Late last weekI reported that Beltrami County, MN county commissioners had taken up President Trump’s offer to opt-out of refugee resettlement for a portion of 2020.
Beltrami became the second county in the nation (that I know of) to take that action afterAppomattox County, Virginia.
Now see what the radical Left is doing. They have ginned up a campaign to attempt to boycott the county which depends on tourism for some of its income in hopes of scaring political leaders (and the Chamber of Commerce).
Just so you know, BIG MEAT/BIG POULTRY is the driving force for MORE refugees (to supply cheap labor) in other locations in Minnesota!
Boycotts like this are rarely successful and I suspect partly because those who support what the county has bravely declared—support for Trump’s immigration policies—will quietly respond and counteract the small number of big mouth boycotters on Twitter and add the county to their vacation plans especially when they now learn that this is Paul Bunyon land—LOL! I didn’t know that!
Minnesotans who believe their state has enough refugees and who support the President surely should get a counter campaign going!
Boycott Bemidji? Beltrami County’s vote to ban refugees stirs a backlash
BEMIDJI, Minn. — Almost immediately after the Tuesday vote was cast that established Beltrami County as the first governmental unit in Minnesota — and the second in the nation — to refuse refugee resettlement, a social media firestorm erupted, laden with calls to boycott the tourism-driven community.
These are the people in Beltrami County that the Open Borders Left hates. Hillary called them the deplorables and this is what this boycott is about—it is a Leftwing-generated proxy war against Trump’s people in Minnesota.
Comments from thousands of people across the country poured in on Twitter and Facebook, with many expressing that they would no longer vacation or spend money in the northern Minnesota county because of their disapproval of the Beltrami County Board’s 3-2 vote. The option to deny consent to refugee resettlement was granted to state and local governments under an executive order by President Donald Trump.
The move will have little practical effect as no refugees have been resettled in Beltrami County in at least the past five years.
I wonder if this is happening in Appomattox County, Virginia, also a tourist destination county because it is famously the location where the South surrendered to the North to end the Civil War. Yikes! (Just saying!)
Toughen your hides as November approaches, the Left plays very dirty. And, I think they would agree with me—immigration is the number one issue that will determine the future of America!
The contrast between President Trump and the Democrat candidatesis stark on the issue. The Refugee Act of 1980 is still in place and the Dems have already said they will immediately open the gates to over 100,000–200,000 refugees on day one of a Democrat president’s term.
Tom Steyer recently pledged to open our borders to so-called climate refugees creating a whole new category of legal migrants for you (the taxpayers) to take care of!
Besides adding Paul Bunyon country to your vacation plans, the most important thing you all must do now is reelect Donald Trump.
I’ve told readers innumerable times that Texas has carried the weight of the most refugees resettled in any state for years, and now given a chance by the President to take a break—Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said enough is enough!
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is the first Republican to support the President’s effort to reform the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program.
His action is incredibly brave in light of the fact that 18 of his fellow REPUBLICAN governors have already caved in to the pressure of the Leftwing Open Borders Inc. and are now facing stiff criticism by a heretofore silent majority of citizens in their states who also agree that enough is enough.
(Big question now is what about Florida and Georgia, the two remaining states which have carried excessively large burdens handed to them by the UN and the US State Department for decades!)
***Update*** All Texas patriots should be sure to thank the governor! He will be getting some mean criticism from the Left!
According to a letter sent today to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that was just obtained by The Daily Wire, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced Texas’s refusal to accept any additional refugees for fiscal year (FY) 2020.The letter was prompted by Executive Order 13888, on “Enhancing State and Local Involvement in Refugee Resettlement,” which was issued by President Donald Trump on September 26, 2019.
[….]
“Texas is one of the most welcoming states for refugees seeking to escape dangers abroad,” Abbott begins. “Since FY 2010, more refugees have been received in Texas than in any other state. In fact, over that decade, roughly 10% of all refugees resettled in the United States have been placed in Texas. Even today, the process of resettling continues for many of these refugees.”
