Month: October 2017

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service trying to raise $5 million from private funding sources

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It’s about time!

And, if they raise $5 million privately this year it will be an all-time high for the CEO Linda Hartke who took the reins in 2010 of a refugee contractor that is on average 95% taxpayer funded.

As the refugee numbers decline under Trump, LIRS, like all of the nine contractors*** are facing financial woes because of laziness and maybe mismanagement (there is a rumor along those lines at LIRS!) having become so dependent on taxpayer funding that most have made little or no effort to raise PRIVATE money for their charitable ‘good works.’

I notice that at LIRS website they have launched a campaign to raise a whopping $5 million in private money.

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If LIRS raises $5 million this year from private funding it will be the highest in the last 6 years, maybe ever!

 

I’m wondering if those meatpacker contracts reported here recently are part of that $5 million goal?  Foreign-owned BIG Meat hires LIRS!

Again, if they manage to raise $5 million in private money they will be doing better than any year under the stewardship of CEO Linda Hartke who arrived there in 2010.

Going back to Form 990’s beginning with the tax reporting document for 2011, this is what I noticed:

(By the way, I’m rounding numbers to make this easier on me and I didn’t get into side income/contracts including their travel loan deal with the State Department. Form 990’s (except for 2016) can be found on LIRS website, here. )

Most salary information is on page 7 or 8 and income on page 9.

Form 990 (2011)

Total gifts and grants (inc. government grants) $31.6 million, $1.3 million private money raised. Most of the other funding from the US Treasury (roughly 95% taxpayer funded)

Hartke’s salary: $182,000 plus $21,000 from other compensation

Form 990 (2012)

Total gifts and grants (inc. government grants) $40 million, $1.5 million private money. Most other funding from the US Treasury (roughly 96% taxpayer funded)

Hartke’s salary: $191,000 plus $23,000 from other compensation

Form 990 (2013)

Total gifts and grants (inc. government grants)  $43 million, $2 million private money. Most other funding from the US Treasury (roughly 95% taxpayer funded)

Hartke’s salary: $203,000 plus $24,000 from other compensation

Form 990 (2014)

Total gifts and grants (inc. government grants)  $57.8 million, $2.5 million private. Most other funding from the US Treasury (roughly 96% taxpayer funded)

Hartke’s salary: $210,000 plus $25,000 from other compensation

Form 990 (2015)

Total gifts and grants (inc. government grants) $53.8 million, $3 million private. Most other funding from the US Treasury (roughly 94% taxpayer funded)

Hartke’s salary: $274,000 plus $33,000 from other compensation

Form 990 (2016)

Total gifts and grants (inc. government grants) $67 million, $2.5 million private. Most other funding from the US Treasury (roughly 96% taxpayer funded)

Hartke’s salary: $293,000 plus $34,000 from other compensation.

 

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LIRS headquarters building in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor neighborhood

Think about this, CEO Linda Hartke went from making $182,000 in 2011 to making $293,000 in 2016 running a RELIGIOUS charity funded largely by the US taxpayer. Stunning isn’t it!

This year, because the number of paying clients (aka refugees) will be lower than normal they HOPE to raise a whopping $5 million (to tide them over?).

For those of you feeling squeamish about reporting salaries, remember this is not a private corporation or a true non-profit, it is a quasi-government agency which we all pay for.

Government salaries are known to the public for members of Congress ($174,000 for example) and even your local elected officials, so it is our right to know and comment on salaries being paid to the nine federal refugee contractors.

If you are a Lutheran, check out the LIRS leadership page here.  See if there are people you know!  Let them know how you feel.

See LIRS subcontractors here. Is there one near you?  Remember they work for LIRS in Baltimore!  LIRS in Baltimore is sending refugee cases to your towns and cities! Hello St. Cloud!

*** The nine federal refugee contractors that monopolize all refugee resettlement in America are here. Hartke’s salary isn’t even the highest of the nine. That honor goes to David Miliband of the International Rescue Committee whose salary is approaching $600,000! Doing well by doing good!

