Day: September 29, 2017

First 50 of Australia’s failed asylum seekers have arrived in US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, yes, Mr. President, the deal was “dumb” and it makes you “look terrible.”

We have America’s hurricane refugees and you are bringing in ‘refugees’ that Australia does not want on its mainland!

Trump and Turnbull shitty grin
What is Trump grinning about?  He (we!) get nothing out of the deal that saves Turnbull’s political neck.

 

The news that they were leaving Australia’s detention centers en route  to at least five American states is two days old, so surely they have been delivered.

For new readers, see all of my posts on the Australian (dumb!) deal by clicking here.

Here is the news posted Wednesday at The Guardian:

More than 50 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru are on their way to the United States to be resettled there.

The first 52 refugees to be accepted for resettlement in the United States under a contentious agreement with Australia have left the Pacific island camps where they had been held for years.

Their move comes as reports from Washington indicate the US is preparing to announce it is further slashing its overall refugee intake to its lowest level in a decade.

The first 25 refugees from the men-only camp on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island had flown out of the capital, Port Moresby, on Tuesday for the United States via the Philippines and Qatar, Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said.

Another 27 refugees flew to Port Moresby on Wednesday from a camp in Nauru, he said, also bound, ultimately, for Los Angeles.

But, Los Angeles is not their final destination:

The refugees will be resettled across the United States, including in Georgia, Oregon, Colorado, Texas and Arizona.

They will be assisted with housing, physical and mental healthcare, English lessons, enrolment of children in schools, and in finding employment. [On the US taxpayer’s dime!—ed]

[….]

Obama’s administration had agreed to accept up to 1,250 of Australia’s refugees, mostly from Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, [earlier reports said that Rohingya Muslims were in the group too—ed] in exchange for Australia agreeing to accept refugees from the “northern triangle” countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, under a US-led resettlement program. [These are mostly economic migrants NOT even in the US.—ed]

It was dumb when Obama did it, and it is dumb now!

Trump lashed his predecessor’s deal as “dumb”, and complained in a phone call to the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, that it would “make me look terrible”.

[….]

Trump ultimately agreed to honour the agreement, subject to “extreme vetting” of refugees.

The US is under no obligation to take a set number of refugees. Australian officials are confident the US will resettle somewhere approaching the 1,250 figure publicly speculated…

The takeaway from this dumb deal is that the US is helping Australia protect its borders, and maintain its security and sovereignty while sacrificing ours!

Australia’s asylum policy mandates that no refugee who arrives in Australia by boat can ever be resettled in the country, a policy the government says dissuades asylum seekers from attempting the dangerous and occasionally deadly ocean crossing from Indonesia.

You can read the rest of the story, here.

Tell the President what you think by clicking here.

Phony outrage from Senators on Trump refugee consultation with Congress

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I can’t spend a lot of time on this, but it warrants a bit of attention.

These US Senators have no shame! 

 

Grassley and Feinstein
Senator Grassley has been there 36 years and Feinstein 25 years.  I would like them both to tell us when exactly was the Refugee Act of 1980 properly/legally carried out when it came to the provision involving the Presidential “determination” and “consultation” with Congress.

What the hell is Senator Grassley doing scolding the White House/State Department, complaining that the legal process was not followed on THIS year’s legally required consultation on the refugee CEILING/CAP.

For the last ten years (and probably the ten before I was watching), Congress never paid any attention to the law when it came to the President’s determination about how many refugees COULD be admitted in the coming fiscal year.

Someone from the Administration would come to the Hill in mid to late September, present the determination and report, and no one on the Hill said boo!

Whatever was sent up, even literally within days of October 1, Congress accepted.

Faux outrage!

Now, only now! are they screaming about how the process was subverted (because it is Trump?).

Go here where I told you almost a month ago what the process is (a process they never followed anyway!).

Here is the complaint initiated by REPUBLICAN Senator Grassley (chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee).  Maybe he is getting too old to remember that he gave Obama a pass for the previous 8 years!

From Talking Points Memo (hat tip: Joanne):

Grassley, Feinstein Blast State Dept. For Barely Consulting Them On Refugee Cap

In a blistering statement Wednesday afternoon, the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called out the Trump administration for its rushed consultation of the committee before announcing it would lower the refugee cap next year.

Grassley and Feinstein complained that they learned of the refugee cap in the news before they had a meeting with the administration, despite asking months ago for a meeting on the issue. State Department officials met with the members of both the House and Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday afternoon, and only scheduled the meeting on Tuesday, per Grassley and Feinstein.

“We are incredibly frustrated that the annual consultation for refugee admissions, which is required by law, was finalized just one day in advance. It is simply unacceptable to read in the press that the administration had reached its decision on the refugee cap before the mandated meeting with Congress had even been scheduled,” Grassley and Feinstein said in the statement.

This post is filed in my ‘Laugh of the day’ category, here. ROFLMAO!

One more thing:  A number of years ago I asked my Congressman to see if I could be allowed to attend the “consultation” and was told that the public cannot attend. And, besides, I was told, there isn’t much to see—just a perfunctory handing-off of the determination report sometimes by an Assistant Secretary and not the Secretary of State himself or herself.

HIAS leads the pack: wants Congress to admit more refugees than Trump’s 45,000 ceiling

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Nevermind, that the Refugee Act of 1980 gives the power to the President to set the CAP/CEILING*** for refugee admissions for the coming fiscal year which begins on Sunday.

I have to laugh because I can always count on the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to be the first of the nine federal contractors to break from the gate on the next political action the refugee industry will take.

mark-hetfield-hias logo
As CEO of HIAS, Hetfield makes an annual salary of $358,718 (doing well by doing good!). Will he take a pay cut if there aren’t enough paying ‘clients’ (aka refugees) entering the US this year?

For new readers, see how much of your money,  your tax dollars, goes to each of the nine to resettle refugees on a per head basis, here.

There can never be serious reform while the nine are rolling in your money using it to hold rallies and lobby on the Hill while the media tries to make the public think that this is all about ‘humanitarianism’ and ‘religious charity.’

As you surely know by the keening sound coming from contractors like HIAS they aren’t happy with the 45,000 cap announced this week. (I can see huge bidding wars between the contractors as they bid for bodies in a smaller pool of refugees.)

I’m very unhappy with the number too, as I said here.  The UN/US Refugee Admissions Program should be reviewed by Congress to determine if it is still even a program the US should continue.

If the President had suspended the program and said a ‘determination’ would not be sent until Congress reviewed the program, he might have achieved some important campaign promises.  Sending a determination of 45,000 was meaningless—splitting the baby—and will do very little, if anything, to bring about needed long term change.

I digress, more later on what Donald Trump should be doing on the issue.

Here is HIAS telling its followers what to do:

 

Screenshot (884)

Screenshot (885)
This is a screenshot, so links are not hot.  If you want to see the text of what they want their followers to send the Washington reps, go here: https://www.hias.org/stand-against-record-low-cap-refugee-admissions

 

This is what you should be doing today. 

Tell the President that you are unhappy with 45,000.  He clearly wimped out! And, tell your representatives in the House and Senate how you feel too because you are up against lobbyists, like those at HIAS (likely teamed up with global corporation/Chamber of Commerce lobbyists) working the halls of Congress.

*** You will be hearing more from me about the fact that the 45,000 is a CEILING (NOT A TARGET). Trump could stay well under 45,000 and still be operating within the law.

He doesn’t need an Executive order to stay under the ceiling—he never did!