CPAC for those not following Conservatism Inc. is theConservative Political Action Conferencegoing on in Washington this week. It’s become a beauty contest of sorts for the Republican ruling class where movers and shakers, like ACU board member Grover Norquist (slayer of loud bullfrogs), try to get the minds right of the youthful “conservative” grassroots.
VDARE writer James Kirkpatrick pens an insightful summary of CPAC’s tepid Immigration Panel (VDARE’s title: CPAC’s Immigration Panel—Wishful Thinking, Lies, And Attacking The Base) made up of squishes on the issue of amnesty and CITIZENSHIP for illegal aliens.
Moratorium on immigration! Or, what comes after America?
Here is Kirkpatrick’s wrap-up (emphasis mine), but please read the whole thing. He says that getting cheap labor for businesses was an overriding theme (But, remember we told you only recently that the unemployment rate among LEGAL refugees was already at 50%, here.) There is no shortage of immigrant labor!
Ideally, Conservatism Inc. wants cheap labor for their masters, positive press for opposing “racism,” and as few Hispanic voters in the electorate as possible. It cannot do all three, but it prefers cognitive dissonance to systematic (and politically incorrect) thought.
Near the beginning of the panel, Dr. Ayres condemned the belief that Hispanics tend to vote Democratic no matter what. He didn’t rebut it (of course) and simply gloated that whites will soon be a minority in the country their ancestors built. To those opposed to amnesty, he challenged: “What’s your plan?”
The plan is simple: an immigration moratorium, attrition through enforcement, abolishing birthright citizenship, attacking multiculturalism and rebuilding the national core.
If this fails, then immigration patriots have to ask what comes after America. As outlandish as that sounds, it bears a closer resemblance to reality than anything discussed during the immigration panel.
The tragedy of the so called “thoughtful” voices on immigration reform is not that they are liberal, or moderate, or “post-national.” It’s that these self-proclaimed sophisticates are guilty of a willful refusal to think seriously, And it shows.
But, they won’t of course. Most of the federal refugee contractorsare out stumping for so-called “comprehensive immigration reform”* which will only mean more destitute immigrants competing with refugees and Americans for jobs.
A NumbersUSA adcirculating this morning (watch it!) in opposition to Lindsey Graham and the ‘gang of eight amnesty plan’ prompted me to look at the shocking unemployment rates for LEGAL immigrant labor—refugees—in the newest stats we have from the FY 2009 Annual Report to Congress on Refugeeswhich I mentioned here and here(food stamp use skyrocketing) yesterday.
The unemployment rate for all refugees (who wish to work and are able to work, some are too old or too sick) for FY 2009 was 50%for those arriving that year! If you argue that things have improved since 2009, then where are the statistics? By not producing the legally required reports for 2010, 2011, and 2012, the ORR forces us to rely on the latest statistics available. By the way, our total number of ‘refugees’ (of all sorts) admitted in FY 2009 was 89,500. And, we are now proposing to legalize 11 million competitors for jobs?
Shocking graphs
Look at the graph on page 95 for example. In 2004, 60% of refugees worked an average of 44 weeks. By 2009, only 32% of refugees were working for (get this!) an average of 14 weeks. What this says to me is that the resettlement contractors were finding refugees any work they could get, even if it lasted only 14 weeks or less, in order to get their employment stats up.
So, tell me why do we need more immigrant labor when these poor LEGAL immigrants aren’t working?
Next time you see your Catholic priest ask him why the Catholic Church is pushing legalization of illegal immigrants while getting paid to resettle tens of thousands of refugees who will find no work and go on welfare.
* Not “comprehensive” reform anyway because it doesn’t consider the Refugee Resettlement Program.
Editors note: I posted this yesterday at Potomac Tea Party Report but since we frequently write about “Temporary” Refugees here, I thought this might be of interest to RRW readers as well.
That quote would be from Del. Ana Sol GUTIERREZ of Montgomery County, Maryland when she was being interviewed by The Hill a week ago on why she wants her El Salvadoran countrymen, who are now here on Temporary Protected Status, included in “comprehensive immigration reform.” In fact, she wants them first in line.
She is referring to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came here illegally decades ago, but were given “temporary” refugee status (because back home there was a long-ago civil war or more likely a big storm or earthquake) and can do everything any American can do except vote. However, they do get drivers licenses and I’ll bet you a buck they vote!
So what’s this about money to foreign governments? And, beyond humanitarian concern?
Gutierrez in front of Salvadoran Money transfer business. Photo credit: Greg Dohler/The Gazette
The Hill tells us it is all about “remittances” here (emphasis mine):
Foreign governments are working hard to shape the debate on immigration reform as momentum for a comprehensive bill builds in Congress.
