In a little-noticed announcement, the former vice president committed to a more ambitious refugee policy than existed under Obama.
After a laundry list of all of the evil doin’s of President Trump (with Stephen Miller’s help), Slate reporter Dahlia Lithwick goes on to say:
Undoing this damage will be a heavy lift for whoever next occupies the Oval Office, but there is some cause for optimism.
Last Sunday, on World Refugee Day, Joe Biden laid out how he would reverse Trump’s assault by committing to several essential immigration actions: Having pledged that if he is elected he will restore “America’s historic role as leader in resettlement and defending the rights of refugees everywhere,” Biden had set specific targets that will increase refugee resettlement in the United States.
His plan would aim to admit 125,000 refugees to the U.S. (that’s up from a ceiling of 18,000 under Trump, and more than Obama admitted). In his announcement last week, he added a new pledge: to work with Congress to establish a minimum admissions number of at least 95,000 refugees annually.
In addition to those actions, Biden has promised to:
pursue policies that increase opportunities for faith and local communities to sponsor refugee resettlement. I will make more channels, such as higher education visas, available to those seeking safety. I will repeal the Muslim ban—and other discriminatory bans based on ethnicity and nationality—and restore asylum laws, including ending the horrific practice of separating families at our border. I will work with our allies and partners to stand against China’s assault on Hong Kong’s freedoms and mass detention and repression of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities and support a pathway for those persecuted to find safe haven in the United States and other nations.
This is how we always get beat by the Left. They are proactively working to change the Refugee Act of 1980 to make it harder for any president in the future to reduce the number of refugees to be admitted.
Where is our side in Congress? There is no one that I know of working to pull the debate in the direction of greater restrictions and protections for towns and cities who might be inundated with more impoverished people.
Slate continues….
The proposal mirrors the plan set forth in the Refugee Protection Act of 2019, now pending a vote in the House of Representatives. It signals that Biden isn’t just running against Trump’s anti-Muslim, anti-refugee, anti-immigrant dog whistles, but is also committing energy and, more importantly, resources to fulfilling the United States’ reputation as a nation that welcomes those in need of shelter, and also to making the U.S. government a central player in solving a global refugee crisis that has only grown more exigent as a result of COVID-19. It signals that Biden understands that solving the refugee crisis is both a hefty administrative lift and a moral and democratic imperative.
Obama’s immigration legacy nothing to celebrate, suggests Joe!
Also notable is that Biden isn’t seeking to simply return to Obama-era policies, but is going further, faster, in a tacit statement that Barack Obama’s immigration legacy was not, in fact, anything to celebrate.
Should Biden win the White House in 2020, he will face an administrative state that has been hollowed out from within. The government agencies tasked with refugee resettlement will need to be rebuilt to do the work of meeting the 125,000 refugee admission target, and as we learned in the Obama era, even with a Democrat in the White House, refugees have been a constituency with little power or pull.
But the commitment to work with Congress to create a new floor on refugee admissions is the truly radical aspect of Biden’s new pledge. It would mean that whoever takes office in future could not do what Trump and Stephen Miller did and set a future ceiling at 18,000 or even lower, because there would be legislation in place to preclude it.
If nothing else, these past four years have revealed what kind of statutory protections refugees will require to prevent another Trump-like presidency from closing America’s doors again.
So for all of you asking me ‘what do we do?’ You need to work to re-elect Donald Trumpas I said in November of 2019. If Biden wins there will be nothing more for me to do. I don’t plan to chronicle into my dotage the cultural and economic death of our country.
In a puff-piece story from Idaho about how the state celebrated World Refugee Day, a refugee from the DR Congo trumpets his support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Every corner we look, they are there,” Wangoi said, referring to “people with racism and hatred in their hearts.”
You know this is insane! Are we importing more angry Africans?
According to the Refugee Processing Center, the US State Department and its contractors have ‘welcomed’ 61,000 refugees (as of yesterday!) from the DR Congo since President Obama said we were admitting 50,000 over 5 years.
The UN has sent 61,000 as of yesterday and that is only the Africans from the DR Congo.
Screenshot of RPC data: 61,000 potentially angry Congolese admitted to the US in last seven years!
The DR Congolese are still coming in in large numbers during the Trump Administration. The only states that did not receive DR Congolese are West Virginia and Wyoming.
Here is the story from Idaho that has me steamed this morning!
Idaho refugees celebrate virtual World Refugee Day
This year, the World Refugee Day celebration was held virtually on Saturday, in an effort to protect the Treasure Valley community from the spread of COVID-19. The change was to protect the community and also the refugees who work in health care, on the front lines battling the pandemic’s spread in the valley.
The refugee speakers and performers were asked to submit videos of themselves to celebration organizers, who then compiled them into one presentation.
[….]
Georgette Siqueiros, community engagement coordinator for IRC Boise, said the World Refugee Day committee had been planning for how to organize the virtual celebration for several weeks ahead of the event.
