Senator Jeff Sessions: 90% of Middle Eastern refugees get some form of welfare

Yesterday we told you about the Center for Immigration Studies analysis of data indicating that legal immigrants (which include refugees) are using our social safety net at a higher rate than native born Americans, now we learn that Middle Eastern refugees are using welfare assistance at an even higher level than other legal immigrants.

Sessions and Trump at Alabama rally August 21
Senator Jeff Sessions with 2016 Presidential hopeful Donald Trump at August 21st rally in Alabama. http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2015/08/21/live-updates-donald-trump-holds-massive-campaign-rally-in-alabama/

From Breitbart (presumably these numbers include all Middle Eastern refugees no matter which religion they practice) Hat tip: Joanne.
The numbers are much more shocking than those we had previously obtained!

More than 90 percent of recent refugees from Middle Eastern nations are on food stamps and nearly 70 percent receive cash assistance, according to government data.

According to Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) data highlighted by the immigration subcommittee staff of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest — in FY 2013, 91.4 percent of Middle Eastern refugees (accepted to the U.S. between 2008-2013) received food stamps, 73.1 percent were on Medicaid or Refugee Medical Assistance and 68.3 percent were on cash welfare.

Middle Eastern refugees used a number of other assistance programs at slightly lower rates. For example, 36.7 percent received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), 32.1 percent received Supplemental Security Income (SSI), 19.7 percent lived in public housing, 17.3 percent were on General Assistance (GA), and 10.9 percent received Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA).

The high welfare rates among Middle Eastern refugees comes as the Obama administration considers increasing the number of refugees — who are immediately eligible for public benefits — to the U.S., particularly Syrian refugees.

ORR defines refugees and asylees from the “Middle East” as being from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen.   [Hah! And these figures don’t include the Somali welfare usage numbers!—ed]

More here….
Shortly after a meeting with Sessions on Capitol Hill, saying we need to take care of our own problems, Trump expressed reservations about plans to resettle Syrian refugees in the US.
Addendum: Senator Jeff Sessions was the leader of the opposition to the Gang of Eight’s amnesty bill and here in 2013 called out “meatpackers” as among the big industry lobbyists pushing for a greater supply of cheap immigrant labor.  Long time readers here know the large role the meatpackers are playing in changing small town America by encouraging the resettlement of refugees.

Senator Lindsey Graham: we need to bring in our "fair share" of Syrian Muslims

If you are looking for answers about how South Carolina has become a target for refugee resettlement where the Governor (Nikki Haley) and even Rep. Trey Gowdy*** are obviously reluctant to stand up and question the choice of the state as fresh territory for third world resettlement (colonization!), look no further than the senior senator of the Palmetto State.

Do Haley and Gowdy jump when Lindsey says jump?

Editor’s note: There will be hundreds of articles in the coming days about the Syrian refugee numbers to be admitted to the US (Obama said 10,000 yesterday, but I suspect that is a trial balloon).  We will post the ones that are the most informative we find.  Like this one! 

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Pals! Leftist Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and SC Senator Lindsey Graham. Will they team up to free emergency funds to bring Syrian Muslims to your towns and cities? Graham was one of 4 Republicans promoting amnesty as part of the infamous ‘Gang of Eight’ Senators in 2013. His position on more immigration has been very clear.

Somehow South Carolina had dodged a bullet over the years as surrounding states of North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia have been flooded with refugees.
All that is changing (see our archive on the controversy in Spartanburg) and it sure looks like the driver behind that change is none other than SC senior Senator Lindsey Graham.  See his asinine and ill-informed comment about the Statue of Liberty and how America has to take it’s “fair share” of Syrian, mostly Muslim, refugees.   What the hell!  We had nothing to do with the Syrian civil war, why should any be our “fair share.”
(Now, if Graham is talking about Syrian Christians, he better get the backbone to use the word —  Christian!)
The US has long been the leading nation permanently resettling refugees from every continent on the globe—over 100,000 Iraqi Muslims from the Middle East in the last 8 years—-isn’t that enough for the Senator?
From The Fiscal Times in an article entitled, ‘Can the U.S. Handle 100,000 Syrian Refugees?’ (emphasis below is mine):

While much of Washington is occupied with the Iran nuclear deal, another debate is looming about whether the U.S. should open its doors to more refugees from the Syrian civil war.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina raised the possibility on Tuesday that Congress might approve emergency funding to greatly increase the U.S. quota for Syrian refugees in the face of an historic migrant crisis in Europe and the Middle East.

During an appearance before the National Press Club, Graham became the first GOP presidential candidate to urge the Obama administration to accept its “fair share” of Syrian refugees, amid international criticism that the U.S. is grossly shirking its responsibility to the international community. In a fit of melodrama, Graham said that “we should take the Statue of Liberty and tear it down” if the U.S. preserves its current, highly restrictive immigration policies with regards to victims of Syrian violence.

Graham is chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, which means he has some say over the budget for the State Department and other international agencies. He said he would be in favor of “emergency spending” to cover the cost of bringing substantially more Syrian immigrants to the U.S., which would add to the federal deficit. He said he would confer with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on his subcommittee, to sound him out on a possible bipartisan proposal.

“I don’t just want to pick a number,” Graham said, according to Roll Call. “I don’t know how many we should take, I don’t know how much money we should spend, but I know we should take our fair share and we need to spend more to get ahead of this.”

