Month: October 2016

DEFUND Refugee Program: Calling on Texas where key House and Senate legislators reside

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is the first in a series of posts I will be writing in the coming weeks haranguing readers and all those concerned with the rapidly expanding UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program (RAP).
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Although it is wonderful to see and hear about all the great things you are doing to educate the public and pressure your local and state officials about problems you see with the RAP, but frankly there is only one place (besides electing Donald Trump) where you should be putting most of your energy over the coming weeks.
Keep it simple! DEFUND the Refugee program!

Use all of your local action to pressure your Member of Congress and US Senators to DEFUND the RAP on the final budget vote which must happen by December 9th.

At right is the House of Representatives calendar for the remainder of the year (subject to change, as they say, post election). There is little time!
The Obama Administration has said they want 110,000 refugees (20,000-30,000 will be Syrian Muslims) admitted to the US by September 30, 2017.  If the Dept. of State (DOS) and the ORR (in Health and Human Services) do not have the money for that many, they will not be able to bring in that vast number.  It is that simple.
The present Continuing Resolution has the program funded at the 2016 level (which is not enough money for 110,000 either).

Go Texas!

Already the state has shown that the will of the people is to not bring in more refugees (based on Governor Abbott’s strong stance on the program).  However, the DOS and the federal resettlement contractors there are thumbing their noses at the governor and have made Texas once again the top resettlement state in the nation this fiscal year already, see here.  Make no mistake! This is about turning the red state blue!

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Tell your member of Congress to follow Texas Rep. Brian Babin’s lead to defund the Refugee Admissions Program.

A few weeks ago, relentless and brave Rep. Brian Babin made an attempt to cut the funding for the RAP on the Continuing Resolution with this letter and with a visit to the House Rules Committee seeking a rider for that CR.  Rules did not grant him his request.

However, we expect to see another effort by Dr. Babin on the looming FY2017 Budget right after the election.

We are told that he is committed to seeking out every opportunity to defund the refugee program, including in any must-pass budget legislation, and will be looking for other Members of Congress to join him in this effort.
All of you must go to your Congressman right now in the weeks before the election and pressure them to support any effort by Congressman Babin to rein-in the program.
However, in our first in a series of posts, it is members of the powerful Texas delegation that are critical to this effort.
Before I get to the Texas targets…. 
I can’t emphasize enough that by controlling the flow of money for costly resettlement, it consequently reduces the number to be resettled.  At present the Administration is working overtime to get as many refugees resettled before Inauguration Day in January.  If Hillary wins they will have a jump on possibly an even greater flow (she will use emergency powers) for the remainder of the year (assuming they get $$$ out of Congress).
If Donald Trump wins it will likely take a few months to slow the flow because he will have to get his people placed, especially in the State Department where Anne Richard would have to be gone ASAP.  I anticipate there will be much screaming and crying that there are thousands of refugees in the pipeline and it would be heartless to stop the flow especially if Congress has granted them a huge budget for FY2017.
So, it all comes back to Congress and funding! The House of Representatives is most important, but you must reach your Senators too!
Although they might like to stay in the shadows, here are the key members of the House that Texas patriots must target in coming weeks! These are some of the most important REPUBLICAN members with the power to rein-in the program!
House Appropriations Committee members from Texas:

Kay Granger

John Culbertson

John Carter

House Judiciary Committee members (some of these are already friendly to our concerns) from Texas (Judiciary Committee has oversight responsibility for the RAP):

Lamar Smith

Louie Gohmert

Ted Poe

Blake Farenthold

John Ratcliffe

House Rules Committee members from Texas:

Pete Sessions (Chairman!)

Michael Burgess

House Homeland Security Committee members from Texas (because more than perhaps others, these members understand the security risks):

Michael McCaul (Chairman!)

Lamar Smith

Will Hurd

John Ratcliffe

Do you see how important Texas members of Congress are?  Those are the members above and also Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn who have the real power to slow the flow of refugees to Texas and to America!
Call on Cruz and Cornyn to follow Rep. Brian Babin’s initiative to defund the program on the Senate side.
See all of those above on the campaign trail and make sure they get the message from you before they return to Washington on November 14th!
If you don’t live in Texas, keep pressure on your member (and on Speaker Paul Ryan!) to back Rep. Babin.  In the coming days and weeks we will have more targets in other states.  Stay tuned!
For more posts about Congress budgetary role, go to our tag ‘Where is Congress’

New refugee seeding site: Youngstown, Ohio

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have been trying to identify the new resettlement sites the US State Department has been bragging about.  They are very secretive about where they want to go next, but they need new sites as they wear out their welcome in long established sites and because Obama has determined that the numbers are being vastly expanded for FY2017 which is already underway.

