Category: Emporia, KS controversy

Sources for State information on Refugee programs

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to the sleuthing of citizens of Emporia, KS,  we are learning more things we didn’t know that should help others of you trying to understand this complicated Federal program called Refugee Resettlement.   We have maintained all along that this program is becoming increasingly contentious because local citizens are not fully briefed about the Federal plans that will change the character of their cities and towns.  Citizens then become justifiably angry because they are not given the facts and have to dig for them themselves.

This information was made available to citizens of Emporia in the last couple of days, we should have seen it sooner.   The Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement, has a division called the Division of Refugee Assistance (DRA) whose mission is described below:  

The Division of Refugee Assistance (DRA) was created to oversee and provide guidance to State-administered programs that provide assistance and services to refugees, asylees, certain Amerasian immigrants, Cuban and Haitian Entrants, and Victims of Human Trafficking (henceforth referred to collectively as “refugees”). DRA monitors program planning, provision of services, and provides technical assistance to ensure compliance with federal regulations governing the delivery of refugee assistance and services, including cash and medical assistance.

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MISSION

DRA provides direction to States to ensure that refugees are provided assistance and services through State-administered programs that enable them to become employed and economically self-sufficient as soon as possible after their arrival in the United States.

You can read a summary of social service programs and grants programs for refugees here.

Go here for recent state grant figures, number of cases managed and to find your state’s Refugee office. Our previous post on this database is here.

Will answers be forthcoming in Emporia, KS tomorrow?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update November 29th:  As soon as we get the paper from Emporia we will let you know details of the standing room only meeting last night. 

The citizens of Emporia, Kansas have been asking questions for weeks and hope that tomorrow evening’s meeting and a Thursday meeting with their Congressman will bring some much-needed answers as to why their small city might become a Somali immigrant magnet.   Today’s Emporia Gazette editorial says,

A few people, admittedly, are upset because the refugees are black and because they are Muslims. There is nothing that can be done to make those people happy. The Somalis will stay black and they will stay Muslim. It is who they are.

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More people are uncomfortable because it seems to them that the Somalis are not making enough of an effort to assimilate into the community. Those folks might find some comfort in a better understanding of the assimilation process. Except in rare cases, assimilation is a process that takes at least a generation. The first generation always has its hands full trying to feed and clothe its families and make some sense out of the strange new culture that surrounds it. It is the children, not the adults, who eventually assimilate.

This last is wishful thinking.  Sure some of the next generation will go on to bigger things and we hope they do, but I think one need only look at Paris burning tonight to see the folly in this thinking.  Those African  Muslim youths rampaging at this moment are the children of  immigrants France brought in for the cheap labor.  They are the next generation!  Isn’t this kind of a crap shoot, what makes us think that this would never happen in America?

But what bothers Emporians most is what seems to be a complete lack of any effort by local, state or federal government or by Tyson Fresh Meats to prepare the community to receive the refugees. When the Somalis arrived, there were no organized support services prepared to receive them and no one with a clear idea of what would be required of the community.

This is the same old story we are hearing everywhere.  I hope the citizens of Emporia get the answers they need in the next couple of days, but I won’t hold my breath.   My prediction is that the government/business/non-profit groups will talk peoples’ ears off and the questions will go largely unanswered.   Please read about the Delphi Technique here so that you will be better prepared for this meeting,  actually it might even give you a chuckle as you watch the strategy unfold before your eyes.

Kind of ironic that this should appear in the Israel News today:  “Judge Sentences Somali Immigrant in US Shopping Mall terror plot.”

For a complete list of all the stories in the Emporia Gazette on this issue go here.

To get an understanding of what the folks of Emporia are saying, go to this unique feature at the Gazette, a public forum exclusively for this topic here.  Kudos to the Gazette for giving citizens an opportunity to speak!

Atlas Shrugs wrote about the Somali refugee issue here today.

Also, we have a new category entitled “Emporia, KS controversy” so that readers can more readily find all of our coverage of this important case.  

Hot off the presses from Emporia, KS

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I know, I know we haven’t renamed RRW the Emporia Refugee Watch (yet!), but there is so much interesting news being made there we can’t stay away.   Here is the latest from the Emporia Gazette today.  

Since this article is chock full of information, I’m going to focus on a couple of points we need to make over and over again, especially because we have hundreds of new readers every day.   This is what caught my eye in the piece today (the discussion is about direct resettlements from  foreign countries vs. secondary migrations within the US of previously resettled refugees):

Direct resettlements typically occur in metropolitan areas that can absorb diverse populations, she said, citing St. Louis, Chicago and Detroit as examples.

