Month: July 2017

Refugee contractors increasingly admitting they can't survive without your money

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….your tax dollars that is. 
They can’t stay afloat on private charitable giving which says to me that there aren’t enough citizens willing to give their OWN money, or wealthy donors, who want more refugees in America!

“When you take out the underpinning that is the federal government support . . . the program is hamstrung.”

Angela Bovill

Here is the story from the Boston Globe yesterday!
It has been like pulling teeth over the years to get the contractors*** to admit that they are largely funded out of the federal, and sometimes state treasuries.  We should thank Donald Trump’s slowdown for forcing them to admit this. (They have had years slower than 50,000, but this year they can blame it on Trump!)

From story entitled:

As refugee arrivals dwindle, resettlement agencies face cuts

Here are a few snips from further down in the  piece:

The organizations receive an initial sum of $950 per refugee from the federal government to support operations, plus grants to finance specific services. [Actually some contractors keep more than $950. But rarely will you see mention of the additional grants!–ed]

Angela Bovill of Ascentria (formerly Lutheran Social Services New England). Don’t ask me why some LSS branches have changed their names, dumping the word Lutheran, in recent years.

Directors across the state said that this funding is critical to sustaining their programs.

“Private support does not make up for federal support,” said Angela Bovill, Ascentria Care Alliance’s chief executive. “When you take out the underpinning that is the federal government support . . . the program is hamstrung.”

With private dollars unable to fill budget holes, some directors have been left with no choice but to lay off staff, they said.

Government funds make up three-fourths of the International Institute of New England’s $1.27 million resettlement budget, and CEO Jeffrey Thielman said he has cut at least four full-time positions to offset a 21 percent reduction in funding.

Ascentria, which receives all of its core resettlement budget from the government, eliminated 17 positions in Massachusetts after a $611,000 shortfall.

More here.
The International Institute of New England is an USCRI subcontractor and Ascentria is a Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services sub office.

In 2013, Ms. Bovill made the astounding admission that refugee resettlement is a business! See here.

Hey, at least she is honest!—a federally-funded business (whatever that is!).
Did you know that I have an entire category called “Taxpayer goodies?” I just checked and see this will be post number 1,488 in the category!
***Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizers paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities.
Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process. I have ideas on how to do that, but no one in Congress every asks!

 

Oh geez, WaPo raises the (obligatory) Islamophobia backlash issue in story on Minneapolis police shooting

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….and the reporter uses none other than Omar Jamal as a source for her story!

“After Minneapolis officer in police shooting is named, Somali community braces for backlash”

I had no intention of writing again today about the alleged shooting by a Somali police officer of an unarmed white woman in Minneapolis, but I couldn’t resist when I saw the Washington Post raising the obligatory issue of fear of Islamophobia in the sensitive ‘Somali community’ and quoting Omar Jamal.

When Somalis are in the news, so is Omar Jamal. So, watch for his spin on the shooting! http://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2009/04/24/omar_jamal

Longtime readers know we have followed the storied career of WaPo source, Omar Jamal, for years.  (See my huuuge Omar Jamal file, here)
“Community leader” Jamal was convicted more than a decade ago on immigration fraud charges, but was never deported.  Since then, he has managed to become the Somali ‘Jesse Jackson’ always ready and willing to run to the media to speak for (and cover for) the ‘Somali community.’
Perhaps one of his best media spin jobs occurred in 2008 when he said, move along, there was nothing to see, only a Somali nut job, dead in a hotel room in Denver, in advance of the DNC convention with enough cyanide in the room to kill hundreds.
LOL! I am posting this to keep my Omar Jamal file up to date in case any reporters first google information on their sources!
Here reporter Katie Mettler at the WaPo revealing how the ‘Somali community’ and Omar Jamal went to work to figure out which of their Somali police officers was being fingered as the shooter. (Emphasis below is mine)

When Mohamed Noor joined the Minneapolis police force and was assigned to patrol the city’s southwest corner, the Somali community there — the nation’s largest — threw a party for him to celebrate.

