Lobbying arm for refugee contractors holds press conference, wants 200,000 refugees and $2 billion in additional funding

09/19/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Before you read this article, please have a look at a recent post we wrote about the Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) which was only a few months ago stumping for 65,000 Syrians. It is a lobbying consortium of supposedly non-profit groups posing as simply charitable humanitarian groups when in fact they are almost exclusively funded by federal tax dollars.

Negash and Bartlett — Eskinder Negash (right) resigned abruptly as Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in December 2014, an unexpected resignation that has still not been explained. Here with Lawrence Bartlett of the US State Dept. Bartlett will be in Twin Falls, Idaho this coming week to try to calm down the local pocket of resistance to Syrian resettlement in Magic Valley.

Their request for 200,000 refugees and an additional $2 billion in funding (the program costs us over $1 billion right now just for the resettlement of 70,000, not including the cost of welfare) is, to say the least, self serving!
The gang is all here!
From CNS News:

(CNSNews.com) – The former head of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement said on Friday that concerns about the security risk of bringing Syrian refugees into the U.S. given the terrorist presence in that country are based on “fear-mongering” and that the millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally did not undergo security screening used to vet asylum seekers.

“I can tell you that we have about 11 million undocumented people in this country I was told,” Eskinder Negash said at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. “I don’t believe they went through a security screening system.”

Huh? That is the most cockamamie logic I have ever heard. We have unscreened illegal aliens in here by the millions (drug dealers, murderers, rapists and other criminals) and somehow we are then supposed to not be worried about unscreened Syrians when the FBI has already told us they can’t screen them? We are fear-mongering?

Eric Schwartz — Schwartz: A few “bad actors” might get in, but we don’t worry about that when we are busy changing America by changing the people. LOL! He didn’t say the second part, but did dismiss concerns about “bad actors.”

By the way, Negash was a Vice President at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants prior to running the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and we see he is now back at USCRI—the contractor/government revolving door on full display! (There really should be a law!)

[….]

Negash and others who are part of the coalition of faith-based groups and refugee advocates held the press conference to announce that the Refugee Council USA is asking the president and Congress to increase the current cap for U.S. refugees admitted each year from 70,000 to 200,000 for fiscal year 2016, with 100,000 of those refugees coming from Syria.

And, here they have dragged ol’ Soros protege, Eric Schwartz off his perch as the Dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the Univ. of Minnesota. See our archive on Schwartz here, and especially this post. For new readers, Schwartz preceded Anne Richard as Asst. Secretary of State (Richard also revolved into the State Dept. from a contractor job just as Negash did!)

Eric Schwartz, who was appointed the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration by Obama and served until 2011, said at the press conference that he and other former federal officials from several administrations signed onto a letter asking the Obama administration and Congress for that increase in the refugee cap and also $2 billion from Congress to pay for the more than double the number of refugees that would be admitted and resettled in the U.S.

There is more and I am out of time! Go here to continue reading.
By the way, the RCUSA is being run by Melanie Nezer of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society these days. The refugee industry gang is all here!

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman McCaul co-sponsors Babin bill!

09/18/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update September 20th: More excellent reporting on this by Leo Hohmann at World Net Daily, click here.
This is pretty big news! Thanks to a tip from a friend, I checked the House website for bill status and see that Rep. Michael McCaul has become the 10th member to sign on to HR 3314 since we posted on the co-sponsors yesterday!

Rep. Michael McCaul called the Syrian refugee resettlement proposal a possible Jihadi pipeline to America. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2015/05/21/house-homeland-security-chairman-syrian-refugees-could-be-jihadi-pipeline-to-america/

See our post yesterday for the full story.
This is a significant addition to a bill introduced this summer by freshman Rep. Brian Babin of Texas and comes at a most critical time as Obama may dramatically increase the refugee flow of mostly Syrian Muslims to the US.
McCaul, who signed on yesterday, joins the following nine other co-sponsors.

