Every time we turn around we find one more legal reason foreign nationals can stay in the US.
The one federal program (besides refugee resettlement/asylum) we have noted most often on these pages is Temporary Protected Status a ridiculously named program since it is rarely temporary. We still have Central Americans living here legally ten years and longer after some storm/earthquake roughed-up their landscape. Their “temporary refugee” status (allowing them to work and do anything a legal immigrant can do, and since they get drivers licenses, they probably vote!) simply gets extended every 18 months or so. See our complete TPS archive by clicking here.
In fact, Liberians have been begging again for an extension of their legal status in the US, guess they will get their wish.
Here is a press alert from USCIS entitled: Ebola Outbreak-related Immigration Relief Measures to Nationals of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone Currently in the United States.
From a July CNN story. http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/03/health/ebola-outbreak-west-africa/
Release Date: August 15, 2014
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is closely monitoring the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. USCIS offers relief measures to nationals of those three countries who are currently in the United States.
Immigration relief measures that may be available if requested include:
Change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States, even if the request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired;
Extension of certain grants of parole made by USCIS;
Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
Expedited processing of immigrant petitions for immediate relatives (currently in the United States) of U.S. citizens;
Expedited adjudication of employment authorization applications, where appropriate; and
Consideration for waiver of fees associated with USCIS benefit applications.
For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit www.uscis.gov, call the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283, or follow USCIS on Facebook (/uscis), Twitter (@uscis), YouTube (/uscis) and the USCIS blog The Beacon.
Recently the Center for Immigration Studies released a report on Tennessee (we reported on it here) about how immigrant employment was responsible for most of the job growth in that state, and then today I see they have another study out, this time on Florida. Here is how a piece by Ryan Lovelace atNational Review Onlinebegins:
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies finds that the majority of the net increase in employment among Florida’s working age population since the first quarter of 2000 has gone to legal and illegal immigrants. Florida ranked second in the nation in employment growth among 16 to 65 year olds since the first quarter of 2000, CIS says, but still ranks 34th nationwide in labor-force participation of its native-born population in the same age range.
They need to do a study on North Carolina if they haven’t already!
One of the quasi-government/quasi-religious groups, Church World Service, is busy supplying refugee laborers for North Carolina companies and now they are whining again about cuts in taxpayer dollars that allow them, a non-profit ‘church’ group, to bring in workers to compete with native workers.
CWS CEO Rev. John McCullough (left with scarf) and other “faith” leaders pushing for amnesty in Washington. http://www.interfaithimmigration.org/2013/04/12/nationally-renowned-faith-leaders-speak-at-a10-time-is-now-immigrants-rights-rally/
Here is the Washington Post helping Church World Service get its cry heard for more money (from the US Treasury’s money tree), in the wake of the unaccompanied minors’ border invasion:
“We measure our success as a company by the number of rice cookers we have,” Lindsay Hancock, Creative Snacks’ director of business administration, says only half-jokingly. The company has four now.
All 30 full-time employees on the plant floor are refugees. Many came through the Church World Service resettlement agency and its Greensboro employment training program. But that program’s future remains uncertain because, in the world of immigration and refugee policy, it turns out that the Mexican border and all its politics can run right through a North Carolina snack plant full of refugees.
File this under unintended consequences: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement allocates funds to programs for refugees and unaccompanied alien children. Earlier this year, when the number of children fleeing Central America and Mexico for the United States started skyrocketing, the office reallocated more money to help address a mounting crisis at the border. That money — $94 million — came directly out of refugee programs and services. Taking the hit were grants that help refugees with employment, preventative health services and adaption to America and its school system.
Don’t make us choose between refugees and illegal immigrants! WE want money for everybody (our salaries too)!
For state refugee coordinators and immigration advocates, the crisis at the border has meant walking a tightrope: Do not make refugees bear the cost of Congress’s refusal to provide more funding. Do not pit refugees against immigrant children. Do not make us choose one or the other.
State refugee coordinators have been scrambling to figure out how to avoid layoffs and keep their health-care, educational and employment services intact.
