Category: Obama

Judiciary Chairman Grassley wants Kerry to clarify position on Syrian Muslim admissions to US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As we reported earlier, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees have a responsibility under the Refugee Act of 1980 to “consult” with the Administration on the size and scope of the refugee program for the upcoming fiscal year which begins on October  first.

SLUG: na-health DATE: September 24, 2009 NEG: CREDIT: Ricky Carioti / TWP. LOCATION: Hart Senate Office Building SUMMARY: Members of the Senate Finance Committee continue working on the health care reform legislation on Capitol Hill. CAPTION: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) listens as committee members argue amendments during the mark up session of the health care reform legislation on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon. StaffPhoto imported to Merlin on Thu Sep 24 12:59:04 2009
Senator Chuck Grassley: How many?

Obviously Senator Grassley isn’t letting the Administration get away with the vague information they have been giving out on exactly how many Syrian refugees Obama plans to admit to the US.
And, by the way, we wouldn’t have security concerns if we were saving the Christians. We have reported repeatedly that the vast majority, 95% entering the US so far are Sunni Muslims. The number jumps to 97% when you consider only those who came this year.
Here is Grassley’s press release from Friday thanks to Chris:

Grassley Seeks Details on Administration’s Refugee Announcements

WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley today pressed Secretary of State John Kerry to clarify the administration’s plans to increase the number of refugees allowed into the United States in fiscal 2016, including up to 10,000 additional refugees from the war torn country of Syria. Grassley raised questions about the administration’s plans to admit additional refugees and whether adequate safeguards and background checks are in place to handle the influx.

While the administration proposed raising the refugee ceiling from 70,000 to 75,000, Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard admitted that administration officials are considering increasing the cap later in 2016. White House Spokesman Josh Earnest also said that the administration is considering allowing 10,000 refugees from Syria in 2016, an increase from earlier estimates.

In a letter to Kerry, Grassley asked how the administration will screen Syrian refugees to ensure they were not involved with terrorist organizations, whether the influx of refugees will strain the vetting process, and how the administration plans to respond in the event that refugees are determined to be involved in terrorist organizations after they have been admitted to the United States. Further, Grassley asked Kerry to explain what the administration is doing to assess the willingness of other countries to admit Syrian refugees.

The letter follows a consultation earlier this week between Kerry and leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to discuss the proposed annual number of refugees to be admitted to the United States. The State Department must consult with these congressional committees regarding the refugee cap each year as well as any time an increase in allowable refugees is proposed.

Following the consultation, Grassley emphasized that America’s security must remain a top priority when admitting refugees, especially when violent terrorist groups like ISIS are committed to finding ways to enter the United States and harm Americans.

Full text of Grassley’s letter to Kerry follows (click here).

September 11, 2015

Senator Grassley needs to call for a hearing required by the Refugee Act and put Secretary of State Kerry and Asst. Secretary Richard on the hot seat!

And, the next question is…where might the Members of the House Judiciary Committee be hiding?

CAIR: Bring Syrians to St. Louis!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Once again confirming what we all know, the majority of Syrians in the pipeline to America are Muslims, or otherwise why would the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) be helping to stage a ‘bring them here’ rally.

cair-official-faizan-syed-575x435
You can bet he is not rallying to save the Christian Syrians!  http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/09/st-louis-cair-executive-director-in-america-greatest-threat-is-right-wing-extremism/

From KMOV.com:

(KMOV.com) — Demonstrators gathered in the Delmar Loop Sunday calling for St. Louis to bring in thousands of Syrian Refugees.

The rally and march, billed as the ‘Bring Them Here’ march, was meant to bring awareness to the millions of refugees displaced by Syria’s civil war.

An estimated 6 million have left their homes since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011, and many have no hope of ever returning.

Faizan Syed, an organizer from the Council on American–Islamic Relations, or CAIR argued St. Louis is perfectly positioned to help, pointing to the thousands of Bosnians who came to the city in the late 1990s.

History lesson for new readers: it was Bill Clinton who brought thousands of Bosnian Muslims to the US.
When the Pope comes to the US on September 22nd, make no mistake, if he admonishes us to take in Syrian refugees, it will be Syrian Sunni Muslims he is promoting and not the Syrian Christians since so far, he hasn’t said a word about saving Christians first, nor have the US Bishops!
See Hungarian Bishop stands up to Pope, here!
Go here for our many posts on St. Louis.

