Rampell is one of those Ivy-league-educated thirty-somethings who has been elevated to a position as morally superior opinion writer (aren’t they all!) at the Leftwing anti-Trump Washington Post.
Neil Munro of Breitbartchecked in with me to see how I felt about being a bigot for the last decade plus.
This is what Rampell opined in theWashington Postearlier this month.
Trump’s refugee ceiling is bad for everyone but bigots
Frankly I don’t pay any attention to the name-callers, except that they invigorate me to keep going just when I am ready for blogger retirement.
Once they start making charges against me and others who believe we have a right to know about a program that is changing America—a right to talk about it, to understand how a federal program works and a right to object to it—that we are racists, bigots and xenophobes, I know they are know-nothings.
And, they are weak because name-calling is the last refuge of political agitators whose team is losing.
Here is some of what Munro penned at Breitbartafter asking the bigot—me—what I thought of Rampell’s charge.
Washington Post: Only ‘Bigots’ Oppose Large Refugee Inflows
President Donald Trump’s decision to accept 15,000 refugees in 2020 only helps “bigots,” says Catherine Rampell, a pro-migration columnist at the Washington Post.
“The only constituency helped by Trump’s latest cruelty are the bigots and knee-jerk nationalists crafting his policies,” she wrote, under the headline “Trump’s refugee ceiling is bad for everyone but bigots.”
Rampell’s jibe was dismissed by Ann Corcoran, founder of Refugee resettlement Watch, who says the federal importation of refugees expands American poverty, slows technological innovation, and fuels civic conflict. She responded:
There’s no sense trying to argue with [progresives] except to turn it back and say; ‘What about our own poor people? Why aren’t they interested in taking care of our poor Americans? Our homeless? Why are refugees and immigrants somehow cooler and more desirable to take care of than our own poor people? Have we run out of poor Americans to take care of?’ No, clearly, we have not run out of poor Americans.
[….]
Advocates for migration are eager to claim moral superiority over the Americans who want to help Americans, said Corcoran. “They believe we’re bigots — that’s what they’ve been saying for decades — but they know big business uses these refugees to keep wages low,” she said.
[….]
So the hidden agenda for Rampell and many others progressives is political ambition, not charity, Corcoran said. “The bottom line is that these immigrants vote for Democrats,” she said.
“Big business gets the cheap labor, the Democrats get the voters, and Americans get hammered with this humanitarian [B.S.],” she said.
The Left has successfully silenced many good Americans who might speak by effectively deploying the “racist” labeling methodology. Just get over it, laugh it off, speak up and vote for Donald Trump!
If Trump loses they won’t have to bother with name-calling, they will have real power to silence us!
The Open Borders Lobby with its lawyers is not happy with Trump’s “extreme vetting” and with the help of Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollenare prepping their friends in the media and in Congress for the day when they expect Harris/Biden will fling open America’s gates to tens of thousands of new refugees from countries like Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Biden has already signaled that 125,000 is not out of the question beginning in January 2021. Any enhanced security screening would necessarily have to be discarded to facilitate numbers like that.
This report was made possible by the efforts of many people outside of IRAP, particularly our clients and co-counsel in JFS [Jewish Family Service of Seattle] v. Trump and Doe v. Wolf. In litigating JFS v. Trump, we worked with the National Immigration Law Center, HIAS, Perkins Coie LLP, and pro bono attorneys Lauren Aguiar, Mollie M. Kornreich, and Abigail Sheehan Davis.
In addition, we are grateful to the office of Senator Chris Van Hollen for his advocacy on behalf of refugees and for sharing the reports to Congress on refugee admissions and vetting that informed this report.
It really doesn’t matter what the report says, this is about setting the tone for the anticipated return of mass migration to make up for what they will call the ‘lost Trump years.’
Should we have expected any other reaction from the nine federal refugee resettlement contractors*** that have been changing America by changing the people for four decades while we pay them to do it!
The contractors are working overtime to get Joe Biden elected President since he has promised to admit 125,000 refugees in his first year in office.
