Are We Testing Refugees Entering the US for Covid-19 Infection ?

03/13/202003/15/2020 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 2 Comments

Do you see that big red spot in the center of Africa? That is the DR Congo where the largest group of US-bound refugees have been coming from in recent years.

Since we are now blocking Europeans from entering the US, the logical next question is are refugees being blocked from entry, or are they at least being tested?

(By the way I recommend a great post today at Gatestone on the extent of the virus crisis in Europe.)

As of three days ago the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported that so far there had been no cases of refugees being infected with Covid-19, but all that has changed as at least one refugee In Iraq and another on the Greek island of Lesbos are reported infected. (And, I suspect we are not hearing the full story).

Here is the UNHCR on Tuesday:

“To date and based on available evidence, there have been no reports of COVID-19 infections among refugees and asylum seekers.”

But, just 48 hours later here comes news from Zerohedge about the first Iraqi camp resident testing positive.

Nightmare Scenario: Iraq Detects Suspected Covid-19 Cases In Overcrowded Refugee Camp

And, here is a story from The Guardian that was published only a day after the UNHCR spoke. Lesbos is a Greek island overrun by Middle East refugees.

Lesbos coronavirus case sparks fears for refugee camp

I’m sure there will be more reports like these in the coming days and weeks.

In the US, the first question I’ve seen about whether refugees are being tested comes from Tennessee where the criticism against Republican Governor Bill Lee has been intense for his eagerness to welcome more impoverished (costly for taxpayers) refugees to the state.

From the Dailyrollcall.com:

Are Bill Lee’s Refugees Being Screened for Coronavirus?

Good question!

So dear Mr. President, are we testing refugees coming into the US since much of the world is now infected?

Editor’s note: As RRW approaches its 13th birthday, there are over 10,000 posts archived here at Refugee Resettlement Watch. Unfortunately, it is just me here with no staff and so it has become virtually impossible to answer all of the basic questions that come into my e-mail inbox or to RRW’s facebook page every day. I don’t want to appear rude—I simply haven’t enough hours in the day.

Please take time to visit RRW (don’t just read posts in your e-mail) and use the search window in the right hand sidebar and see if you can find the information you need. Also see my series that I wrote in recent months entitled Knowledge is Power which explains some basic principles of how Refugee Resettlement is carried out in the US.

And, lastly, I don’t write that much every day, so if you made a habit of reading my posts here on a daily basis, you would eventually catch on to what is happening because I do link back to previous posts as much as possible. LOL! Thank you for helping me not go crazy!

New Deal for New Americans Bill Introduced in the Senate

03/10/202003/10/2020 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 4 Comments

The bill seeks to change the Refugee Act by putting a floor of 110,000 refugees as the minimum number to be admitted annually (among a Christmas tree of other provisions).

If you are saying, well, ho-hum, won’t go anywhere with Trump in the White House and the Senate controlled by Republicans, you need to take a broader view.

This is what the savvy Leftists do—they stake out their dream territory for the day when Trump is gone. He will be gone sooner or later. But, in the meantime they use initiatives like this one to keep their base engaged and it ticks me off because conservatives are always playing defense to their offense.

Where are the bills that could stake out a position on the immigration restriction side—-heck how about a bill calling for a moratorium on all immigration to America!

It won’t happen of course, but it would be a way to energize the base and lay down a marker.

The New Deal for New Americans is a marker the Open Borders Left is throwing down! It is to attract media attention and to move the needle in that direction—in the direction of their ultimate goal, a borderless world!

From a Chinese-American publication Sampan:

Mass. immigrant advocates join Sen. Ed Markey to celebrate introduction of visionary New Deal for New Americans Act

Markey and Millona at press event announcing bill. Media opportunity? How many media outlets were even in attendance? Doesn’t matter because they make it look like there is press in the room. It is all for show.

Dozens of advocates and leaders of immigrant- and refugee-serving organizations joined U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey at Agencia ALPHA today to celebrate the introduction of the New Deal for New Americans in the U.S. Senate.

The bill, which is strongly supported by the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), co-chaired by MIRA Executive Director Eva A. Millona, was introduced in the House last October and has 39 cosponsors so far, including U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, James McGovern and Joseph P. Kennedy III.

It would provide federal leadership to increase access to citizenship; support local organizations that welcome newcomers; expand high-quality workforce development and English-language programs; increase access to legal counsel; and embrace America’s global role as a refuge.

