Category: Obama

Where are legally required hearings in House and Senate on Obama refugee plan for FY2017?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

President Barack Hussein Obama will send his final ‘determination’ letter to Capitol Hill this month with the number of refugees (200,000?) he wants admitted to the country in Fiscal Year 2017 which begins in 23 days!  I’m guessing the letter and the required report won’t be delivered until his big show at the UN on September 20th.

goodlatte-and-gowdy
In the House, hammer Rep. Bob Goodlatte and Rep. Trey Gowdy. Goodlatte is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Gowdy is chairman of the immigration subcommittee. In the Senate it is Chairman Chuck Grassley and Subcommittee chairman Jeff Sessions who are responsible for holding a hearing on Obama’s 2017 proposal.

That gives little time for Congress to do the job legally required of it under the Refugee Act of 1980 and that is to hold hearings in both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. However since both committees know what is required of them, they could have the hearings on their respective committee calendars for the week immediately following the 20th. I am not seeing anything on either of their calendars.

I won’t stop beating this drum!  The number of refugees admitted to the US this coming year will depend on the REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS (not on Obama!). 

They can cut the funding for the program and thus cut the number of refugees placed in your towns! If they want to!

Last year was the first year in many, many years where the House Judiciary Committee and Senate Judiciary Committees held any legally required hearing on the President’s plan and that is only because so many of you were clamoring for hearings in light of the huge Syrian numbers being proposed (you know the number will be even bigger this year, Hillary wants 65,000!).
But, both hearings came after the fiscal year had begun. See here and here (too little too late).
Because they want to get home and campaign this fall, they will have adjourned and there will be no hearings in October, therefore we must demand a hearing in both committees this month!
This is what I said last year on September 13th, click here.
Here is what the law says.  I doubt most of this ever happens!

STATUTE-94-Pg102

“SEC. 207. (a)(1) Except as provided in subsection Q)), the number of
refugees who may be admitted under this section in fiscal year 1980,
1981, or 1982, may not exceed fifty thousand unless the President
determines, before the beginning of the fiscal year and after appropriate
consultation (as defined in subsection (e)), that admission of a
specific number of refugees in excess of such number is justified by
humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.

“(2) Except as provided in subsection (b), the number of refugees
who may be admitted under this section in any fiscal year after fiscal
year 1982 shall be such number as the President determines, before
the beginning of the fiscal year and after appropriate consultation, is
justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national
interest.

“(3) Admissions under this subsection shall be allocated among
refugees of special humanitarian concern to the United States in
accordance with a determination made by the President after appropriate
consultation.

[….]

“(d)(1) Before the start of each fiscal year the President shall report
to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives
and of the Senate regarding the foreseeable number of refugees who
will be in need of resettlement during the fiscal year and the
anticipated allocation of refugee admissions during the fiscal year.

The President shall provide for periodic discussions between designated
representatives of the President and members of such committees
regarding changes in the worldwide refugee situation, the
progress of refugee admissions, and the possible need for adjustments
in the allocation of admissions among refugees.

“(2) As soon as possible after representatives of the President
initiate appropriate consultation with respect to the number of
refugee admissions under subsection (a) or with respect to the
admission of refugees in response to an emergency refugee situation
under subsection (b), the (Committees on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives and of the Senate shall cause to have printed in the
Congressional Record the substance of such consultation.

“(3)(A) After the President initiates appropriate consultation prior
to making a determination under subsection (a), a hearing to review
the proposed determination shall be held unless public disclosure of
the details of the proposal would jeopardize the lives or safety of individuals.

[….]

“(e) For purposes of this section, the term ‘appropriate consultation*
means, with respect to the admission of refugees and allocation
of refugee admissions, discussions in person by designated
Cabinet-level representatives of the President with members of the
Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and of the House of
Representatives to review the refugee situation or emergency refugee
situation, to project the extent of possible participation of the United
States therein, to discuss the reasons for believing that the proposed
admission of refugees is justified by humanitarian concerns or grave
humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest, and
to provide such members with the following information:

“(1) A description of the nature of the refugee situation.

“(2) A description of the number and allocation of the refugees
to be admitted and an analysis of conditions within the countries
from which they came.

“(3) A description of the proposed plans for their movement
and resettlement and the estimated cost of their movement and
resettlement.

“(4) An analysis of the anticipated social, economic, and
demographic impact of their admission to the United States.

“(5) A description of the extent to which other countries will
admit and assist in the resettlement of such refugees.

“(6) An analysis of the impact of the participation of the United
States in the resettlement of such refugees on the foreign policy
interests of the United States.

