Day: October 26, 2017

Did you watch the Congressional hearing this morning? Are you as enraged as I am?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t want to say I wasted an hour and a half watching the Congressional “Oversight” hearing on the US Refugee Admissions Program put on by the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security because it wasn’t a complete waste.

I learned that we are in more serious trouble than I even imagined! 

And, I’m not going to give you a blow by blow account because frankly I’m going out to work outside shortly (in nature) to clear my head and calm down!

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The wimpy male witnesses were no match for the pro-more refugees, pro-abortion Democrat women like Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) who monopolized the hearing, changing the subject!, over the issue of the Constitutional right (they say) for illegal aliens in the care of ORR to get abortions.

 

When the hearing began with a good, strong, promising opening statement by Chairman Raul Labrador and a shorter statement by full committee chairman Bob Goodlatte, I still thought there was hope, but alas there wasn’t any hope that serious problems (of concern to you!) with the refugee program would be revealed in the next hour and a 15 minutes or so.

Go here and here for my previous posts on the hearing to see what we expected to happen and other details about the committee.

Here, briefly, are just some of my observations:

First, where the HELL were Republicans?

Besides Labrador, only Steve King and Mike Johnson asked any questions.

Where were Reps.  Jim Sensenbrenner, Lamar Smith, Jim Jordan, Ken Buck or Andy Biggs? Or, any Republicans from the full committee?

(If more Republicans were present they would have been able to dig in to other lines of questioning.)

The Dems were out in force with three women Reps who ate up the milquetoast men witnesses for the Administration.

Reps Zoe Lofgren, Pramila Jayapal, and Sheila Jackson Lee pounded the clearly nice guy (meek!) Scott Lloyd who is Trump’s  Director of ORR over abortions for illegal alien children in ORR’s care.  They were cheered on and supported by the rambling and obviously senile John Conyers.

The other day I joked about not throwing shoes at the computer screen, but I had to control myself from doing just that!  Those tough you-know-whats totally destroyed the men testifying and monopolized the hearing with their pro-abortion line of questioning.

And, there was no line of questioning by anyone about local and state community involvement and consultation in the issue as promised!

We did learn a few things….

Yes, there was some discussion of fraud in the refugee program mostly centered on wannabe ‘refugees’ fraudulently getting in to the US through Resettlement Support Centers (RSC) run by non-profit contractors for the State Department around the world.

No one mentioned fraud by resettlement contractors operating in the US!

The GAO witness (a woman who escaped the wrath of the witches on the committee) did say they found cases of fraud where screeners (or interpreters) for these non-profit groups were asking for bribes to move cases along.

And, Rep. Johnson (R-LA) did ask the State Department witness about the travel loan repayment by refugees.  The acting Asst. Sec. of State for PRM, Henshaw, said the repayment rate was 75% and when asked what happens to those 25% who never pay up he said something about how they would have a lousy credit score! OMG!

Oh, and Rep. Lofgren submitted testimony for the record from a whole host of refugee contractors (who depend on government payola) and groupies including (but not limited to): HIAS, LIRS, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, CWS, the Cato Institute, the Episcopal Church (that’s all I heard of the list as she rattled it off).

The record is open for 5 more days, if you feel like you want to contribute something, go back here and see the contact information for the committee and ask how to submit testimony.

But, frankly,  I am sorry to conclude, Congress/the swamp is a waste of time…..

And, if Trump is going to permit such milquetoast men to represent his administration before Congress then he will be a one-termer!  (But, that looks like the Republican leaderships plan!).

Put your limited energy and finances into local organizing like I said here.

Rare oversight hearing on refugee program in Congress today, watch it!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As I told you yesterday, the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security (full Committee is the Judiciary Committee) will hold an oversight hearing on the US Refugee Admissions Program this morning.

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We had little notice of the hearing with a press release only sent out late in the day on Tuesday (the 24th).

So there was little time for you all to get information in to the committee. However, it isn’t too late, go to my post, here, and see the contact information and take a few minutes to send your concerns to the committee staff whose names were in the press release.  If your member of Congress is on the subcommittee, please send comments to the member and to the staffers listed.

Leo Hohmann, at World Net Daily, has a very informative article this morning on the hearing that we are told will address fraud in the program and the lack of community involvement  and consultation regarding the decisions that result in targeting Anytown, USA for refugees.