Rep Burgess, Michael C. [TX-26] – 9/16/2015
Rep Gosar, Paul A. [AZ-4] – 9/15/2015
Rep Hice, Jody B. [GA-10] – 9/15/2015
Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [NC-3] – 9/15/2015
Rep King, Steve [IA-4] – 9/15/2015
Rep Sessions, Pete [TX-32] – 9/15/2015
Rep Weber, Randy K., Sr. [TX-14] – 9/15/2015
Rep Westmoreland, Lynn A. [GA-3] – 9/15/2015
Rep Zinke, Ryan K. [MT] – 9/15/2015

Is your member in this list?
Where are you Reps Bob Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy? (For new readers these two members, as chairman and subcommittee chairman of the House Judiciary Committee are responsible for calling for hearings on the refugee program. So far crickets!)
See also: Rep. Walter Jones says cut the funding!

Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX): “We are crazy to be inviting the problems of the Middle East into the United States"

09/17/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor: See our first post on Rep. Brian Babin’s initial shot-across-the-bow of the heretofore sacrosanct Refugee Admissions Program of the UN/US State Department. We are happy to report that 9 other brave Members of the House have joined his legislative initiative to halt the program until there has been a cost accounting done of the program.

Babin talks to Breitbart (hat tip: Richard Falkner via twitter):

The U.S. must learn the costs and national security risks of the refugee resettlement program before it admits any more refugees including Syrian refugees, Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) says.

In an interview with Breitbart News, Babin expressed his adamant opposition to President Obama’s recent call to admit at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. next year.

“This refugee crisis was caused largely by [Obama’s] inept foreign policy,” Babin said.

[….]

“We are crazy to be inviting the problems of the Middle East into the United States.

[….]

Beyond the national security implications, Babin has been sounding the alarm about the fiscal costs associated with the refugee program, which he notes has resettled about 500,000 refugees since Obama took office. Refugees in the U.S. are immediately eligible for welfare and tend to use it at high levels.

“We have to find out just exactly what this is costing us.” he said, pointing out American workers’ current difficulties and national debt.

In July Babin introduced legislation to immediately suspend the refugee resettlement program until the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducts a thorough audit of its costs on federal, state and local governments. He is currently collecting co-sponsors for that bill.

Speaking to Breitbart News, the freshman congressman highlighted the high levels of welfare use among refugees, and particularly refugees from the Middle East, noting that the available federal data does not account for the costs to local communities.

We are happy to report that right now, Mr.Babin has nine co-sponsors!

Where are you Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy?
By the way, Rep. Pete Sessions, a co-sponsor is House Rules Committee Chairman!

H.R.3314
Latest Title: Resettlement Accountability National Security Act of 2015
Sponsor: Rep Babin, Brian [TX-36] (introduced 7/29/2015) Cosponsors (9)
Latest Major Action: 9/8/2015 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security. (This is Trey Gowdy’s Subcommittee!).

COSPONSORS(9), ALPHABETICAL: (Sort: by date) (These are not hotlinks to the Members)

Thanks to everyone who has been working hard to get co-sponsors signed up!
Time to really step it up especially as it looks like the Obama Administration is going to sock us with tens of thousands of refugees from the Middle East—more than usual—starting two weeks from today as the new fiscal year begins!

Samantha Power is one of those pushing Obama to bring more Syrian refugees to your towns

09/17/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This news is a day old, so who knows maybe Obama has already decided the magic number of Syrian (mostly Muslim) refugees he will be dropping into America towns and cities in the coming year.

UN Ambassador Samantha Power was once described as one of three “humanitarian Vulcans” advising Obama. Hillary and Susan Rice rounded out the trio.

Last week we learned that Sec. of State Kerry consulted with key House and Senate committees, as the Refugee Act of 1980 requires, and it seems the number he was bandying about was 10,000 (some say Kerry said 5,000) for FY2016.
If Obama approves a different number just two weeks before the start of the fiscal year, Kerry is required to go back to the Hill for additional “consultation,” and, in any case, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees are required to hold hearings on the Presidential Determination.

The fact that the lazy (scared?) committees have not held a refugee ‘consultation’ hearing since before 9/11 is no excuse not to have one for this very critical decision!

(The last hearing held on the President’s refugee determination appears to be this one from 1999. Has there been no hearing since then because they didn’t want you to know how many Muslims were being admitted to the US through this program?—ed)
A hearing can’t stop the President, but it sure can help the American people understand what is about to happen to them!

