Lancaster, PA: Church World Service and new mayor want the city to continue as “refugee capital of the USA”

cws logoSo, federal refugee contractor Church World Service is beefing up its political activist activities with new hires and holding events like this one on Sunday in the heart of Amish country. (And they are not just protesting for more refugees, they want open borders for all!).

From Lancaster Online:

Lancaster advocates, leaders criticize immigration policies during ‘March for Humanity’

Decrying the strict immigration policies that have made the U.S. border harder to cross in both legal and illegal ways, Lancaster’s preeminent refugee resettlement organization led a call for action on Sunday.

“We have to stand up, be loud and lift our voices in solidarity with all of our neighbors regardless of where they’re from,” Stephanie Gromek, a spokeswoman for Lancaster’s Church World Service office, told a crowd of more than 100 in Penn Square.

CWS fuck
Marching for humanity?

In a “March for Humanity” event, CWS and civic leaders criticized several decisions by President Donald Trump’s administration — from reducing the number of allowed refugees to separating immigrant families at the border.

Trump capped refugee admissions last year at their lowest point since 1980.

The change led to CWS resettling 144 refugees in the last 10 months compared with 407 two years ago, director Sheila Mastropietro said. They’ve had to cut staff as a result and now have 23 full-time employees — three less than a year ago. [Three less, big deal!—-ed]

The group is now moving to bolster its advocacy role. With some new funds raised through the national organization, they’ll hire a new grassroots organizer to help refugees and immigrants become more active in the community — from volunteering to voting, Mastropietro said.

[….]

danene
Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace was elected to office in November 2017

Matt Johnson, chief of staff to Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace, said the city is trying to build on its reputation as the place where more refugees are resettled per capita than anywhere else in the country.

“We can and we must do more,” Johnson said. “Our reputation as the refugee capital of the United States needs to be backed by redoubled efforts and even more commitment to immigrants and refugees.”

That includes creating a “language access plan” that ensures everyone can communicate with the government and certifying Lancaster as an official “welcoming city,” Johnson said. It also includes reasserting that city police will not do the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, he said.

More here.

CWS can be Open Borders political agitators all they want—just not on our dime!

CWS is 74% funded (involuntarily!) by you!

See new accounting by Nayla Rush at the Center for Immigration Studies.  Over $68 million of your tax dollars went to them in 2016 alone!!!

Don’t miss my post about ten days ago: ‘Have you no shame John McCullough’ where I report on CWS’s CEO’s huge salary that you—taxpayers—largely fund!

Is your church affiliated with CWS? If so, I would be running for the door!

Also, remember that CWS holds the so-called ‘Crop Walks’ to raise even more money for their political activities.

Member Communions

More than half of refugees in US receive food stamps

That is from a recent Center for Immigration Studies report by Jason Richwine who analyzed the most recent Office of Refugee Resettlement Annual Report to Congress.

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https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/arc_16_508.pdf

The news comes at a time when the President is deciding how many refugees could be admitted to the US in FY19 which begins on October first.

John Binder at Breitbart penned a short piece on the CIS study entitled:

More Than Half of Foreign Refugees Are on Taxpayer-Funded Food Stamps

 

More than half of the annual inflow of foreign refugees arriving in the United States are on food stamps, a government report reveals.

Since 2008, as Breitbart News reported, the U.S. has permanently resettled more than 1.7 million foreign nationals and refugees through a variety of humanitarian programs like the Special Immigrant Juveniles and the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act. This is a foreign population larger than Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — a city with more than 1.5 million residents.

An annual report by the Office of Refugee Resettlement was analyzed by the Center for Immigration Studies’ Jason Richwine, in which the analyst revealed that about 56 percent of households headed by foreign refugees who arrived in the U.S. between 2011 and 2015 are using taxpayer-funded food stamps.

Nearly 30 percent of refugees received cash welfare of some sort, while 34 percent of refugees 18-years-old or older said they had no health insurance. Of the refugees who said they did have health insurance, about 50 percent said they were either on Medicaid or Refugee Medical Assistance, both of which are taxpayer-funded.

More here.

Frankly I suspect the numbers are much worse.

The sampling used by the Office of Refugee Resettlement is tiny and dependent on how many of the refugees they can find via phone calls and how many will even participate by answering questions if they are found.

A large number are not even participating in the survey because of language barriers.

We have told you about the Annual Reports for years. Here is just one post in 2013 where we reported that food stamp use was 70% in Obama’s first year in office—2009!

Even in spite of the possible under counting in the welfare use sections, the reports are treasure troves of information for those of you trying to better understand how the refugee program works and what it might be doing to your towns and cities.

One of the things you will see in the reports is information on how many other grants and goodies the contractors receive over and above their per refugee head payment.

The US is no doubt importing poverty, something that the designers of the original Refugee Act of 1980 promised would not happen.

And, if you are saying to yourselves that new immigrants aren’t supposed to be eligible for welfare, remember that prohibition does not apply to refugees!

Below is the table from the 2016 Annual Report:

 

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SNAP is of course food stamps. Note that nearly 20% receive Social Security disability benefits—yikes!
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Next after food stamps, taxpayers fund medical care for a very large percentage of refugees.

 

Just so you know we admitted 69,933 refugees to the US in FY2015 and for the whole accounting period above (FY11 through FY15) the total was 324,508 according to data at Wrapsnet.

Cutting numbers is a good start and we applaud the President, but the whole program must be reformed.

Do it now!

Contact the White House and tell the President what you think! See contact link in right hand sidebar here at RRW.