“In addition to accepting refugees all these years, Texas has been left by Congress to deal with disproportionate migration issues resulting from a broken federal immigration system,” the governor continues.
“In May 2019, for example, around 100,000 migrants were apprehended crossing this state’s southern border. In June 2019, individuals from 52 different countries were apprehended here. And in FY 2018, the apprehensions included citizens from disparate countries like China, Iran, Kenya, Russia, and Tonga. Texas continues to have to deal with the consequences of an immigration system that Congress has failed to fix.”
“At this time, the state and non-profit organizations have a responsibility to dedicate available resources to those who are already here, including refugees, migrants, and the homeless — indeed, all Texans,” the Republican writes in his denouement. “As a result, Texas cannot consent to initial refugee resettlement for FY2020. This decision does not deny any refugee access to the United States. Nor does it preclude a refugee from later coming to Texas after initially settling in another state.”
“Texas has carried more than its share in assisting the refugee resettlement process and appreciates that other states are available to help with these efforts,” Abbott concludes.
Abbott’s bold stand will please immigration hawks, who have long sounded the alarm on America’s shoddy, loophole-ridden refugee system and our wholly inadequate vetting capabilities for prospective refugees.
[….]
Abbott’s move also follows closely on the heels of at least 15 separate Republican governors [actually 18 caved, see below—ed] who have all affirmatively signed onto more refugee resettlement in their states in the aftermath of Executive Order 13888. Immigration hawk Daniel Horowitz recently excoriated these governors at Conservative Review: “Except for New England, these are all states carried by Trump, some of them by a very wide margin. Trump won every single county in West Virginia and Oklahoma, for example. Why are conservatives with platforms not talking about this? … Who needs George Soros when you have GOP governors endorsed by Trump doing his bidding, along with the help of so-called evangelical groups?”
Governor Abbott will take no shortage of heat for this move, even within the still-reliably Republican Lone Star State. But he should rest well at night, for he has done the right thing for his state.
See which Republican Governors virtue-signaled to Open Borders Inc. and the Refugee Contractors! An X means that the governor has said, yes, sure send us more poor people to take care of we have run out of vulnerable Americans!
You should know that Wyoming has never participated in the program that was supposed to be VOLUNTARY in the first place, so Texas is just asserting a prerogative that was available when the law was passed in 1980! Kennedy, Biden and Jimmy Carter all asserted it was voluntary when they pushed it through!
I can’t possibly write an all-encompassing post about all the feedback I’m getting from concerned citizens who are hopping mad that their Republican governor foolishly (and prematurely) jumped on the bandwagon to accept more refugees for their states just so the nine federal contractors*** could get their requests for MONEY into the US State Department ASAP.
Here are the 19 Rs who have thumbed their nose at the President’s effort to rein-in the UN-driven Refugee Admissions Program.
The first wave of governors to pander to the Left are marked in orange, and the second wave is in hot pink.
If your governor hasn’t caved yet, keep up the pressure. Florida, Georgia and Texas are the big targets for Open Borders Inc.
Last night John Binder at Breitbart published a letter from Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson to his legislators who want answers.
Since most of the governors are completely unfamiliar with this 4-decades-old program, we can only assume that someone is feeding them talking points like those in the memo Binder published.
Exclusive: Memo Reveals How GOP Governors are Pitching Refugee Resettlement to Opponents
I want to just focus on a couple of points in the governor’s attempt to explain himself. First this:
Refugees are eligible for 36 months of case management assistance and financial assistance when they first arrive through a combination of federal and private funds, which Canopy manages. They do not receive any other special financial assistance aside from typical public assistance available to other low-income Arkansans (Medicaid, SNAP, TANF etc.). 100% of refugee households have seen reductions or terminations of this public assistance because of income within the first 6 months of arrival in the state.
LOL! They don’t get any public assistance other than Medicaid, SNAP (food stamps), TANF, etc! What is the etc.?