Georgette Siqueiros works for “moneybags Miliband” of the International Rescue Committee
The video featured seven community speakers and several performances from refugee performance groups.
Siqueiros said the goal of the event was to celebrate the refugee community and the refugees who are in the health care industry and to acknowledge the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Patrick Wangoi, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, spoke in the virtual celebration about the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement and his experience with racism in Boise.
Did Wangoi report the incident to the police—white guys, confederate flag, pick up truck. Hmmmm?
“Every corner we look, they are there,” Wangoi said, referring to “people with racism and hatred in their hearts.”
“Their message is, ‘You are not wanted,’” he said. “They wish every black person would disappear.”
Wangoi recalled an incident when he was followed by a group of white teenagers carrying confederate flags in their pickup truck.
He said the group stood outside his house for more than an hour.
“I wonder, if those young boys had a gun, where would I be today?” Wangoi said.
Wangoi ended his video with a call to action for people to be anti-racist.
If you are interested, look around on the internet and you will see that Wangoi is a refugee star in Boise and has done very well for a supposedly discriminated-against black man.
The Chinese Virus crisis has caused legitimate concern to European frontline countries which have been the target of migrant boats launching from Libya.
In recent weeks, Malta and Italy have been forcing ‘rescue’ boats backtoward the Libyan coast infuriating ‘aid’ agencies and the UN which claim that, “departures from Libya during the first quarter of the year rose four-fold over the same period in 2019.”
It’s been awhile since I reported on the Mediterranean route to Europe from the north African coast, primarily from Libya.
Hillary and her gal pals are directly responsible for the hell hole that is Libya today.
Just a reminder that the chaos that is Libya today is a direct result of the Obama Administration’s policy then crafted by Hillary Clinton (with Rice and Power) that brought down the government of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, not exactly a decent guy, but his absence opened up the sea route, a fast lane, for the invasion of Europe.
UN urges EU member states to disembark rescued migrants
Two UN agencies on Thursday called on Malta and other European countries to speed up efforts to bring to dry land some 160 rescued refugees and migrants from Libya, who remain at sea aboard two private vessels after two weeks, Anadolu Agency reports.
Earlier this month, Italy impounded the German rescue ship, Alan Kurdi, after its latest batch of migrants was quarantined offshore for two weeks due to the virus crisis in Italy. https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/05/1063592
Middle East Monitor continues:
The UN Refugee Agency and International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that direct or indirect state involvement through the commercial Captain Morgan vessels in the return of the rescued migrants and refugees to Libya might violate international law.
“UNHCR and IOM unequivocally reiterate that no one rescued at sea should be returned to Libya,” said the statement.
“The misery and risk to life posed by intensifying conflict, arbitrary detention, and widespread human rights violations, amongst other factors, meaning it cannot be considered a place of safety.”
Necessary health measures undermine reception capacities in some Mediterranean States due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, prompting the UN agencies to offer support for the effective and speedy processing of new arrivals.
[….]
The UNHCR and IOM noted that the Mediterranean countries had been at the forefront of receiving sea arrivals in recent years and that their efforts, along with non-governmental organizations’ search and rescue vessels, had prevented many tragic deaths.
“However, the UNHCR and IOM are also deeply concerned about reports that States have been ignoring or delaying responses to distress calls, especially amid a sharp decrease in state-led and NGO search and rescue capacity,” said the statement.
As I have reported often over the years, then Senator Joe Biden was one of the chief sponsors*** of Senator Ted Kennedy’s Refugee Act of 1980 that among other things created a tax-payer funded gravy train for federal refugee contractors masquerading as charities.
Hypocrisy alert!
Delaware Governor John Carney (left) with good ol’ Joe Biden and Senator Chris Coons—hypocrites all!
However, old Uncle Joe has never put his money where his mouth is and Delaware has received only a tiny fraction of the impoverished refugees in need of support from local taxpayers over the last nearly 4 decades.
All that could change now as Delaware governor John Carney is begging the feds for (more!) refugees and the states largest and most populous county, New Castle County, said YES weeks before the governor did.
Hereis what Carney told the US State Department in a letter dated December 10, 2019:
Our country has historically been a refuge of safe harbor for those fleeing war~torn countries, violence, and political persecution. We should continue to stand as a beacon of hope and freedom for people around the world. In that spirit, as Delawareans, we are proud to do our part, and continue to accept the resettlement of refugees.
According to the US State Department data base at the Refugee Processing Center, Delaware has only ‘welcomed’ 171 refugees since the beginning of fiscal year 2003. (Data before 2003 is not easy to access.)
Well it is a small state you say!
It is twice the size of Rhode Island which took in 3,122 poor third worlders in the same time period.
Now it’s time for Delaware to put up or shut up!