No surprise! Reps. Tlaib, Omar and Ocasio-Cortez are all co-sponsors of the House New Deal for New Americans bill. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4928/cosponsors?searchResultViewType=expanded

To give these issues greater prominence and institutional support, it would also create a National Office on New Americans to lead a federal inclusion and integration strategy coordinated with state and local governments and community stakeholders.

[….]

A key provision of the bill would be to eliminate the annual ceiling for refugee admissions,which has dropped precipitously under the Trump administration, to just 18,000 for fiscal 2020, and replace it with a floor. The minimum annual admissions would be 110,000 – the same as the ceiling set by former President Obama for fiscal 2017 – to recognize America’s role as a refuge for people from around the world.

More here.

For new readers: the Refugee Act of 1980, which will be 40 years old on March 17th, gives the power to the President to set a ceiling for refugee admissions.

They don’t want to take the chance that another President like Trump would have that power. You need to know that Obama never came anywhere near 110,000 either. According to the Refugee Processing Center, his average annual admissions number was 69,946 over his 8 years in office.

CIS: Refugees (including SE Asians) are Expensive for US Taxpayers!

03/06/2020 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Refugees entering the US as adults cost $133,000 each!

The Center for Immigration Studies has taken a first stab at countering the glowing ‘economic’ studies being spread around by the likes of Michael Bloomberg’s New American Economy, or that gang of community organizers at Welcoming America about how refugees are a boon to economically foundering cities.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the CIS study:

No Free Lunch for Taxpayers

Advocates of expanding the number of refugees admitted to the United States have lately portrayed their position as a win-win — refugee resettlement not only assists the refugees themselves, it also allegedly improves our nation’s fiscal health. The fiscal claim is unsupportable.

Although refugees from earlier generations were often well educated, today’s refugees have fewer than nine years of schooling on average.

Because of their low earning power and immediate access to welfare benefits, recent refugees cost the government substantially more than they contribute in taxes, even over the long term.

Our best estimate of the average refugee’s lifetime fiscal cost, expressed as a net present value, is $60,000, with those entering as adults (ages 25 to 64) costing $133,000 each.

Perhaps this is a price that the United States should be willing to pay to further its humanitarian goals. However, resettlement in the United States may not be the most cost-effective means of aiding displaced people.

Read it all here.

I think you will see some cost items that were not considered including costs that may have been shifted by the federal government to state and local tax payers.

460,000 Southeast Asian Refugees Living in Poverty in US!

To illustrate the general point, that refugees are not contributing in any great way, and are not revitalizing cities, but are costing us a bundle (and not just financially, but socially) as they struggle with poverty in America, see this report with a politically-incorrect title from NBC!

But, keep in mind that those pushing the report want even more taxpayer dollars spent on the Southeast Asian refugee ‘community.’

Largest U.S. refugee group struggling with poverty 45 years after resettlement

It’s been 45 years since thousands of Southeast Asian refugees settled in the United States, yet, as a group, they continue to face major socioeconomic challenges that have long been masked under the “model minority myth,” which portrays all Asian Americans as successful, according to a new report.

California Hmong mourning deaths of some of their young people killed in apparent gang wars. Crime is rampant in their ‘community.’ https://apnews.com/133ecb13304b42b2a88fb020ba24f0fe

The report, “Southeast Asian American Journeys, A National Snapshot of Our Communities,” released last week, illustrates the experience of the community, from its migration to the U.S. to the present day.

One of the key findings is that across the country, nearly 1.1 million Southeast Asian Americans are low-income, and about 460,000 live in poverty. Hmong Americans fare worst compared to all racial groups across multiple measures of income.

Read it all. So much for the magic melting pot mythology. And, each and every one cost the US taxpayers a bundle—and they are still costing us 45 years later!

Note to PayPal donors! I want to thank all of you who send me donations for my work via PayPal. I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, PayPal is making changes to their terms of service and I’ve decided to opt-out beginning on March 10, 2020.

Coronavirus Warning Goes Out to Shelters Housing Unaccompanied Alien Children

03/05/2020 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So far, President Trump has no plans to close the border.

As regular readers here know, the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement is responsible for thousands of Unaccompanied Alien Children (mostly teenagers, btw) who cross our borders illegally and without parents.

The shelters in which they are housed are usually operated by contractors including some of the nine refugee contractors mentioned often here at RRW.

