Storm Lake, Iowa: Filling America's "dead spots" with diversity!

11/22/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Storm Lake population 10,600 in 2010.
Looks like we have found another of the 47 new resettlement sites we learned that the US State Department has identified to place some of Obama’s 110,000 refugees for FY2017. Of course, as we just said for Rutland, VT, some locations are on hold as the contractors try to figure out how far out on the limb (financially) they wish to climb.
Since refugee contractors get most of their federal money on a per head basis, any slowdown in resettlement after Trump is inaugurated cuts in to their budgets.

storm-lake-tyson-plant — Surprise (not)! Tyson Foods has a pork processing plant at Storm Lake and the first refugee from Thailand (Burmese?) went to work there. Wikipedia tells us there is a turkey processing plant there too. More refugee labor on the way? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Lake,_Iowa

This is the second story we have seen lately about Catholic resettlement agencies spreading out their responsibilities to smaller organizations (or churches) presumably to make resettlement cheaper for themselves. We told you about Hudson, Wisconsin here last week.
The problem of transparency is something I will be pushing the Trump Administration on as soon as we know who will be Secretary of State. It is maddening that here we are nearly 2 months in to FY17 and we have only identified some of the 47 new sites*** we heard the DOS has chosen. Citizens have a right to know when their towns have been selected for refugee placement.

Once again from a local paper, we learn (inadvertently) some nuggets that should help all of us.
From the Storm Lake Pilot-Tribune last week:

The Bridge of Storm Lake’s mission has grown in an unexpected direction. The neighborhood ministry has become a refugee resettlement agency along with its other programs.

The first two refugees from Thailand have been successfully settled in Storm Lake, and a mother and small child will be arriving before the end of the year, freed from the desperate conditions of refugee camps.

The role was not one the program expected to play.

Catholic Charities, one of the national agencies charged with resettling refugees accepted to enter the United States, had reached out to The Bridge to see if could help.

There are placement agencies in larger cities like Omaha and Minneapolis, but Storm Lake sits in a “dead spot” in the midst of a vast rural region, unserved by any existing resettlement office.

Jay Dahlhauser of The Bridge explained that the national resettlement agencies [The Contractors—ed] meet each Wednesday to see what refugees are arriving, from where, and figure out which refugees each will handle.

We should demand that the Trump State Department not hold these meetings in secret. Imagine this! Non-profit groups are sitting around a table in DC every Wednesday making decisions that will effect your community for decades/generations!
Pilot-Tribune:

With the country beginning to reach out to more rural regions for resettlements, The Bridge accepted the challenge from Catholic Charities, but not before wrestling over the decision. [What do they mean the “country” is reaching out to place refugees in rural areas! The Obama State Department and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops may be reaching out, but they are not the “country!”—ed]

So here (below) we learn something completely new—the feds can send up to 30 refugees to a town before making a formal agreement with the agency! BTW, none of this is in the law, this is all decided within the Department of State without any legal underpinning (so it could easily be undecided by a Trump Secretary of State).

Pilot-Tribune:

Storm Lake and The Bridge are currently capped at a maximum of 30 resettled individuals. If the number reaches that level, a more permanent agreement would be necessary, or possibly a formal resettlement office to be located in the community.

Continue reading here.
I would love to know if the contractors get any little rewards from the meatpackers when they supply them with cheap refugee laborers.
***To see if your town is an existing resettlement site check out the US Department of State database.
But when you look at that data base know three things. 1) the data base is out of date, 2) we are told there are 47 new sites not listed and, 3) see if you live within 100 miles of one of these offices because that means your town is fair game to receive refugees.
Here are some of the new sites being chosen by the US State Department (that we know of!). We are adding Storm Lake, Iowa. If anyone there is interested in learning more, check out our ‘Ten Things Your Town Needs to Know‘ by clicking here.
Asheville, NC
Rutland, VT
Reno, NV
Ithaca, NY
Missoula, MT
Aberdeen, SD (may have been thwarted as a primary resettlement site!)
Charleston, WV
Fayetteville, AR
Blacksburg, VA
Pittsfield, MA
Northhampton, MA
Flint, MI
Bloomington, IN
Traverse City, MI
Poughkeepsie, NY
Wilmington, DE
Watertown, NY (maybe)
Youngstown, OH (maybe)
Storm Lake, Iowa

More on Rutland: Refugee resettlement is about (your) money

11/22/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money that goes towards transitioning the refugees.

