Voice of America has a wrap-up article for the FY16 UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program (saves us looking up the numbers). What tickled me was the US Conference of Catholic Bishops head lobbyist referring to refugees as their “clients.” We’ve been telling you that this is a business—big business—a several $ billion a year business.
Voice of America:
WASHINGTON —The United States narrowly missed its refugee cap for the fiscal year, closing out 12 months of political turbulence over admissions policies just five people short of the administration’s target of 85,000.
State Department data as of midnight October 1, the start of the 2017 fiscal year and the reset point for the government’s financial calendar, is the closest the refugee program has come to meeting the presidentially established limit in 24 years. [You knew they would bring them in here fast and not thoroughly vetted because Obama had to speed up his seeding plan—ed]
Among the largest groups of refugees this year were more than 12,500 Syrians, following a self-declared goal by the administration last September to admit at least 10,000 people fleeing civil war and Islamic State violence there.
Refugee Arrivals to the U.S. for FY2016
Dem. Rep. Congo: 16,370
Syria: 12,587
Myanmar: 12,347
Iraq: 9,880
Somalia: 9,020
Bhutan: 5,817
Iran: 3,750
Afghanistan: 2,737
Ukraine: 2,543
Refugee and resettlement officials told VOA last week that travel for some refugees who were scheduled to arrive by the end of September was postponed because the limit had been met. A State Department spokesperson did not confirm how many refugees were affected, but said that those who were delayed would be included in the coming fiscal year, which begins October 1. [See our post of a week ago about the “ceiling” each year—ed]
Our additional “clients” will be arriving shortly says USCCB honcho!
“We understand that some clients may be held back these days and booked immediately in October. Thus, we expect no effect on clients,” said Bill Canny, who heads migration and refugee services for one of the country’s longest-serving resettlement agencies, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
More resettlement cities have been chosen….
The article also says that the largest category for FY17 (for the first time) will be the Near East and South Asia category. We will be taking 40,000 of those. (Near East and South Asia includes: Afghanistan, Bhutan/Nepal, Iran, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Syria.)
Anne Richard, Asst. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, reported to VOA on the growing number of cities that will ‘welcome’ refugees! We knew that!***
Richard also said the number of cities where refugees are resettled in the U.S. is “likely to grow” in the coming months. Programs are already in place in roughly 350 cities in nearly every state.
The refugee industry’s lobbying arm weighed in with this:
Naomi Steinberg, director of Refugee Council USA, an advocacy group for 22 NGOs that work in refugee resettlement, said that what stood out for her after what she called “a difficult year of nasty political rhetoric” is that the U.S. continued a “proud tradition” of welcoming those fleeing persecution.
“We know that as loud as those anti-refugee voices are, that they are still in the minority,” said Steinberg.
Please get your testimony off to Senator Sessions today or at the latest tomorrow! Let Sessions know that Ms. Steinberg is blowing smoke!
***These are the new towns/cities we have learned about so far (we have heard that there are 47 new ones!). The selection process is mostly done quietly and out of public view.
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