I had told myself that I was going to be more diligent in checking data this year as refugees were being placed by the Trump Administration.
Eritreans make up one of the largest groups attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
The first arrivals were reported here four days ago.
So, when I checked just now I was surprised to see that Maryland, which usually comes in in the middle of the pack, had moved to the number one state for resettlement so far.
Granted we are only talking about 30 refugees out of a total of 274 that have arrived in the US since October 1, but I think it is worth mentioning.
The Trump Administration is prioritizing Africa for resettlement to the US this year. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2018/09/25/trump-administration-to-prioritize-africans-in-fy19-refugee-admissions-to-us/
Using the interactive data reports at Wrapsnet, here is what I learned.
Forty Eritreans entered the US in the last two weeks and 25 of them were placed in Maryland.
Additionally Maryland received 5 from the DR Congo.
Baltimore was the resettlement city for all of the Congolese and all but three of the Eritreans.
Of course if you know anything about Maryland you are likely wondering what the heck are they going to do for jobs in Baltimore (no meatpacking plants that I know of!).
We don’t know what religious affiliation the Eritreans who came to Maryland claim, but know that 17 out of the total 40 Eritreans who came to the US in the last 2 weeks are Muslims.
The usual reason given for why Eritreans are leaving their country is because the dictatorship there has mandatory military conscription. Because of that, you get new neighbors!
(It has been awhile, but see a post I wroteabout the diversity being added to a troubled Baltimore.)
There was a massive (by all accounts) demonstration in Berlin yesterday, just as Bavarians in the south headed to the polls for a critical election today.
First, on the election, a sampling of headlines says it all!
German Bavaria election polls: Angela Merkel IN CHAOS as Chancellor holds on by a thread
We are the World? Therein lies the problem!
But meanwhile in Berlin tens of thousands rallied for, well, everything!
A hodge podge of Leftwing interest groups took to the streets ostensibly under a banner of opposition to racism and populism. They want unity in Germany.
Underlying it all, of course, is the disastrous decision by the Merkel government to welcome hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa to the country beginning in 2014-2015.
Berlin protests against far-right politics draw thousands
Over 200,000 people have taken to the streets of Berlin to face down the rise of far-right populism in Germany and Europe. The protesters were demanding more solidarity with marginalized groups.
Berlin produced an absurdly hot and sunny fall day on Saturday to welcome an estimated 240,000 people demonstrating against racism and calling for solidarity against the rise of far-right populism across Germany.
Julia Naji joined Saturday’s protest to represent Cycling Friends, a Berlin initiative that, among other things, runs cycling classes for refugees. “Today, people will meet up and show that we should fight against racism and homophobia as loudly and with as many people as possible,” she told DW.
A 5-kilometer (3-mile) stretch of the capital city’s center, from Alexanderplatz through the Brandenburg Gate to the Victory Column, had to be closed down to accommodate the huge parade, which was united under the hashtag #unteilbar (“indivisible”).
The crowds were punctuated by 40 trucks mounted with loudspeakers, some delivering political messages, others pumping out music of all genres. They also included the traditional Berlin staple: the techno truck surrounded by semi-clothed dancers. The march was bookended by two concert events, the second of which was expected to stretch into the evening.
All kinds of organizations joined in, including trade unions, NGOs, political parties (both mainstream and fringe), gay rights groups, schools and theaters, all carrying a variety of banners, each with their own cause to promote (Ryanair workers were a conspicuous presence), but all united behind the slogan: “Solidarity not marginalization.”
[….]
Senior government figures lent their support to the demonstration, most notably Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who tweeted: “It is a great signal that so many people are going on the streets and showing a clear position: We are indivisible. We won’t let ourselves be divided — certainly not by right-wing populists.”
Here is my solution for those doing Christian ‘charitable’ work for refugees—find more VOLUNTEERS!
Do Catholics have to be paid by taxpayers to do their religious charitable work, it sure sounds like it!
Everywhere I turn there is a new story about how that mean ol’ Donald Trump is cutting the funding to ‘non-profit’ ‘humanitarian’ groups who place refugees in your towns and cities. There are so many now I don’t post most of them.
This story, however, from Columbia, Missouri had a few nuggets of information, one in particular was new to me.
Refugee and Immigration Services, operated by Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri says it is being paid $4,000 a head per refugee it places. Yikes! That is almost twice any number we have ever seen for the per head payment.
Somali family welcomed to Columbia by Catholic Charities in wake of Trump 2017 ban. https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/somali-refugees-affected-by-the-travel-ban-arrive-in-columbia/article_f7645b92-f54b-11e6-a52c-ab441118728a.html
Cuts to refugee admissions hit Columbia resettlement agency
The staff at Refugee and Immigration Services has been under increasing pressure, given the caps President Donald Trump has placed on the number of refugees allowed to enter the country. Those diminishing caps result in less federal money for agencies that serve refugees.
[….]
The budget from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018 fell from $1 million to around $625,000, Dan Lester, director of Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri, said. The local office also went from staff of 11 to seven, with only four being full-time. That means more duties for fewer people.
I just had a look at a recent Form 990 for this Catholic agency and yes they did receive a million dollars of taxpayer money and approximately $793,000 of it went to salaries, benefits, and pension plans for employees!
The agency, which is funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has traditionally received about $4,000 per refugee to provide servicesduring their first six to 12 months in the country, Lester said.
Agencies must help provide:
Payment for their first six months of rent.
Clothing, food and all daily household items.
Assistance in finding a job.
Access to English classes.
Access to social programs they may need, such as counseling or SNAP benefits. [Other welfare—ed]
Orientation into an entirely new culture.