[….]
A number of countries with significant immigration ties to the United States — notably Mexico, Ireland and several Central American nations — have been making their concerns known while doing their best to avoid meddling in domestic affairs.
For many countries, the issue goes beyond humanitarian concern: Remittances from foreign nationals living in the U.S. provide a significant boost to the economies of their home countries.
Mexicans are here illegally but many Central Americans have TPS:
An estimated 7 million Mexicans in the country illegally stand to benefit from reform.
While Mexico has adopted a wait-and-see attitude, other countries have specific changes they hope to see in the law. However, they’re happy to do so discreetly — letting American groups take the lead.
That’s the case with El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, three countries whose citizens have long been eligible for a temporary immigration status first offered in the wake of the civil wars of the 1980s.
The countries hope that immigration reform will include a path to permanent legal status, and eventually citizenship, for the estimated 300,000 or so Central Americans who are in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which is up for renewal periodically. [LOL! for Salvadorans it was renewed just in time for the November 2012 election!—ed]
Gutierrez: We want the Salvadorans first in line
The Salvadoran embassy has requested updated data from U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services, said Maryland state Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D), a Salvadoran-American immigration activist.
The embassy reached out to other embassies to do the same in order to get a better sense of how many Central Americans currently benefit from the program. El Salvador is believed to have about 210,000 of its citizens currently in the U.S. under the program.
“We just need to be able to say, ‘These are the people we want to be first in line because they’ve already been here,’ ” Gutierrez said. “First of all, they have to pass background checks every 18 months, they have to pay taxes, they’ve been here with a legal status.
So far! (So far!) “Temporary” refugees are not included in Obama’s amnesty plan. Let the squabbling begin!
TPS reform is not included in the principles of the White House immigration reform proposal, Gutierrez said.
So readers, the next time someone puts you on an emotional guilt-trip about the poor and downtrodden seeking a “better future,” remember! as I said yesterday, this is all being driven by money for big businesses in need of cheap labor and by foreign governments propping up their economies as Gutierrez makes clear!
The Hillstory continues:
Gutierrez said money is a principal driver of the foreign governments’ interest in immigration reform.
[….]
Total remittances to El Salvador in 2010 were $3.6 billion in 2010.
For Mexico, the figure was $22.7 billion, or 2.1 percent of GDP.
That says it all, fewer jobs for Americans because we need to prop-up the third world.
That is a quote from Tamar Jacoby, President and CEO of Immigration Works USA, at a meeting we reported,here, in 2009. It was a closed-to-the-public and press conclave held at a MARRIOTT HOTEL in Washington, DC and included such luminaries as Grover Norquist. The assembled, as reported by a NumbersUSA expose‘, were talking about how to get amnesty after grassroots activists (like those who would later become the tea party) had defeated the Kennedy/McCain/Bush “comprehensive immigration reform” in 2007.
So, when you find yourself getting all sentimental about the impoverished immigrant coming to the US for a better life, have some sympathy for the immigrant but remember that the biggest driver for amnesty is BIG Business—whether its the meatpackers I mentioned in my previous postor the major hotel chains looking for maids and dishwashers—make no mistake, there is BIG money behind the amnesty/open borders movement AND the Refugee Resettlement Program.
That 2009 secret gathering (Storming the Hill National Summit) was located at a Marriott Hotel, and….
The welcome was by Deborah Marriott Harrison, who is granddaughter of the Marriott Hotels founder and V.P. Government Relations for the chain.
Burmese refugees working for Marriott in Utah
I’m sure the grateful refugees receiving awardsfor their good service by a Marriott hotel are wonderful people. But, don’t for one second think that refugee resettlement is driven primarily by warm and fuzzy humanitarian motives—this is about making money with legal laborers who come ready to work and have almost zero chance of going home again. Refugee labor is better than other immigrant labor for that very reason.
Here is just a bit about the awards the Burmese refugees received from grateful hotel management:
Five years ago, the Marriott Summit Watch needed new housekeeping staff members. At the time, hiring a group of Burmese refugees seemed like a good business decision with help from Utah’s Department of Workforce Services and the Refugee Services Office, hiring the refugees was an easy process.
[…..]
However, hiring refugees did not come without a few hiccups. Company lore tells of mishaps like dishwashers overflowing with suds from Palmolive, or the machines being loaded with toasters. “We had to learn their culture to teach and train them,” Belnap says of the early days working with the refugees.