As I told WND, I will be surprised if those two important concerns are addressed in any depth. Watch for the bureaucrats to spin and flat-out lie, especially about community consultation.

Here is what I said:

“If these congressmen get anywhere near touching on these issues of fraud and abuse, I will be amazed,” says Ann Corcoran, a government watchdog who blogs at Refugee Resettlement Watch. “I’ve been following this program for 10 years and I can assure you, I have never heard Congress address fraud and abuse or the lack of consultation at the local level.”

WE will be watching!

Again, see my post yesterday for more details including who is on the Subcommittee.  It will be fun to see who shows up at the hearing!

Go here for the Subcommittee hearing schedule for today.  They say it will be webcast here. https://judiciary.house.gov/

Filed in my ‘Where is Congress’ tag!  It is also filed in my ‘What you can do’ category here.  For new readers who ask, check that category because almost every day I suggest things you can do where you live!

Church World Service CEO says Trump is catering to white-supremacists with refugee screening changes

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is one of several statements I’m seeing this morning on the Trump Administration’s latest announcement on more stringent vetting for refugees and others wanting to enter our country.

Editor: When I can’t quite figure out how much Trump is accomplishing on this issue, I can always use a ‘squawk’ gauge—what is the decibel level of the squawking from the refugee industry? It is pretty high today!

And, you know what is too bad, as the House Immigration Subcommittee holds a hearing this morning on the refugee program, there will not be one word of the fact that contractors are working against the very people who fund them—us.

As usual, in his Trump-blast, the CEO of one of nine federal contractors (paid by the head to place refugees in your towns) never once mentions that with more stringent vetting and fewer refugees entering the US, his ‘religious’ charity may have to absorb a huge loss in FEDERAL funding.

Will Rev. McCullough take a pay cut himself?

 

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Taxpayers help fund his quarter of a $million annual salary! CWS CEO Rev. John McCullough being arrested in Washington, DC protesting in SUPPORT of Obama’s executive AMNESTY. Photo and story here: http://njfon.org/2015/04/08/faith-groups-challenge-fifth-circuit-court-on-presidents-immigration-actions/

 

Washington, D.C. – CWS joins our partners and communities of faith across the United States in decrying the White House’s announcement today regarding changes to the US refugee resettlement program. As a result of these changes, hundreds, possibly thousands of families that have gone through the exhaustive vetting process in good faith and were promised refuge in the United States will see their eligibility revoked and be exposed to even further danger. The disruption to the program will have severe long-term consequences. [Including, but never mentioned, the possible loss of millions of dollars to their coffers—ed]

CWS’ President and CEO, Rev. John McCullough said “today’s announcement makes the pattern undeniable. The Trump administration is seeking to dismantle the refugee resettlement program brick by brick, through any means necessary. This administration is not interested in pursuing our national interest, enhancing national security, upholding the legal frameworks that protect both us and our allies, much less our shared moral obligation to lead as a nation during the world’s largest displacement crisis. The arguments put forward to dismantle the refugee program are all just smoke screens in order to fulfill the Trump campaign’s bargain with white-supremacy.”

Continue reading here.

This past summer, I used Charity Navigator for my source of information on CWS and its income (see all nine contractors here).  This is what I learned.  In the most recent year for reporting (2016), CWS was operating on a budget of just over $88 million.  See how much of that YOU (the taxpayer) supplied.

71% of their revenue comes from the US Treasury! Yet, the good reverend is perfectly comfortable protesting, political organizing against the President, and calling any of you who have concerns about the refugee program a white supremacist! 

This organization could not exist without government grants!

 

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See if a Church World Service subcontractor is working where you live, click here.

(It was Church World Service that sent its subcontractor, Virginia Council of Churches, to the county in Maryland where I live over 10 years ago and so CWS is responsible for helping create this blog!  However, I see VCoC isn’t listed as a subcontractor on that list anymore!  Hmmm!)

And here (below) are Church World Services churches (churches representing the religious LEFT).

Is your church one of those supporting the goals of CWS? 

BTW, If your local church is doing a “crop walk” you know you are supporting more refugees being placed in America through CWS.

People ask me all the time what they can do.  If one of these is your church, you need to start speaking up to your local pastors/ministers!