Invasion of Europe news….
The EU is between a rock and a hard place! Remember Turkey is not our friend (Obama’s, but not ours)!
Unrelated (sort of) to this story, I wanted you to see this data from the US State Department’s Refugee Processing Center because I want you to know that the three top countries through which we process refugees to the US are Kenya, TURKEY and Jordan. All three are processing in mostly Muslim refugees. Data for the month of October only. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B84u_jF_w2FMSTd4cUNwTXhpaUE/view
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the European Union that his country may wave through up to three million migrants to Europe as Ankara reacted furiously to Thursday’s vote in the European Parliament calling on Turkey’s accession negotiations to be frozen.
Mr Erdogan said that Turkey could row back on the migrant pact signed with the EU in March, which has dramatically reduced the number of refugees entering the EU through Turkey.
Three kindred spirits changing the world order, undermining Western Civilization: President Barack Obama, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
As a condition of that deal, the EU promised to accelerate Turkey’s accession talks and consider granting visa-free access to Turkish citizens to Europe.
But concerns about the Turkish government’s increasingly authoritarian stance, as it clamps down on dissenters following July’s failed coup, has sparked calls for Turkey’s accession talks to be suspended.
Speaking in Istanbul on Friday, the Turkish president accused the EU of “betraying its promises”.
“If you go any further, these border gates will be opened,” he said, describing the parliament vote as a “dry threat”.
If Turkey opens its gates, I predict Erdogan should expect the so-called ‘anti-immigration’ parties to win big! So, his threat, if carried out will not help his case.
Elections are looming in a number of EU countries next year, including France, Germany and the Netherlands, with anti-immigration parties expected to poll strongly.
As a result, incumbent governments are unlikely to want to commit to granting 78 million Turkish people visa-free access to Europe.
More here.
Our ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive is here.
On the Refugee Processing Centerwhere the US State Department keeps the data on who is coming in to the country through the RAP, we have found that important parts of the site are unavailable again and we hope it is only a Thanksgiving weekend anomaly. Notice how the new sitehas become an advocacy-oriented site. This is the sort of thing a new Secretary of State must know about and be ready to change!
Immigration activists are urging Obama to release them all before January 20th!
They are surging north by the tens of thousands since Trump won the Presidential election on November 8th. See news at Drudge yesterday,here. And it isn’t just Mexicans and Central Americans, as Pamela Geller told us heretwo days ago, that want to get in to America before Donald Trump is inaugurated. Next time you hear the Left whining about Jeff Sessions, Kris Kobach and Steve Bannon remember that President Barack Obama had Cecilia Muñoz (La Raza), and senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett by his side for nearly 8 years working day and night to change US immigration policy and seed your towns with diversity. Now the pendulum swings back! Most are NOT REFUGEES! although most will be requesting asylum (and most are being cared for on the taxpayer’s dime).
While we focus so much energy on the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program, the asylum portion of the Refugee Act of 1980is going berserk! The Open Borders activists have latched on to it in order to make up for the numbers they might lose in the normal refugee program. I mentioned it recently when I wrote about Doris Meissner.
In the normal process we write about all the time, refugees are selected abroad and flown here on your dime (they are supposed to repay the airfare, but no one, outside the government, knows how much they do repay).
With asylum seekers, they get here on their own either by crossing the border illegally or illegally overstaying a visa and then requesting asylum, which is supposed to offer protection from PERSECUTION.
In either case legitimate “refugees” must prove that they fear persecution if returned home, according the 1951 Convention on refugees….
Article 1 of the Convention, as amended by the 1967 Protocol, defines a refugee as this:
“A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it..”
What has been happening is that the definition is being expanded (really by the Open Borders lobby and their media mouthpieces) beyond the idea of persecution to include anyone who is running from anything that makes them unhappy!
Bloomberg: Let all asylum-seekers go free before January 20th:
Now, back to the article that caught my eye a few days ago at Bloomberg (where else!): Obama being urged to let all asylum-seekers go free. But, remember! most of the tens of thousands of Unaccompanied Alien Children who entered the US illegally are already free to roam America!
Immigration advocates are asking the Obama administration to release thousands of detained Central American women and children who want asylum in the U.S., citing concerns that Donald Trump will deport them after his inauguration in January.
Representatives of groups including the Women’s Refugee Commission and the American Immigration Lawyers Association met with White House officials last week to discuss a host of immigration issues, including the fate of about 4,000 Central American detainees, some as young as two years old, who have fled violence in their home countries. They’re housed in jail-like facilities in Texas and Pennsylvania, some for more than a year, as they wait for the government to process their asylum pleas.
Immigration advocates want the president to either end the practice of detaining families altogether, as they’ve been requesting for years, or direct Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to release families with a notice to appear before a judge on their own recognizance.