Dems plan to use Pope's visit to guilt-trip America into taking vast numbers of Syrian 'refugees'

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

pelosi4
Watch for it! Nancy Pelosi will be sucking up to the Pope as they both promote the resettlement of Sunni Muslims to America and Europe!

If you are a regular reader, you know about this already. The Pope arrives in America on September 22nd and there is already a growing, massive public relations campaign to use his visit to guilt-trip America into taking tens of thousands (100,000!) of Syrian, mostly Muslim, refugees into America for permanent resettlement.
This article at US News and World Report, without saying it, implies that they all know these will be mostly Muslims and not the persecuted Christians (or other non-Muslim minorities).

There really should be protests at the time of the Pope’s visit—in New York and in Washington—calling out the Pope and the US Bishops for making no distinction between the Muslims who could be resettled in the wealthy Gulf Arab states and the persecuted Christians who really have no place to go.

Do not allow yourselves to be guilt-tripped, ask the Pope and the Dems how many Christians will they save?
US News and World Report:

Catholic Democrats are invoking the pope’s moral authority as they make the case for the United States to resettle more refugees from Syria and elsewhere.

pope on Lampedusa
In 2013, Pope Francis welcomed the migrants from North Africa on the beaches of Lampedusa thus helping to invite the crisis now overwhelming the European continent. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2013/07/09/pope-lectures-on-lampedusa/

The lawmakers are leveraging the pontiff’s upcoming visit to call for the United States to do more amid a growing migration crisis that has overwhelmed the Middle East and Europe. The White House said Sept. 10 it would seek to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees next fiscal year, up from 1,293 this year, while increasing the total number of refugees beyond the current 70,000 per year.

“Many in Washington are looking forward to a visit later this month by Pope Francis, who just this week asked the faithful throughout Europe to shelter refugees fleeing ‘death from war and hunger,'” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement on Sept. 9 following congressional briefings by Secretary of State John Kerry as part of his department’s annual review of resettlement needs. “In the United States, we can do the same thing. We can respond, as we have before, with meaningful action that is worthy of a nation of immigrants with by far the largest capacity to act, as the world expects us to. I urge both the administration and leaders in Congress to do just that.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is also Catholic, made a similar appeal on Sept. 10.

Fearing another Boston Bombing, Rep. Peter King says no to 10,000!

Today’s announcement by the White House that the US will admit at least 10,000 Syrian refugees next year will put American lives at risk,” said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the chairman of the Counterterrorism and Intelligence panel. “I oppose this decision. We do not want another Boston Marathon bombing.”

Others made no secret of their animus toward Muslims. [You see, this reporter knows that most of the Syrian refugees will be Muslims or this line would not be in the story.—ed]

“If they’re Muslims, why don’t we resettle [them] in the Muslim states?” asked Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, a member of the Judiciary Committee’s immigration and border security panel. “Wouldn’t they be happier? They wouldn’t have to transform a society. They would just fit in like a hand in a glove.”

By the way, get ready for the Leftists and No borders agitators to say that Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan (all Muslim countries) are carrying an unfair burden and taking in the most ‘refugees’ so far.  Remember this!  They are not taking the Syrians in PERMANENTLY.  Most live in camps in those countries and are expected to leave at some point, presumably to go home (or sent to the US!). They will not become citizens of those countries.
The US and Europe are being hounded to take in the refugees permanently, so even if the civil war ended tomorrow those in a pipeline to America would still be permitted to come and to ultimately become US citizens.
Resettlement to the US is NOT temporary and 30 years after bringing the first Somali refugees to America they are still coming—it will never end!
Endnote:  Moveon.org is on the bandwagon too, confirming that this is a Far Left Democrat campaign to build their Leftwing base (security concerns be damned!).  More on that shortly.

