Panic button as refugee contracting agencies begin to downsize as they lose federal $$$

02/17/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have a lot of catching up to do today….
Update: More here on the subject of World Relief downsizing (Nashville).
Here is Leo Hohmann at World Net Daily with a report from yesterday (I spent all day yesterday in Washington) on more news from the federal refugee contractors crying about their federal funding drying up in the wake of the Trump Administration’s slowdown on refugee arrivals.
(We also mentioned some of this news on Tuesday, here), and it is still a mystery as to why “arrivals” would begin to dry up on March 3rd (is it the money flowing to contractors that will dry up?).
Hohmann:

Refugee-resettlement agencies are scrambling to cut staff and, in some cases, close entire offices as they prepare for a reduction in refugee arrivals to the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s unfolding policy.

money_time_in_washington_dc__zina_saunders — Image from Cartoon Movement: http://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/11333

A pro-refugee group leaked an “official guidance” from the U.S. State Department to NPR Wednesday that said refugee arrivals will begin to dry up after March 3.

As WND reported last week, the one part of Trump’s embattled executive order that was not blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court, was his reduction of the fiscal-2017 cap on refugees from 110,000 set by Barack Obama to 50,000. The fiscal year ends Oct. 1.

Since 35,000 refugees have already arrived, that would mean another 15,000 would be allowed in by Oct. 1. The fact that the State Department is now saying new arrivals will end by March 3 means Trump could be planning to lower the ceiling further since it would be nearly impossible to hit the 50,000 cap in a little over two weeks.

Continue here. Hohmann goes on to report on the ‘plight’ of World Relief, one of the nine major federal government refugee contractors***.
And, then here is Katherine Rodriguez at Breitbart on World Relief:

An evangelical relief and development agency that works with the United Nations’ refugee program announced Wednesday that it will lay off 140 staff members and close five offices.

World Relief, which is one of the nine U.S. organizations that works with the UN, called the decision “a direct result of the recent decision by the Trump Administration,” citing President Trump’s executive order that capped the number of refugees allowed into the United States, the Washington Post reported.

[….]

The organization will close its offices in Boise, Idaho; Columbus, Ohio; Miami; Nashville; and Glen Burnie, Md. and lay off 20 percent of its 650 U.S.-based employees. It has 2,500 employees around the world.

Several of the nine resettlement agencies including World Relief have launched fundraisers to cover the unexpected losses they anticipate from the number of refugees admitted.

“It will impact all nine resettlement agencies, so the infrastructure for refugee resettlement in our country — built over decades, at least since the Refugee Act of 1980 — could be decimated,” Matthew Soerens of World Relief said.

Maybe Mr. Soerens doesn’t remember how low the refugee flow was in the wake of 9/11—-lower than what Trump has so far determined it will be.

World Relief received about $42 million in government grants, which amounts to almost three-fourths of the ministry’s total revenue of $62 million, according to the latest IRS filings from the ministry.

Most federal funding for World Relief comes in a one-time, per-refugee grant of $2,025, most of which gets used for expenses such as rent for an apartment and a caseworker for newly arrived refugees during their first 90 days in the country, Soerens said.

Now, the organization has to use nongovernmental funding to make up the difference.

Boo hoo!

More here.
The organization should have been raising private money for decades! In my opinion they got fat and lazy on easy-to-get taxpayer money! And, adding insult to injury, as ‘non-profit’ groups they are arrogant and unaccountable, while using our money to build their bureaucracies.

If there isn’t enough private money for their “humanitarian” work then it means there aren’t enough people in America supporting the movement of tens of thousands of impoverished people to their towns and cities!

I have some ideas on how this program could be reformed, and first and foremost, I would eliminate completely the VOLAG system.
‘Evangelists’ like Soerens (below) have never been able to adequately explain why it is the taxpayers’ Christian duty to welcome the stranger when they obviously can’t convince enough private evangelists to pony up (out of their own pockets!) for refugees coming in from the third world!

screenshot-296 — https://www.cmalliance.org/events/2015/council/speakers

***The nine major federal contractors that prefer to be called VOLAGs (that is short for Voluntary agencies, ha! ha!):

Comment worth noting: Shocked at what I saw in Lewiston, ME, and I love diversity

02/15/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor: If you visit RRW often, you know that we occasionally post comments (and guest opinion pieces) from readers. This was sent to our gmail account a few days ago and I wanted you to see it. I’ll make an observation at the end.