They are NOT refugees! But, see here below, that the media calls them that already. In order to be a refugee they must make an asylum claim and be granted asylum! In most states they are not eligible for welfare until the asylum claim has been approved.
The plight of the Central American refugees, who fled violence and gangs in their home countries, is one of several 11th-hour immigration conundrums Obama faces as he prepares for Trump to enter the White House. The Republican campaigned on promises to crack down on undocumented immigrants and to build a wall on the Mexican border, and immigration advocates fear a government that has struggled under Obama to humanely handle a crush of asylum-seekers at the southern border will turn markedly more hostile under his successor.
More hereif you care to read it!
The vast majority of so-called ‘refugees’ invading Europe now are claiming asylum and are not legitimate refugees, and shouldn’t be referred to as ‘refugees’ until their claims have been approved.
Got guts! This is a good sign from Congress (a sign perhaps that Trump’s victory is providing some backbone!). Senator Chuck Grassley
Senator Chuck Grassley and Rep. Bob Goodlatte chairmen of their respective Judiciary Committees have sent a strongly worded letter to the Obama Administration telling them to release to the public information on a secret deal to admit to the US rejected asylum seekers held in Australian offshore detention centers.
We reported the news hereand herelast week.
Remember readers, these are mostly Muslims (who attempted to break into Australia by boat) who have had their asylum claims rejected—Australia does not want them!
Here is the letter dated yesterday (hat tip: Richard at Blue Ridge Forum):
Setting precedents!
There are many important concerns in this letter, but one issue in particular caught my eye—the idea of setting a precedent which is something I’ve been hammering for years.
Deals like this are going on elsewhere in the refugee program and it is wrong. I’ll direct you to the issue of Malta and the FACT that we have been admitting aliens who arrived on the EUROPEAN island of Malta from Libya and other African hellholes (surely undocumented with only their personal stories to rely on!) by transforming them into refugees and placing them in your American towns ever since the Bush Administration. These are Europe’s illegal aliens and not our concern! (just as this new batch is Australia’s problem).
Congress and the new President can quickly plug this hole (See our 8-year-old Malta archive here), and we must stop these foolish “deals” wherever they are occurring.
Of course, deal implies we get something in exchange, but what we get is never clear!
For new readers, this was point #7in my ‘Ten Reasons there must be a MORATORIUM’ on refugee resettlement (first published in 2012!).
Our Australia category is here.
In myprevious post I said I had two stories today (so far) about reactions from within the refugee resettlement industry about the future of the program in a Trump administration. The second story comes fromNJ.com which begins with the usual heart string-tugging story that has to be the first lesson of Journalism 101 classes at our colleges and universities. However this story has a little smell to it! (Emphasis below is mine) Governor Chris Christie withdrew New Jersey from the Refugee Admissions Program, but it is meaningless if he doesn’t follow-up with a state’s rights lawsuit. Contractors admit at NJ.com that Syrians can’t be properly screened!
The woman, a Syrian refugee recently resettled in Middlesex County, had one question the morning after the election of Donald Trump:
“What does this mean for my sons?”
What kind of visa allowed the Syrian couple admission to the US, and it is certainly a red flag that their TEENAGE BOYS were not admitted!
Also, since the pair have not yet been approved for asylum, they are NOT REFUGEES (not until their asylum applications have been approved are they eligible for all the goodies refugees receive from taxpayers!). NJ.com continues:
Her concern was recounted by the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, whose New Brunswick congregation has sponsored the resettlement of several refugee families.The woman and her husband had come to the United States on visas, and are seeking asylum***, but her teenage boys were denied visas and are waiting in a third country.
“I told her it doesn’t mean anything for her boys,” Kaper-Dale said. “I do not expect Donald Trump will be nearly as aggressive with his actions as he was with his mouth.” [Rather optimistic isn’t it?—ed]
Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale perhaps should be more realistic with this Syrian couple. They are not refugees yet, and if the Obama Admin. didn’t let the BOYS in, there must be concern. By the way, references here on the cover of Kaper-Dale’s book to Chris Smith refer to the NJ Republican Congressman who has been a long time supporter of the UN/US State Dept. Refugee Admissions Program.
Admitting it again! Trump does not need Congress to cut off the flow!
Trump campaigned on a promise to stop the flow of refugees from the Middle East, vowing to hit the pause button on the current administration’s acceptance of refugees from the brutal civil war in Syria. Since the refugee resettlement program is administered by the U.S. State Department, a president does not need congressional approval to make the change.
And, just as we predicted! Obama may be trying to front-end the resettlement of his 110,000 refugee plan for FY2017. However, contractors beware because if you get out ahead of your federal funding, you may actually have to find private money later in the year (or go belly-up!).
The New Jersey-based agencies that have federal contracts to help refugees find housing and jobs all vow to continue to welcome people who have come to New Jersey from at least 18 countries. [Progress when mainstream media mentions that the ‘religious’ groups have federal contracts!—ed]
If anything, some expect the pace of resettlement may pick up as the Obama administration tries to bring over as many families as possible before Trump takes office in January, one volunteer said.
