunity for your local newspaper/websites/facebook etc.
Well, what else can you conclude when the federal government shovels a whopping $300,000 grant to a Somali women’s group located in Lewiston, ME.
How funny! The group was renamed with a more generic sounding name probably to more easily get the payola. Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins is one of the worst Republican Senators on the Hill. Years ago I went to a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing she was co-chairing and I was stunned by her naive and silly way of looking at the terrorism issue as it related to Somalis leaving the US to join the jihadists.
BTW, when we first began writing RRW back in 2007 there were allegations in Tennessee that similar grant money, to a Somali group for the women, ended up in some Imam’s pocket who had mysteriously returned to Somalia. Hereis the short story from AP:
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) – The federal Office on Violence Against Women is giving a Maine immigration resource center $300,000 for sexual assault and domestic violence advocacy in the immigrant community.
The money is going to Immigration Resource Center of Maine, which is located in Lewiston. The center was formerly called the United Somali Women of Maine.
Maine U.S. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins say the immigration resource center will create, maintain and expand sexual assault services for East African sexual assault victims who live in southern Maine. [I can assure you that white Mainers are not doing the assaulting!—ed]
The senators say the money will help provide culturally specific services to ensure that members of Maine’s East African community have support and education about sexual assault and domestic violence.
Wow! How many sexual assaults and domestic violence cases are there in Maine?
Where is the media on that hot story?
See our extensive archive on Maine by clicking here.
This article (below) at World Net Dailyis a must read for all citizens in the new ‘welcoming’ resettlement sites the federal government is identifying around the United States. Fargo Commissioner Dave Piepkorn: I think it (refugee resettlement) is the issue of the upcoming election; most people don’t know it yet.
We learned recently that there are 47 of them, but the US State Department is so secretive about where it’s sending refugees this year—110,000 of them if Obama has his way—that we only know of a handful (see list below).
Fargo, ND could be a poster city for what happens when a small city becomes swamped and the feds refuse to turn off the spigot.
This week the City Commissioners voted 5-0 to study just how much the program is costing the community with an eye to suing the federal government for what they call an “unfunded mandate.”
Here is Hohmann writing at World Net Dailywith a detailed summary of all the controversy on-going in Fargo (Fargo is one of the stops I made this summer on RRW’s roadtrip to troubled towns). This is a very detailed article and I’ve only snipped a small portion of it below:
The latest flashpoint in the growing backlash against refugee resettlement is Fargo, North Dakota, where the city commission is demanding a full accounting of the program’s costs.
“Surprisingly, that’s never been done before,” said a Fargo city commissioner, Dave Piepkorn, who spoke with WND this week and can be seen discussing his plan in the video above.
Fargo, like many other small cities that have received large numbers of refugees, has been divided by the issue. There have been protests against refugees and counter protests in favor of them, followed by biting blogs and news reports on both sides.
Fargo was thrust into the spotlight on Sept. 18 when it was revealed that the Somali refugee who attacked mall shoppers in St. Cloud, Minnesota, was originally resettled here.
“When we have one Muslim terrorist who tries to kill innocent people in St. Cloud, which is two hours from here, that raised my alarm,” said Piepkorn, who is leading the fight to expose the costs of refugee resettlement on his community.
[….]
Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota moved last year into a new, larger building, a symbol of its success in transforming Fargo into a model of diversity and multiculturalism.
Piepkorn, a former standout offensive lineman for the North Dakota State football team who was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1984, hopes to shine a light on the secretive process by which Fargo has been seeded with Third World refugees over the last two decades.
His proposal to direct the city staff to total up the costs of refugee resettlement in Fargo and Cass County was approved 5-0 by the city commission Monday night.
[….]
Fargo’s costs of integrating the refugees have been estimated at $250,000 for last year alone, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg, Piepkorn told WND.
Piepkorn said the U.S. State Department, which oversees the program, gives the city no say over how many refugees get sent to the community and from where. Those decisions are made by the State Department and Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, which gets paid a fee by the government for each refugee it resettles in Fargo.
[….]
He believes that if the influx of refugees from the Third World into Fargo is driven by the federal government then the federal government ought to pay for the costs. He’s calling it an “unfunded mandate,” and he told a local radio host Tuesday that if the feds don’t ante up to help offset the costs, then the city will consider filing a lawsuit.
[….]
I think it is the issue of the upcoming election; most people don’t know it yet.
Continue reading here, the story is a detailed summary of what is coming your way once your town becomes a new resettlement site. I don’t know what it takes to convince people that those who have been there know what they are talking about!
See all of our earlier posts on Fargo by clicking here.
Is your town one of dozens the US State Department has SECRETLY targeted?
(Broken record alert! I’m posting this on every post going forward!)
I get questions every day from readers wanting to know if there town is on the list (we recently heard that there are 47 of them). The State Department in Washington has a list, but to my knowledge it is kept secret from the general public until the refugee contractors (the VOLAGS) begin holding small meetings in town (your town) to start to line-up political support often through local ‘interfaith groups’ etc. The feds are on a hunt for more towns because, as we described with Fargo, existing resettlement sites are troubled and pushing back, plus Obama’s last proposal of 110,000 beginning tomorrow (the first day of the 2017 fiscal year) is huge and they will be desperate to find places to put so many impoverished people.
Everyone should revisit this older postI wrote entitled ‘Ten things your town needs to know’ about refugee resettlement for your community.
Here are the new resettlement cities we have identified so far (go herefor a list of established resettlement sites) Remember readers that the Republicans in Congress are letting this happen:
Asheville, NC
Rutland, VT
Reno, NV
Ithaca, NY
Missoula, MT
Aberdeen, SD
Charleston, WV
Fayetteville, AR
Blacksburg, VA
Pittsfield, MA
Northhampton, MA
*Flint, Michigan
*Bloomington, IN
*for new sites identified after original posting
Do you know other towns? Someone sent me another one the other day and I promptly forgot it! Although the good-for-nothing Congress quickly passed a Continuing Budget Resolution so they can get out of ‘Dodge’ (DC) and get home for 6 weeks, the funding issue is not dead this year.
They will be back in November to pass the budget for the remainder of FY2017 thus presenting another opportunity for us to CUT THE FUNDING for the massive number Obama has proposed.
Never forget! Right now the Republicans in Congress hold all the cards because they control the purse. If we get 110,000 or more (yes Hillary can even increase the number if she gets into the White House, she can say her 65,000 Syrian Muslims need to be airlifted here immediately), the blame will fall on the REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP who could cut off her money!
