West Virginia: Is Catholic Charities bringing in foreign laborers for a poultry plant to compete with Americans?

09/26/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here are some of the facts as we know them:
West Virginia is a relatively new resettlement state which has received only 176 refugees in the last ten fiscal years.
However, in addition to Catholic Charities resettling refugees, Episcopal Migration Ministries wants to open a new office in Charleston. Presently CC has three locations and one of those is in Moorefield, WV.

jbs-greeley — This is the magnificent headquarters building Brazilian-owned JBS has in Greeley, CO. JBS owns most of Pilgrim’s Pride. So think about it! If you have Pilgrim’s Pride or any other JBS company in your town, it is being changed so a foreign-owned company can have cheap/compliant/foreign labor. (This is a photograph I took as I passed through Greeley on my RRW road trip this summer.)

What else is in Moorefield? I’ll tell you! There is a Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant located there.
Here are some things we know about Pilgrim’s Pride:
It is owned by the Brazilian meat giant—JBS (you may know them as Swift & Co.) headquartered in Greeley, CO.
And, now get this. The very same Labor Department, that I would normally be complaining about, says that in some locations in the US, Pilgrim’s Pride is DISCRIMINATING against African American job applicants, Caucasians and women! They are choosing Hispanic laborers (and it would appear refugee laborers) over Americans!
This is from a Dept. of Labor Press Release dated 10/7/2015:

ATLANTA — One of the world’s largest chicken processors systematically discriminated against qualified African-American applicants seeking entry-level jobs as laborers and operatives at its chicken plant in Marshville, North Carolina, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs alleges in a lawsuit filed against Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation.

“Discrimination will not be tolerated by employers who profit from government contracts,” said OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu. “OFCCP will use every action available by law, including canceling Pilgrim’s federal contracts if necessary, to ensure workers are treated fairly.”

The complaint results from an OFCCP investigation into the company’s selection procedures. This is the second lawsuit filed by OFCCP against the company in less than 30 days. The first complaint, filed on Sept. 15, 2015, alleges that Pilgrim’s Pride systematically discriminated against qualified African-American, Caucasian, and female applicants for entry-level laborer and operative positions at its chicken plant in Athens, Alabama. Both complaints were filed with the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges and seek complete make-whole relief, including instatement of qualified black applicants at the chicken processing facility, payment of lost wages, interest, front wages, and other fringe benefits, including but not limited to retroactive seniority.

[….]

As a result, some African-American, Caucasian, and female applicants were rejected despite having education and experience levels comparable to male and Hispanic applicants. The Athens plant is no longer in operation.

Based in Greeley, Colorado, Pilgrim’s Pride is the largest chicken producer in the U.S. The Brazilian food giant JBS S.A. owns 75 percent of Pilgrim’s Pride’s outstanding common stock.

From 2007 to 2011, Pilgrim’s Pride received more than $36 million in federal contracts as a provider of poultry to agencies such as the departments of Defense and Agriculture.

Could that same discrimination being going on in other Pilgrim’s Pride plants?
Back to Moorefield and Catholic Charities.
I checked the numbers from the Refugee Processing Center and here is what I learned. In the last 10 fiscal years, 176 refugees were resettled in WV. 49% of those went to Moorefield (CC lists poultry processing job availability there in its R & P Abstract).
Beginning in about Fiscal Year 2010, CC began resettling Burmese refugees (36 total) in Moorefield. In 2012 they began placing Eritreans there (42) and then 6 Iraqis and 2 Ethiopians followed. I know that numbers-wise it is small compared to the numbers being placed for the benefit of BIG MEAT around the country, but it strikes me as a very clear indication of how supposed ‘religious’ charities are working for the benefit of meat processors. But why? Is it all about money?
What is in it for the pols?
Then we get to the politicians. Moorefield is in WV District 2 (Rep Alex Mooney) who won that district when former Rep and now US Senator Shelley Moore Capito moved on to the Senate. Both are Republicans. What is in it for them to defend this practice of hiring refugees when African Americans, and Caucasian women need work in WV?
I don’t know the answer except for the Dems we know they are looking for more Democrat voters.
But as each of you begins to unravel why refugee labor is changing your towns (and why your elected officials aren’t listening to you), you need to figure out what is in it for Republican elected officials at all levels because I can assure you this is not about ‘humanitarianism!’ That is only the cover for big business (and the Chamber of Commerce!) to continue to push for more refugee admissions to the US.
Update: Reader Brenda sent this handy list of US poultry plants, wonder how closely it correlates to Refugee Resettlement sites?