In Rutland, VT the controversy about whether to bring mostly Syrian refugees to the city in the coming months continues to simmer. The brakes are on right now, as we told you here and here recently, because the federal contractors know they can’t get out too far ahead of their money (YOUR money, federal grants).
Frankly, the contractors have virtually no money of their own especially the contractor in Rutland (USCRI here). For new readers, USCRI*** is the contractor working in Twin Falls, Idaho too.

mayor-louras — Rutland Mayor Louras thinks small towns will be saved by bringing in mostly Muslim refugees from the Middle East. I don’t see him clamoring for the Congolese Christians. Photo: http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2016/08/05/shrinking-small-towns-see-hope-in-refugees

There is nothing earth-shattering in this, another story on Rutland, but I was interested to see how overtly the promoters of resettlement are willing today to talk (they didn’t 9 years ago) about the need for federal bucks to make the resettlement work.
Those promoting bringing the Syrian Muslims (flavor of the year!) to Rutland aren’t shelling out their own money, neither is the state of Vermont (at least on the surface, they will, however, shell out plenty for ‘services’ and educating the kids as time goes on.).
On this flavor of the year comment (I can hear the rage!), I was struck by a thought when I wrote about the rally for Syrians in Charleston, WV and we see it here in Rutland too.
Would the resettlement advocates be so eager if they were going to be getting mostly impoverished and boring Christians from the DR Congo or Burma, or is this fervor for Syrians and Iraqis (mostly Muslims) fueled by a desire to be just kinda cool?
Here is the bit of the story at WCAX.com I want you to see:

An opportunity about 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugees hope to find in Rutland. “It’s frankly just a lot of unknowns,” said Rutland Mayor Chris Louras.

After Donald Trump’s win, Rutland officials are not sure whether their resettlement plan for the refugees will be affected. “There’s the potential that we may only see two families in before he’s inaugurated. We don’t know what happens at that point,” Louras said.

President-elect Trump campaigned with anti-immigrant rhetoric, saying he plans to cut refugee funding and put a temporary halt on accepting Muslims.

“Without that federal funding for the program, there’s no mechanism to resettlement to the United States,” Louras said. [If people really were driven by humanitarianism, they would be privately funding resettlement, one family, one church at a time!—ed]

Right now with all the uncertainty, USCRI isn’t going to go out on a financial limb and hire staff and open an office!

It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money that goes towards transitioning the refugees. The Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program Rutland plans to hire three full-time case workers and two part-time translators to work with the refugees on education and employment. “We’re still planning as if these people are coming — we have to,” Louras said.

So is Marsha Cassel, a Rutland High School teacher and active member of the group, Rutland Welcomes.

And, check out this next line. The good citizens of Rutland are bringing over their old furniture, but USCRI gets to give it a monetary value so they can tell the feds they have some skin in the game. The feds expect the contractors to show they have contributed something, and since they don’t have cash (especially USCRI 97% taxpayer funded) they get to use old furniture and volunteer hours (your volunteer hours are given a cash value!) to prove they are contributing.

In the Rutland Herald’s former printing press room, hundreds of pieces of donated furniture await new owners. “They’re coming with nothing but hope, so we are just hoping to get them started,” Cassel said.

The WCAX.com story continues with much discussion about screening terrorists, but I think the greater threat is what we are seeing in Minnesota where the generation of cute little kids we supported grows up to be jihadists.
To see our very large archive on Rutland, click here.
***Learn more about USCRI’s CEO Lavinia Limon here at Breitbart.

Refugee resettlement industry held emergency conference call on Friday: What will Trump do?