 

 

Greater screening to be applied to ‘refugees’ from 11 countries; leakers name the eleven

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Trump Administration should know by now that they can’t keep stuff like this quiet because they have permitted the blabbermouths in the deep state to run wild.

general Kelly
“White House chief of staff John Kelly reportedly told other members of the Trump administration that if it were up to him the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. would be between zero and one,” say leakers in the Trump White House or State Department. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/357250-kelly-said-he-wants-to-admit-between-zero-and-one-refugees-into-the

 

Here is the latest from  The Atlantic.  I don’t really want to put an inordinate amount of emphasis on this screening for terrorists activity because I don’t think it is our greatest threat from out-of-control immigration/refugee resettlement.

Our greatest problem (IMHO) is the enormous social and cultural upheaval from large numbers of migrants (of any sort) entering the US who will not assimilate and don’t have any respect for our laws and our Constitution as designed.  And, on top of that, we, the taxpayers, pay for it all!

If Islamic terrorism is our greatest concern, how are we going to screen-out the 2-year-olds who enter the country and grow up two decades later (under the influence of the local mosque) to become Jihadists?

(Yes, the Boston bombers were refugees because they were, under the law, a category of refugee—successful asylum seekers. And, yes, Somalis who have tried to kill Americans came as little children, as refugees!).

Let me ask this: If this security screening issue gets ironed out, does it mean our gates will be opened wide to allow uncontrolled migration from across the globe?

Honestly, I’m getting weary of being dragged down the screening rabbit hole…

….but, since I’m sure you want to know what the latest Trump Administration screening project entails, here is some news about it (albeit with a Leftist slant):

The Trump administration issued an order Tuesday that resumed the resettlement of refuges in the United States, but said the applications of citizens from 11 “higher-risk” countries would be considered on a case-by-case basis during a new 90-day review period. The administration has so far declined to name the countries officially and publicly but two officials—one from the administration and the other from an advocacy group—separately confirmed that the countries were Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. All of those countries—except North Korea and South Sudan—are predominantly Muslim.

Six countries on the list—Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and North Korea—were not a surprise: They were also on the latest version of the administration’s travel ban that was announced last month and is currently blocked by the courts. But that travel ban also included the citizens of Chad and Venezuela. Tuesday’s refugee list, on the other hand, included the citizens of Iraq, Mali, Sudan, South Sudan, and Egypt. The restrictions imposed last month were an outright ban on travelers—but not refugees—from those countries. Tuesday’s announcement does not constitute a ban. Rather, it is a list of 11 countries whose citizens will be subject to additional security screening if they apply for refugee status in the U.S.

[….]

eric schwartz 2
Schwartz is more than President of Refugees International. He is a Hard Left Soros protege who ran the State Department refugee program in the early years of the Obama Administration.

The 11 nations on Tuesday’s list made up a significant proportion of refugees accepted by the U.S. in the last fiscal year, which ended September 30. Of the 53,716 refugees accepted by the U.S. in that time, 23,357 were from the 11 listed countries (about 43 percent), according to data maintained by the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center. The breakdown of the number of refugees accepted from each of the 11 countries in the last fiscal year is as follows: Egypt, 9; Iran, 2,577; Iraq, 6,886; Libya, 3; Mali, 6; North Korea, 12; Somalia, 6,130; South Sudan, 176; Sudan, 980; Syria, 6,557; and Yemen, 21.  [I’m grateful that someone took the time to do the numbers—ed]

[….]

“This is remarkable. The administration has had more than six months to review this policy under the March EO [executive order on travel], and they’ve come back in October to re-impose what will largely be seen as another unreasonable ban that primarily affects Muslims,” said Eric Schwartz, the president of Refugees International, a group that advocates for refugees. Although the move announced Tuesday is not a ban, refugee advocates say it is tantamount to one because of the additional security requirements that are often time-consuming.

“I hope they at least have the decency to be transparent about what they are doing, and name the nationalities affected,” Schwartz said. “It is a cynical and tragic manipulation of administrative process, and conflicts with U.S. values and interests.”

Go here to read more.

I was more interested in the portion of the new EO that calls for the Justice Department to evaluate the whole Refugee Program over the next 180 days.

And, gee, maybe the Administration will take its job more seriously than that bunch running the House of Representatives.  See yesterday’s House hearing.

Learn more about Eric Schwartz by clicking here.

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?

 

McCullough arrest
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!