Category: Legal immigration and jobs

In wake of typhoon, push is on for Temporary Protected Status for Filipinos

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Problem is, once granted the “temporary” right to live, work, get a drivers license legally in America they don’t go home!  About a hundred thousand illegal Salvadorans make that point daily—they’ve been here since 2001 under TPS status and whatever natural disaster gave them the right to stay has long since been forgotten.

Two peas in a pod! Senators McCain and Rubio want any legal or illegal Filipinos in US to get to stay!

Usually granted for 18 months, TPS designation is just extended and extended as we saw here recently with Somali TPS.

If this lobbying push is successful anyone from the Philippines in the US legally (on a limited visa of some sort) or illegally can apply to stay under TPS and then when/if Congress passes so-called ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ they will get to stay forever!

From Global Nation (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for undocumented Filipinos picked up bipartisan congressional support, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) urged the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant the status.

Currently allowed under immigration laws for countries impacted by a natural disaster resulting in a “substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions,” TPS will provide temporary immigration relief to undocumented Filipino immigrants currently residing in the US.

In a letter to DHS Acting Secretary Rand Beers, NaFFAA national chair Eduardo Navarra wrote that “this benefit will alleviate their fears of deportation to a devastated country and allow them to work and stay in the US temporarily. With this authorization, Filipino nationals can continue providing material and financial support to the homeland, especially at a time when they are in dire need of help.”

J.T. Mallonga, NaFFAA national vice chair and president of the Filipino American Legal and Defense Fund (FALDEF), explains that there are precedents where the US administration acted on similar requests.

“Following the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti two years ago, the US designated TPS to Haitian nationals, allowing them to continue living and working in the country for 18 months,” Mallonga said. “The same should be done to Filipinos, and it must be done soon.”

Other nationals from countries devastated by natural disasters, such as Honduras, Sudan and El Salvador, have also been granted TPS before.   [And, they are all still here! because even if TPS does expire, no one deports them!—ed]

Obama can designate TPS without Congress, but some Senators and Members of Congress are on board with the proposal.

With members of Congress weighing in on the issue, Navarra has conveyed his thanks to a bipartisan group of US Senators and US Representatives who have endorsed the call for TPS.

“Although congressional approval is not required, their strong message of support is very encouraging,” Navarra said. “We hope more members of Congress will do the same.”

In a Nov. 19 letter signed by 20 US Senators, the signatories assert that “providing TPS is critical to humanitarian relief efforts as it both protects individuals who would be endangered by returning to their country of origin and it allows the home country more time to recover before accepting returnees.”

Among those signing the letter are Senators Harry Reid, John McCain, Robert Menendez, Marco Rubio, Mazie K. Hirono, Richard Durbin, Orrin Hatch, Barbara Boxer, Tim Kaine, and Patrick Leahy. On the House side, 30 US Representatives called on DHS to “exercise its authority to designate the Philippines” for TPS, considering the “daunting rescue and restoration efforts” facing the country. The signatories include Representatives Edward Royce, Zoe Lofgren, Trent Franks. Robert Scott, Xavier Becerra, Judy Chu, Peter King, Colleen Hanabusa, Tammy Duckworth, and Michael Honda.

The next time you hear someone say, ‘I’m o.k. with legal immigration, it’s illegal I have a problem with,’ remind them that Refugee Resettlement, the Diversity Visa Lottery and Temporary Protected Status are all legal programs!

Nightline Exclusive worth watching! Dozens of Terrorists Could Live in US as Refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Waada Alwan and Mohanad Hammadi. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Marshal’s Service)

Until this morning, I didn’t have the time to watch the Nightline Exclusive about how those two Iraqi refugee terrorists, arrested in Bowling Green, KY in 2011, were exposed.

It is really a fascinating piece if you haven’t watched it.

We reported the ABC News report on the story here, two days ago.

Go here to watch the whole thing!  The investigation is continuing into whether there are others like Waada Alwan and Mohanad Hammadi who got into the US with American blood on their hands after checking boxes on their refugee application that they had not been part of any terrorist action in Iraq.

We have written an awful lot on the case, if you type ‘Kentucky Iraqi terrorists’ into our search function, most of those earlier reports should be archived with those key words.

By the way, I noticed in the Nightline piece that there was some consternation by officials interviewed about why Bowling Green.  Bowling Green is a preferred refugee resettlement site for the US State Department and its nine federal contractors and has been for probably two decades.