11/21/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update November 22nd: Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart investigated and found more details. In an update to his earlier article, he reports that the US State Department claims they did not organize or participate in the conference call, see here.
They are worried. And, as my good friend Richard (Blue Ridge Forum) would say, it has a lot to do with rice bowls. What? you ask! Have you ever heard the phrase ‘breaking rice bowls?’ It happens a lot when a new administration comes in to power and a lot of people have their livelihoods placed on the line perhaps for the first time ever!
donald-trump-quotes-thinking-big-600x400
In a story ostensibly about what is going to happen to the new resettlement site of Northampton, Massachusetts, the head of the local Catholic Charities tells us a good bit about what went on when 452 worried refugee resettlement workers got on a conference call with presumably leaders of the two main federal agencies that administer the program and dole out the federal bucks in Washington.
BTW, as we have mentioned previously, both the Asst. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration and the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (as political appointees) will soon be on their way out.
Here is Masslive.com:

NORTHAMPTON — Asked if she thought a city refugee resettlement program would be subject to change under President-elect Donald Trump, Catholic Charities Executive Director Kathryn Buckley-Brawner pulled no punches.

“Of course it is,” Buckley-Brawner said. “Because Trump will be president. It’s less a question about ‘is’ as opposed to ‘will.'”

03/10/11 South Hadley Republican Photo by Mark M.Murray - Bishop Timothy McDonnell, Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield ,annouces the official begining of the 2011 Annual Catholic Appeal, during a press conference inside the St.Patrick Parish center kitchen thursday. Also on hand at right is David Bergeron, head of food services at the center , and Kathryn Buckley-Brawner, Direcor of the Catholic Charities Agency. — Kathryn Buckley-Brawner has been resettling refugees in Springfield, Mass. http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/kathryn_buckley-brawner_named.html

Buckley-Brawner participated in a 452-person nationwide “post-election national refugee advocacy” conference call Friday headed up by people in government. [Advocacy on the taxpayers’ dime!—ed]

The call leaders said “don’t overreact,” prepare to advocate and argue in favor of refugee resettlement programs and hold steady until something changes, Buckley-Brawner said.

But feelings of uncertainty permeated the discussion, according to Buckley-Brawner.

“People whose job it is to have their finger on the pulse of what’s going on in our government don’t have a clue,” Buckley-Brawner said in a MassLive interview following the call. “If they don’t have a clue, the rest of us are in the same position.”

Members of the call seemed to think the most likely way a Trump administration might impact U.S. resettlement efforts would be by blocking refugees from certain places — like Iraq and Syria. [LOL! If Trump asks me, I’ll say Somalia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Burma (Rohingya) need to be on the list too!—ed]

Trump told CNBC on Monday he felt more against allowing Syrian refugees into the country than ever, calling the prospect “one of the great Trojan horses.”

[….]

Several different scenarios were discussed during Friday’s conference call, Buckley-Brawner said.

Among these, a complete shut-down of funding for refugee resettlement — thought very unlikely. A tightening of vetting procedures and slow-down of refugee intake — thought very possible. Finally, a dramatic decrease in refugee intake across the board.

“We’re simply going to keep on doing what we’re doing until somebody says ‘stop,'” Buckley-Brawner said.

Continue reading here about the elected libs in Northampton and their enthusiasm for taking Syrian Muslim refugees.
Be sure to visit our archive on Springfield, Mass. where the mayor called for a MORATORIUM and begged for relief from Buckley-Brawner’s resettlement of refugees there for years.
Northhampton is fresh territory and I will bet that although it is only 20 miles north of Springfield, the folks in Northampton likely have no clue about all the problems Springfield has had (unless they have been reading RRW for years!).
Endnote: My apologies to the good citizens of Northampton! I have been spelling the name of your town wrong for months! Sheesh, just found that I had spelled it wrong above!

Minnesota resettlement contractors not increasing their refugee intake in FY2017

11/21/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Schwartz, the Humphrey School dean, said the 110,000 national number for the year is a ceiling, not a legal obligation binding the new government.

Actually I don’t think they will have to worry about taking their share of the huge number Obama proposed for FY2017—110,000—because Trump will surely reduce that number one way or another.
For our readers in Minnesota this is a very useful article with lots of details about the contractors and the cities in which they are placing refugees. Seems one big limiting factor is affordable housing! I sure hope one of the Trump Admins first actions will be to kill Obama’s Affirmatively Furthering FAIR Housing initiative!
Here is the latest from Minnesota at the Star Tribune (emphasis is mine):

Minnesota, one of the nation’s busiest resettlement destinations, is aiming to keep its refugee arrivals steady in 2017.

eric-schwartz — Eric Schwartz was Obama’s first Asst. Sec. of State for PRM and thus Anne Richard’s predecessor. Both of them were Soros’ proteges. Go here for our file on Schwartz: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/?s=Eric+Schwartz

Faced with a housing shortage and other constraints, the state is forgoing a larger role in an almost 30 percent national increase the Obama administration announced earlier this fall.

