Category: Iraqi refugees

House Committee hearing held to smack around the Bush Administration

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So what else is new!   The House Foreign Affairs Committee titled its hearing on Iraqi refugees,  “Neglected responsibilities, blah, blah, blah.”   No not really, but it was all about neglect according to this account put out by Talk Radio News Service.  The hearing focused on the refugee industry mantra about how Pres. Bush is not doing enough for Iraqi displaced persons.   Not a word seems to have been mentioned that our aid to Iraqi refugees increased from $45 million in 2006 to $200 million proposed for 2008.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) challenged the Chairman with this comment:

……it is not the job of the United States to subsidize refugees in Jordan or anywhere else, if they are able to go home. We should do our best, he said, in our ability to help assist them in Iraq.

Then Congressman William Delahunt  (D-MA) came back with this:

They cannot go home, he said, or they’d be killed. Our response should also work to prevent further erosion of how we are viewed in the Middle East. If we are concerned about terrorism, he said, it’s in our national interest to “step up.” If the vast numbers of refugees are not treated with respect, it will be the new “breeding ground” for terrorists.

Anyone out there in Mr. Delahunt’s district who could give him some basic education on Islam and on why the terrorists are terrorists.  Oh, and be sure to tell him that compassionate Sweden is sending Iraqis home.

Special benefits for special immigrants

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The State Department began to clarify last week what special benefits would be available to immigrants  from Iraq or Afghanistan admitted to the US under the Special Immigrant Visa program.  Signed into law by President Bush at the end of December, the new law extends benefits that are normally for refugees only to this new class of immigrant.   Go here to see what they are entitled to.

Public meeting on Refugees in Arizona week after next

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

According to this brief press announcement there will be a public meeting in Tucson on March 18th. 

The “public consultation” is to help the Department of Economic Security Community Services Administration “address the current state of refugee resettlement and to plan and coordinate services to refugees resettling in Arizona,” according to a news release from the state of Arizona.

Sounds to me like there might be a little problem brewing in Arizona or they wouldn’t be putting any of this before the public.   We’ve written before about Iraqi refugees among others going to Arizona here.

Also, check out this database.   As of 2005 there were over 36,000 refugee resettled in Arizona, the number must be over 40,000 by now.

This is the address in the Office of Refugee Resettlement database for the Arizona refugee agency:

Mr. Charles Shipman, Division of Aging & Adult Services Department of Economic Security, P.O. Box 6123, Site Code 086Z, Phoenix, AZ 85005, 602-542-6614 (P) 602-542-6400 (F) cshipman@azdes.gov

If you live near Tucson, you should consider attending the meeting.    Send me a firsthand report if you go!  Send to Ann@vigilantfreedom.com  .    

What did I tell you, AP reporter only a few hours late

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Two hours and fifty four minutes ago (about 17 hours into the first day of March), AP reporter Matthew Lee filed his monthly story on the Iraqi refugee numbers for February.  I was only joking this morning and didn’t really expect  to see the same story—with a slight twist—right on cue.   The story still bashes the Bush Administration but he reports that the numbers have actually gone up a little, still falling way short of the numbers needed to reach the magic 12, 000 Iraqi refugees by Sept.30, 2008.

WASHINGTON – The number of Iraqi refugees admitted to the United States rose slightly for the second month in a row, although the Bush administration still will struggle to meet its target of 12,000 by the end of September.

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The State Department said Saturday that 444 Iraqi refugees entered the country in February. That puts total admissions for the current budget year, which began Oct. 1, at 1,876 and leaves the administration seven months to admit 10,124 to reach its goal.

Get ready for thousands to begin arriving in May because as Matthew never fails to remind us we have a moral obligation to bring them here to put them to work cleaning motels and receiving taxpayer-funded welfare.  (No, he doesn’t really say that last part!)

“We think the turning point will come by May,” Foley [State Dept] said, noting that there are thousands of refugee interviews scheduled this month and next.