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“That’s why places like Emporia would never be considered,” Lewis said.

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Lewis said that Catholic Charities receives no payment for helping refugees resettle.

Ms. Lewis is the director of Catholic Charities in Kansas City and I am sure she is not misspeaking on purpose. As a matter of fact,  in my reading lately (piles on the floor and over my desk), I learned that many of the agencies both government and non-profit, international and within the US have no idea what some of the others are doing and it is causing internal concern and strife.

On Ms. Lewis first two points, we reported to you just a few days ago that in fact we are resettling refugees in medium and small cities throughout the US.  See our post on the Brookings Institution report.   I wouldn’t call Hagerstown, MD, Cayce, SC, or Erie, PA “large metropolitan areas.” 

Then on her last point that they receive no payments for resettling refugees.   Her organization is a subcontractor of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops which according to this information compiled by Gringomalo’s blog (see also our post on his research) received 89% of its funding ($39 million) from the federal government in 2005.  And, according to its own annual report Catholic Charities of Kansas City received 46% of its annual budget in 2006 from government grants.    Is none of this money used for refugees in any way?

We have had an “Open Invitation” page on the top bar of RRW from the beginning on which we ask for corrections from anyone in the refugee industry for anything we post.  We never get any corrections, thus we can only assume  that our facts and figures are accurate.

Emporia, KS economics lecture turned contentious

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The talk of the town in Emporia, KS these days is the issue of Somali refugees coming in large numbers to work at the Tyson’s Food meatpacking plant.   So, it was no surprise to learn that an immigration economics lecture turned contentious on Wednesday evening forcing a Tyson’s representative to defend the plan that incidentally involves a local Catholic Charties organization.  From the Emporia Gazette yesterday:

After numerous interruptions that sometimes turned contentious, a forum on immigration economics ended with an unscheduled appearance by Fardusa Council, a Somali who is community liaison for the Tyson Fresh Meats plant here.

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The audience remarks focused on specific refugee issues, rather than the general topic of immigration. The complaints included refugees’ driving skills, cultural and religious differences, filling jobs Emporians could have, receiving tax breaks and welfare assistance and their lack of English language skills

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“This is a big country, and this country doesn’t have just one culture,” Council reminded the audience.

The citizens of Emporia would like answers to the many questions that have arisen.  One of their questions that merits additional scrutiny is, does Tyson’s Food receive any addtional benefits for hiring refugees over local Kansans looking for work.   Read all the comments in the blog associated with the article above.

See our previous coverage here , here , here and here  (listed in order from most recent to oldest).

Reform needed:  These same questions come up everywhere refugees are being resettled or coming  as a result of secondary migration.  Wouldn’t it be a good idea for the Federal agencies responsible for refugee resettlement to at least have a Fact Sheet with frequently asked questions?   A truthful fact sheet that includes information about food stamp use by refugees, about special savings plans that refugees can use to to put money away for cars, houses, schooling etc.,  and what tax breaks businesses are receiving. 

The reason people get so fired up is because they feel they are being snookered.  That is exactly how it appears when non-profit groups, businesses and government team up to quietly bring refugees into an unsuspecting community.   Hint to US State Dept and Office of Refugee Resettlement—tell people how the program works!

From Lexington, NE to Emporia, KS to Manchester, NH and Lewiston, ME

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The story is the same from city to city.   The United States has resettled nearly 70,000 Somali refugees since the early 1980’s and they have in turn brought extended families and produced large families of their own, and now they are spreading out from originial resettlement cities in search of jobs and rural living.  The reports are all the same and follow the theme of this AP article of a few weeks ago from the Lincoln Journal.

He (Somali refugee) heard about Lexington, like many others, from a friend. He was attracted to the job, cheap living in a quiet town, and the chance to be surrounded by other Somalians.

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Just how many African refugees have moved to Lexington and other meatpacking towns in the state and across the Midwest is unclear. But refugee resettlement officials and local immigration specialists say there has been a sharp increase.

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One problem landlords faced when African refugees first began flowing into Lexington: burning wood on top of indoor stovetops to cook food.

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The rapid change in towns like Lexington has been a shock to the system of services immigrants rely on, such as health care. Kutschkau said there has been a shortage of medicine for an influx of refugees who needed to be treated for tuberculosis.

We have written many posts about tuberculosis and how some cities are struggling with large numbers of immigrants who need treatment and can’t afford it.    See our “health issues” category here.