…..but no one ever mentions that in fluffy-puffy articles like this one.
Your tax dollars!
Smell the zinnias? You paid for them!
It all sounds so lovely, sniffing the zinnias! (Nevermind, that zinnias are virtually odorless).
Here at GMA News we have another article about New Roots, the refugee gardening project, funded by grants from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement to the resettlement contractors.
The program costs around a cool $1 million a year. It is all about “reconnecting” and “adjusting,” and multi-million dollar a year contractors like the International Refugee Committee (IRC) with major PR campaigns know how to spin the news so that you think this is one more of their “charitable” projects not yours.
For new readers the IRC is the contractor which has recently hired David Miliband, former Labor Party honcho from the UK, to head the organization for a cool $450,000 plus a year salary and benefits.
Here is just one recent list of grantees for the RAPP—imagine how much these veggies and flowers are worth when one garden project gets on average $80,000 from the US treasury!
BALTIMORE – Bending over a garden blooming with zinnia, Nidda Haseeb Al Dafrawi breathes in the fragrant perfume of the flowers and closes her eyes. [LOL! Did some handler tell her to smell the flowers for the reporter?—ed]
“They remind me of my house,” says the 70-year-old Iraqi woman. [Is she on SSI?—ed]
The house was in Baghdad. But the garden the former school headmistress now tends so lovingly is in a central square in Baltimore, Maryland.
Along with refugees from Sudan and Myanmar, Nidda regularly visits this urban horticultural oasis to plant flowers and vegetables which allow her to reconnect with her homeland.
Her green-fingered pursuits have been made possible by a program launched by the International Rescue Committee non-profit, New Roots.
New Roots was launched in the IRC’s San Diego resettlement office in 2007, with the aim of “reconnecting refugees to the culture of their homelands by growing food.”
The program now boasts 38 community gardens in 14 out of 22 cities where the IRC helps around 10,000 refugees each year as they adjust to life in the United States.
So, I guess we have taken care of all the needy Americans and have money for zinnias for Iraqis!
UNHCR Socialist Antonio Guterres just licking his chops to pressure US into starting the Syrian migration to America.
Antonio Guterres also told The Guardianthat he expected the resettlement to be as large as the one they undertook with Iraqis. (hat tip: Mike)
Guterres compared the Syrian refugee issue to that of Iraqis during the last decade, when more than 100,000 were resettled away from the region. “If things go on for a prolonged period of time then resettlement will become a central part of our strategy,” he said. “We would like when the time comes … to be able to launch a resettlement programme as massive as the one for Iraqis.”
From 2007 to this spring, the US resettled 84,902 of the Iraqis resettled anywhere in the world, so expect the UN to put the screws to the US State Department to lead the way again. Surely that is on-going at this very moment with the resettlement contractors busy lobbying behind-the-scenes for the State Department to bring them some Syrians to add to their diversity stew. Incidentally, that 84,000 figure doesn’t include the earlier waves of Iraqis who came to the US as refugees, like the guy who bombed a federal building in Arizona, here.
Western countries including the US and Britain may be asked to accept tens of thousands of Syrian refugees because the exodus from the civil war is overwhelming countries in the region, the UN’s refugee chief has warned.
With no end to the war in sight, the flight of nearly 2 million people from Syria over the past two years is showing every sign of becoming a permanent population shift, like the Palestinian crises of 1948 and 1967, with grave implications for countries such as Lebanon and Jordan, UN and other humanitarian aid officials say.
[….]
In an interview with the Guardian, António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said the situation was already far more than just a humanitarian crisis. If a resolution to the conflict was not found within months, the UN will look to resettle tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in countries better able to afford to host them,including Britain. Germany has already offered to take 5,000, but other offers have been limited, Guterres said.
I’m beginning to think these Muslim conflicts in the Middle East are about getting Muslim migrants spread around the Western world, or at least that is the side-benefit for Socialists like Antonio Guterres.
Reminds me to mention the Palin Doctrine—-when both sides in a conflict are shouting ‘Allahu akbar‘ and killing each other, let Allah sort it out!
Let your Senators and Members of Congress know how you feel about Syrian immigration to America during their August recess. They will be amazed that you are on top of the news (because they likely are not!). And, tell them that the Iraqis that came before them are heavily dependent on welfare and are suffering from high unemployment rates.
Iraqi refugee charged in murder of Hispanic. I wonder if anyone has compiled the stats on minority on minority crime (other than black on black)?
This is a diversity is beautiful alertfrom Senator John McCain’s home state, and a preferred resettlement state for Iraqis. It is also an update of a story we posted here last December.
An Iraqi man charged with detonating a homemade bomb outside a federal building in Arizona now faces additional charges, including first-degree murder in a killing just days before the bombing, authorities said Monday.
Abdullatif Ali Aldosary is charged with murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and two firearms counts in the Nov. 27, 2012, killing of an employee at the Arizona Grain processing facility in Maricopa, about 35 miles south of Phoenix.
Orlando Requena, 26, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds. He had worked for several years at the facility, where Aldosary also was employed for a time.
[….]
Aldosary came to the United States legally in 1997 * from his home country of Iraq.
In 2008, he pleaded guilty to felony aggravated harassment charges. He was sentenced to two months in jail and three years of probation. But his probation was revoked a year later, and he was ordered to serve a year in prison.
And, of course the big question is—-why wasn’t he deported?
* By the way, Aldosary would have been one of Bill Clinton’s and Lavinia Limon’s refugees. Maybe a mainstream media reporter should get a quote from her!
Editors note: Mike is a reader (mikefromlongisland) who commented extensively, here, in the last few days about why and how the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (a 501(c)3 charitable organization) could be lobbying on bills before Congress. (Imagine your local Tea Party doing such a thing with a 501(c)3 designation—but oops! Tea Parties aren’t being granted any type of tax-deductible status).
