Month: February 2017

Nebraska Republican Governor supports security screening, BUT wants refugee admissions to resume ASAP

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

My question is, so how much of the governor’s enthusiasm for refugees is because the meat and poultry industry in Nebraska has gotten addicted to cheap LEGAL immigrant labor?
 

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Last May we reported on tiny Nickerson, Nebraska where residents objected to a new poultry plant that wanted to locate there partly because they did not want the town changed with a huge influx of migrant labor. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/05/02/tiny-nebraska-town-says-no-to-chicken-plant-migrant-labor-one-important-objection/

 
There isn’t much different here than in dozens of sobs stories in recent days (that I can’t keep up with) about Refugee Resettlement contracting agencies having to reduce staff as the number of refugees arriving in the US begins to slow.
‘Religious charities,’ helping to supply BIG MEAT with laborers, are paid by the head (from the US Treasury) to seed refugees into your towns, and so obviously their money is drying up.
Nebraska was on my summer tour of states where meatpackers and poultry plants are changing the face of heartland towns with their greedy desire for cheap labor. Humanitarianism is only the cover!
Be sure to see Bloomberg’s ‘Big Meat Braces for a Refugee Shortage.’  I wrote about it here.

By the way, it is a fabulous business model for BIG MEAT (BIG TURKEY! BIG CHICKEN!) because US taxpayers bring the laborers directly to them, they pay wages much lower than they did 20 years ago, ‘religious charities’ get them settled in town, and then the refugee families’ lives are subsidized by taxpayers again in the form of social services (aka welfare).
This is the sob story from the Lincoln Journal Star yesterday:
pete-ricketts
Let’s get moving! “…so we can continue to safely welcome refugees from all parts of the world.”

Two of Nebraska’s three refugee resettlement agencies are cutting back their staffs in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration.

Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, the largest of the three, announced Friday that it will eliminate 15 jobs in anticipation of a significant decline in refugee arrivals. Six of those jobs are in Lincoln.

Omaha’s Refugee Empowerment Center has also experienced cutbacks.

[….]

Trump’s order reduced the overall number of refugees allowed into the U.S. this year from 110,000 to 50,000. [Here we go with the bs again. Obama only wished for 110,000 in the year he would no longer be in office, 50,000 is still higher than 4 of George W. Bush’s years!—-ed]

That will have a significant impact in Nebraska, which led the nation in the number of refugees it accepted per capita last fiscal year.

[….]

The president clamped down on refugee resettlement and other travel into the U.S. following a wave of questions, mostly from Republicans, about the vetting process for refugees from Syria and other war-torn Middle East countries.

Gov. Pete Ricketts has said he supports Trump’s efforts to “strengthen security screening in the refugee process” but urged the White House to “quickly put new vetting processes in place, so we can continue to safely welcome refugees from all parts of the world.”

Continue reading here.
I fear that with everyone focusing on the security screening that most Republicans, who are driven by corporate donations and Chambers of Commerce, will not have any desire to reform this program with its huge economic and cultural costs.
Grassroots investigators should be looking for evidence that your elected officials are being lobbied by, or funded by, the meat and poultry giants in your states.
See our Nebraska archive by clicking here. Note the problems Nebraska has with TB in the migrant population there.

WSJ explains (sort of) what that March 3rd date means for slowing US refugee admissions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We reported on the “official” notification involving March 3rd, here and here and wondered what the significance of that date might be. It is this notification that caused the refugee resettlement contractors to go into a tailspin about their federal funding.
Thanks to Joanne for spotting this article in the Wall Street Journal that clarifies it (somewhat):

The State Department ordered its embassies abroad to delay booking travel for refugees resettling in the U.S. after March 3.

And below are some snips from the story by reporter Maria Abi-Habib (emphasis is mine):

The U.S. State Department has ordered embassies to slow resettlement of refugees for the next few weeks and delay booking travel for refugees after March 3 as the numbers approach the annual cap of 50,000 set recently by President Donald Trump, according to American officials.

tillerson-and-trump
Hopefully there will be more clarity early next week from Secretary of State Tillerson and the White House. BTW, sure hope they will pick someone who knows the program to be Asst. Sec. of State for PRM or else the careers will roll them!

What doesn’t make sense to me is that unless they bring them in at 1,000 a day they aren’t going to be near 50,000 by March 3rd.
WSJ continues….

U.S. officials from embassies in the Middle East said they received a directive Tuesday from the State Department’s Population, Refugee and Migration bureau to delay booking travel to the U.S. for refugees awaiting final resettlement after March 3. The directive said the numbers of refugees already admitted is close to Mr. Trump’s cap for 2017. [Not really, we are at almost 36,205 as of this morning. We added 371 since yesterday!—ed]

[….]