Now, that Obama goal and the nation’s longer-term approach are in question as a Donald Trump administration prepares to take over. On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to pause resettlement from “terror-prone regions” and took aim at Somali refugees in Minnesota. But he has not addressed the overall number of refugees the country resettles each year.

“There is complete and total uncertainty,” said Eric Schwartz, dean of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a former federal official who oversaw refugee admissions in the Obama administration.

In the fiscal year that ended in September, Minnesota took in 2,630 refugees, a 15 percent increase over previous year.

[….]

Kristina Hammell of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Winona says her agency is running into housing shortages in the Rochester area as well.

“If we can’t find affordable housing, we aren’t doing refugees any great favors,” she said.

See my recent post: Obama’s 110,000 is a CEILING and Trump can turn off the spigot on January 21, 2017. He can PAUSE THE WHOLE PROGRAM!

Schwartz, the Humphrey School dean, said the 110,000 national number for the year is a ceiling, not a legal obligation binding the new government. Although Trump has criticized resettlement from countries including Syria and Somalia, he has not discussed the United States’ role in addressing the global migrant crisis.

Presumably, the administration could block resettlement from some regions and shift admissions to others, but that would be a significant logistical challenge, Schwartz said.

This last is wishful thinking I believe. Since the contractors are paid by the head and their salaries, office rent etc. depend on your tax dollars, I think they are hoping if Trump suspends resettlement from say Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and so forth that he will make it up with numbers from non-Muslim countries. I doubt it.

It is best to pause the whole program on January 21st and then “find out what is going on!” (As Trump frequently intoned on the campaign trail!)

Guest post: Reader has something to say to World Relief

11/21/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor: Last week one of the nine major federal resettlement contractors responsible for placing refugees in your towns and cities held a post-election webinar to discuss the future of refugee resettlement in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory on November 8th.
World Relief and its fellow contracting agencies have been calling the shots all these years with virtually no Congressional oversight and definitely no assessment of the Refugee program’s value within any previous administration—Democrat or Republican. All of that could change after January 21, 2017, and they are worried!
For my recent post on World Relief’s financials, click here.
Below is a comment from a former VOLAG (contracting agency) employee who listened in on the webinar and had this to say (subheadings and highlighting are mine):

GUEST COMMENTS ON WORLD RELIEF’S NOVEMBER 18, 2016, 3PM (EST) WEBINAR ENTITLED, “LEADING YOUR CHURCH THROUGH THE POST-ELECTION ENVIRONMENT”

World Relief issued an invitation on a World Relief Facebook page to join the Webinar. As an evangelical Christian and a former employee of a federal and state funded refugee resettlement agency, I want to share some of the notes I took while listening.

Please read on so you will understand their viewpoint so you can better dialogue with them and others. I’ve tried to be accurate in using quotation marks so as not to misrepresent or misquote anything said on the webinar. Keep in mind that World Relief is the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Emily Gray, World Relief Senior Vice President of US Ministries for World Relief addressed Church leaders and others who registered for the webinar on how to “navigate a new environment post-election.” Scott Arbeiter, President of World Relief, in a reference to Revelation 7:9, spoke of looking forward “to a very real time when people of every tribe and tongue and nation will be gathered around the throne.” He called on Christians to demonstrate the love of Christ and admitted that many Church members are divided about the recent election results, a condition that is not new for the Church. He encouraged Church leaders to look at culture through the lens of their Christian faith.

Blaming Breitbart for creating fear?

Dr. Ed Stetzer of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College noted that “most conservative evangelicals see refugees as an opportunity for mission and evangelism” and added that “Americans are welcoming and generous people except when they are afraid.” He immediately referenced Breitbart.com. I can only assume the implication is that Breitbart.com has stirred up fear. Is accurate reporting of actual events stirring up fear or just telling the truth? See http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/18/report-8-syrians-caught-at-texas-border-in-laredo/ and http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/22/senate-committee-580-terror-convictions-in-u-s-since-911-380-terrorists-are-foreign-born/.