Do all of you Lutherans out there agree with what is being done in the name of your faith?
These are hardcore open borders advocates pushing for more Afghans and Iraqis to be admitted to the US. This disingenuous article in the Army Times quotes ADVOCATES (aka LOBBYISTS) for two federal refugee resettlement contractors lobbying hard for passage of S.744—Comprehensive Immigration Reform. (Our archive on the legislative train wreck is here)
Nevermind that they will financially benefit greatly from passage of the Gang of Eight plus Grover bill should it become law. Their beef this time is that Special Immigrant Visas will be in jeopardy if this bill isn’t passed pronto.
Meeting with Advocates for Immigrants Pictured in the photo surrounding Congresswoman Roybal-Allard who is seated, from left to right: Brittney Nystrom (Director of Policy and Legal Affairs, National Immigration Forum), now a lobbyist for LIRS.
Remember, the Special Immigrant Visas law for those who “helped” America in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was inserted into a Defense Authorization bill in the dark of night. Now, it is up for renewal and its extension was slipped into S. 744 (once again no hearings on it).
Maybe before you read the Lutherans view of the Special Immigrant Visa provision in S.744, check out a different view at World Net Dailyby Aaron Klein.
Here then is the Army Times(reprinted from Medill News Service). First they seek to scare readers that some poor translator is going to be beheaded in Iraq or Afghanistan if this program goes away (keep in mind they have had since 2008 to apply):
A law providing special visas to Iraqi and Afghan nationals in danger for helping the U.S. military suffered a blow when the House rejected the Senate’s immigration reform bill Wednesday.
Many of the refugees and their families face grave threats in their homelands as a result of their U.S. government affiliation, and thousands have been killed by their own countrymen, advocacy groups say.
In 2008, Congress passed legislation providing Iraqi and Afghan refugees who assisted the U.S. with special immigrant visas. This included contractors, translators and guides. The 5,000 visas allotted annually to Iraqis are set to expire at the end of September, while the 1,500 visas allotted annually to Afghans will expire in September 2014. The immigration bill would make the visas available until September 2018.
Only 50 special visas are allotted annually for Iraqi and Afghan translators. But in fiscal 2007 and 2008, an amendment to the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act allotted 500 visas for translators.
From fiscal year 2008 to March 2013, 11,647 visas have been allotted to Iraqi and Afghan refugees and 1,693 to translators, according to State Department data.
Director of Advocacy=lobbyist!
Those who benefit from the visas are in immediate danger, said Brittany Nystrom, director of advocacy at the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
With the immigration reform bill stalled, advocacy efforts have focused on pushing through the visa provision by other means, Nystrom said.
The provision has also been attached to the Senate and House’s National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014.
Apparently, before taking the lobbying job for the Lutherans, Nystrom lobbied on immigration for the pro-open borders group —National Immigration Forum headed by Ali Noorani. (See photo from the Congresswoman’s website) We told you about Grover Norquist’s special pal Ali Noorani here in February.
Lavinia Limon of USCRI (one of nine federal refugee contractors). Fox News Latino photo.
And, of course we would expect Ms. Limon to show up in this story. Now head of a federal refugee contractor, she was Clinton’s director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (the revolving door!). Here is one of many posts on the lobbying Limon. And, here she says hire a refugee rather than an American!
The Army Timesstory continues:
The versions differ slightly in eligibility and the number of visas allotted, but the major difference in the authorization bill is that visas for Iraqis are only extended to 2014, said Lavina Limon, president and CEO of U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
She said she hopes the version on the immigration reform bill will pass because there are fewer restrictions and the visas would be extended until 2018 rather than 2014 for Iraqis, although she said she is not optimistic.
While there is general agreement that the Iraqis and Afghans, who have provided invaluable support to the U.S., deserve retribution, the program needs a lot of work, she said.
We have no lobbyist in Washington!
Those of us who want to see reform of refugee resettlement, perhaps even a halt to this whole Refugee Resettlement Program have no one in Washington pressing our interests. Some of the big immigration restriction groups touch on refugee issues from time to time, but really there is no one to counter the huge resources of the contractors who can hire lawyer/lobbyists like Nystrom. Adding insult to injury—you are paying Nystrom’s salary!
Have a look at a recent Form 990for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, page 9. They had income in that year of $31,653,748 and, of that, you, the taxpayers of America, gave them $30,376,568. Their CEO* makes $204,186 in salary and benefits.
96% of their funding comes from you. No taxpayer funding=No LIRS!
“Refugee” camps on the streets of Amsterdam. Will this happen to America one day? Photo: ‘bloggers without borders.’
I’m telling you, it would be cheaper in the end for Holland to just pay each of the failed asylum seekers (and the Iraqi government) to get them out of tents and off the streets in the Netherlands and back to Iraq. Same goes for Malta and the Somalis!
Iraq will not help the government in its efforts to deport Iraq nationals who have failed to become officially recognised as asylum seekers, junior justice minister Fred Teeven told Nos television.
Teeven has just returned from a visit to Iraq, but the country is refusing to accept failed asylum seekers who are being deported against their will, Teeven said. Only Iraqi nationals who volunteer to go back are accepted.
[….]
The group of failed refugees who have been living in tents and former churches in the Netherlands include many Iraqis. They cannot be deported because they don’t have the proper paperwork but are not entitled to official accommodation from the Dutch state.
Teeven’s predecessor Gerd Leers offered Iraq €5m in development aid to accept deportees but Iraq demanded $10,000 per person instead, Nos said.
It will ultimately cost the Netherlands more than $10,000 per person to house and feed the jobless migrants.
By the way, we reported the other daythat Australia was having the same problem with Iranians they wish to deport—Iran doesn’t want them back.