“(7) Such additional information as may be appropriate or
requested by such members.

To the extent possible, information described in this subsection shall
be provided at least two weeks in advance of discussions in person by
designated representatives of the President with such members.

For all of my recent posts on the role Congress SHOULD be playing involving refugees, see my tag ‘Where is Congress.’

Endnote! When you write or otherwise communicate with your Washington ‘lawmakers’ tell them you expect to see hearings required by law on the President’s ‘determination’ for FY2017 this month!

Target House Freedom Caucus before September 15th, tell them to halt all funding for expanded refugee program

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update September 8th: The Freedom Caucus seems to be discussing how to throw us a bone by way of an amendment to the Continuing Resolution. Congress could still cut the funding without a complicated amendment. (Will have more later.) In the meantime, a reader suggests calling Members’ district offices, tell them to cut all funding for refugees and if they don’t respond, put together a demonstration in front of the district office, take photos and get them a little unwanted publicity.
What is happening September 15th? That is the day the federal resettlement contractors (that masquerade as non-profits) say they are dropping off those postcards at the US Capitol demanding more refugees (200,000!) be admitted to the US beginning on October first (the first day of the new fiscal year).  More refugees require billions more of your (taxpayer) dollars to fly them here and place them in your towns.
This is all part of the Obama Administration’s lead-up to the big pow-wow at the UN and their final push to change America by changing its people.

andy-harris
Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland is the only Member of Congress who is on the Appropriations Committee and is a member of the Freedom Caucus. If you live in Maryland let him know how you feel about funding for more refugees, especially Syrians to be resettled in Maryland

No funding=no refugees!

The contractors*** have almost no money of their own, so they need yours!
Will the Republicans you sent to Congress curtail the funding or open the US Treasury spigot? That is the question as we head to the November election!

To help you target those in a position to make that decision, see first the House and Senate Appropriations Committee lists I posted here the other day.
Then here (below) are the Members of the House that you MIGHT be able to persuade.  This is the House so-called Freedom Caucus (House Tea Party Caucus is now defunct).  I have serious doubts about some of these members since the pro-open borders (cheap labor!) Koch brothers play a role in supporting the caucus.
So, just for curiosity sake, if your member is on this list, I suggest checking with NumbersUSA Congressional score card and see how they score with their votes on immigration issues generally. But, no matter what they scored, tell them what you think about importing poverty to your towns at your expense.
Here are the members of the Freedom Caucus:

Jim Jordan of Ohio, Chair
Justin Amash of Michigan
Brian Babin of Texas
Rod Blum of Iowa
Dave Brat of Virginia
Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma
Mo Brooks of Alabama
Ken Buck of Colorado
Curt Clawson of Florida
Warren Davidson of Ohio
Ron DeSantis of Florida
Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee
Jeff Duncan of South Carolina
John Fleming of Louisiana
Trent Franks of Arizona
Scott Garrett of New Jersey
Louie Gohmert of Texas
Paul Gosar of Arizona
Morgan Griffith of Virginia
Andy Harris of Maryland
Jody Hice of Georgia
Walter Jones of North Carolina
Steve King of Iowa
Raúl Labrador of Idaho
Barry Loudermilk of Georgia
Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming
Mark Meadows of North Carolina
Alex Mooney of West Virginia
Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina
Gary Palmer of Alabama
Steve Pearce of New Mexico
Scott Perry of Pennsylvania
Ted Poe of Texas
Bill Posey of Florida
Keith Rothfus of Pennsylvania
Matt Salmon of Arizona
Mark Sanford of South Carolina
David Schweikert of Arizona
Marlin Stutzman of Indiana
Randy Weber of Texas
Ted Yoho of Florida