From someone whose family has lived in Lewiston for almost 100 years:

I just wanted to give you an update on what Refugee Resettlement can do to a city, Lewiston, ME is the home of my Grandparents, since the early 20’s, yes the 1920’s.

Most of my siblings were born in and around Lewiston, as well as my Mother, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

somali-protester-lewiston — Protesting the Somali flow to Lewiston as early as 2002! http://www.cbsnews.com/news/somali-immigrants-rile-maine-mayor/

I was really surprised when I returned after being away for about 20 years, to see the Somalian refugees in the town. I don’t mind other people, but the sheer numbers of people, then I spoke to my cousins who have lived there all their lives, and they explained the issues of crime, school violence, poverty, rejection of American values, and the general hatred of women by the Somali refugees.

They kept saying, we can’t get out here to look at a location where family used to live, and how the area had really gone down hill since the refugees arrived. Some of my cousins were victims of violence from Somali Gangs, and that the schools were in shambles because they couldn’t handle the language and culture issues that arise when you dump 15,000 Somali’s on a small town in Maine.

The destruction is irreversible, and horrific, I cried when I saw some of the town and how much it had changed. For example Kennedy park was a beautiful place where my Mom and sisters went to picnic and how nice it was. We were told to stay in the car because Somali drug dealers had taken over the park, and it wasn’t safe.

This type of immigration, the dumping of large numbers of refugees, does not work, it doesn’t help integration. I’m from Orange County California, I went to school with Mexican Gangs, who had their territory, Vietnamese gangs that arrived in large numbers in the 70’s and Korean Gangs that had arrived in the 60’s. Immigrants do not integrate when we drop them in large numbers, it doesn’t work, they don’t integrate.

I love the diversity of America, I am the product of immigrants, but all you have to do is look at what we have done in the past to see that mass integration [does he mean mass immigration?—ed] does not work. We need to drop these immigrants in small numbers across America so they can integrate and become part of the culture instead of allowing them to cluster in large numbers which means that integration will be slow if at all.

My thoughts on this issue of numbers and integration…

First, the Open Borders Left wants to use the word ‘integration’ rather than the word ‘assimilation,’ see here.
But, more importantly readers should know that refugees move in America—especially Somalis who got to Lewiston many years ago after they ‘discovered’ Maine’s generous welfare (see here).
Somalis can be placed (and they are) all over America by the resettlement contracting agencies, but often quickly move to be with their own kind of people in Minneapolis, Columbus, Seattle, San Diego, Lewiston and elsewhere.
So for all of you pushing for your governors to block resettlement (it will help some), remember though that you can’t stop secondary migration!
Say for example, the Refugee Admissions Program eventually allows certain states (governors) to stop the placement of refugees in their states, and say Vermont wants refugees and New Hampshire doesn’t, then they will place them in Vermont, but then encourage them to move over to New Hampshire after a few months. Likewise as Minnesota opens its arms to more Somalis they will eventually drift in to neighboring states! (Hijra!)
So, yes, integration/assimilation can’t happen when ethnic enclaves build in certain cities, but…..

The real problem, in my opinion, is that the overall numbers being admitted to the US are too high!

We need an immigration time out!
This post is filed in our ‘comments worth noting/guest posts’ category, here. Our Lewiston archive is here.

He is baaackkk! Omar Jamal in his element as he makes the news about Somalis sneaking in to Canada

02/15/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is so funny!

If you have followed RRW for the last almost ten years, you will recognize the name Omar Jamal. I call him the ‘Jesse Jackson’ of the Somali ‘community’ in America.