As I reported here the other day, the President has set the ceiling for FY2021 at the lowest level since the program was launched by Senators Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Here come the reactions….
Catholics are up first since the US Conference of Catholic Bishopsleads the bunch in terms of numbers of refugees they have placed in hundreds of US towns and cities since the program began.
The big news in this story is that the President hasn’t signed the determination and there is a pause in the program until October 26th.
Bishops and advocates denounce Trump administration’s historic low refugee cap
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The steep slope, appearing almost as a vertical line, is a stunning mark by the Trump administration on what was once a refugee program recognized around the world as a model to welcome the tyrannized and persecuted masses.
Late on the night of Sept. 30 as the annual deadline for setting a figure for refugee admittances approached, the administration announced it would bring the refugee cap—the maximum number of displaced people the country decides to resettle in a federal fiscal year—to a historic low: 15,000.
The average during presidencies of both Republicans and Democrats had been around 95,000. [See how they got this 95,000—ed] But the announcement on the new cap doesn’t mean the bad news for refugees, or organizations that help them, ended there.
“It’s not official, the president still has to sign it,” so no refugees can enter the country until that happens, said Ashley Feasley, the director of policy for Migration and Refugee Services at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “I have no idea when he’ll sign it.”
Feasley said there’s a “pause” until Oct. 26, which means nothing will happen until then.
Dorsonville was born in Columbia. Gomez was born in Mexico.
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, U.S.C.C.B. president, and Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington and chairman of the U.S.C.C.B.’s Committee on Migration, called the low number on admissions, “heartbreaking,” given “the global need and the capacity and wealth of the United States.”
Then we have the International Rescue Committee weighing in….
Ash worked for both the Bush and Obama State Departments.
Nazanin Ash, the vice president of public policy at the International Rescue Committee, also deplored the decision:“The number of refugees worldwide has grown by over 14 million over the last four years, while the Trump Administration has lowered refugee admissions levels by over 80 percent, vastly reduced access to the program for Muslim and Black refugees, severely reduced the number of persecuted religious allowed into the country, and ignored the world’s largest refugee crises.”
She added, “The administration has reneged on U.S. humanitarian obligations, trampled on long-held values, undermined U.S. interests and its own stated policy goals—including by failing to provide safety to thousands in need of refuge because of their assistance to U.S. troops or because of religious or political persecution.”
Mark Hetfield, President and CEO of HIAS, at February 2017 rally against the President. A featured speaker that day was then Rep. Keith Ellison
In response, HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield said: “It is a sad moment when our country shows such weakness when it should be leading. The administration’s decision to set a record low number of refugees at a time of record high needs — and without even consulting with Congress, as required by law — shows how far we have fallen. Not only will refugees who have fled violence and persecution suffer, but so will our country, as refugees who become new Americans have contributed so much to this country.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES LOWEST REFUGEE ADMISSIONS CEILING IN AMERICAN HISTORY
“In just four years, this Administration has cut the refugee resettlement program from 110,000 to a historic low of fifteen thousand. At a time of unprecedented global need, today’s decision to further cut the refugee admissions ceiling is a complete abdication of our humanitarian and moral duty.” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
“The Trump Administration’s failure to comply with the Refugee Act and their subsequent delays and cuts to the refugee program are moral failures and a disgrace to the American legacy of welcome.
Refugee resettlement is not a partisan issue. Each day that resettlement is paused is a matter of life and death for the thousands of refugees waiting to rebuild their lives. Congress must not overlook this blatant disregard for human life and our legal process. They must demand that they be consulted as soon as possible and that the refugee program be restored.”
“The proposed refugee resettlement number of 15,000, a more than 80% cut over historic norms, is unacceptable. Our values as a nation and as people of faith demand that we take action when people’s lives are in danger. But for the past three years, President Trump and his administration have strayed so far from these basic principles in the name of their cruel, racist and partisan goals that the life-saving refugee resettlement program is a shadow of what it once was.I urge all Americans to insist that Congress hold the White House accountable to operating the refugee program as required by U.S. law.”
I’ll have more as I am sure this isn’t the last of what we will hear from the contractors.