These days, transitions for refugees working at the Marriott are becoming a little easier. Are Min, unofficially serves as the Marriott’s representative to help new refugees. He also works with Refugee Services to help those new to the area buy groceries, find places to do laundry, and adjust to life in Utah. He also encourages other refugees to apply to the Marriott Summit Watch. “We talk about how much better this Marriott is,” he says.
The Marriott is also very happy with their Burmese employees and Belnap says the company frequently speaks with other employers in Utah about the benefits of hiring refugees. “[It’s] rewarding in every way,” he said, “these are hardworking people, working to benefit themselves and their families.” Another advantage to hiring refugees versus other foreign employees is that they are legal to work as soon as they arrive, [and they have no where else to go!—-ed] said Perkins. Are Min says a few of the other hotels in Park City also hire refugees including the Canyons, Westgate, and Montage, among others.
But, it’s not always so great for the generally docile Christian Burmese as we saw here a few years ago when a Burmese Muslim refugee murdered a little Christian Karen girl after the Muslims were placed in the same apartment complex in Salt Lake City as the Christians.
The point of what I’ve posted above is that “humanitarianism” is not driving the open borders movement, corporate giants are (along with the federal refugee contractors like Catholic Charities), and that the lives of the refugees are not always as sweet as this Marriott propaganda would have you think.
The bottomline for me is that I would have a lot more respect for the Refugee industry (and for the open borders position generally) if they admitted that their goals were largely financial (and political) and not driven by emotion and a sympathy for the poor and downtrodden immigrant. If the general public understood that point then perhaps a serious policy discussion might be possible… but I won’t be holding my breath.
Editors note: This post is cross-posted from my other blog Potomac Tea Party Report. Although Norquist is opposing Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s efforts largely related to illegal immigration, it raises questions related to refugee resettlement as well. Kansas is a prime destination target for refugee labor (mostly needed by meatpackers), so one wonders how they could be short of low-wage workers in Kansas. One would think that Kobach’s proposed bill would not in any way affect the legal immigrants other than to keep their wages up. So, I’ll bet that the big money behind Norquist’s visit to the state is coming from the meatpacking giants (more available laborers=lower wages).
And, one more thing! I have pages and pages of postshere on immigrant problems in Kansas. One of my favorites is the demand by Muslims in Garden City, KS (a meatpacking town) for their own publicly funded Muslim cemetery (see no assimilation even in death!)
Potomac Tea Party Report:
I know I am putting energy elsewhere these days [focusing more on refugees], but some things I can’t let go! This is one. I have a massive archive now on Grover Norquist and want to be sure it’s up-to-date.
It seems that Norquist was recently invited to Kansas to gin up the industry base (those looking for plentiful cheap labor) to oppose Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s efforts to get an Arizona-like law in place in Kansas. Some of you may have met Kobach in Frederick, MD in May 2011, here.
Before I tell you more about Norquist’s trip to Kansas, please see just a few of our previous posts on Norquist, friend of Islamists. See what Rep. Frank Wolf said about him on the House floor in 2011, here. See what Pamela Geller(in Maryland last week, btw) said about him here. From that 2010 post:
Pamela Geller (Atlas Shrugs) has written an incredible expose today at American Thinker about Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform, charging that he has for more than a decade helped Islamic supremacists get positions of power in Washington. She goes on to warn Tea Party activists that he is working to keep the Tea Party movement silent on issues involving national security and the war on terror.
And, who can forget that Norquist told Soros’ “Think Progress”that Shariah law was compatible with the US Constitution here in 2011.
From America’s Voice*, an open borders website, funded by George Soros, that has a new hero—Norquist! (Emphasis below is mine)
Poor Kris Kobach. It’s one thing to be maligned by people you hate and believe should self-deport, but it’s another thing to be called out by those who are supposed to be your friends.
Last week we wrote about how Kobach, the architect of state anti-immigrant laws like Arizona’s SB 1070 and Alabama’s HB 56, is determined to bring a similarly destructive law to Kansas. The Kansas Business Coalition for Immigration Reform—which includes groups like the Kansas Chamber, Kansas Livestock Association, Kansas Farm Bureau, and restaurant, construction, and agriculture groups—was alarmed at what Kobach’s legislation could mean for the economic climate in the state, and sponsored anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist to come to the state and give Kobach a dressing-down.
I can only guess that now that Norquist’s tax fighting image has been so tarnished by pledge defectors that he is moving on to other areas (immigration!) where he might wield power. I believe Norquist’s open borders goal isn’t to help the farmer milking cows and wanting cheap labor, it’s about getting his Muslim friends into the US. Kobach stands in his way.
*See America’s Voice entire profile here at Discover the Networks.
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