South Dakota cutting back on refugees it takes (good news if there isn't a catch)

09/17/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

At a time when refugee offices are expanding nationwide and new offices are opening, South Dakota state coordinator Tim Jurgens tells the Argus Leader that SD is cutting back because it is “mindful of people opposed to welcoming refugees.” Wow! Can we take this as a hopeful sign that someone is listening!
Argus Leader (hat tip: Elena):

South Dakota won’t participate in the White House’s next push to increase the number of refugees escaping poverty and violence.

mike-mayor — Aberdeen Mayor Mike Levsen couldn’t possibly be too thrilled to hear this news (unless they are shifting Huron’s numbers to Aberdeen). In April he was looking for more refugee labor as we reported in a post which went viral here this week. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/04/16/heads-up-aberdeen-south-dakota-new-resettlement-site-being-proposed/

The director of the lone resettlement program in South Dakota said it would not participate in the federal effort, citing the debate over immigration in the state.

“There’s people that fall on both sides of this particular issue,” said Tim Jurgens, director of Lutheran Social Service’s Center for New Americans.

Jurgens said the center won’t increase its numbers, in part because it wants to be mindful of people opposed to welcoming refugees.

“We try to visit with anybody, regardless of their opinion and try to inform them of the process and collect their input,” Jurgens said.

Meanwhile, the group has raised millions of dollars for a new space for its refugee services, and was awarded a $250,000 grant Thursday from the federal government to help immigrants prepare for citizenship.

Fewer refugees are finding a home in Sioux Falls and the rest of the state in recent years in spite of the federal government’s wishes. Lutheran Social Services plans to end a direct resettlement program in Huron at the end of the month.

Continue reading here.
I traveled to Aberdeen and Huron this summer and met some great people who are pretty unhappy about the influx of refugees in recent years mostly to work in meat packing plants there (remember, cheap labor is the major driver of refugee resettlement in America!).

Big businesses hire refugees, partner with Obama to replace American workers

09/15/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Huge companies, many of them multinational corporations, are, according to the International Rescue Committee (America’s wealthiest refugee contracting agency), scooping up refugee workers and training them apparently rather than spending the money to train needy African American or other American citizens.

irc-poster — IRC’s propaganda poster. You have got to hand it to them they are masters at marketing and propaganda.

The International Rescue Committee tells us that ‘do-gooderism’ is secondary to making smart business decisions that they say are driving these companies. (Ha! I bet the IRC’s volunteers think this is all about humanitarian zeal!)
Americans first!
Wouldn’t it be smart to train and hire needy American citizens first especially in cities hard hit by unemployment that leads to hopelessness and crime? Apparently not!

So if it’s simply good business:

Are refugee laborers willing to work more cheaply?

Are refugee laborers subsidized by government programs and therefore tax credits fall to companies who hire them?

Are refugee laborers trapped (they can’t easily go home) or quit the job?

Are refugee laborers more compliant and less willing to complain about working conditions?

Are refugee laborers pawns who are really here to change the demographic make-up of America (apparently supported by the companies Obama has lined up below)?

jennifer-paterson — Marketing expert, Jennifer Patterson is Obama’s program director for his corporate partnership for refugees. http://www.partnershipforrefugees.org/our-team/

We have previously reported on Chobani Yogurt and Chiptotle, both glowingly described by the International Rescue Committee (remember they gave George Soros their Freedom award recently) which directs us to Obama’s Partnership for Refugees sure to be on full display at the United Nations next week (at Obama’s shindig on the 20th).
Here is what the IRC says about Hamdi Ulukaya at Chobani (a leader of the Hijra!):

“Other companies have worked on the problem more deliberately. At Chobani—whose Kurdish CEO, Hamdi Ulukaya, has committed the majority of his personal wealth to ending the refugee crisis—the company started hiring refugees soon after it started to grow. Resettled refugees now make up 30% of the company’s employees. This, however, isn’t without political challenges: Chobani has faced criticism and calls for boycotts from conservatives who argue that the company is taking jobs from American-born workers.”