Presidential candidate Joe Biden says he will up the number of refugees to be admitted to the US to 125,000in his first year in office—that is a number way above anything the Obama Administration admitted. He announced his immigration goals herein December:
Biden wants to stop the Trump administration’s separation of migrant children from parents, end extended detention and reverse restrictions on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, according to his campaign. At the same time, Biden wants to create a pathway to citizenship for about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., expand access to work visas in areas of economic need and boost the annual U.S. refugee admissions cap to 125,000 from the current 18,000, among other provisions in the plan.
*** These were the Senate co-sponsors in 1979 that deserve the blame for creating this dysfunctional UN-driven refugee program.
Sen. Javits, Jacob K. [R-NY]
Sen. McGovern, George [D-SD]
Sen. Randolph, Jennings [D-WV]
Sen. Pell, Claiborne [D-RI]
Sen. Ribicoff, Abraham A. [D-CT]
Sen. Moynihan, Daniel Patrick [D-NY]
Sen. Williams, Harrison A., Jr. [D-NJ]
Sen. Riegle, Donald W., Jr. [D-MI]
Sen. Sarbanes, Paul S. [D-MD]
Sen. Hatfield, Mark O. [R-OR]
Sen. Tsongas, Paul E. [D-MA]
Sen. Biden, Joseph R., Jr. [D-DE]
In a story about Indiana’s Pete Buttigieg, Vox News reports that he has released his immigration plan which includes a huge jump in refugee numbers that consequently will make the nine refugee resettlement contractors*** wealthier than they have been in their entire history.
Buttigieg’s refugee welcome numbers will put the old man’s (Obama’s) to shame!
Contrary to popular opinion, Obama admitted no where near the numbers the Dems are proposing.
He averaged just under 70,000 for his entire 8 years in office. See here.
A couple of those years were in the 50,000s!
These numbers being proposed by leading Democrat candidates will put Obama to shame.
And, as I have said repeatedly Open Borders Inc. will claim they need to be this high or higher to ‘MAKE UP FOR WHAT THEY WILL DUB THE LOST TRUMP YEARS.’
It isimperative that President Trump is re-elected and then in his second term he must work to dump the entire UN/US Refugee Admissions Program as originally crafted by Senators Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and President Jimmy Carter.
Pete Buttigieg’s immigration plan rebukes Trump and calls for an overhaul of the system
Buttigieg’s plan aims to reverse various Trump policies: his travel ban on individuals from seven countries deemed to be security threats, the practice of family separations, and his cap on annual refugee admissions (to a historic low of 18,000), as well as the practice of keeping migrants trapped in Mexican border towns while they wait for decisions on their asylum applications.
Warren wants 175,000 needy third worlders (future Democrat voters!) admitted to the US as refugees by the end of her first term in office.
He proposes to raise the cap on annual refugee admissions to 125,000 during his first year in office, and says he supports legislation that would set an annual floor of 95,000 admissions.That’s on par with what Biden and Warren have proposed (though Warren has pledged to raise the cap to 175,000 by the end of her first term.) Sanders, by contrast, has vowed to increase the cap, but hasn’t specified a number.
By the way, the reason they are pushing the idea of legislatively setting an annual floor is to make the contractors happy because it will assure them job security from year to year (their income depends on numbers) in the event the country elects another President like Donald Trump.
And just so you don’t forget: ol’ Uncle Joe worked with Teddy to craft this original flawed program back in 1979. Jimmy Carter signed the Refugee Act into law in 1980. And, to show what a hypocrite Biden is, his home state of Delaware takes only a handful of refugees annually. Some years it has taken a big fat zero!
I laughed when I saw that ‘Creeping Sharia’ recently tweeted out this video I did a few years back and made a slight change!
The secretive and corrupt Refugee Admissions program that continues to fundamentally change America by resettling so-called "refugees" in small towns and cities was the brainchild of former senators Ted Kennedy and @JoeBidenhttps://t.co/mPU5zwDT4G
***For new readers these (below) are the nine federally-funded refugee contractors that monopolize all refugee placement in America. For decades they have decidedin secrecy where to place refugees and they don’t want to lose that power because even as they pontificate about their religious convictions and humanitarian zeal, they are Leftwing political activist groups working to change America by changing the people and using your money to do it!
And, they do not limit their advocacy toward only legal immigration programs, but are heavily involved in supporting the lawlessness at our borders.
The question isn’t as much about refugees per se, but about who is running federal immigration policy now and into the future?
I continue to argue that these nine contractors are the heart of America’s Open Borders movement and thus there can never be long-lasting reform of US immigration policy when these nine un-elected phony non-profits are paid by the taxpayersto work as community organizers pushing an open borders agenda.
Undoing this damage will be a heavy lift for whoever next occupies the Oval Office, but there is some cause for optimism.
According to the Refugee Processing Center, the US State Department and its contractors have ‘welcomed’ 61,000 refugees (as of yesterday!) from the DR Congo since