He was the first Somali American officer to serve in Minneapolis’s fifth precinct and one of fewer than a dozen Somali American officers in the department. His presence on the squad brought Somali activists some pride and reassurance at a time of Islamophobia in America and nationwide racial tension stoked in part by shootings of black people by white police officers.

Now that same Somali community is bracing for a backlash against Noor that has already begun.

[….]

…..several Somali leaders in Minneapolis said in interviews with The Washington Post that they were aware of the officer’s involvement.

“There is no question that he is the officer,” Somali activist Omar Jamal told The Post. “We knew this right after the shooting, but we didn’t want to release the name.”

See one of several posts on the other Noor—Mohamud Noor. The Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota has in the past received federal grant money. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2015/04/21/hey-obama-those-minnesota-somali-youths-arrested-for-attempting-to-join-isis-were-not-without-prospects-for-a-good-future/

[….]

Witnesses at the scene Saturday night said that the officer who fired his gun appeared to be Somali, Jamal said, so he and others in the community began contacting all the Somalis in the department. They knew the shooting took place in the fifth precinct, where Noor is the only Somali officer.

“We came to know that, ‘Oh gosh, that’s him,’ ” Jamal said. “Then the word spread fast.”

[….]

The report stoked fear among Somalis in the Twin Cities, who have worked for decades to become part of the city’s fabric. There are now Somalis on the police force, the city council and in the Minnesota House of Representatives. But the largely Muslim population of Somali Americans in the region still face Islamophobia and innuendo about terrorism.

“They fear this will be just another event used to create animosity toward the Somali community,” Mohamud Noor, executive director at the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota, told The Post. [See my Mohamud Noor archive—ed]

[….]

Other Somali officers in the police department are “nervous,” Jamal said.

“They’re not talking at all,” he said. “You can feel the pressure, because you know, the difference now is ‘one of you guys did it.’ ”

“The fact that the police involved in the shooting is Somali makes it a different matter,” he said.

Oopsy! Now the narrative has changed!

Mohamud Noor, who is not related to the officer, is also a city council candidate. He and others in the Somali community have protested other police shootings in the region along with Black Lives Matter, but this one “changes the narrative,” he said.

Usually, they are protesting the death of black men at the hands of police, he said. Now it is a white woman reportedly shot by a black officer.

He hopes the conversation will focus on police reform, not racial stereotypes.

So will the Somali political activists divorce themselves from Black Lives Matter?
There is more from reporter Katie here.
Maybe readers of  the Washington Post are wondering why and how Minneapolis got its large Somali community in the first place and Katie can start here with her next report….
Thank first and foremost Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services (federal refugee resettlement contractors) for changing the demographic make-up of Minneapolis. Now other cities in Minnesota are going the same way.  See here.

The questions that won't be asked about Minneapolis police shooting of Australian woman

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update: I couldn’t help myself and wrote another post on this story when I saw the WaPo quoting our old friend Omar Jamal, here.
Mainstream media is already trying to direct your attention to an excuse for the shocking shooting of an unarmed woman (in pajamas) by a Somali refugee police officer—a “diversity” hire.  Now we hear that there were firecracker sounds nearby. If it was that simple why then has the shooter, Mohamed Noor, reportedly refused to talk to police investigators.
Leo Hohmann at WND has an update.
Former Congresswoman and presidential candidate, Michele Bachmann wonders if there will be questions about a possible crime of bias. Not likely!
Hohmann:

Given the political makeup of the city’s leadership and its desire to hire more black officers, especially those with roots in the Somali community, it is highly unlikely that investigators will seek to find out if Noor was motivated by his own religious bias in the killing of Justine Damond, said former Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Michele Bachmann raises an issue that you know is on many minds.

The question that needs to be answered is, was this shooting a mistake or was it a “cultural seizure” by a Muslim officer who snapped and acted irrationally at the sight of a woman in her pajamas?