It seems to me that most of that list could be handled by volunteers and private donations!
The Missourian continues…
While the agency still gets its $4,000 per refugee, that funding doesn’t factor in those who came to Columbia in previous years and still rely on local services, Finn said. [That is funny because we are told repeatedly that refugees are self-sufficient and on their own in under 6 months. Hmmm!—ed]
“We just don’t have the time and energy to give the refugees that we used to,” Finn said. “Everyone has a lot more families to work with.”
“Time and energy” sounds like something they could get for free from volunteers!
By the way, Catholic Charities are usually under the umbrella of their primary federal contractor—The US Conference of Catholic Bishops—for their refugee allotment each year.
I was very interested to see the list of top cities in the US that ‘welcome’ refugees when I publishedThe Tent Foundation/Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Refugee Hiring Guidethe other day.
Where is Twin Falls?
Today I had a chance to look at the list more carefully and I’ll be darned, I don’t see Twin Falls, Idaho. (If you all check for me and see if somehow I overlooked it, see page 17, 18, and 19 at the guide, here.)
You would think that since The Tent Foundationis Chobani Yogurt CEO Hamdi Ulukaya’s foundation that Twin Falls would be on the list.
Is it possible, I wondered, that Twin Falls welcomed less than 100 refugees in the ten years being analyzed by the Lutheran contractor for the hiring guide?
Important note to readers: I hear from some of you referring to refugees as illegals. They are not. The immigrants we discuss mostly on these pages come to the US through the Refugee Admissions Program signed in to law in 1980. The numbers I’ll be giving you below are primary refugees placed directly in Twin Falls. The data comes from the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center. The numbers below do not include: asylum seekers, asylees, Special Immigrant Visa holders, Diversity Lottery winners, etc. They also do not include secondary refugee migrants. Those are legal refugees placed in another location who have moved, (possibly in this case to Twin Falls) for work or to be with others of their ethnic group. Again, secondary migrants are not included below.
These are all the primary refugees placed in Twin Falls by the US State Department and its local resettlement contractor during the ten year period, 2007-2016 presented in Tent’s Hiring Guide. Data is fromWrapsnet(Refugee Processing Center).
A total of 2,723 were placed in Twin Falls, population 48,260, from 2007 to 2016. (Boise by comparison received 6,918 in the same time period placing it at #29 on the Tent list of top resettlement locations.)
The Twin Falls number of 2,723 should have placed it on Tent’s list (where to find refugees) between Richmond, VA and Lincoln, NE
Twin Falls should be here. I am wondering now how accurate the other numbers are!
When I analyzed the data at Wrapsnet, I learned that Twin Falls ‘welcomed’ refugees from 17 different nationalities during that time period with the largest numbers coming from the following countries:
Bhutan (650)
Burma (620)
Iraq (382)
Eritrea (242)
Iran (229)
DR Congo (217)
Sudan (179)
Afghanistan (85)
Smaller numbers came from 9 other countries surely making it challenging for the school system, the health system and the criminal justice system there to deal with the language barriers and requirements for translation services (just one more cost being passed on to local and state taxpayers!).
I’ll be red-faced, but please let me know if you find Twin Falls on the Tent list of top cities in which employers can find refugee workers.
There is exciting news daily coming from Europe where leaders with backbones are emerging to try to stem the tide of migrants from the Middle East and Africa flooding the continent.
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini
First in Italy, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is pushing back against France and Germany who want to send migrants back to Italy to be processed presumably because those migrants first entered Europe through Italy.
Salvini Blocks Migrant Agreement That Could See Germany Send Tens of Thousands to Italy
Italian populist Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has blocked a migrant deal with Germany and France that could see tens of thousands of migrants sent to Italy as his party’s popularity soars across the country.
The populist League leader is said to have put the migrant deal on hold as some estimate that Italy may be forced to take as many as 40,000 migrants from Germany and a further 20,000 from France under the proposed agreement, Il Giornale reports.
Salvini has said that he will only accept a deal in which Italy sends as many migrants as it takes from other countries, but German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is pushing for the current proposal.
Rumours have even circulated that Germany has started to charter flights to Rome and although the German interior ministry denied the rumours, Salvini threatened to close Italian airports to any such flights.
Austria has concerns about U.N. migration pact, might back out
VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria may follow the United States and Hungary in backing out of a United Nations agreement on migration, its government said on Wednesday, citing concern about its sovereignty and potential restrictions on its freedom to act.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was approved in July by all 193 U.N. member nations except the United States, which backed out last year.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Orban with Austrian Chancellor Kurz standing for the rights of sovereign nations and against globalism!
Hungary’s right-wing government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an immigration hard-liner, has said it will not sign the final document at a ceremony in December. Poland, which has also clashed with Brussels by resisting national quotas for asylum seekers, is considering taking the same step.
“We view some of the points in this agreement very critically. We will therefore do everything to maintain the sovereignty of our country and ensure that we as the Republic of Austria can decide for ourselves on migration issues,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told a news conference.
Kurz led his conservatives to victory in last year’s parliamentary election by pledging to prevent any repeat of the European migration crisis that began in 2015, when Austria took in more than 1 percent of its population in asylum seekers.
Kurz went into government with the anti-Islam Freedom Party and together they have agreed to restrict immigrants’ access to welfare payments as part of an agenda that is also heavy on law and order.
They are especially concerned if the final pact says anything about migration being a human right!
Come on Mr. President! Invite these European leaders: Orban, Kurz, Salvini etc. for a meeting of the minds in Washington. Watch Leftwing Dems heads explode!
Helping to save Europe would not be a bad image to project before the Midterm election!
