Day: April 19, 2018

Miliband: US refugee admissions program under Trump is managed with malevolence and competence

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

When I saw this Washington Post Op-ed penned by British National David Miliband whose organization, one of nine federal refugee contractors*** (the International Rescue Committee) depends on just short of a half a billion! (see below) from the US Treasury each year, I thought it was kind of dumb to bite the hand that feeds them (and offers him, Miliband, a comfortable annual income of nearly $700,000).

David Miliband the king
Perhaps I am wrong, maybe David Miliband is giving most of his nearly $700,000 annual salary as charitable gifts to the refugees he sends to your towns.  Does anyone know? 

But, this is what the arrogant and entitled Far Left does because they have come to expect those millions as their just rewards for their ‘humanitarian’ zeal.
Of course I can’t resist an opportunity to write about “Moneybags” Miliband either.
From the WaPo (which has never to my knowledge ever looked in to the cushy deals and ginormous taxpayer-funded salaries the resettlement contractors have been receiving over the years).
There is nothing more annoying than a British Leftist lecturing us, and Trump, about retreating from our US principles and practices!

David Miliband is president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee.

At a time of widespread need, the United States is in headlong retreat from the principles and practices that for so long has made it a global beacon. It is no exaggeration to say that if current trends continue, the U.S. government will have no refugee resettlement program at the end of this administration.

In other policy domains, scholars have asked whether the Trump administration is malevolent or incompetent. In the case of refugees the answer is clear: There is animus towards this program and that is being translated into action in a highly organized and efficient manner. It is the worst of all worlds.

[….]

Despite the success of this bipartisan program, it is being slowly and silently strangled. Bureaucratic means are being used to subvert an agreed interagency decision. There have been no hearings in Congress, no accounting for the result.

Here is one of many deceptions Miliband regularly peddles.  He says the 45,000 CEILING, the CAP, is a target!  It is not! The President only needs to stay under the ceiling he himself set. If he wants to exceed the ceiling he would have to consult with Congress.

It is not too late to arrest the decline. Congress should be calling on the administration to expedite refugee interviews to hit the 45,000 target. Homeland Security should speed up the process for vetting refugees, which already takes far too long. And there is no excuse for the shortfall in issuance of special admissions for brave Afghans and Iraqis who have put their lives on the line for the United States.

More here.
I agree with Miliband that Congress should look in to the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program for other reasons, but frankly they are all a bunch of do-nothings on both sides of the aisle.
Below is a screenshot of the most recent Form 990 for the IRC.
Government grants is your money!
(For salaries of officers, scroll past page 9.  They are on a ‘continuation sheet’ that follows page 12. Eleven officers are in the 6-digit salary range!)

Screenshot (389)_LI
The IRC would have a hard time surviving without the infusion of federal dollars at this incredible level each year!

 
***  I post the contractor list almost every day because I want new readers to know exactly who is responsible for driving the US Refugee Admissions Program (in addition to the UN!).  The IRC is the financially largest of the contractors.  However if you add up the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and all the individual Catholic Charities that receive federal funding the Catholics might be getting the most boodle.
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 (welfare)!  From most recent accounting, here.

Another 50 of Australia's rejected asylum seekers are on the way to Any Town, USA

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The newest batch of 50 will join the 233 already here.  An Australian official who was originally involved with making the “dumb” deal with Barack Obama predicts the US will take all 1,250 and maybe more!
For new readers who have never heard of this incredibly stupid arrangement, see my entire archive of previous posts by clicking here.
 

australian detainees
The Trump Administration has selected 50 more for you to welcome to your towns and cities. Where are they being located? It is a secret!

 
From The Australian:

Former Australian Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg says he is confident the Trump administration will accept its upper limit of 1250 refugees under a deal with the federal government, and said the US might take even more people.

The government yesterday seized on reports a further 50 refugees in Manus Island and Nauru had been cleared for resettlement in the US to argue the government’s border protection policies were working.

Mr Quaedvlieg was removed from his job in March after an official investigation but previously worked on the deal originally sealed with the Obama administration.

It was the subject of a tense phone call between Malcolm Turnbull and US President Donald Trump.

Trump and Turnbull

“The US deal to settle refugees from Manus and Nauru was struck throughout the course of 2016 and was achieved through both formal and informal diplomatic channels,” Mr Quaedvlieg told The Australian.

“Many of us called in friendships and favours in relationships that we cultivated through the Five Eyes alliance.

(Click here to learn about Five Eyes which I had never heard of!)

“We were fortunate that President Trump honoured the deal that was struck with the Obama administration.”

Under the deal, the US agreed to accept as many as 1250 people as long as they passed “extreme vetting” procedures.

Mr Quaedvlieg, a former senior police officer, said he would not rule out the US accepting more than 1250 refugees.

[….]

Sky News reported 50 refugees had been cleared for resettlement in the US and would move to their new home within a fortnight. This would be in addition to the 233 people who had already moved to the US under the deal.

How ironic is this!  The new New Zealand Prime Minister made a big show a few months back of offering to take some of the mostly Muslim men that Australia won’t take to its mainland, but not so fast!

Government papers obtained by the news outlet this month show Australia asked the New Zealand government to keep its offer on the table as a contingency plan in case the US deal fell through.

Interestingly, the government documents suggested there were concerns about detainees passing New Zealand’s own strict screening and security laws.

There is no sense directing you to the whole article (it is behind a pay wall), but take my word for it.
Donald Trump should have stuck with his original instincts and nixed the dumb deal in the first months of his presidency.  It is not only dumb, but could set a dangerous precedent.  This process is way outside of the norm for international refugee movement.
And, if just one of these men (who have been incarcerated for at least 4 years) goes wrong, commits violence of some sort, it will be on the President!
Contact the White House! and tell the President what you think about this “dumb” deal!