The wailing has begun! Refugee contractors furious that Obama 'only' admitting 10,000 Syrians this coming year

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is how the game is played in Washington.  For months the resettlement contractors*** and the Senate Jihad Caucus have been clamoring for 65,000 Syrians to be admitted to the US in the next fiscal year which begins in 2 and 1/2 weeks (October 1). For new readers that number would nearly double the present number of refugees (70,000) from all countries who have entered the US and joined our welfare rolls each year of the Obama Administration.

erolkekic
Erol Kekic of Church World Service on the 10,000 Syrians proposal: Obama must have left off a zero

Then just a week or so ago the number they were demanding jumped to 100,000, so when Obama sent out the 10,000 Syrians trial balloon this week, it was easy to predict that the contractors, who are PAID BY THE HEAD to resettle refugees in over 190 towns and cities in the US went ballistic.
They will run in circles, scream and shout, and then watch for it! Obama will up the number (something he will surely be happy to do).
You need to counter this move! 
From the Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON — Seventy-two House Democrats joined human rights groups on Friday in calling for the U.S. to admit 100,000 Syrian refugees next fiscal year, saying the White House’s proposal to take in 10,000 of them is far from enough.

The members said the U.S. should accept 200,000 refugees total in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, echoing a number put forward by groups that help with and advocate for resettlement.   [Come on reporters could you for once say they are paid by the taxpayers for their ‘advocacy.’—ed]

[….]

The full number of refugees to be admitted next fiscal year needs to be set by the end of the month. So far, the administration has said total refugee admissions will be higher than 70,000 — the number set for this fiscal year — and that the number of Syrians to be admitted will go from the 1,500 target this year to 10,000.

Kevin Appleby USCCB
US Conference of Catholic Bishops lobbyist, Kevin Appleby, is “disappointed,” wanted 100,000!

“When we saw that we just said, ‘Uh, did he forget a zero in his announcement?’ Because the 10,000 figure certainly doesn’t even begin to seriously address the issue,” said Erol Kekic, executive director of the immigration and refugee program at Church World Service.

[….]

The groups calling for 200,000 refugee admissions next fiscal year received support Thursday from Reps. John Conyers (Mich.) and Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), the top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and its immigration subcommittee, respectively.

They can’t even find enough employment, housing and health care for the 70,000 they already bring, do they have a death wish for America?
The article goes on to quote Kevin Appleby, the lobbyist for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, as “surprised and disappointed.”

There must be hearings in the House and Senate Judiciary Committees!

I’ve been looking into Refugee law (more later) and as I read it, Congress must hold hearings in the next two weeks on the President’s “Determination Letter” which should be arriving on the Hill this week in order to fit the “consultation” deadline required in the law.

Don’t count on Congress to save us, but don’t remain silent!

Here are the Members of the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.  They will be “consulting” with the White House this month on the refugee numbers for FY2016.   If any of these are your representatives call them now—10,000 is too high when as we know they cannot be properly screened for security!  So far, 95% of the Syrians admitted to the US have been Sunni Muslims.  The percentage jumps to 97% for those who entered in 2015 alone.

This is not about saving the persecuted Christians.  Much to my shock, I have never heard any of the supposedly “religious” charities listed below specifically say they want to save Christians first!

The House subcommittee responsible for refugees is below.  Check the full committee list here as well where you will find full names, party affiliation and district.
But, remember that Congress has been virtually absent in the 35 years the Refugee Admissions Program has been in existence, so don’t count on them to save America now, but you still have to try to get them to do something!  At least they must hold hearings on the Syrians and object to Obama’s high numbers.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Chairman
Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), Vice-Chairman

Rep. Smith (Lamar)
Rep. King (Steve)
Rep. Buck
Rep. Ratcliffe
Rep. Trott
Rep. Lofgren
Rep. Guiterrez
Rep. Jackson Lee
Rep. Pierluisi

Below is the Senate Subcommittee responsible for the Refugee Program, click here for the full Committee membership.

Senator Sessions, Chairman
Senator Vitter
Senator Perdue
Senator Grassley
Senator Cornyn
Senator Lee
Senator Cruz
Senator Tillis
Senator Schumer, Ranking Member
Senator Leahy
Senator Feinstein
Senator Durbin
Senator Klobuchar
Senator Franken
Senator Blumenthal

Those in red are already members of the Senate Jihad Caucus looking to resettle 65,000 Syrians ASAP.
*** The nine contractors who are paid by you, the US taxpayer, to resettle refugees and at the same time lobby for more refugees and more money for themselves!  There should be a law against using tax dollars to lobby for more tax dollars!