[….]
Concerned about the impact the Trump election might have on the organization’s refugee resettlement program, Bertrand made inquiries a few days after the election and said he was told refugees would continue to arrive until the change of administration takes place in Washington.
“And after that, they have no idea what will happen,” he said.
Gov. Christie’s withdrawal of the state from the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program only means a non-profit federal contractor like Church World Service in this story will call the shots for NJ (maybe it already has become a Wilson-Fish state). If he was serious he would file a lawsuit as Tennessee is doing here.
Although Gov. Chris Christie came out against the state accepting any Syrian refugees – saying he would be opposed to accepting even orphans under the age of five – states cannot ban refugees from resettlement in their borders.
Will wonders never cease! Here they actually admit what we have been saying all along about screening Syrians!
Agencies that help with refugee settlement say the people arriving today have been in the vetting pipeline for years. But they concede that the chaotic conditions that triggered a mass exodus from Syria in 2015 makes it very difficult for refugees to prove anything about their backgrounds, as employers, relatives and even records are now scattered, unavailable, or destroyed.
Continue reading here.
***As I warned in my earlier post this morning, watch out for more extensive use of the asylum process if the refugee resettlement program is curtailed.
Go here for more onNew Jersey.
They are back, or just getting back as Congress is in full swing at least for a few days starting tomorrow! See a schedule herefor the next few days. BTW, I see no mention of the legally required hearing that Rep. Trey Gowdy (Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration) is supposed to have had in advance of the fiscal year (before October 1st!) on the US Refugee Admissions Program (RAP) for FY2017. Rep Brian Babin (R-TX) said in a FAIR interview that he plans to make another run at defunding the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program in the federal budget.
First, listen to Rep. Brian Babin speaking on a FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) podcast. (Hat tip: Richard at Blue Ridge Forum)
It is almost 13 minutes long and well worth listening to, but be sure to listen starting around the 1:50 mark where the Congressman says he plans to work hard and diligently to attach his DEFUND the RAP measure on the Continuing Resolution (or final budget plan) which ever they address in the lame duck session.
Readers will remember that he sought to attach language to the CR that is operative at the moment and had 37 members of Congress, including himself, behind the effort. Letter here.
So what is happening now that Donald Trump has shocked the country with his victory and the House and Senate remain in Republican hands?
The Hillis reporting that there may be another CR that would continue funding the government at FY2016 levels into February of next year. This would give the incoming Trump team an opportunity to shape the budget for the remaining months of the year to their liking. It would also have the benefit of cutting out Obama and the likes of Harry Reid from presiding over a contentious December budget fight.
Unless the Department of State, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or the VOLAGs have money left over from last year, I am making the assumption that the FY2016 level is not adequate to get Obama’s 110,000 refugees in to the US by September 30th. They could try to do a rush job and bring them in at high levels now, but they will be gambling on whether they will have money in the second half of the year.
[An aside: I hope this is the last year of this shameful inattention to the federal budget and that Congress gets on the stick and completes the Appropriations bills BEFORE the fiscal year begins on October 1. Not finishing the bills is a sign of shoddy leadership in my opinion! See here.]
See the story in The Hillhere(note some Republicans are on Obama’s team and want the budget finished in December):
GOP groups are seizing on Donald Trump’s victory in an attempt to avert the long-dreaded spending deal with President Obama in the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress.
Members of the Republican Study Committee are renewing their calls for leadership to hold off on negotiating this year’s spending bill process until after Obama leaves office.
RSC chairman Rep Bill Flores of Texas says extending the Continuing Budget Resolution in to February will give the Trump team time to put a mark on the federal budget for the remainder of the 2017 fiscal year.
RSC Chairman Bill Flores of Texas said in an interview that his members are backing a short-term spending bill that goes through Feb. 28. That would give the next Congress and the incoming president about five weeks to approve the budget for 2017, which was initially due in September.
It’s an idea that conservatives, led by groups such as Heritage Action and FreedomWorks, had first floated this summer, long before Trump’s surprise victory on Tuesday.
Calls to kick the appropriations process into next year received a lukewarm reception on Capitol Hill earlier this year, with the prospect of a Democratic-controlled White House and Senate looming.
That calculation has now drastically changed.
[….]
Much of the outcome will depend on Trump, who must quickly decide whether GOP leaders should clear the decks or let him get involved during the precious first 100 days of his presidency.
Your job remains, no matter when they finish the budget, to demand DEFUNDING of the RAP.
Appropriations are policy!
Tell them to defund it until Congress can seriously look at either reforming it or trashing it altogether! See my thoughts on what Trump should do on January 21st.
For all of our many posts on Congress and the budget process see our tag ‘Where is Congress.’