***For new readers these (below) are the nine federally-funded refugee contractors that operate as a huge conveyor belt monopolizing all refugee placement in America.
Your ‘religious’ Left at work! I wonder if some of our tax dollars paid for her Church World Service shirt?
And, they do not limit their advocacy toward only legal immigration programs, but are heavily involved in supporting the lawlessness at our borders.
The question isn’t as much about refugees per se, but about who is running federal immigration policy now and into the future?
I continue to argue that these nine contractors are the heart of America’s Open Borders movement and thus there can never be long-lasting reform of US immigration policy when these nine un-elected phony non-profits are paid by the taxpayers to work as community organizers pushing an open borders agenda.
President Donald Trump’s administration said late Wednesday the United States will admit a record low of no more than 15,000 refugees over the coming year despite surging global displacement, stepping up its hard line one month before elections.
The State Department announced the number just half an hour before the October 1 start of the 2021 fiscal year, narrowly meeting a deadline set by U.S. law following criticism from lawmakers.
The 15,000 figure — the maximum who can be admitted over the next 12 months barring a change in administration — is a further cut from 18,000 last year and down dramatically from more than 100,000 under previous president Barack Obama.
Trump, who has campaigned on fierce denunciations of immigration, already suspended refugee admissions entirely for several months this year citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Explaining the proposed new numbers, which need formal White House approval, the State Department said the United States wanted to help displaced people “as close to their homes as possible” until they can go back.
Trump doctrine: end wars in the Middle East and there won’t be so many refugees! Why didn’tChris Wallaceask questions about that?
“By focusing on ending the conflicts that drive displacement in the first place, and by providing overseas humanitarian assistance to protect and assist displaced people, we can prevent the destabilizing effects of such displacement on affected countries and their neighbors,” a statement said.
Refugee advocates had pleaded with the Trump administration to raise admissions in the face of global conflicts and fresh instability due to the pandemic.
More here, and I will have more as the federal refugee resettlement contractors begin their wails and moans.
See my many posts on the lead up to the decision tagged FY2021.
Editor:As you have all heard as you woke up this morning, the President and First Lady have both tested positive for the Chinese virus. Pray for them and our country through this difficult time.
Really, with all the much more important and interesting news coming at us every other minute, I am sure the US Refugee Admissions Program is the farthest thing from your minds.
However, it isn’t for the resettlement contractors under their lobbying umbrella, the Refugee Council USA*** which held a press call earlier this month to wail and moan over the status of the program.
You can read the story yourself at the Catholic publication Crux, but here is one little snip of the press call (unclear how much press was even on the call).
As federal fiscal year nears, refugee resettlement agencies fear the worst
You will remember that refugee champion, California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, played a major role in the Trump Impeachment charade.
In a Sept. 10 press call hosted by Refugee Council USA, which included a panelist from Catholic Charities Dallas, a volunteer at a Catholic refugee resettlement agency, and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, among others, participants expressed worries about how the administration has chiseled away at the program and its possible demise if a second term of the Trump presidency comes to fruition.
“The administration has systematically reduced our commitment to resettling refugees,” said Lofgren, a Democrat from California and chair of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship. “The Trump administration, regrettably, has completely betrayed the spirit and the letter of the Refugee Act.”
Meanwhile at a rally in Minnesota Trump focused on Joe Biden’s plan to rev-up the refugee program if he wins in November. From Politico:
Trump at Minnesota rally: Biden will turn state into a ‘refugee camp’
Expect some news in the next ten days as fiscal year 2021 arrives on October first.
Remember that there is no requirement in the Refugee Act of 1980for the President to admit a single refugee.
All posts on this year’s determination aretagged FY2021.
***I have an extensive archive on the Refugee Council USA,the Washington DC lobbying office created under the auspices of Church World Service, that works to promote refugee resettlement.
“In just four years, this Administration has cut the refugee resettlement program from 110,000 to a historic low of fifteen thousand. At a time of unprecedented global need, today’s decision to further cut the refugee admissions ceiling is a complete abdication of our humanitarian and moral duty.” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