“The shooting makes no sense, and Noor comes from the mandated cover-up women culture,” Bachmann told WND. “That’s why I’m wondering if they’ll ask whether his cultural views led him to shoot her. That’s something, if true, I can’t imagine the progressives would allow to get out.

“Minneapolis race-baiters traffic in imagined bias,” Bachmann added. “This may have been real bias. But will we ever know?”

If the mainstream media won’t go there (and we highly doubt any investigators in the police department will) , and ask the questions you know would be asked if the situation were different, we will join Bachmann (as Hohmann reported):

….because of Minnesota’s political culture, most notably its iron-clad commitment to political correctness, the strange shooting of Justine Damond may never get an honest investigation, says Ann Corcoran, who has followed the refugee influx into more than 300 U.S. cities and towns over the past decade.

The influence of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and Muslim politicians like Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., is enormous and cannot be overstated, Corcoran said.

“This is conquered territory, so they will never even ask the pertinent questions, let alone get to the answers,” said Corcoran, who blogs at Refugee Resettlement Watch.

“Just imagine if the situation had been flipped and it had been a young, attractive Muslim woman who called 9-1-1 and ran out in her pajamas, thinking she was going to get help, only to be shot and killed by a white officer,” Corcoran added. “Think about the outcry that would have sparked from Minneapolis’ liberal mayor and her cohorts. They would have played the race card and the religion card immediately. But because it was a black Muslim officer, you hear nothing about race or religion as a possible motivator.”

Corcoran said she also doubts there will be any calls to the Minneapolis hate-crimes hotline.

Read the whole story here and learn how the city of Minneapolis has twisted itself into pretzels attempting to hire police officers that reflect the diversity of the population there.
Thank first and foremost Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services (federal refugee resettlement contractors) for changing the demographic make-up of Minneapolis. Now other cities in Minnesota are going the same way.  See here.
Expect to see the whole sorry incident swept under the rug within days….

Letter to Sec. of State Tillerson is plea to keep Refugee Program at State Department

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Some of you asked me what I think of the idea floated by the Trump team to move the US Refugee Admissions Program from the State Department to the Dept. of Homeland Security.  This letter helped me decide!
If these are the supporters for keeping it at the DOS, then I vigorously support moving it!

Obama Asst. Sec. of State for PRM does not want the USRAP moved out of the DOS.

The letter reported  by the Washington Post here yesterday was spearheaded by none other than Eric Schwartz (the Soros protege who is now heading Refugees International, see here).  It is also signed by eight of the nine federal refugee contractors*** who have over the years established a cozy relationship with the bureaucrats at State. They are counted among the 58 “foreign policy experts.”
In fact there are 40 ‘experts’ and then 18 non-profit open borders activist groups.
Experts include Anne Richard (see our extensive archive here) and Ellen Sauerbrey (don’t miss this 2007 post!).  Both are former Asst. Secretaries of State for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). Sauerbrey, from Maryland, ran the refugee program for several years under George W. Bush.
Here is the WaPo on the letter (hat tip: Joanne):

A group of prominent foreign policy experts on Monday called on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to keep the office responsible for managing refu­gee inflows a part of the State Department instead of moving it to the Department of Homeland Security.

Last month, a leaked memo showed the administration contemplating a relocation of the Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration. Such a change, says a letter signed by 58 former diplomats and national security advisers, would adversely shift the bureau’s focus from humanitarian and policy concerns to solely security issues.

Ellen Sauerbrey, Bush’s Asst. Sec. of State for PRM, helps make this a “bi-partisan” letter.

“We are convinced that the elimination of PRM’s assistance functions would have profound and negative implications for the Secretary of State’s capacity to influence policy issues of key concern to the United States,” the letter states. “It would also be ironic, as this is one of the bureaus at State that has enjoyed strong bipartisan support over many years.”