Where are you Reps. Goodlatte and Gowdy? Prove me wrong! Tell us you are doing something and I will apologize!

Here is a bit of interesting news at Bloomberg (hat tip: Joanne). Again, it is a day old, so who knows if Obama has made a decision.
Check out Samantha Power (bff George Soros)! The nerve of this woman. You can credit her, Hillary and Susan Rice with the destabilization of North Africa and the invasion of Europe because she was a driving force behind the ousting of Col. Gaddafi (who was able to hold back the migrant hordes) and the subsequent destruction of Libya.
As Iraqi Refugee Czar in the early days of the Obama White House, Power famously said she was tired of doing ‘rinkey-dink-do-gooder’ stuff like helping Iraqi Christians! See our complete Samantha Power archive here.
Here is Josh Rogin at Bloomberg:

The Obama administration is preparing to announce a plan to admit more refugees over the next two years, but at this point the numbers being proposed are too small to relieve the crisis streaming out of Syria.

Wednesday at the White House, the most senior national security officials will discuss raising the limit on the number of refugees from around the world allowed to enter the United States — from 70,000 this year to 85,000 next year and 100,000 in fiscal 2017, three administration officials told me. If members of the National Security Council Principals Committee agree on the plan, it will be sent to President Obama’s desk, and administration sources say he is likely to quickly approve it.

The plan has the strong support of White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, whose priorities often differ on the Syria issue. McDonough is focused on the fight against ISIS. Power wants to confront Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and do more to protect the civilians being killed by both. [So what does confront mean? Does Power want the US military to bring down Assad?—ed]

The throngs of desperate migrants fleeing Syria and the images of children washing up on European shores have spurred the Obama administration into action, officials said.

Continue reading here.

Note that there is much discussion about how long it would take for the flow to get underway. Don’t believe it!

We know that the UNHCR has 17,000 (or more by now) prepped to come to America from their camps which house Muslim Syrians. As soon as October 1 is here, the floodgates will open!

NC Member of the House wants to curb Obama power on refugees, start by cutting funds

09/16/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update September 20th: NC to get Syrian refugees, here.
Of course I’m wondering if Speaker Boehner will be curbing Rep. Jones?
Interestingly, Rep. Walter Jones has been in Congress for 20 years. Does he know that North Carolina is a prime resettlement state? NC is one of 12 states that received more than 2,000 refugees so far this year (as of August 31).

stabbing-deaths — Eh Lar Doh Htoo, 18, killed three young brothers ages 1, 5, and 12 in New Bern earlier this year. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/n-teen-murders-3-boys-machete-attack-cops-article-1.2153935

Do you remember that gruesome machete murder in March when a Burmese refugee killed three small children. It happened in New Bern (in Jones’ district). Could that have caused his concern for the huge influx of refugees entering the US and North Carolina?
Come to think of it, could the murderer be a Burmese Rohingya Muslim resettled among Christian Burmese, does anyone know? We told you about it here when it first happened.
Here is the story by Neil Munro today at Breitbart (hat tip: Richard at Blue Ridge Forum):

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)-today called on Congress to formally curb President Barack Obama’s legally unlimited powers to invite foreign refugees and migrants into the United States.

“We need to determine how much this program is costing taxpayers, and we need to make sure the people we are letting in aren’t radical Islamic terrorists,” said Jones, a conservative elected from North Carolina.

“Until then, the program ought to be suspended,” Jones said.

“We are over 18 trillion dollars in debt [and] we don’t even have money to fix roads and schools for Americans who pay taxes and already live here,” Jones said.

“Instead of taking in thousands of immigrants and refugees from countries that breed radical Islamic terrorists, we should be focusing our efforts on urging stable Middle Eastern countries to allow refugees to resettle closer to their homeland,” he said.

The only practical way for the GOP to limit Obama’s authority is to include restrictions in the annual spending bills, due for completion this fall.

For example, the Congress can include limiting language in the appropriations bill that is used for the refugee program.

Reporter Munro has more, continue reading here.
Glad to see that some House Members are doing something, so far as I know, nothing from the House Judiciary Committee that has jurisdiction over the refugee program and has some say over Obama’s determination for FY2016.