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Mrosko was involved with the Welcoming Cleveland initiative we mentioned here in 2013. There are about 600 refugees being placed in Cleveland now. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2013/07/16/tom-negri-and-welcoming-america-are-planning-to-change-cleveland-starting-tonight/

There is no list one can access (they have mentioned 47). There are only stories like this one that sneak into local news that tip us off as to where they want to go next.  For new readers, Catholic Charities would be a subcontractor of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Catholics in Youngstown must have run out of poor Americans to care for there.
From WKBN News  (hat tip: Joanne):

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown held a community forum to discuss the thought of bringing refugees to Youngstown.

About 200 people, both for and against the idea, attended the meeting at Saint Columba Hall Wednesday night.

It was an opportunity for those who are enthusiastic about the possibility of refugee resettlement, as well as those who may be resistant to the idea, to learn more about the issue, ask questions and engage in a dialogue.

[….]

“Maybe 25 to 30 people, which is not that many, and help them by being involved in the work of the Catholic Charities here,” said Cleveland Migration and Refugee Services Director Thomas Mrosco.

On that last point, we have been led to believe that a new resettlement site cannot be established unless it starts with 50 refugees in the first year.  Then, like it or not, the pattern is that the next year they will get 100-150 until they are like the town of Lancaster, PA be swamped with 700 needed third worlders arriving every year!
See our ‘Ten things you need to know if you are ‘welcoming’ refugees for the first time.’  Once a site is opened, there will be no going back and your town will not get to pick from the ethnic groups the DOS is bringing in.
Here is the original list of sites, click here.  And here, below, are the new sites we have identified so far:
Asheville, NC
Rutland, VT
Reno, NV
Ithaca, NY
Missoula, MT
Aberdeen, SD
Charleston, WV
Fayetteville, AR
Blacksburg, VA
Pittsfield, MA
Northhampton, MA
Flint, MI
Bloomington, IN
Traverse City, MI
Watertown, NY (maybe)

City Journal: Refugees bring numerous health problems with them to your towns; more reporting needed

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

LOL! But New York City dwellers need not worry too much because most refugees resettled in the state of New York go to other towns and cities.  New York is virtually always in the top five resettlement states in the nation.
This article at City Journal by Jonathan Leaf is a bit strange as one is initially cautioned about using fear mongering on the subject of refugee health, but when you read carefully writer Leaf then tells readers about some serious health concerns and he wraps up with this paragraph:

Regardless of their views of secularism, constitutionalism, or jihad, refugees entering the United States from the Middle East may be vulnerable to or carrying an array of potentially serious ailments. Thoughtful reporting on this aspect of the refugee debate is long overdue.

We have been doing thoughtful reporting on refugee health issues for nine years! For any serious student of refugee health, visit our ‘health issues’ category with 319 previous posts on the topic.

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We are bringing in 50,000 from the DR Congo at this time. Communicable diseases found in Congolese refugees during domestic medical examinations in 6 states from 2010–2013 (n=2,355)* From the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/profiles/congolese/health-information/communicable-disease/std.html

Here (below) is more from City Journal.  I don’t see any mention of huge mental health treatment needed by refugees or any mention of who is paying for all the treatment (that would be you, the taxpayer).

Most of the critical comments in the press—and almost all of the hostile insinuations from our politicians—about the arrival of refugees from the Middle East have focused on the newcomers’ Islamic faith. The persistent question being asked is, “What are the implications of a growth in the numbers of Muslims in our country?” This might be a legitimate concern, but it’s obscuring immediate issues about the health of these refugees. That subject is either ignored or presented in hysterical terms.

[….]

For residents of New York City, afflictions affecting refugees are unlikely to have much immediate consequence. That’s because the federal agency coordinating refugee resettlement is bringing roughly 95 percent of refugees entering the state to locations outside the city. In addition, all refugees entering the country receive two medical screenings. One, which is intensive, is undertaken three to six months before arrival. A much briefer follow-up examination is done just before the refugee comes to our shores. [As we have said previously, having been screened does not mean they are screened out and denied entry!—ed]

[….]