Senator Lindsey Graham: we need to bring in our "fair share" of Syrian Muslims

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If you are looking for answers about how South Carolina has become a target for refugee resettlement where the Governor (Nikki Haley) and even Rep. Trey Gowdy*** are obviously reluctant to stand up and question the choice of the state as fresh territory for third world resettlement (colonization!), look no further than the senior senator of the Palmetto State.

Do Haley and Gowdy jump when Lindsey says jump?

Editor’s note: There will be hundreds of articles in the coming days about the Syrian refugee numbers to be admitted to the US (Obama said 10,000 yesterday, but I suspect that is a trial balloon).  We will post the ones that are the most informative we find.  Like this one! 

Lindsey+Graham+Patrick+Leahy+Senate+Judiciary+yYt1OjAjOPAl
Pals! Leftist Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and SC Senator Lindsey Graham. Will they team up to free emergency funds to bring Syrian Muslims to your towns and cities? Graham was one of 4 Republicans promoting amnesty as part of the infamous ‘Gang of Eight’ Senators in 2013. His position on more immigration has been very clear.

Somehow South Carolina had dodged a bullet over the years as surrounding states of North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia have been flooded with refugees.
All that is changing (see our archive on the controversy in Spartanburg) and it sure looks like the driver behind that change is none other than SC senior Senator Lindsey Graham.  See his asinine and ill-informed comment about the Statue of Liberty and how America has to take it’s “fair share” of Syrian, mostly Muslim, refugees.   What the hell!  We had nothing to do with the Syrian civil war, why should any be our “fair share.”
(Now, if Graham is talking about Syrian Christians, he better get the backbone to use the word —  Christian!)
The US has long been the leading nation permanently resettling refugees from every continent on the globe—over 100,000 Iraqi Muslims from the Middle East in the last 8 years—-isn’t that enough for the Senator?
From The Fiscal Times in an article entitled, ‘Can the U.S. Handle 100,000 Syrian Refugees?’ (emphasis below is mine):

While much of Washington is occupied with the Iran nuclear deal, another debate is looming about whether the U.S. should open its doors to more refugees from the Syrian civil war.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina raised the possibility on Tuesday that Congress might approve emergency funding to greatly increase the U.S. quota for Syrian refugees in the face of an historic migrant crisis in Europe and the Middle East.

During an appearance before the National Press Club, Graham became the first GOP presidential candidate to urge the Obama administration to accept its “fair share” of Syrian refugees, amid international criticism that the U.S. is grossly shirking its responsibility to the international community. In a fit of melodrama, Graham said that “we should take the Statue of Liberty and tear it down” if the U.S. preserves its current, highly restrictive immigration policies with regards to victims of Syrian violence.

Graham is chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, which means he has some say over the budget for the State Department and other international agencies. He said he would be in favor of “emergency spending” to cover the cost of bringing substantially more Syrian immigrants to the U.S., which would add to the federal deficit. He said he would confer with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on his subcommittee, to sound him out on a possible bipartisan proposal.

“I don’t just want to pick a number,” Graham said, according to Roll Call. “I don’t know how many we should take, I don’t know how much money we should spend, but I know we should take our fair share and we need to spend more to get ahead of this.”

The U.S. currently allows the immigration of no more than 1,500 Syrians a year [inaccurate information—ed] – a miniscule number in the face of the millions of refugees streaming out of Syria, headed for Germany and other European countries. The United States Committee for Refugee and Immigrants has urged the administration to accept 100,000 Syrians in the coming year. [Dumb reporters quoting, as some sort of authoritative voice, a non-profit resettlement contractor which is being paid by the head to resettle refugees!–ed]

*** Rep. Trey Gowdy is chairman of the House subcommittee responsible for refugees and we will be watching closely to see if he calls for hearings when Obama sends his “Determination Letter” to Congress for consultation sometime in the next week or two.  Fiscal year 2016 begins on October 1, so by law Obama must send it!  The big question is, what can Congress do about it?  The key committees in the House and Senate could at minimum hold hearings.  And, please don’t tell me that Gowdy has too much going on with Benghazi to spend a little time on this infinitely more important issue—how many Syrian Muslims will we drop off in your towns!