How does a city become “preferred?”   First, it has to have some big companies nearby in need of cheap labor (chicken processing in this case), available public housing, and then it must have a low number on the squawk index!   What is that you ask?   That’s my terminology for whether there develops a cadre citizens in the community who ask what the heck is happening to our city?   No (or little) squawking=more refugees will be resettled there!

For new readers:  We have admitted to the US 19,491 Iraqis in fiscal year 2013 alone!

Photo is from this story from the Courier-Journal on the pair’s indictment.

Appleton, Wisconsin: more refugees on the way to your town

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a short AP story at The Republic of Columbus, Indiana. Apparently Appleton is a target city, among 6 others in Wisconsin, to receive the blessings of diversity—all kinds are on the way!

Appleton Mayor and Diversity Coordinator Flores celebrate on election night 2012. Photo from FairWisconsin.

The resettlement program is only three years old in Appleton—that is very new.

However, the chance of extricating itself from the situation is limited because with a DIVERSITY COORDINATOR on the city payroll, she will be working 9-5 to bring in the diversity and thus, in my opinion, dooming Appleton’s economic and social ‘future.’

From The Republic (emphasis mine):

APPLETON, Wisconsin — Plans are underway in eastern Wisconsin to resettle about 75 refugees from conflict zones around the world.

The nonprofit organization World Relief Fox Valley* is coordinating health screenings, housing and integration services for the refugees coming from Congo, Iraq and Myanmar in 2014. World Relief will work to help the refugees search for jobs that match their skills.

It is the third year for the operation, which has already resettled 174 people, mainly from Myanmar. Others have arrived from Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Darfur, said Myriam Mwizerwa, the Oshkosh office director.

“We’re expecting 135 in the next year, with about 75 of them in the Appleton area,” Mwizerwa told Post-Crescent Media (http://post.cr/1ioesLt). “We don’t get notification about who is coming and when until about two weeks before they arrive.”

With the first refugees expected to arrive in January, nonprofits, schools and city officials are coordinating efforts.

“Our goal is self-sufficiency,” Mwizerwa said. “We have to get everyone in an employment position within a year and work to find industries that match skills.”

Appleton’s diversity coordinator Kathy Flores said she will be working with churches, synagogues and mosques to prepare accommodations.

“These individuals have faced some trauma in their home countries and are coming here for some very serious reasons, and we’re excited to be helpful and welcoming,” Flores said.

Diversity coordinator!  Do you have one in your town?

I see in 2011 there was quite a controversy involving Flores, a gay rights activist, and whether the city should fund such a position.  Apparently she survived the fight, because here she is with the Mayor on Election night 2012.

What are the six target cities for refugee resettlement in Wisconsin, according to this story from earlier in the year they are:

Appleton, Barron, Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee and Oshkosh

For readers arriving at RRW for the first time, you might find our “fact sheet” very helpful.  Click here.

*World Relief Fox Valley is an affiliate of World Relief Corp.National Association of Evangelicals which is one of nine major federal refugee contractors.  In the most recently available Form 990 World Relief had an income of $52 million and $34 million came from you, the US taxpayer.  None of this could be happening in Wisconsin or anywhere else in the US if the taxpayers weren’t paying the bills.

Tampa: Could you make 6 acres productive if you had an $85,000 gift?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Diversity wheelbarrows! Do you think the Tampa refugees will get these through their federal grant?

Maybe, maybe not!  I know a little about farming and I’m not sure even with an $85,000 grant from the US government, refugees in Tampa will be able to support and maintain much food production on 6 acres of land.

This is yet another feel-good story about refugees with no work “finding” satisfaction and “community” by growing foods they are familiar with back home inspired by none other than Michelle Obama’s pronouncement on refugee gardens—“It’s a model for the nation, for the world.” 

Go here for the Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program and see if your city is getting gardening grants. The Tampa project is first on the list.

From the Tampa Bay Times:

Pastors Joseph Germain and Berhanu Bekele started the garden 3 1/2 years ago. Germain led a congregation filled with refugees and noticed that many were leaving the state because they couldn’t find a livelihood.

He wanted to find a way to help them settle and find community, something often missing in resettled immigrant populations.

A little helpful background for new readers on what refugees in Tampa receive from the feds:

About 9,000 refugees live in Tampa, said Janet Blair, Community Liaison for the SunCoast Region Refugee Services Program offered through the Department of Children and Families. They come from countries including Burma, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan.