Another company the IRC gives a glowing report about is Starwood Hotels (they need maids and janitors) and according to wikipedia the massive chain may be bought out by Marriott. The Marriotts are long time big supporters of amnesty and more refugee resettlement.

Your communities are being changed forever so that giant corporations can have cheap compliant labor!

In addition to those mentioned above, here (below) are the companies you can expect to see showcased at the UN next week with Obama, Samantha Power and of course Hillary lurking in the background.
(For those of you doing research in your towns and cities, find out which corporations are giving money to your elected officials in Washington and then you will know why your Senators and Members of Congress are reluctant to reform, or cut the funding for the Refugee Admissions Program, while feigning concern for the poor of the world.)
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Merkel's mess: German companies not hiring refugees

09/14/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe news….
Angela Merkel was telling anyone who would listen that Germany would welcome any Middle Easterners and Africans who could get there. She wanted to be a humanitarian, but she claimed Germany needed more workers as well. Looks like she was very very wrong about that. In fact, this issue of bringing in hundreds of thousands of low-skilled workers (as the US is doing too) is a ticking time bomb!

merkel-grinning — Merkel, fighting for her political life. You know what struck me so funny, as I sorted through photos of Frau Merkel, is that like Hillary she has some astounding facial expressions. Could she have the same affliction that Hillary has, whatever that is?

What with innovation in the workplace requiring fewer such workers and welfare systems being strained worldwide, what will happen to all these unhappy foreigners who have neither cultural roots nor upward mobility in their new countries.
It continues to escape me why this migration project, pushed by the international Left and supported by leaders like Merkel, is humane in any way!
From Reuters (hat tip: Joanne):

Germany’s blue-chip companies will have to explain to Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday why they have managed to hire fewer than 100 refugees after around a million arrived in the country last year.

Merkel, fighting for her political life over her open-door policy, has summoned the bosses of some of Germany’s biggest companies to Berlin to account for their lack of action and exchange ideas about how they can do better.

Many of the companies say a lack of German-language skills, the inability of most refugees to prove any qualifications, and uncertainty about their permission to stay in the country mean

A survey by Reuters of the 30 companies in Germany’s DAX stock market index found they could point to just 63 refugee hires in total. Several of the 26 firms who responded said they considered it discriminatory to ask about applicants’ migration history, so they did not know whether they employed refugees or how many.

Of the 63 hires, 50 are employed by Deutsche Post DHL, which said it applied a “pragmatic approach” and deployed the refugees to sort and deliver letters and parcels.

“Given that around 80 percent of asylum seekers are not highly qualified and may not yet have a high level of German proficiency, we have primarily offered jobs that do not require technical skills or a considerable amount of interaction in German,” a spokesman said by email.

What is clear is that early optimism that the wave of migrants could boost economic growth and help ease a skills shortage in Germany – where the working-age population is projected to shrink by 6 million people by 2030 – is evaporating.

More here.
We have very large files on the Invasion of Europe (here) and on Germany (here).

Now they are after West Virginia as new refugee office planned for state capitol

09/13/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

West Virginia has been near the bottom of the list of resettlement states for the last 9 years that I’ve followed the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program, but all that could change.
Resettlement contractors are running out of housing and frankly ‘welcome’ where they have overloaded cities like Lancaster, PA (do you want WV schools to have to cope with this!) and Buffalo, NY so they are casting about looking for fresh territory (populated with lots of naive do-gooders!).
A couple of years ago the folks in Wyoming were able to hold off a program there. Montana couldn’t quite manage it and now has homeless refugees in Missoula. Rutland, VT citizens are working hard to turn back the plan to bring Syrians to their city. And despite what this story from the Charleston Gazette implies, a pocket of resistance is growing in Charleston, WV.

