The mystery deepens and frustrations grow as Biden still has not signed the all important Determination to begin the admission of the 62,500 FY2021 refugees his State Department consulted Congress about more than month ago.
As I reported a couple of weeks ago, refugees were ready to fly into America from throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East when we learned that plane tickets were canceled because Biden had yet to sign a document that would begin this branch of the invasion.
Across Africa and the Middle East, Refugee Plane Tickets to America Canceled
There are only 6 months left in this fiscal year, so getting 62,500 resettled throughout the country would be a major undertaking as it represents a number not seen in decades.
Here The Hill on Thursday published an opinion piece by Mary Elizabeth Margolis from a new political lobbying group that promotes refugee resettlement and the candidates who push for changing America by changing the people.
Voice for Refuge Action Fund got its start just in time to make this big endorsement last year:
Why is Biden stalling refugee resettlement?
There are fewer refugees being resettled to safety in the U.S. right now than there were during the last year of the Trump administration. Read that again.
For refugee protection advocates, hopes for a Biden administration have been high.
From the beginning of his campaign, President Biden promised he would quickly restore American leadership by rebuilding the historically bipartisan life-saving refugee resettlement program — which was decimated under the Trump administration. It’s the reason we at Voice for Refuge, the only refugee focused 501(c)4, heartily endorsed President Biden.
To his credit, after inauguration President Biden quickly signaled his intent to follow through on his commitment to support refugee resettlement. Through executive action, he rescinded the previous administration’s wrongful refugee bans and laid the foundation to strengthen refugee protections and increase refugee admissions.
President Biden also announced his plan to increase the refugee admissions goal, known as the presidential determination, for the remainder of this fiscal year to 62,500 — from the historic low of 15,000 — and then to 125,000 for Fiscal Year 2022. This change would also end the Trump-era guidelines harmfully restricting which refugees could be resettled, which had made even meeting the tiny existing goal nearly impossible. The harm caused by the overly restrictive refugee categories cannot be overstated.
As the administration met its legal obligations to consult Congress on the revised refugee admissions goal, it seemed as if it would only be a matter of days before families would be reunited and American communities would be able to start welcoming more refugees home. Flights were booked, apartments were prepared, and then nothing.
[….]
President Biden has not been forthright with why this delay is happening.
LOL! Not being “forthright!” Just imagine the language they would be using if this was Trump!
More here. We also learned that Biden has not chosen an Assistant Secretary of State for PRM to oversee the program.
RCUSA gets up a letter….
The Refugee Council USA is the long-standing consortium of groups that lobbies for refugees and includes the nine federal resettlement contractors*** and a whole host of open borders groups.
One of their favorite activities is to gin-up letters and here on Wednesday they did just that.
Over 200 groups sent Biden a letter demanding he get moving on opening up the flow from around the world, including from those terror producing countries that Trump had restricted.
We elected you so get moving buddy!
PRESS RELEASE: More than 200 local, state, and national organizations urge President Biden to sign a revised refugee admissions goal
Today, Refugee Council USA and 208 local, state, and national organizations sent a letter to President Biden, urging him to follow through on his promise to refugees around the world.
See the letter here to see who exactly is trying to flood America with third worlders. In addition to national groups there are groups listed by state.
And, along with the usual contractors and ‘religious’ charities, CAIR is listed, as is Islamic Relief USA and even Codepink!
BTW, RCUSA tracks monthly admissions to the US, see here.
Dragging out Jimmy Carter…..
Jimmy Carter is the granddaddy of the US Refugee Admissions Program and Senator Joe Biden helped create it!
I missed this news last week, but it’s worth adding here.
This is Mark Hetfield of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society using Jimmy Carter to chide Biden.
At the Dallas Morning News:
On the anniversary of the Refugee Act, Biden needs to act
On Feb. 12, the Biden administration made the case in a 15-page document to Congress that the White House intends to issue an “emergency presidential determination” to reset the U.S. refugee resettlement program because of “grave humanitarian concerns” and “the public interest.”
The Biden administration’s subsequent failure over the last five weeks to address what is, in its own words, an “emergency” is both perplexing and harmful.
[….]
With the stroke of a pen, Biden can reverse the harm that Trump has caused the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, raise the refugee ceiling from its current all-time low and, most importantly, end discriminatory policies barring refugees based on national origin.
Yet, in spite of the good intentions expressed on Feb. 12, Biden has merely continued all of the Trump administration’s refugee resettlement policies.
[….]
This past Wednesday was the 41st anniversary of President Jimmy Carter signing the Refugee Act of 1980. To mark the occasion, he issued the following statement reflecting on the importance of the Refugee Act…
And then here is Hetfield’s wrap:
As a nation of immigrants and refugees, we now wait for Biden, who as a young senator was a co-sponsor of the Refugee Act, to restore the promise of the act and the American tradition of being a welcoming country.
No one ever asks (except for me!), but it is interesting to note that Joe Biden’s Delaware hardly ever ‘welcomed’ refugees and here, in the 40 years this program has been changing America. Why is that?
I had more news for the week, but this is getting too long. Maybe it will keep for next week.
***In case you are new to RRW, here are all of the contractors.
They worked to ‘elect’ Biden and as taxpayers you pay them millions annually to change America by changing the people. Americans Last! is their motto!
See my category News Round-up for previous posts. Round-ups have been sporadic over the years, but I am trying now to do them regularly.