100% have seen reductions in their welfare use? Where is the data governor? Or is the governor just parroting what the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service SUBCONTRACTORis telling him.
I also want to bring to your attention this section of his talking points memo.
Who will be placed in Arkansas?
African nations and those countries in which the United States has engaged in military actions and cooperating nationals are at risk.
I would be asking the governor which African nations? Somalia? And, then he is lumping the Special Immigrant Visas (mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq, but possibly soon Syria) in with the regular refugees. I told you herethat the Trump administration is predicting 10,000 SIVs on top of the 18.000 regular refugees for 2020.
And, get this! According to the Funding Guidance I’ve been yakking about for days, we will be taking another 10,000 SIVs from Iraq and Afghanistan (maybe Syria!) in the 2020 fiscal year. That is over and above the 18,000 ceiling that the President determined for the year.
The FY 2020 ceiling for refugee admissions established by the President, after consultation with Congress, is 18,000. In addition, applicants should include 10,000 Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) recipients in their planning. Applicants should assume similar admissions and recipient numbers for performance periods beyond FY 2020.
Note that last bit—the contractors should expect similar numbers beyond 2020.
Starting later today (I hope), I’m starting a new series of posts I’ll call ‘Knowledge is Power’to go back for many new readers and help you get up to speed on how the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program operates and how you can find out more about your state’s involvement (or lack of involvement) with the program.
***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.
A ‘religious’ message from CWS one of three federally funded contractors suing to stop the President’s effort to reform the UN-driven Refugee Admissions Program.
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 plan to say this once a day from now on!)
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.
Previously, I reported that Appomattox County, Virginia had gone on record in response to the President’s refugee resettlement reform plan and said no thanks to refugee resettlement.
Every county in America is up for grabsas the US State Department hires its contractors for later in Fiscal Year 2020 to place the Africans, Asians and Middle Easterners (largely chosen by the UN) destined for Anytown, USA.
Now check this out, Beltrami County, Minnesota voted Tuesday to tell the State Department to count them out.
Even if Beltrami has not been a target site in the past, they want to make it clear that at least for FY2020 they don’t want to be like some other of the refugee hotbeds in the state.
Speaking of hotbeds, Stearns County (St. Cloud) voted to table the issue until the end of the month as did several other refugee resettlement locations in the state.
From theBemidji Pioneer where reporter Matthew Liedke did an excellent job of explaining the complex issue. H/T Ron
UPDATED: Beltrami County votes no to accepting refugees
Tuesday’s no vote in Bemidji was the first for any county in Minnesota.
An estimated 200 people came out to let their elected officials know that they don’t want to become a resettlement site for 2020.
BEMIDJI — With applause from a loud, passionate crowd Beltrami County on Tuesday, Jan. 7, became the first local government unit in Minnesota to refuse refugee resettlements.
In a 3-2 vote, the county’s Board of Commissioners chose to opt out of accepting refugee resettlements.The decision comes months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order enhancing state and local involvement in refugee resettlements. The order says the federal government “should resettle refugees only in those jurisdictions in which both the State and local governments have consented to receive refugees.”
While the order doesn’t take effect until June, though, resettlement affiliates and nonprofits are required to submit their placement strategies to the State Department by Jan. 31. Because of the short timeline, District 1 Commissioner Craig Gaasvig said organizing a public hearing wouldn’t be feasible, and as a result, the crowd of at least 200 people weren’t able to comment Tuesday at the meeting in Bemidji.
[….]
While no official comment period was held, the standing room only crowd extending out into the lobby of the County Administration Building did make itself heard at various times in the meeting.Additionally, when asked by Gaasvig for a show of hands on how many were opposed to accepting refugee resettlements, a clear majority of the crowd raised their hands. More than 200 people attended the meeting.
[….]