Then this (below) is what jumped out at me! “Creative Snacks” DEPENDS on Church World Service to supply it with workers and the owners have NO REAL ANSWER AS TO WHY THEY DON’T HIRE AMERICANS.
I have a few theories and one is that there are tax breaks of some sort for the employers when they hire refugees and what the refugees can’t afford through their salaries comes to them via various social services and training supplied by you! (There are even special savings plans for refugees for such things as cars, homes and education where the government matches their savings.) So, the company can keep salaries low—you take care of everything else. And, most importantly, refugees are basically trapped employees with nowhere else to go.
The WaPo continues (We want to know why is this the responsibility of the US taxpayer?):
“We depend upon Church World Service to help us find people,” Hancock says. “The loss of funding would have an immediate impact on our business.”
Yes, Hancock says, the company could hire the native-born, but Creative Snacks’ owners, Marius and Hilary Andersen, are committed to providing opportunities to refugees, who, by definition, have been wrenched from their homelands and who, in that loss, must place their faith in a new country. [So, they have been wrenched by the UN and Church World Service from their homeland, what does that have to do with answering the question about why the Andersens don’t hire native North Carolinians?—ed]
CWS isn’t as bad as some of their fellow contractors*** in terms of the percentage of federal dollars they gobble up in any given year (most contractors are up in the 90% range). Their 2013 Form 990 says they took in $74,101,599 and that $43,999,257 came from you as government grants. That’s about 59.3 %.
Doing well by doing good!
Their CEO, Rev. John McCullough makes a cool $285,830 in salary from CWS (and related activities). Five other employees are in the 6-figure salary range. Maybe if the shortfall continues they could cut those salaries down a bit and help the refugees more. (just saying!)
You should know that CWS lobbied for so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform which we all know helped inspire the border surge.
We should have posted this news when it was hot earlier this week (thanks to all those who sent it), so you may already have seen it. I would love to see a similar study by the Center for Immigration Studies of some other states with an even higher immigrant load then Tennessee.
The Gang of Eight Senate immigration bill (S.744) passed last June would have roughly doubled the number of new foreign workers allowed into the country and legalized millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States. Both Tennessee senators — Lamar Alexander (R) and Bob Corker (R) — voted for it.
To put into context the possible effects of this legislation on Tennessee, the Center for Immigration Studies has analyzed recent government data on employment. The analysis shows that, since 2000, all of the net increase in the number of working-age (16 to 65) people holding a job in Tennessee has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal). This is the case even though the native-born accounted for 60 percent of the growth in the state’s total working-age population.
* The total number of working-age (16 to 65) immigrants (legal and illegal) holding a job in Tennessee increased by 94,000 from the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2014, while the number of working-age natives with a job declined by 47,000 over the same period.
* The fact that all of the long-term net gain in employment among the working-age population went to immigrants is striking because natives accounted for 60 percent of the increase in the total size of the state’s working-age population.
Update August 1st:More here on the cancellation of the opportunity for citizens to learn what refugee resettlement might mean for their towns.
Update July 29th: Public meeting cancelled—no surprise! Read all about it here. Keep this information below if your town becomes a target!
Forgetwhat you hear about local communities having no say, whether tiny historic Doveror surrounding towns will become new resettlement sites for Africans, Asians and Middle Easterners will all depend on the turnout and the questions asked (and answers given!) at an upcoming public meeting scheduled for Dover city hall August 13th, 7 p.m.
The US State Department, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in HHS) (yes, the same agency moving the illegal alien children around the country) and their contractors and subcontractors are running into “pockets of resistance” in already overloaded communities around the country and are out scouting for new fresh territory (like Athens, GA as well).
The federal government likes to intimidate (bully!) communities with this notion that they decide (from Washington) where to move the literally over one hundred thousand “refugees” entering the US every year, but they won’t move them to new communities where its citizens demand answers to the all important questions: Who pays for all of this? Where will they work? Who is going to pay for all the children’s education? Do we have enough low-cost subsidized housing for our own people? What other social services will they require? How many foreign language interpreters are available in our criminal justice system? Can our health department handle a flood of mental health problems and communicable diseases? (HIV-AIDS and TB cases are admitted to the US in the refugee program) When will it stop?