Refugees must prove to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that they are unable or unwilling to return to their home country because of fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in social groups. They come to Tampa with legal status and a small set of benefits — cash assistance, Medicaid and food assistance for eight months — provided by DCF.

The goal is to enable refugees to find employment within the first eight months, Blair said. After a year, they become eligible to apply for citizenship.

At first there was admirable private Christian charity!

Nearly four years ago, Pastor Germain attended a meeting of people who work with refugees. He mentioned what he had seen in his congregation. Bekele, pastor of St. Mary’s Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Tampa, said he had 6 acres of land.

Most of the people from his congregation came from agricultural backgrounds, Germain said. It was a perfect marriage of resources. The refugees could tend a garden and plant any crops they chose, including plants from their native lands if the soil was right for it. Refugees could do what they wished with the crops, even selling them on the side if they had extra.

Bekele and Germain received $10,000 from the Allegany Franciscan Ministries, enough to buy plants, tools, chickens, sheep and goats. But foxes got to the chickens, and the grant ran out. The pastors had been essentially sustaining the garden on their own.

Who needs private charity when here come the feds!

Now the group has received almost $85,000 from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, which has stepped up funding of community gardens across the country.

If any of you live in the Tampa area, or any other community garden getting federal grants (here), keep an eye on this project and let us know how it’s going.  BTW, I wonder if this counts when immigrant advocates claim refugees are more entrepreneurial than Americans? (The latest hot open-borders talking point!)

The photo is from a post back in May where we learned that similar refugee gardens had gone bust in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  No one wanted to work!

Study: Refugees in Tennessee contribute more than they consume (maybe)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Except for the “maybe,” that is the title of the story in The Tennessean yesterday, but one only needs to read down a few paragraphs to learn that is not the conclusion that should have been drawn from the news—it is The Tennessean editor’s wishful thinking.

Researchers were not able to “tease out” the information sought by lawmakers—do refugees use welfare to a greater extent then the American-born population?  And, no one keeps track of the taxes they pay either.

Mohamed-Shukri Hassan: We’re not looking for welfare, we want the jobs!

The Tennessean (emphasis mine):

A new study of foreign-born refugees who live in Tennessee has found they contributed almost twice as much in tax revenues as they consumed in state-funded services in the past two decades.

But limitations of the study — an unprecedented research effort by the state — left the state lawmakers who asked for it with questions on Tuesday.

A committee of House and Senate lawmakers requested the study last summer to try to understand the impact of refugee services on the state budget. They were especially interested in whether there has been a shift in how those costs are covered by state and federal funds.  [Here is our earlier report, from August, about the initiative by TN lawmakers—ed]

[….]

Making “conservative estimates,” researchers said that since 1990, the state has spent $753 million on services for refugees — including for schooling and health care — and received almost twice as much, $1.3 billion, in tax revenues from them.

But, but, but!

Researchers couched their analysis with caveats about the data collected, prompting lawmaker questions on Tuesday.

The researchers said both in the study and in answers to questions that they struggled to get some federal data and found most state agencies don’t track whether the people they serve are refugees.

There was no mechanism for tracking which services refugees used, said Krista Lee, senior fiscal analyst, requiring researchers to make certain assumptions. For example, they had to assume that refugees enroll in public schools, government assistance programs and TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program, with the same frequency as the general population.

“From the information we could find, there wasn’t anything substantial stating they wouldn’t be in a similar standing as current citizens,” Lee said.

That assumption left some lawmakers skeptical about the study’s findings. Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, said a major impetus for the study was to tease out whether refugees are more likely to rely on government assistance.

Somali:  We aren’t looking for welfare, we want the jobs!

“We’re not here for the government programs or any welfare; we’re here for the jobs,” said Mohamed-Shukri Hassan, 27, a Somali naturalized in 2009.

What!  Are there no Tennesseans looking for work?

Read it all!

For ambitious readers, we have an entire category on Nashville here.

Update!  Reader tomasrose gives us more information on the study:

The way this study was structured, any group that moves to Tennessee – be it, for sake of illustration, the entire graduating class from the London school of economics or the entire population of Bangladesh – will make the same incredibly high per capita net positive impact on Tennessee’s finances. The study assumes that all new arrivals will pay the same taxes and use the same amount of social services as the average Tennessean. According to this study, Tennessee would become a very wealthy state if it took all the refugees that come to America. That is more than absurd of course.