The signatories include former officials who served in Republican and Democratic administrations, as well executives from numerous religious and humanitarian organizations that work with newly arrived refugees.

[….]

Eric Schwartz, the president of Refugees International who helped organize the letter sent to Tillerson, said DHS plays an important role in security screening. But he said it does not focus on foreign policy considerations, such as support for host countries where refugees are awaiting admissions and encouraging other nations to take in more displaced people.  [Why is it our job to nag other countries?—ed]

See the letter by clicking here.
Your homework assignment for today is to write to Trump and tell him you like the idea of breaking up the cozy cabal at the DOS by moving the US Refugee Admissions Program to the Dept.of Homeland Security!
***Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizers paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities.  Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process.
Eight of the nine signed the letter to pressure Tillerson.
Noticeably absent as a signatory is the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. I’ve noticed that lately they aren’t signing on to these overtly political letters. Maybe parishioners are getting to their priests! Keep it up!

 

The "Gypsies" causing community outrage in a Pittsburgh suburb are wannabe refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A friend e-mailed last night to alert me to the controversy she had been hearing about through another friend living in the outraged community—California, PA.
Coincidentally, although I didn’t see it, I believe Tucker Carlson did a story on the town and its enraged citizens last night as well.

Downtown California, PA, another town roiled by a federal immigration agency from Washington, DC. secretly placing migrants there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California,_Pennsylvania

It seems that rather than hold in detention migrants who got to the US illegally and have apparently asked for political asylum, the federal government is placing large numbers in unsuspecting communities.  Although I have no proof, I will bet a buck that the placement of wannabe ‘refugees’ is being facilitated with our usual gang of refugee contractors.
I looked around for news on the “gypsy” controversy and found many stories including this one at The Blaze:

Residents in California, Pennsylvania, a small borough of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, have said they are outraged after the federal government moved 40 Romanian “gypsies” into the town of 7,000 as part of the government’s Alternative to Detention program.

On Thursday, more than 150 residents attended a community meeting about the immigrants, who residents say have failed to assimilate to American customs and norms. The residents cited trash in yards, disruptions in town markets, children and men defecating in public streets, and immigrants cutting off the heads of chickens in public areas, according to a report by WTAE-TV. None of the immigrants, who are undocumented, have been charged with any other serious criminal offenses. [I’ve found over the years that there is nothing that infuriates a community more than public crapping!—ed]

[….]

The Romanian immigrants ended up in the California borough as part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Alternative to Detention program, which allows immigrants to live in U.S. communities instead of being detained while they await a final decision about their immigration status.

[….]

About 600 residents have signed a petition demanding the gypsies change their living habits. [Assimilation issue again!—ed]

More here.
Although the word ‘asylum’ is not mentioned, surely these Roma people are waiting for a decision from an asylum court about whether they will be granted refugee status.
For new readers there are two normal channels for getting that most desired immigration status we can bestow on anyone (because doors are opened, the migrant gets a caseworker and refugees are eligible for most forms of welfare)—refugee status!
The normal channel is the one we write about most often—that is where we fly refugees in (most chosen by the UN) and place them with a refugee contractor.  The other channel is for a migrant to get to the US on his/her own steam (most often illegally) and then ask for political asylum.  If granted asylum, the migrant is just as much a refugee as the ones we fly in.  The Tsarnaev (Boston Bombers) were in a family granted asylum and were therefore REFUGEES.
We approve asylum for about 25,000 each year (see here) and that is in addition to the numbers we are always talking about as part of the President’s annual determination (50,194 as of today for FY17).
Those hundreds of thousands of mostly economic migrants from Africa and the Middle East working their way to Europe are going to ask for asylum there (they are NOT refugees, yet)—European countries could turn them down if they had the guts.
I spent a few minutes looking around for other information on the illegal movement of Roma and found this very informative AP story from 2012 about Roma crossing the Mexican border on their way to Canada. So, it appears we have apprehended this group in California, PA before they could get to our northern border.