Day: March 30, 2018

Here we go again! Bishops appeal to Prez on Christian charity grounds, never mention their federal funding

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, they are putting out their first moves for 2019!
I promised long ago to report on the enormous funding the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) receive from the US Treasury every time they make political statements about how the Trump Administration isn’t doing enough for refugees. See one such post here.
I also promised to stop reporting on their millions of taxpayer dollars if they would only start to mention their financial stake in the US Refugee Admissions Program in their public statements.
Here is the latest and of course (again!) no mention of their millions of taxpayer dollars.
From Catholic News Agency:

Washington D.C., Mar 28, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops have voiced concern over the abnormally low levels of refugees admitted to the U.S. under the Trump administration, saying that it puts those fleeing danger at risk, and fails to comply with Christian teaching on welcoming the stranger.

“The current level of refugee arrivals leaves thousands of vulnerable people in harm’s way and searching for protection,” said Bishop Joe Vasquez, speaking as chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee On Migration.

 

Vasquez immigration
The good Bishop never mentions that immigrants=federal funding!

 

The bishops’ March 26 letter was sent to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and to the U.S. State Department.

“As Christians, our concerns for refugees is integral to our life of faith,” the bishops said. “In this spirit, we urge the Administration to renew a bipartisan commitment to resettlement for refugees, including religious minorities.” [I told you here just yesterday that ‘bipartisan’ means the R’s want cheap labor and indeed the USCCB acts as a headhunter for big business.—ed]

[….]

These trends “signify an abdication of our nation’s leadership in humanitarian protection through resettlement and in championing international religious freedom,” the bishops charged.

Here we go again, they cite Jesus. I feel sure Jesus never meant that citizens should be taxed to pay for Christian charity to the poor stranger. 

They cited Jesus’ words from the Gospel of Matthew, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” as well as the Old Testament’s exhortations to care for the stranger.

Ha! Ha! This next bit made me laugh.  I told you just the other day that the political push would soon begin for fiscal year ’19, and right on cue…..
They want 75,000 beginning October 1, 2018.  I thought they would demand 100,000 as their opening bid, so I was wrong.

They called on the Trump administration to admit at least 45,000 refugees in this fiscal year and to issue a presidential determination allowing 75,000 refugees to enter the country next year. They again requested a meeting with Trump to discuss how to address refugee processing. [See the letter to the President, here.—ed]

More here.

Now to the millions the Bishops stand to lose during the Trump presidency (something they never mention)!

A couple of years ago we found an annual report for the Bishops’ Migration Fund, see here, and learned that the fund is 97% funded by the federal government (parishioners put very little into the fund for immigrants and refugees).  We have not found an annual report since that one in 2014 (strange, huh!).
However, here in an audit of the USCCB for 2015 and 2016, we see this (below) on page 14.
(Dear White House, before granting a meeting, be sure the President knows about this!)
 

Screenshot (333)_LI
DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD!

 
Catholics should consider addressing this issue with your parish priests.
Go here for my complete archive on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
And, Happy Easter! Happy Passover too!

Trump Administration looking to enforce the law: "public charge" requirement coming back!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

To my readers who have asked me about this for years—-asked me what happened to a law already on the books—here is a glimmer of (potential) good news.
welfare office
Needless to say the No Borders Left will go insane, but frankly if the Dems do go on a warpath against the idea that immigrants shouldn’t be sucking up welfare, it will hurt them at the polls in November.
No sensible Republican or Democrat supports the importation of welfare recipients.
From Neil Munro at Breitbart (hat tip Richard @highblueridge):

Homeland defense officials are reviving enforcement of a law that is intended to bar legal migrants who cannot earn a living in the United States.

The proposed regulation would implement the existing law, which bars legal immigrants from imposing a “public charge” on Americans. However, the plan is likely to be bitterly opposed by a loose alliance of business groups and by Democrats, both of whom gain when the federal government provides taxpayer aid to migrants, legal or illegal. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Breitbart News:

The administration is committed to enforcing existing immigration law, which is clearly intended to protect the American taxpayer by ensuring that foreign nationals seeking to enter or remain in the U.S are self-sufficient. Any proposed changes would ensure that the government takes the responsibility of being good stewards of taxpayer funds seriously and adjudicates immigration benefit requests in accordance with the law.

The plan was mentioned in a 2017 work-plan released by DHS, but it was highlighted Wednesday by a report in the Washington Post. The report said:

Immigrants who accept almost any form of welfare or public benefit, even popular tax deductions, could be denied legal U.S. residency under a proposal awaiting approval by the Trump administration, which is seeking to reduce the number of foreigners living in the United States.

The proposal would also require Americans who sponsor migrants to post bonds of up to $10,000, which could be used to repay taxpayers for migrants’ use of federal aid.

The plan must be approved by DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and then undergo a months-long public comment and regulatory process before it becomes a large regulation. If adopted, it will replace a 1999 regulation.

Much more here.
If the requirement extended to refugees the entire refugee program would crash and that is because the primary job of the resettlement contractors is to sign incoming refugees up for their ‘services’ (aka welfare).  They also help refugees find those low skilled jobs (slaughterhouse and hotel workers, etc) and show them how to supplement meager wages with welfare.
And, that idea of posting a bond makes me chuckle. 
Imagine this: Catholic Charities, the Lutherans, the Episcopalians and the Jews among the refugee resettlement agencies*** could sponsor refugees and instead of being paid to place them, the non-profit NGO puts up a $10,000 bond for say each family they place with the bond money coming from private charity.
When they have to put their private money where their mouth is, we would find out very quickly that their humanitarian zeal isn’t real!
***These are the nine major federal refugee contractors presently paid millions of tax dollars to resettle refugees. There will never be reform of the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program as long as they collect federal funds and act as community organizing and political agitation groups.
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 (low paying) jobs in food production and cleaning hotel rooms, and get them signed up for their services!  From most recent accounting, here.