One name inexplicably missing from the list is Rep. Tim Huelskamp from Kansas who lost his primary and many blame the loss on  Speaker Paul Ryan (see here).
Is your Member of Congress listed above? Or, a member of the House or Senate Appropriations Committee?
If so, by the 15th of September tell him or her, in no uncertain terms, how you feel about billions of tax dollars being spent to import poverty and security risks into the US.
If you don’t have a member on any of these lists, you are not off the hook, tell your Republican Washington reps (tell Dems too) you want to cut the funding for the program for FY2017 (and copy whatever you send to Speaker Paul Ryan). Tell them you know they have the power of the purse, not Obama!
~You should write a letter to your DC lawmakers and be sure to ask questions so that they must answer something! (Do it the old fashioned way, write a real letter and ask for a response within 10 days).
~You could picket outside their local office back home.
~You could travel to Washington and insist on a meeting in their office on the subject of refugees. (I might be able to go with some of you.)
~Try to get on local and national talk radio shows and tell the audience that the number of refugees admitted to America in 2017 depends on Republicans in Congress (not on what Obama wishes).
~You could get a petition together that includes local citizens demanding a halt to the funding until we are all given assurances on the security issue.
~You should write letters to your local newspaper and encourage your friends to do the same. Use the opportunity to tell a refugee horror/crime story. The Leftwing propagandists love “stories,” but you have some too!
~You could find out who is contributing to your Washington reps’ political campaigns and expose any corporations that are on the hunt for cheap immigrant labor.
~You could get your local Republican Club, Tea Party (or other civic groups) to write the member a letter urging that they get involved in cutting the funds for the program.
~You must tell all your facebook friends to tell their Washington reps to cut the budget for refugee resettlement for fiscal year 2017.
~If any elected officials at the local or state level oppose the program, get them to write or call your Washington lawmakers.
~If you have a local resettlement office involved with a ‘faith’ group, expose them in letters to the editor for taking federal money for phony charitable work.
~You could hold a community forum on the topic of refugees sometime this month (probably not enough time before the 15th, but certainly for the end of the month) and invite your member of Congress.
~You could start a blog and call it Senator ____ Watch and report everything that Senator does on the immigration issue going forward.
Do something please!  And, send my latest video to everyone you know!
***These are the nine major resettlement contractors that monopolize all refugee resettlement in America, under them are 350 or so subcontractors. They will be out in force on Capitol Hill on the 15th pretending to be driven by humanitarian zeal, but in fact will be there to beat the drum for more money:

 

We need to get rid of slippery REPUBLICAN Senators like Bob Corker (R-TN)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Don’t let letters like this one from Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee (thank God Trump did not choose him as VP) deter you. I’ve been asking all of you to write/call or whatever even if you know your US Senator or Congressmen are losers.
Thanks to a reader for sending this with this comment:

So much for contacting my senators and congressman, there are significant reforms don’t you know which makes everything all right.

Corker has done zip! He is one of the biggest problems we have in the US Senate and here he thinks he can blow you off with throwing the blame onto the Obama administration.  Corker and his fellow Republicans in the Senate hold the purse strings. They could cut off Obama’s funding if they wanted to—they don’t want to!

corker-and-obama
Surely Senator Corker is pressing Obama here on the golf course to slow the flow of mostly Muslim refugees to America!

With this letter, he insults his constituents by assuming you know nothing about refugee resettlement.  The Visa Waiver program has nothing to do with refugee admissions!  And, then he falls back to blame those dastardly Senate Democrats (who are in the minority!) for not getting anything done.
Corker is going to “press the administration!”  How about pressing your own leadership namely Mitch McConnell!
Letter from Senator Corker:

Thank you for taking the time to contact my office with your concerns regarding homeland security and the resettlement of refugees in the United States. Your input is important to me, and I appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts.

Like you, I believe there can be no shortcuts when it comes to guaranteeing the safety of the American people, and that protecting American citizens is the most significant responsibility of the United States Senate. In light of recent attacks in the United States and Europe, Congress can and should examine all potential gaps that might allow individuals who pose a security threat to enter our country, including in our refugee and visa programs and at our nation’s border, and resolve these issues in a constructive way to make sure our citizens are protected.

For this reason, I was pleased the Fiscal Year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations law included significant reforms to strengthen the visa waiver program, including prohibiting individuals who have traveled to Iraq, Syria, or countries that are state sponsors of terrorism, or are nationals of those countries, from using the visa waiver program to travel to the United States.

As you may know, I also voted to advance H.R. 4038, the American SAFE Act, which would put new requirements on the refugee vetting process for refugees who are nationals or residents of Iraq or Syria, or have been present in those countries at any point since March 2011, the beginning of the Syrian Civil War. Specifically, the FBI Director would have to certify the refugee vetting process, and refugees from these countries, could only be admitted into the United States after the Secretary of Homeland Security, the FBI Director, and the Director of National Intelligence certify that each refugee does not represent a threat to national security. While there was majority support for proceeding to debate this legislation, unfortunately Senate Democrats blocked it from coming to the floor.

Please know, I understand your concerns about the potential security risks from immigrant visa programs, including the resettlement of refugees in the United States. I will continue to use my position in the United States Senate and on the Foreign Relations Committee to press the administration to demonstrate leadership on this issue and protect Americans from all those who seek to do us harm.

Thank you again for your letter. I hope you continue to share your thoughts with me.