Stetzer said that five to 10 years ago, evangelicals were committed to serving the “marginalized and the vulnerable” and he dismissed the idea that refugee resettlement is an easy way for terrorists to enter the US, due to the lengthy process refugees go through prior to resettlement. He said the refugee process is the worst way for terrorists to “sneak in” and the Church must engage these issues in the public milieu. I would refer Dr. Stetzer to those Breitbart.com articles as well as the following from The Daily Mail, Fox News, and CNN. Again, is this fear-mongering or just accurate reporting? Stetzer said that because an “anti-refugee mentality has swept up the country and the mood of the country has shifted,” the Church must have a sense of advocacy. He mentioned that the means of refugees entering this country is different from Europe in that they “can’t walk in here.”

Trump nominees aggressively anti-refugees

He maintains that evangelical leaders largely voted for Trump in spite of his personality and as a vote against Hillary Clinton and that “most white evangelicals align with the Republican party.” He noted that most of President-elect Trump’s nominees are “aggressively anti-refugees.” He enjoined the Church to be driven by faith, not by fear and said that evangelicals have been “co-opted by fear.

James Misner, Senior Vice President at World Relief, referencing the sacraments of baptism and communion and I Corinthians 12 and Galatians 3, said the message is to “value ‘the other.’”

Does Christ want us to love those who would destroy Christians and Jews?

It seems to me that Misner is preaching love of “the other” (a biblical concept, to be sure) but using scripture to imply that evangelicals who are anti- refugee resettlement are opposed to people who are different. Granted, these scriptures do command Christians to love and embrace each other, and those different from themselves, but I do not believe they command embracing pagan, anti-Christian religions and worldviews which seek to undermine and abolish Christians and Jews! Yes, Christians are to be unified, but not unified with anti-Christian ideologies (which the refugee resettlement industry is spreading throughout this nation).

Job of the church to resettle refugees, not the government! (Huh!)

Strangely, Misner said, “We should not outsource welcoming the stranger and serving the vulnerable to the government.” Isn’t that exactly what “faith based” VOLAGs such as World Relief have done? Misner never mentioned the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the government grants to WORLD RELIEF and other resettlement agencies to do what Misner thinks is the job of the Church! Misner quoted Tim Keller, “Unless you believe the gospel everything you do will be driven by pride and fear.” What a patronizing and condescending use of Keller’s quote! Many, many Christians definitely believe the gospel and are driven by faith, logic, and sound reason and not by pride or fear, particularly in regard to the fiscally unsustainable, fraud fraught, and dangerous refugee resettlement program. They are driven by common sense and compassion for a nation and its citizens, present and future!

Emily Gray shared some concerns about that the new government administration would mean for refugees. She said a concern of already resettled refugees is that refugees who are separated from their family members will possibly face even longer separations if resettlement numbers are diminished but that until the new administration takes office in January, President Obama’s 110,000 presidential determination number of refugees to be resettled continues.

Another issue she addressed is DACA, which, because it is a 2012 presidential executive order and not a law, it can be changed by the incoming President. According to Gray, 500,000 to 750,000 people receive benefits under DACA and since these benefits may be affected, they are worried!

As a former refugee resettlement worker at a VOLAG, I find it unconscionable that these speakers did not address the serious and valid concerns that evangelicals and everyone else may have about the fraud, fiscal costs to communities, and national security in regard to refugee resettlement and other forms of immigration.

As an evangelical Christian who has supported missionaries, missions, and befriended many, many who are “different” from me, “the other,” the speakers referred to, I find their comments judgmental, patronizing, condescending, and offensive. I fully agree that Jesus commanded His followers to love and serve all people and not to regard one as better than the other. However, He nowhere commands me to be complicit in a program that, over the long run, undermines the very freedoms we have in this nation. I am happy to send my tithes and love offerings to ministries that minister to all peoples. I am not willing to be taxed for it so the government can pay “Christian” agencies to do what the Church should do on its own. That is why I fully support a “Defund Refugee Resettlement” movement.

Marilou Kelemen

For other posts in our category ‘Comments worth noting/guests posts click here.