I suspect this is going on all across America now as Obama has put the pedal to the metal to get his 10,000 Syrian Sunni Muslims resettled on top of the 75,000 (more than in recent years) other refugees from around the world. The existing 180-190 contractor offices are probably all struggling to find housing for the huge flood expected by September 30th.
This article at Ithaca.com makes it all sound so nice, so welcoming, so easy.
What a joke that they will get these impoverished people on their feet in three months and it won’t cost local taxpayers a dime! Oh yeh! What about the kids in schools, what about health care, what about housing for poor and disabled Americans—this is all FREE! Who knew!
For all of you near Ithaca, please read my post from earlier in the week about what is happening in those other cities in New York state that are overloaded!
(Come to think of it, maybe the Catholic Church in Ithaca has an unused church that they can sell for a mosque!).
Calling Donald Trump! They are pouring the Middle Eastern and African refugees into New York in a big way— before you can get to the White House!
From Ithaca.com:
Catholic Charities of Tompkins and Tioga counties is applying to become a refugee resettlement agency.
That designation means the not-for-profit will get federal funding to help prescreened refugees from wartorn countries start their new lives in America. [Remember, we just learned that instead of 18-24 months of screening we are now down to 3 months for Syrians!—ed]
Sue Chafee and Laurie Konwinski of Catholic Charities appeared before Common Council on Wednesday night to explain the program, which proposes to resettle up to 50 people during the 2017 fiscal year – beginning on October 1, 2016. [They will not stop at 50!!!—ed]
“We have a lot of say in who we’re going to select,” Chafee said. [No, she doesn’t. She doesn’t select!—ed] “There is an option to bring single people, but it’s easier to house families in Ithaca because you can pool the money going to each member of the family and cover rent for four or five months.” [If you are wondering what she means by pooling money, it is because they are paid by the head for each refugee, so a family of six or eight brings in a lot more money than a single refugee. And CC gets to pocket some of it.—ed]
The countries of origin which Catholic Charities expects to focus on locally include Syria, as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bhutan, along with anyone en queue from communities already well established in the Ithaca area, like the Burmese.
Who might be available in the area as translators is an important consideration, Konwinski said. For example, since Syracuse has large Sudanese and Somali communities, refugees from those countries tend to go to where their home folks already are.
Officially, federal monies would be for three months of services provided by Catholic Charities to new Americans. [And, what are the odds that they will be supporting themselves in 3 months—zero!—ed]
Here is the contact information for the Ithaca Common Council if you are concerned about this proposal.
And, see our ‘Ten things your town needs to know’ by clicking here.
You should all be on your toes wherever you live watching for stories like this one! If you hope to have any say in what they are doing, you must get into the fray now!
You have every right to question what Washington has planned for your city or town!
One more thing….I saw news that there is a push on to get refugees seeded in White Plains, NY, but haven’t had a chance to write about it.