Sincerely,

Bob Corker
United States Senator

Are you getting slippery letters like this one, send them my way and I will publish some (can’t promise to publish all if you send me dozens and dozens!).
And to our reader and all of you getting letters like this.  Write back and tell them their answer is unsatisfactory and you want to know what he/she is going to do right now on this year’s omnibus—tell them you want the funds cut completely for the Refugee Admissions Program because there has never been a satisfactory answer to the security screening issue.  Tell them in fact security screening time has been reduced for Syrians and ask slippery Senators like Corker what he is doing about it!

Will they meet Obama's goal of 85,000 refugees for FY 2016?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Fiscal year 2016 ends in about 23 days.

biden1
Can’t make it up! Good ol’ Uncle Joe (then Senator Joe Biden) helped design the Refugee Act of 1980 along with Ted Kennedy and surprise! NO refugees went to his home state of Delaware this year and only a tiny handful in the previous 36 years!

At this time last year Obama said we would distribute to hundreds (thousands?) of towns 85,000 refugees from all over the world.  (These will be permanent residents for any of you still harboring the notion that refugees come here temporarily.)
I just checked to see where Obama is with his goal (yes, he reached the 10,000 Syrians goal by shortening the security screening time from nearly 2 years down to 3 months), but will they reach 85,000 total refugees in the next few weeks?
Already we are hearing stories from everywhere that the nine federal contractors aren’t finding enough housing for all of them (where will they put another 11,000?).
The Refugee Processing data base tells us that as of September 1, they had brought in 73,289 which leaves 11,711 to be placed within a few weeks.
Here (below) is where the 73,289 were seeded in FY2016 (last 11 months) so far.
LOL! Check it out, Joe Biden began the refugee program with Ted Kennedy in 1980 and Delaware gets zip!
 
screenshot-15
 

The federal resettlement contractors plan September 15th postcard dump on Hill

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The nine major federal resettlement contractors*** which are largely funded by you, the taxpayer, understand the process for getting money (for them) out of your wallets! The millions of dollars they depend on to run offices, pay rent, pay salaries and travel comes from Congress not from passing the plate at worship services or holding fundraising events.

Screenshot (1)
I first told you about the postcard campaign here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/08/16/washington-dc-august-28th-rally-for-refugees-planned/

The process works like this: The President sends a “determination” to Congress in late September with how many refugees he wants to be placed in your towns in the coming years. (BTW in earlier years of the program, which is 36 this year, the President sent the determination letter during the summer to give Congress a little more time).  But, heck in recent years they sent it almost on October 1st because Congress didn’t care what the President sent, they rubber-stamped the plan and gave him the money without a required hearing.

Obama’s last determination….

Obama will be sending his determination probably after he does his dog and pony show at the United Nations on September 20th and we expect (and will be demanding!) that the House and Senate Judiciary Committees hold hearings on his proposal before October 1 (as required by law). More on that later.
During this month, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will be deliberating about next year’s budget (next year starts on Oct. 1, 2016). What matters will be how much of your money they appropriate for the Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services for the resettlement of Obama’s last refugee wishlist (which will probably come in around 200,000).

The contractors get it! 

They understand that their futures depend on this—on how much the Republican Congress gives them!

If they get gobs and gobs of (your) money they will continue to open new offices at newly targeted sites for the expanded number of refugees Obama will propose.  If Congress slashes their funds they have to let staff go, and possibly even close offices.

So, they plan a rally and a dump of their postcards on September 15th on Capitol Hill!

Notice they are not focusing on governors, state legislatures, or local elected officials, or on the White House, their lobbying effort is directed at one place right now—Congress.  You should be too!  (I don’t want to hear how useless they are, the buck stops with them!)

That is not to say you shouldn’t continue pressing all other elected officials at all levels of government since they might in turn put pressure on your US Reps, but now is the time—September!—to do whatever it takes to get your US Senators and Congressmen focused on this one issue!
This is from the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants website (I wrote about them yesterday):

Sign the Postcard: Urge the U.S. to Lead by Example on Refugee Protection & Resettlement
Fill out this form to electronically sign the postcard that is also available for downloading and printing at www.refugeesarewelcome.org/get-involved/. After you sign, encourage your friends, family, coworkers, and social media networks to do the same. You can also print out a few copies to gather signatures at your upcoming events! All signatures must be collected by COB Monday, September 12, 2016. We will deliver all of the postcards together at a press conference in front of the Capitol Building on Thursday, September 15th.

 
I’ve been writing about this for about 2 weeks, see my tag ‘Where is Congress’ for more background on the Appropriations process and the players, more today and every day going forward.
***These are the nine major resettlement contractors that monopolize all refugee resettlement in America, under them are 350 or so subcontractors: