Day: March 29, 2018

Harrisonburg, Virginia: Perdue admits that they are hiring locally as refugee arrival numbers 'plummet'

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

When I saw this story yesterday at WMRA Radio , I figured it was one more of dozens of stories I mentioned here and here recently.  Talking points have obviously gone out to the gullible/biased media about the mean Trump Administration and its plummeting refugee admission numbers. I wasn’t going to bother posting it until I came to the juicy bit near the end.
Forget the humanitarian mumbo-jumbo, refugee resettlement is about finding cheap labor (supported with your tax dollars) for big corporations especially BIG MEAT and BIG CHICKEN!  And, the next time you hear about the bipartisan support for the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program remember the R’s are looking for laborers for their big business pals and Chamber of Commerce lobbyists.
 

Screenshot (329)
BIG CHICKEN companies like Perdue are being questioned about working conditions in plants around the country.  And, Church World Service brings them more refugee workers! Photo and story:   https://news.vice.com/article/chicken-industry-workers-wear-diapers-because-bosses-allow-no-breaks-ngo-says

 
From WMRA Radio:

But last month, a Perdue spokesman confirmed that refugee applicants to the Bridgewater plant have dwindled significantly, and that the company is filling positions from the local community.

Before I give you the rest of the story, you should know that Harrisonburg is in the heart of House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte’s district.  The Judiciary Committee is responsible for the Refugee Admissions Program. I’d like to know if Perdue is the reason Goodlatte has never made any significant move to reform the refugee program!
Now here is the rest of the boo-hoo story.  At least WMRA Radio tells listeners that Church World Service is being paid by the feds (by you!) for their ‘religious’ charity!

Trump’s Policy Sharply Reduces Refugee Flow to Harrisonburg

Following President Trump’s decision to sharply restrict the number of refugees allowed into the United States, the State Department has informed refugee resettlement offices nationwide to trim operations or even close. One of those offices is in Harrisonburg, which has a long history of refugee resettlement.

Harrisonburg’s general open-mindedness, low cost of living and high employment in industries that don’t demand English, such as food production, have allowed the city to resettle from 175 to 200 refugees every year.

But the feds recently informed some 40 refugee resettlement offices nationwide to cut back their operations, according to Reuters. Twenty are expected to close.

[….]

Church World Service at White House
Church World Service protesting against Donald Trump at White House.   https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2018/01/28/church-world-service-and-hias-join-cair-to-protest-at-white-house/

Jim Hershberger runs the resettlement office for Church World Service in Harrisonburg. Church World Service is one of nine agencies*** nationwide that contracts with the federal government to resettle refugees. He says ten branches of those agencies nationwide have already closed. Although there are no plans for the Harrisonburg office to close as of yet, it hasn’t had a single refugee arrival in two months since mid-February.

[….]

I am worried that we won’t have the money to continue to offer services to refugees like we like to do. [How about doing the hard work of raising PRIVATE money!—-ed]

[….]

Church World Service is funded by the federal government to help recent arrivals find jobs and apartments, and to enroll them in English classes, driving classes, and their children into school.

In fact, according to our most recent accounting, Church World Service is 71% funded out of your taxpayer wallets!
Here it comes! Slaughterhouse workers needed!
WMRA Radio continues…..

The changes are being felt at the poultry plants too. Poultry is a big industry in Rockingham County and long considered a pipeline for immigrants and refugees.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Perdue’s Kenneth Lambert. It’s a great business model for Perdue. Federally-funded Church World Service finds them workers and the taxpayers subsidize the other needs of refugee workers with food stamps, low income housing, medical care, etc.

Two years ago, the workforce at the Perdue plant in Bridgewater was 42 percent immigrant, according to its Director of Operations Kenneth Lambert.

KENNETH LAMBERT: Our countries are made up of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatamala, Honduras, Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Bosnia, Russia, Kenya and right now we have a couple of people from Uganda.

But last month, a Perdue spokesman confirmed that refugee applicants to the Bridgewater plant have dwindled significantly, and that the company is filling positions from the local community.

No comment from school officials regarding the refugee slowdown.  Gee, I wonder why?

Fewer refugee arrivals may impact local schools as well.

It’s really where the city’s status as a melting pot comes to life. Students in city public schools come from 51 foreign countries and speak more than 56 languages.

Because Harrisonburg High has long been overcrowded, plans are underway for a second high school. But when asked if fewer refugees arrivals have eased the overcrowding, school administrators didn’t want to comment.

More here.
Next up: Catholic Bishops (big business headhunters) whine too!
***These are the nine supposed non-profit groups (LOL! Six are ‘religious charities’) that act as headhunters for big business which welcomes the cheap, compliant labor (refugees can’t go home and don’t know how to complain!).
The number in parenthesis is the percentage of the nine VOLAGs’ income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees, line them up with jobs, and get them signed up for their services!  From most recent accounting, here.