The U.S. currently allows the immigration of no more than 1,500 Syrians a year [inaccurate information—ed] – a miniscule number in the face of the millions of refugees streaming out of Syria, headed for Germany and other European countries. The United States Committee for Refugee and Immigrants has urged the administration to accept 100,000 Syrians in the coming year. [Dumb reporters quoting, as some sort of authoritative voice, a non-profit resettlement contractor which is being paid by the head to resettle refugees!–ed]

*** Rep. Trey Gowdy is chairman of the House subcommittee responsible for refugees and we will be watching closely to see if he calls for hearings when Obama sends his “Determination Letter” to Congress for consultation sometime in the next week or two.  Fiscal year 2016 begins on October 1, so by law Obama must send it!  The big question is, what can Congress do about it?  The key committees in the House and Senate could at minimum hold hearings.  And, please don’t tell me that Gowdy has too much going on with Benghazi to spend a little time on this infinitely more important issue—how many Syrian Muslims will we drop off in your towns!

Trump reverses himself on Syrian refugee question, says we have too many problems of our own!

The other day, Presidential candidate Donald Trump sounded a bit squishy on the issue of bringing in large numbers of Syrian refugees, but on Hannity last night he says what sure sounds like a NO!
Watch the clip, he does mention that the wealthy Gulf Arab States and Russia aren’t taking any (terrorism fears?).  He could mention that China is never asked to take any as well!  The UN does pound Japan to take refugees, but they only take a tiny number as they are wisely trying to save their unique culture.
Here he is in a far-ranging interview that begins with his views on the Iran nuclear deal.  For the refugee discussion begin watching at 7:50 minutes.  Thanks to Richard at Blue Ridge Forum for alerting us to this news.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2j8sBTnVXw
 
 
Please see our earlier post this morning where we reported that fellow GOP Presidential hopeful, Gov. Scott Walker, is saying no as well.
If you see more on what position other candidates are taking, please send a link in a comment to this post.
Obama will likely be telling the world sometime this month how many he will “welcome” to live in your towns and cities.

Gov. Walker: We don't need more Syrian refugees, we need to deal with ISIS

2016 Presidential candidate Gov. Scott Walker just jumped to number one in my list of candidates talking with sanity in the face of the huge public relations and propaganda campaign on-going to bring in more Syrian Muslims (yes, 95% so far since 2012 are Muslims) to live in your town or city.   And, as much as it pains me to think about more US military involvement in the Middle East, ISIS must be destroyed.  Trump, so far, has been doing squishy talk on the Syrian refugees.
Here is Walker quoted in The Hill (thanks to a reader):
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday said he opposes the U.S. opening its borders to take in more refugees from Syria.

“No, we shouldn’t be taking on any more Syrian refugees right now,” he said at the Governor’s Small Business Summit in Eau Claire, Wis., according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

“In the last year, America has received almost 70,000 refugees, of which nearly 2,000 are from Syria,” the 2016 GOP presidential candidate said. “We’ve spent something like $4 billion in humanitarian relief in terms of helping the situation in Syria.”

“So, we’re doing more than any country in the world and it’s got to be clear that the problem that has to be addressed is not the refugee issue that’s a symptom, the real problem is this administration fails to deal with taking on ISIS,” added Walker.

I’ve said before, I’m a one issue voter who believes that what we do about immigration of all kinds right now will determine if the America we know and love, lives or dies.

Reminder!  Obama will be sending his annual Determination Letter to Congress this month (the new fiscal year begins October first) and refugee law requires a “consultation” with Congress.  Since Congress has rarely (if ever) consulted before (they just rubber stamp what the President wants), I’m not sure exactly what that entails, but I am thinking that the House and Senate Judiciary Committees (or at least the immigration subcommittees) could, at minimum, call for hearings on the Obama FY2016 refugee plan.
I believe that Obama will call for a dramatically increased number of Syrians (perhaps to please the Pope when he arrives later this month)—resettlement contractors want 65,000-100,000 admitted before Obama leaves office—and the public should have an opportunity to speak!

Trump: "possibly" bring some Syrians to the US

This news is four days old, but I heard it tonight on Fox as I arrived home from DC.

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Which Syrians Donald?

Here is what CNN reported over the holiday (and Fox repeated):

(CNN)Republican front-runner Donald Trump said Friday that the Syrian refugee crisis is “so horrible” that he would consider allowing the U.S. to accept some of the displaced refugees.

When asked whether the United States should assist European countries and accept some of the refugees on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Trump said, “We have so many problems, and the answer is, possibly, yes.”

All I can say is that by now Trump has access to some of the most knowledgeable people in the country on immigration issues and he better get boned-up on this issue pretty quickly because the question (and decision by Obama) of the number of Syrian refugees the US will be dropping off in your towns is coming at us like a freight train.

I’ll be very surprised if candidates are not asked about our refugee policy at the upcoming CNN debate.

The most important question is how many, but not far behind is the one I have not heard one mainstream media outlet mention—will we be taking in mostly Muslim Syrians as we have already?  Or, are we going to prioritize the persecuted Christians? I think the average America, who knows nothing about what is going on with refugees, simply ASSUMES the Christians are at the head of the line when in fact they are not!

And, not far behind the questions about number and religion is another biggie—are we going to forego normal security screening?

***Update***  

A reader tells us how you can get in touch with Trump:

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/contact/

I send him Tweets everyday at

@realdonaldtrump

He requested policy suggestions at email

Policy@donaldtrump.com