When Somalis are in ‘crisis’ (when aren’t they in crisis!), here comes Jamal to direct lazy and gullible reporters so that they spin their stories to involve him and his view of the ‘community.’
I wish I had the time to go over the many many posts we have on Jamal who was originally found guilty of immigration fraud (he snuck in here from Canada!) but was never deported. He apparently speaks English well, so reporters glom on to him and he helps them get their story straight—the way he sees it! He is good!
Just to give you an idea before you read about his take on the supposed flood of desperate Somalis heading to Canada across the Minnesota border (remember readers those Somalis headed to Canada are in the US ILLEGALLY), here is one post I wrote in 2008.
Denver dead Canadian Somali story!
Here in 2008, Jamal helped spin the media about something you have long forgotten or maybe never knew.
A Canadian Somali was found dead in a Denver hotel just before the 2008 Democratic Convention there. He had enough cyanide to kill hundreds. Jamal jumped in to the story (from Minneapolis) to say the guy was just a nut, nothing to see, move along, and the media did!
Here is our complete archive on Omar Jamal, the Somali spin-meister!
So here he is again, in his element, fielding media questions about the poor Somalis headed to Canada and the possibility that they could freeze to death (sniffling! dabbing eyes!).
From a CBC News at a Somali website:

Omar Jamal is dealing with a crisis. [ROFLMAO—ed]

Jamal is the executive director of the Somali Community of Minnesota, and for months now, he has seen people whose U.S. asylum claims have been rejected end up in Minneapolis, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the country. [Rejected asylum claim means they are NOT refugees—ed]

From there, they make arrangements to sneak into Canada, where they can file refugee claims.

Jamal has become used to this, but today he is fielding non-stop calls about a car full of refuge seekers and their driver who appear to have gone missing after leaving Minneapolis.

The plan was to drive the seven hours north to the Canadian border and cross the border on foot.

But they’re nowhere to be found.

“I’m getting calls from family members and I’m meeting relatives and as we speak right now, we are trying to figure out what happened to them and where are they? Are they still alive?” says Jamal.

You can read for yourself the long discussion about the missing Somalis (found o.k.) and the driver who took them to the border.

They’re making their way back to Minneapolis.

As a result of their attempted crossing, they’ve been flagged as a flight risk by U.S. immigration authorities. [Heck, Trudeau loves diversity, let Canada have them!—ed]

“They’re really worried, they’re scared,” says Jamal.

“The thing is, when they came [to the U.S.], they psychologically believed that they left everything behind, the bad things. But actually the place they’ve got here now doesn’t look much different than the place they came from.

“It’s a continuation of crisis and suffering and not being settled… That saga is still ongoing,” he says. “They left their country and they’re still on the run.”

Before too long, Jamal has moved on to the next phone call, the next request for help.

He knows this flood of asylum seekers won’t stop any time soon, and he has a message for his neighbours to the north.

Of course, then he sends his message telling Canada to welcome these illegal alien Somalis.
Read it all! Filed in my ‘Laugh of the day’ category!

FBI contacting newly arrived Syrian refugees, is the FBI doing this on its own?

02/15/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I suppose one could argue that this effort to meet Syrian (mostly Muslim) refugees is harmless, but I have to say I think it is politically tone-deaf at the moment.
Is the FBI getting direction from above or are they making this effort completely without direction? Does no one in the FBI leadership see how this would be upsetting, that it adds fuel to a political fire, or is that exactly what they are doing—making the Trump Admin. look heavy-handed?
From NorthJersey.com:

FBI agents have been calling Syrian refugees in New Jersey and asking to meet – alarming advocates who say they fear the visits could be a first step toward surveillance at a time when refugees have been cast as a suspect group.

fbi-jacket — “An FBI official said the effort to meet with Syrian refugees in New Jersey was not a Trump administration initiative, but an effort by the Newark division to reach out to the community.”

The FBI’s Newark division has confirmed that calls were made to refugees, but said agents were only trying to “build trust” and “open lines of communication” with the recently arrived immigrants and not for surveillance.

[….]