In answer to that last question, it won’t! Once a seed community is established the contractors are paid by the head to bring in the family members. At that point, if some in your community raise a warning flag, they will be called racists, xenophobes and bigots—and just plain cruel to oppose reuniting the poor families.
Before I go any further, here is the news I heard yesterday: First from The Granite Grok (3,000 to go to Dover!), a New Hampshire blog (hat tip: Richard) and then here in Foster’s Daily Democrat(hat tip: Joanne).
To prepare for this public meeting (you have 18 days!). This is what I would do (in no particular order):
* Call the mayors in those other New England towns where the community wants the flow stopped. Maybe one or two would even come to your public meeting! And, by the way, some elected officials in Dover or surrounding towns must have quietly suggested that the community would be open to this resettlement site. Find out if that is so, and identify them.
* Learn everything you can about the federal government’s refugee program (start with our fact sheet). Local taxpayers are definitely on the hook for most “services” needed by refugees after the first 8 months.
Blogger Skip Murphy has some questions to ask as well!
* In your research you will learn that the State Department is trying to resettle 50,000 Congolese (announced May 2013) 2,630 so far this fiscal year , but they won’t just resettle Congolese to Dover and surrounding towns. You will get a mix of Muslims and other religions/cultures among Iraqis, Somalis, Burmese and Bhutanese (just naming the top four right now) making the language problems even greater for your school system.
If you are within 100 miles of a refugee overloaded city like Manchester, you are in the target zone for resettlement of more refugees.
* Learn all you can about the supposed non-profit contractors. Know that there is a ‘pocket of resistance’in Manchester and that since Dover is less than 100 miles from Manchester, it is now targeted for the overflow. (100 miles is a magic number for the State Department reuniting families).
By the way, the contractor identified in the Foster’s Daily Democrat article—Organization for Refugees and Immigrant Success—began in 2005 as the Somali Bantu Community Association funded by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement. This is your typical George Soros strategy to spin off other small groups with new names both to confuse people and to make it look like there is a huge movement.
History of ORIS
The Somali Bantu Community Association (SBCA) was a non-profit organization formed in 2005 by a group of Somali Bantu refugees living in the United States. The group, which was funded by the US Department of Refugee Resettlement, assisted refugees in integrating into American culture. In 2011, SBCA reformed as the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success (ORIS), expanding the original mission, as well as increasing and diversifying the staff and board members. Today, our ten-person staff represents six countries and speaks twenty languages.
ORIS has no Form 990’s on file with guidestar, but here are their government grants (you have to type their name in the search window). Here are their other funders. I’m guessing they are also affiliated with one of the big federal contractors, but don’t have the time to do the research at the moment (but you do!).
* This is an important election year and you have some hot races in NH—make this an election-year issue for sure in the US Senate race!
* In advance! Learn about the format of the meeting and study the Delphi Technique! It is a public meeting strategy that government agencies (and the Left!) use to direct the outcome of a meeting to a goal they have predetermined. Be ready to defeat any meeting strategy you identify. And, film the meeting!!!
You need to make sure someone is there for the US government (preferably the US State Department) or you won’t get all your answers. And, this is really important, and I can’t emphasize it enough—do your research ahead of time so they can’t give you a snow-job!
* Set up a blog or facebook page(right now!) to share what you learn with your fellow citizens. The feds don’t like publicity! Letters to the editor help too!
And, I’m sure you can think of a few more things to do—but mostly stay calm and stick to the economic and social facts involved with importing poverty (from anywhere!) to your town.
You will have some hotheads, but don’t worry about them, you gotta have them in any political controversy.
The religious LEFT activists will show up with their hotheads too, to call anyone who questions them racists, ignore them.
Here is what fellow RRW writer Judy said in that 2007 post on the Delphi Technique:
…..those who raise questions like the ones on this blog — questions of health, culture, money, resources, policy, etc. — will be cast as the enemies of everything good and noble. But our questions are valid ones, and we want to make sure they are answered, no matter what is done to make us look bad.