The same order also cut the annual limit for refugees for the year ending October 2017 to less than half of the previous administration’s 110,000 ceiling. [This is so annoying, this was Obama’s dreamland number, we have not been near that number for more than 15 years.—ed]

[….]

But the court ruling didn’t affect the 50,000 limit on refugees set out in the order, a State Department spokeswoman said. State Department officials said the refugee cap imposed by Mr. Trump is legal and isn’t being challenged as the constitution allows the president to set admissions numbers for refugees each year.

“In support of the president’s executive order, the department is preparing to reduce the number of weekly refugee arrivals such that we will admit no more than 50,000 refugees by the end of the fiscal year,” the spokeswoman said.

Some 35,000 refugees have already been admitted for the government’s 2017 fiscal year that ends in October, according to State Department figures. That leaves 15,000 slots open for the next 7-½ months. [Not 15,000 now, but 13,795 as of this morning.—ed]

[….]

“There were a lot of people stranded with the first executive order who were up for resettlement,” but their paperwork has now been delayed, said a U.S. embassy employee in the Middle East. The official added that the State Department directive told embassies not to arrange flights beyond March 3 for refugees until the State Department can determine which applicants will be given the remaining resettlement slots.

“For those that don’t make the 15,000 cut, they are out of luck until the next fiscal year,” he said.

Continue reading here.
Readers, the next fiscal year begins on October 1, 2017 and in September the Trump Administration will be sending its “determination” to Congress for “consultation.” The determination letter and report will set a ceiling for the upcoming year and designate how many and from which regions of the world we will take refugees. The 2018 fiscal year is 7 months and 10 days away.
They can’t possibly get that 13,795 in by March 3rd, so it looks like they will have to sort through many more than 13,795 and dribble them in over the remaining months.  However,Trump’s original order called for a complete 120-day moratorium (4 months) and one presumes that is legal and still a possibility when he comes out with a new EO on Monday or Tuesday (or at least that is what is being reported—a new EO early in the week).
I wish I had more information for you. If something leaks out over the weekend, I’ll let you know (or you let me know!), otherwise, we will wait and see!

There is nothing set in concrete about that 50,000 number!

The President can reset it again! at say 37,000, or how about 39,554?  That is the number George W. Bush admitted in 2003 as the Administration feared Islamic terrorists might be in the stream arriving in the wake of 9/11.

Go here and see why it is important for you to let Donald Trump know what you think!

This post is filed in my Trump Watch! category, here.

NY: As refugee contractors begin to run out of federal money, they turn to state legislatures looking for millions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We told you earlier this morning that refugee contracting agencies (see list below) are closing some of their satellite offices.
The UN/US Refugee Admissions Program is numbers-driven since refugees arrive in the US with federal funding attached to each one—administration of that money (your money) is left to the ‘non-profit’ resettlement agencies. As the Trump Administration cuts the numbers, there is commensurate reduction in funding for non-profit groups!
Here we learn in New York that the federal contractors who operate in the state are looking to state taxpayers to make up their loss of federal funding.

Why aren’t they out raising private money from all of the ‘humanitarians’ they claim want this program?

If you live in New York state you better let your state legislators know what you think!
From the Poughkeepsie Journal (hat tip:Jim):

ALBANY – Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday called for a $12 million boost in state funding for upstate’s refugee resettlement agencies.

harry-bronson
Assemblyman Harry Bronson: Wants $12 million for refugees in New York state. And, we are told this program doesn’t cost anything to state and local taxpayers!

The request for additional funding came in response to President Trump’s 120-day ban on refugee travel to the U.S., though the order has been placed on hold by a federal court.

The vast majority of refugees who resettled in New York last year migrated upstate, with about 94 percent settling outside of New York City, according to U.S. State Department data. [They didn’t “migrate” upstate they were placed there by federal refugee contractors mostly operating in secrecy!—ed]

The Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance has been working with the nonprofit group Church World Services to open a resettlement office in the City of Poughkeepsie since April. Church World Service has plans to place 80 refugees from Syria, Iraq and the Congo in Poughkeepsie.

[….]

The funding push was backed Wednesday by a handful of Assembly Democrats. It comes as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers are negotiating a state budget that will top $150 billion.

“This funding will allow us to provide services and programs that will help refugee families successfully become contributing members of communities across New York state,” Assemblyman Harry Bronson, D-Rochester, said in a statement.

sean-ryan
Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, and other lawmakers call for state help to fund refugee resettlement centers Wednesday at the Capitol’s Million Dollar Staircase in Albany. http://wxxinews.org/post/refugee-centers-ny-face-funding-crisis

Under the proposed plan, $2 million would go toward allowing refugee resettlement agencies to continue working at capacity and make up for any revenue that was lost during the 120-day ban, if re-enacted.

The Assembly members also requested $5 million to be included in the state budget to fund legal services to refugees.

The remaining $5 million would go toward allowing resettlement agencies to provide an additional 90 days of services to refugees, up from the current 90.