The refugee subject has been the talk of the area for the past few days.While it wasn’t on the agenda Monday for Bemidji’s City Council meeting, City Hall was still packed with individuals expressing concern over the matter.
Somalis have dominated the refugee flow to Minnesota, resettled there mostly thanks to Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services.
Earlier Tuesday, the St. Louis County Board voted 4-3 to delay its response to refugee resettlement until May after two-and-a-half hours of testimony in Duluth.
Counties to have approved accepting refugees after the executive order takes effect include Blue Earth, Kandiyohi and Nicollet. According to the Associated Press, the nation’s first county to ban refugee resettlement was Appomattox County, Va., where commissioners voted 4-1 on Dec. 17 to deny consent to resettlement.
[….]
Since 1980, more than 100,000 individuals have come to Minnesota through the United States Refugee Admissions Program.
Three big fish representing the Refugee Industry will be available to the press following the hearing.
This whole effort by the President to solicit consents (on non-consents) of governors and county elected officials throws a monkey wrench in the works for the nine contractors*** who have for decades been able to place refugees in pretty much any place they chose to set up a subcontractor office (of course in consultation with their ideological partners in the US State Department).
They will be in court to argue that you, taxpayers and citizens of Anytown, USA, have no right to voice your concerns about their ‘religious’ work of placing impoverished third worlders throughout America.
And, specifically that the President is blocking them “from fulfilling their faith calling and missions to ‘welcome the stranger,” says Church World Service’s Erol Kekic here.
Below is the news from something called Value Walk:
LIRS, CWS, HIAS vs Trump
This Wednesday [tomorrow!], on January 8, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland will hear arguments on the Trump Administration’s Executive Order allowing state and local officials to stop refugees from being resettled in their jurisdictions.
The new order was signed on September 26, 2019, and for the first time ever, requires resettlement agencies to obtain written consent from all localities and states in which they plan to resettle refugees. This could prevent refugees who have waited years from being reunited with their U.S.-based families, and communities from welcoming refugees, even if they have long-standing and successful resettlement programs.
On November 21, three faith-based resettlement agencies, HIAS, Church World Service (CWS), and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), filed a complaintagainst this new order, charging that it violates federal law and is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to restrict refugee resettlement in the United States.
WHAT:
The case being heard is:
HIAS v. Trump, brought by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), on behalf of HIAS, Church World Service (CWS), and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).
WHEN:
Arguments: Wednesday, January 8, 2020, 10 a.m. ET
Immediately following the arguments, (approximately 12:30 p.m. ET), attorneys and plaintiffs will give statements and respond to questions outside the courthouse.
WHO:
Linda Evarts, Litigation Staff Attorney, IRAP
Mark Hetfield, President and CEO, HIAS [HIASFederal funding from recent Form 990: $19,138,737—ed]
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO, LIRS [LIRSFederal funding: 45,316,561—ed]
WHERE:
United States District Court
District of Maryland
6500 Cherrywood Lane
Greenbelt, MD 20770
The case is in the same court where an Obama-judge slapped the President on the so-called travel ban, but the judge is not the same one who made that decision.
See theschedule hereand note that the judge tomorrow is Peter Jo Messitte, a 79-year-old Clinton appointed judge. The pious contractors are surely ‘praying’ for a quick decision with the hope that Trump’s refugee program reform can be frozen in its tracks and they can go back to business as usual—changing America by changing the people and being paid for it!
I’m sure this information was posted so they could make sure some press showed up and maybe a little gaggle of supporters holding ‘Refugees Welcome’ signs (supplied by the contractors!).
I see that Alaska’s governor yesterday joined the bunch thumbing their noses at the President weeks before a flexible deadline—a deadline that could be moot depending on what happens with the contractors’ case tomorrow and in the coming weeks.
LOL! Now to my daily message for new readers….
***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.
A ‘religious’ message from CWS one of three federally funded contractors suing to stop the President’s effort to reform the UN-driven Refugee Admissions Program.
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 plan to say this once a day from now on!)
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.