US Senator (Republican) Shelley Moore Capito. So is she for changing West Virginia by changing its people? She sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee. West Virginians need to ask her if she supports billions of your dollars going to import poverty? https://www.capito.senate.gov/

Most eastern states have not dodged a bullet (LOL! except for Joe Biden’s Delaware). West Virginia has always been near the bottom of the list of states being targeted. Not anymore. See my earlier post on Charleston, here.
Imagine in a state where the coal mining industry has been decimated by Obama, they are now being asked to ‘welcome’ impoverished refugees from mostly the Middle East and Africa with a new resettlement office in Charleston!
Where are West Virginia’s two US Senators? Where is Rep. Alex Mooney (a Freedom Caucus member) who represents Charleston? Are they o.k. with importing more poverty for the state?
And, don’t miss the fact that WV Rep. Evan Jenkins is on the House Appropriations Committee. All three, Capito, Mooney and Jenkins could bring this plan to a screeching halt if they wanted to!
From the Charleston Gazette earlier this month:

Of the more than 10,000 Syrian refugees placed in the United States this fiscal year, just five were resettled in West Virginia, but efforts persist to make the state a haven for Syrians fleeing the carnage of civil war in their country.

Charleston is still in the running to become one of the Episcopal Migration Ministries “resettlement communities.” The resettlement agency has 30 similar communities throughout the United States where local organizations assist the refugees with translation, finding work and health care, getting to know their community and other services.

This April 14, 2014 photo provided by the Congressional Campaign of Alex X. Mooney shows Republican Alex X. Mooney who is running for West Virginia's 2nd district Congressional Republican nomination in the May 13 primary. (AP Photo/Congressional Campaign of Alex X. Mooney) — Rep. Alex Mooney represents Charleston. He is of Cuban heritage, will that blind him when faced with a decision to fund Syrian Muslims (among others) to be placed in his district? (AP Photo/Congressional Campaign of Alex X. Mooney)

[….]

In November 2015, Catholic Charities of West Virginia, which, for 30 years, has assisted in resettlement of refugees, including Syrians, told the Gazette-Mail it had told the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that it had the capacity to help resettle 100 Syrian refugees. Catholic Charities’ Migration and Refugee Services Division typically helps resettle about 50 refugees per year, but it anticipated a greater need because of the crisis in Syria.

Patti Phillips, director of development and marketing for the nonprofit, said this week that, during the fiscal year, just a handful of Syrian refugees — a family of five — were placed in West Virginia. During the 2015-16 fiscal year, about 30 total refugees arrived in the state. Phillips said Catholic Charities only places refugees in West Virginia who have pre-existing ties to family or friends in the area.

Danna Van Brandt, public diplomacy and public affairs adviser for the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, provided a statement from Barbara Day***, domestic-resettlement section chief for the same bureau. Day said the State Department’s placement plan for refugees in West Virginia in fiscal year 2016 included up to 50 refugees from around the world and was “formulated in partnership with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities of West Virginia.”

Here we are with this family-tie trick. What they will do is start seeding new refugees into Charleston and next year they will be bringing the family members of that first group! So it never ends! Be sure to see my ‘Ten things your town needs to know’ by clicking here.
The Gazette continues…..

“Refugees are placed in West Virginia when they have family or personal ties in the state,” Day said. “Being resettled in a place where a refugee has personal ties is a crucial way to ease a refugee’s transition into life in the United States.”

[….]

In May, Episcopal Migration Ministries [one of nine major federal resettlement contractors.—ed] sent an employee and consultant to Charleston to learn more about the city, in hopes of establishing the city as a resettlement community. If Charleston is selected, a local organization potentially would assist in resettling 100 to 150 refugees each year in Charleston.

The West Virginia Interfaith Refugee Ministry, a group that started to create greater understanding of the plight of Syrian refugees and combat rising anti-Muslim sentiment, had encouraged the resettlement agency to consider the area.

See more here on the WV Interfaith Refugee Ministry and how they admit WV is poor and lacking in jobs, but what the hell, bring in the diversity anyway! Beware any ‘interfaith’ group where you live.
How many refugees has WV gotten over the years?
I just had a look at the numbers for West Virginia (Refugee Processing Center). Since Obama took office the state has resettled 176 refugees (a tiny number when you compare it to Texas’s over 7,000 a year). In 2008 only 5 refugees were placed in WV. This year there were 25 up until September 1.
In addition to the Syrians, the primary countries of origin of the refugees so far have been Iraq, Burma and Eritrea. The top resettlement city was Moorefield and a few went to Morgantown. Of course, as we said, Charleston, the capitol, got its first Syrians (99% of Syrians entering US are Muslims, we are not saving Christians!) and is now being considered for a new resettlement office to bring in up to 150 soon.
*** Day is another federal employee who rotated into her position from a refugee contracting agency. There should be a law against this! See more here.