I guess you have all been seeing reports that Covid-19 mostly takes its toll on seniors, but that children can be infected and show only mild symptoms and could thus be missed as carriers.

From CNN:

Shelters told to report any coronavirus cases among migrant children

The federal agency tasked with caring for unaccompanied migrant children told staff at shelters Monday that children who may have been exposed to or at risk from coronavirus must be flagged to the health division within four hours, according to an email obtained by CNN.

Children found to be exposed to coronavirus and with symptoms of respiratory disease should also be isolated, the agency told shelters.

Care providers are generally expected to have “an identified space within the shelter facility that may be used for quarantine or isolation” in that a child needs to be separated for a medical reason, according to the agency’s website.

The guidance sent out by the US Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Refugee Resettlement is indicative of the increased vigilance across the government amid concerns over coronavirus. The dispatch lists symptoms of coronavirus, the agency’s response, and specific guidance to ORR care providers.

[….]

The Office of Refugee Resettlement told CNN in a statement last week that as of February 27, there have not been any suspected or confirmed COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus) disease cases among unaccompanied children in ORR care. There are around 3,600 children in care.

An email went out to staff at those shelters Monday. “This guidance is based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations and is adapted for the [unaccompanied children] Program,” the email says. “This is a rapidly evolving situation, and updated guidance may be released in the future, as necessary.”

[….]

An attached document says ORR’s Division of Health for Unaccompanied Children is working with the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, among others, to monitor when an unaccompanied child “from a high-risk location as designated by CDC … is initially referred to ORR care.”

Shelter administrators have four hours to notify ORR if they have any suspicious illness, or any ‘child’ who might have been exposed to the virus.

The document also provides a breakdown of identification of risk and response, adding that “any child found to be at possible risk for COVID-19 based on travel history or contact with a known case must be flagged to [Division of Health for Unaccompanied Children] via email within 4 hours.”

More here.

By the way, I have 320 previous posts in my health issues category.

Middle East Migration: Could it Hasten the Spread of Covid-19?

02/28/2020 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

According to a report at The New Humanitarian, moving populations of people in conflict zones and where governments are weak are particularly vulnerable to a critical health crisis like the coronavirus.

Pakistan has closed its border with Iran

Of course, The New Humanitarian is most concerned with the refugees themselves and less concerned with the citizens of the countries where the migrants may end up.

Countries that seal their borders may be able to ward off the worst of a potential crisis.

I just told you in my previous post this morning, that Turkey is opening borders to allow ‘refugees’ to move through to Europe.

I wonder, is the US screening refugees and asylum seekers especially those from hotspots like China and Iran?

From The New Humanitarian:

How the coronavirus outbreak could hit refugees and migrants

A surge in coronavirus cases outside China has raised concerns the outbreak could be particularly devastating for vulnerable refugee and migrant populations in countries hobbled by conflict.

Over the last week, cases of the illness known as Covid-19 have escalated dramatically in Iran, and new infections linked to the cluster have emerged in more than half a dozen other countries in the region including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon.

Very cool interactive map! Go here to see it: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/map-watch-the-coronavirus-cases-spread-across-the-world/2303276/

At least 12 million refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) live between Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey – countries linked to Iran by either frequent travel, irregular migration routes, shared borders, or all three. Iran itself hosts nearly one million refugees, mostly from neighbouring Afghanistan, and an estimated 1.5 to two million undocumented people.

The effects of armed conflict “fragment the public health system and the infrastructure that enables governments to actively perform surveillance of diseases”, said Dr. Mohammed Jawad, a researcher at Imperial College London who studies the impact of conflict on public health.

Dr. Adam Coutts, a public health specialist at Cambridge University who focuses on the Middle East, said refugees are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus or other diseases, due to ”high geographical mobility, instability, living in overcrowded conditions, lack of sanitation and WASH (waters, sanitation and hygiene) facilities, and lack of access to decent healthcare or vaccination programmes in host communities”.

But refugee populations are often left out of disaster and epidemic preparedness planning at the best of times. And simply reaching marginalised refugees and migrants with information is also a challenge.

Politicians in Italy and Greece have already started using the spectre of asylum seekers and migrants carrying the virus across international borders to drum up support for hardline migration policies. But public health experts believe the real risk is to refugee and migrant communities themselves, who face instability, sporadic access to healthcare, and now the growing threat of stigmatisation.