At least three Syrian refugees received calls last week from an Arabic-speaking agent who requested an in-person meeting, according to advocates who have been helping Syrians adjust to their new lives in the U.S. They were told the meetings were part of a larger outreach effort to check on Syrians and their well-being, the advocates said.

Salim Patel, chairman of the board of the Smile Organization, a Passaic-based nonprofit service group whose clients include many refugees, said the calls were received “with great alarm” because of the political climate, with news of Trump’s immigration ban weighing on people’s minds.

[….]

Mohamed Khairullah, an activist aiding refugees who is also Prospect Park mayor, said he worries that the newcomers, who typically don’t speak English, could be coerced into signing something they don’t understand.

“They’re not aware of their rights, and they’re not aware of the protections provided to them by the law or the Constitution,” he said.

In a Facebook message in Arabic, he encouraged families contacted by the FBI to reach out to a lawyer. At Know Your Rights workshops across the state, staffed by civil rights and legal associations, attorneys are giving the same advice.

More here.
Dumb is all I have to say.

NPR: Resettlement contractors claim they have been told that new arrivals will end March 3

02/14/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“You don’t need to have a moratorium to slow the refugee resettlement program to the point where it dries up and withers on the vine.”

(Bill Frelick)

We get some juicy news here from a National Public Radio story from yesterday ….

First reporter Deborah Amos tells us that the State Department has said there will be no more refugees arriving in the US after March 3. Is that because they expect to hit the 50,000 ceiling by then? Not likely unless they plan to haul them in at 1000 a day! (We were just short of 35,000 as of this morning.) So it is unclear if this is a hard and fast date.
The resettlement contractors “shared” the official guidance they received with reporter Amos:

More than 2,000 refugees, already vetted and approved for travel, have arrived since the ruling was handed down on Feb. 9. But over the weekend, according to refugee advocates who shared the official guidance with NPR, the State Department alerted resettlement agencies that new arrivals will end on March 3.

[Readers this is an example of what Trump is up against. Here you have federal contractors taking “official” documents to a friendly reporter at NPR!—ed]

Could this notice of a March 3 halt on the program mean there will effectively be a moratorium of 7 months (the new fiscal year doesn’t begin until October 1)? We can only dream! I’ve argued that in order to spur Congress to action to reform the program, the refugee spigot would need to be closed for longer than the original 120-day proposal.
Here is more of what Amos is reporting:

The federal appeals court that blocked the president’s travel ban on people from seven majority-Muslim nations did not directly rule out two provisions in the executive order. Refugee resettlement agencies are scrambling to figure out what they will do if those provisions survive.

bill-frelick-3 — Bill Frelick of Human Rights Watch

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges did not address perhaps the most sweeping provision in the Trump order — the deep cuts in the numbers of refugees allowed to come to the U.S. President Trump slashed the refugee quota for fiscal year 2017 by more than half, to 50,000. [This is so maddening! Just because Obama wished for 110,000 for this fiscal year doesn’t mean Trump cut our usual numbers in half. 50,000 is probably just slightly less than the average annual flow since 9/11—ed]

In addition, the court did not rule on a provision that would make it easier for states and cities to veto refugee placements.

“You don’t need to have a moratorium to slow the refugee resettlement program to the point where it dries up and withers on the vine,” says Bill Frelick, director of Human Rights Watch’s refugee program.

Let the wailing begin!
I’m too weary to write more, but if you have been working on the refugee program where you live and pushing for more transparency and involvement by state and local elected officials, you must read on.
The contractors are scared to death that state and local elected officials will play a greater role in the future, thus possibly messing up their cozy relationship with the feds. You will be especially annoyed about how they say they do extensive coordination with local officials. Yes, friendly ones!

For decades, the refugee resettlement program has been a partnership between the State Department and nine private, voluntary agencies; all but two are faith-based groups. Together, they form a nationwide bureaucracy for resettlement.

I’m going to have to remember that!—a “nationwide bureaucracy for resettlement.”
Actually three of the nine contractors are secular organizations while six are faux religious charities. True religious charities would be sacrificing their own private money to help the stranger, not reaching in to taxpayers’ wallets.