Certainly one thing that the present situation has highlighted is the FACT that refugee contractors are paid by the head!

“If resettlement agencies are no longer able to accept refugees for a 120-day period, they are no longer receiving funding,” Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, said in a statement. “This will lead to staff cuts, and resettlement agencies will no longer be able to provide services to refugees who have already come to New York.”

Read on here.
See our huge archive on New York, consistently one of the top states in America to ‘welcome’ refugees.
And, see our recent posts on Poughkeepsie, here.
Be sure to keep an eye out in your state for the legislature or state assembly to try to slip funding in for non-profit groups that should have been raising private money (for their ‘religious charitable’ work) for decades!
Here are the nine major federal contracting agencies now desperate for more of your money:

Too late for Trump to cap the Refugee Admissions Program at 35,000 for this year…

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..but, he can still go below 50,000!

I’ve been arguing that the Trump Administration could further reduce the ceiling for refugee admissions for FY17, something he can legally do and is not effected by the court wrangling over the ‘ban.’
Such an across-the-board cap would allow more months for the Administration and  Congress to come up with a longterm fix for the out of control program because Trump’s ‘determination’ for FY18 would not be due until September 30th.
rpcLogoSmall [Converted]

This morning I see (at Wrapsnet) that we are now at 35,834 and climbing.  Too late for 35,000!

See that lowering the numbers is not unprecedented because George Bush did it following 9/11, here.
Word is that the EO will be modified next week…it is not too late to drop the ceiling well below 50,000!

Go here and see why it is important for you to let Donald Trump know what you think!

This post is filed in our Trump Watch! category as well as ‘refugee statistics’ and ‘where to find information.’

SPLC announces new list of hate groups! Did you make the list?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You don’t even have to be a group! You can be an individual hater and still be a hate group!

oreo
My group is having a little nap this morning, but we will soon have to get to work. We have a lot of hating to do today!

A few years ago, I had a great laugh when I read Daniel Greenfield talking about his new entry on their list and he wondered where his group was!
See How I became a Hate Group, here. I’m wondering the same this morning (I have a cat too!).
This is Greenfield in 2012 (a post that had me falling off my chair laughing):

When I went to sleep last night, little did I know that while outside sirens competed with car alarms in the symphony that is New York City, I had already been declared a hate group.

Being declared a hate group wasn’t in my plans for the day, but like winning the lottery, it seems to be one of those things that happens when you least expect it. Except that as the little bald man in front of the bodega tells you, you have to play to win, but you don’t even have to buy a ticket to be declared an official hate group.

My first response on finding out that I was now a hate group was to look around to see where everyone else was. A hate group needs the “group” part, and one man and a cat don’t seem to be enough. Even when the cat is a well known bigot who hates mice, birds, car alarms that go off in the middle of the night, the plumber and sudden noises.

Still the Southern Poverty Law Center had listed, “Sultan Knish a blog by Daniel Greenfield” as one of their “Active Anti-Muslim Hate Groups”….

Continue reading here.

mark-potok
No hate in Mark Potok! Can you tell he is a lover, not a hater!

I’m on the list this year, and I frankly never did look in previous years so don’t know when I first received this high honor!
See my other award from SPLC, here.
Here is what Mark Potok at the SPLC had to say about us:

Mark Potok, SPLC’s senior fellow for the Intelligence Report, said the jump in anti-Muslim hate groups was unsurprising after the mass shooting at a gay night club in Orlando, Florida, and the Islamophobic rhetoric of President Donald Trump during the 2016 election. [I don’t follow the logic about our role in the Orlando attack when it was perpetrated by a Muslim who hated gays.—ed]

[….]

Anti-Muslim

Anti-Muslim hate groups are a relatively new phenomenon in the United States, most of them appearing in the aftermath of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Earlier anti-Muslim groups tended to be religious in orientation and disputed Islam’s status as a respectable religion. Anti-Muslim groups listed here exhibit extreme hostility towards Muslims and attribute to Islam’s followers an inherent set of negative traits.

Go here to see if you (and your pets) made the 2016 list!
If you didn’t make the ‘Anti-Muslim’ category, do not despair, because they have many many categories of haters and you might have made one of those lists!
Watch the biased mainstream (Leftist) media lap up the SPLC report as if they are a legitimate source of news.
By the way, this gives me an opportunity to remind you, dear readers, that I am a blogger (with a computer and a cat) with no organization and no staff so I can’t always get to your requests or do everything you wish I would do!
Go here for all of our previous mentions of the SPLC. As you scroll through previous posts, you will see how closely the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a federal refugee resettlement contractor, works with the SPLC.
Addendum: As I scrolled through SPLC’s list, I see they missed a lot of groups.  Seriously, we should have an annual convention of all these ‘hate groups.’  It could be great fun and would be wonderful to meet you all!