Check out our categories, this post definitely falls in the “community destabilization”category because that is what is happening here and across the country—the open-borders (anti-borders!) Left and the federal bureaucracy are in the business of bringing instability to unsuspecting American towns and cities (ala Saul Alinsky, Cloward and Piven).
They are not talking about the border crashers from Central America (yet!).
The International Rescue Committee, one of the top ten*** federal refugee resettlement contractors has selected Athens as its next target site to be a new refugee resettlement city.
IRC’s Ellen Beattie: small cities are more “navigable,” so we will bring hundreds of third-world refugees to Athens. Or, should it be, small cities are more naive! Photo: http://clatl.com/atlanta/ellen-beattie/Content?oid=1275176
Readers, this article is full of the usual phony baloney gushy language about how Athens has so many amenities to make it desirable, welcoming, and open to receiving impoverished people from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
They need fresh territory!
The bottom line, however, is that they are all (the US State Department, ORR and their contractors) out scouting new locations because they have worn out, or are in the process of wearing out, their welcome in their “preferred resettlement sites.”
You need to know a little about the International Rescue Committee headquartered in New York City and led by former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband (with his $400,000 plus a year salary). Click hereand follow links.
Below is the story on Athens, they say they will bring Congolese and Burmese, but the top refugees being resettled in the US right now include also Iraqis, Bhutanese and Somalis. They will get a smattering of all of them.
Georgia readers need to especially note that the IRC implies that they have cleared it with local officials. Does the governor know?
Truth-be-told, the Atlanta area has become a pocket of resistanceto more resettlement which is why they are now spreading out throughout the state and into small cities.
Athens-Clarke County this year will begin welcoming an increasing number of refugees fleeing conflict in their native lands for a new home in the U.S.
The Atlanta office of the International Rescue Committee plans to open a sub-office in Athens by end of the year, and hopes to begin resettling refugee families in Athens as soon as October.
Opening an Athens outpost has been in the works for five years, said IRC Atlantic regional director Ellen Beattie. The organization has opened similar sub-offices in cities like Charlottesville, Va., and Lincoln, Neb.
College towns like Athens have an “international flavor” because of their worldly academic staff, and universities possess strong language resources that new refugee arrivals rely on, Beattie said.
For newly-arrived refugees, whose journey to the U.S. has been long and stressful, a smaller town makes for an easier transition.
“Small towns are more navigable,” Beattie said.
LOL! More “navigable” or more naive? Smaller towns don’t usually ‘get it’ about what it means for them until the seed community is well-established, then the contractor begins bringing in the relatives and it becomes too late to turn off the spigot.
Beattie said IRC staff has already met with county, school and health department officials to prepare Athens for the refugees’ needs.
The Athens office, at first, will have one full-time staff member, soon increasing to two, and will bring in necessary support.
Beattie said between 120 and 150 people, roughly 40 families, will resettle in Athens in the first year. Most of these refugees will come from Myanmar [Burma–ed] and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Once the office is established, Beattie estimates a city of Athens size can handle up to 250 refugees, about 60 families, a year.
Not mentioned here, but I suspect industries in the Athens area are looking for cheap immigrant laborers. This articlesays that Athens is doing well economically.
Georgia has received 1,968 refugees so far this fiscal year (the 8th largest resettlement state) from 40 different locations around the world. Go to Wraps.net hereand click on Arrivals by State and Countryto see from where refugees are arriving. By the way, they previously made public which city refugees were going to but now keep that secret from the general public.
The chart (Arrivals by State and Country) is a little deceptive because, for example, when they say Kenya, that doesn’t mean those are Kenyans, it means they are probably Somalis located in Kenya. Likewise, we don’t take Malaysians, but hundreds arrived in Georgia from Malaysia this year—they were certainly illegal aliens caught in Malaysia, probably Afghans or Somalis trying to reach Australia. They could just as easily have a chart for State and Nationality, but this is just one more way to keep you in the dark about who is coming to your state.
Update (sort of on August 19th): Here is an older article involving Athens and Georgia resettlement generally, that we saw today and don’t want to lose.