Many refugees now arriving in the United States are affected by potentially serious communicable ailments. Indeed, since at least 2001, health authorities in Minnesota have known that more than one-third of those in the state with active tuberculosis cases were Somali immigrants. This problem has existed among many other immigrant groups as well, according to a study published by the National Institutes of Health, including patients from “Ethiopia, Laos, Mexico, Vietnam, Mexico, Liberia and India.” Thus, by 2014, 73 percent of tuberculosis cases in Minnesota affected the foreign-born, and approximately two-thirds of TB cases nationally are found among immigrants.

[….]

The infected may develop the disease later or act as carriers of the bacillus.

Measles has become endemic in Syria, and Syrians show high rates of infection with highly communicable hepatitis A. Refugees wishing to come to the United States must demonstrate that they have been immunized for these diseases.

Of greater concern is the incidence of parasitic infections among refugees.

On this last point, I agree with author Leaf that the parasitic infections are not being given much attention.  Indeed that young Congolese boy who died at O’Hare may well have died from an E-coli infection as a result of severe parasite destruction of his intestines.  (Google the story because the autopsy has been released.)
Click here to read more.
One story I didn’t get to this week, is Michael Patrick Leahy’s latest on Tuberculosis (Ticking Time Bomb) in the immigrant/refugee community. Leahy has obviously made it his mission to put the spotlight on what Leaf describes as a legitimate (and under-reported) concern.
Warning! Not only should you be concerned for your personal health and your family members’ health who must come in contact with refugees newly arrived in America, but you should be concerned for your pocket books! Obamacare does not have money trees growing in Washington no matter what the Democrats might want you to believe!

Trump should have mentioned Mama Merkel's mess as migrants sue German government

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe news….

German Chancellor Angela Merkel flung Germany’s gates open wide over a year ago and the world poured in.

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Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel must never be permitted to serve together as leaders of two great world powers!

With tens of thousands seeking asylum (permanent refugee status), the German government gave them a temporary status until their claims could be processed.  That temporary status came with a stipulation that they could not bring their extended family members until granted permanent asylum.
Since then, thousands of refugees have successfully sued using international law.
Beware America!  This is why protecting our national sovereignty is so important!  We cannot permit any treaties or agreements that would allow foreign courts to dictate immigration/refugee policy here (but we may be doing that already!).
What is happening to Germany is why we need to revisit any such agreements if Donald Trump is elected President in a few short weeks.
Here is the news that should be concerning for all Western nations who wish to remain free.

More than 17,000 refugees have complained against the partial asylum status, known as subsidiary protection, offered by the German Government.

On arrival in Germany refugees are given the form of asylum from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

But the partial status which means they are safe from being deported, includes a two year ban on families coming to join them.

In the first eight months of this year 90 per cent of refugees who challenged the subsidiary protection status won their case and were granted full rights under the Geneva Refugee Convention.

More here.
Our ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive is here.

NPR sends 'Islam expert' (not!) SHEREEN MARISOL MERAJI to Montana

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Sheesh! Just like the 60 Minutes ‘story’ I couldn’t bring myself to watch, I can’t listen to this B.S. from race- baiting NPR reporter SHEREEN MARISOL MERAJI. See her bio.

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Shereen Marisol Meraji, NPR resident expert on Islam and self-described “caffeine addicted 90s hip-hop head.”

I traveled to Montana and met the truly wonderful people (the same ones she is disparaging) in the Flathead this past summer who have legitimate concerns about how the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program could bring unwanted change (dumped on them from Washington) to their beautiful rural community in far Northwest Montana.
(Do our tax dollars help fund biased NPR? If so, let’s make it our aim in January (when Trump is elected) to cut any funds they still get from us, the taxpayers, for next year. And stop listening to NPR!)
Ms. Meraji reports that everything she heard in Montana that was critical of Islam is “fiction.”  So what makes her an Islamic scholar?  Here is how she describes herself at her twitter page:

Exploring race and identity with @nprcodeswitch and reporting on everything in between. Persia-Rican Zumba dancing caffeine addicted 90s hip-hop head.

Alrighty then…sounds like an expert.
By the way, her disparagement of Act for America should make anyone who is not already a member, run over to their website and join right now!

Here is Act for America! Join now!