Australian detainees deteriorating mental health blamed on Donald Trump

10/15/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

First, of course, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees blames Australia, but our President is criticized for not taking more of Australia’s illegal aliens to America causing them to want to kill themselves.

I sure hope the President has learned his lesson. You can never be nice with these no borders pushers and their media sycophants.

Remember when he arrived in the White House and quickly agreed (pending extreme vetting) to take 1,250 of Australian asylum seekers, housed in camps on Manus and Nauru islands, in an Obama deal he dubbed a “dumb deal.”

manus-island-refugees-1-960x540 (1) — 418 of the mostly Muslim men detained by Australia are already in a US town near you.

Here we are, just short of two years and we have placed in your American town 418 of the mostly Muslim migrants who tried to break in to Australia by boat about six or so years ago.

Australia had taken a hard line against illegal alien border crashers and denied entry to the mainland to anyone breaking in by boat. They were placed in offshore detention. Needless to say, the policy stopped the boat traffic!

Those mostly Muslim men have been in offshore detention ever since. Well, except for 418 who are now free in America.

Here is the latest ….

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

UN refugee agency calls for mass evacuation of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus

The United Nations refugee agency has joined calls for immediate evacuation of the remaining 1400 refugees and asylum seekers stranded on Nauru and Manus Island, citing a “collapsing health situation”.

The UNHCR’s appeal to the Australian government to end offshore processing follows warnings from global humanitarian body Médecins Sans Frontières about the “absolutely devastating” situation as dozens of refugees are knocked back for resettlement in the United States under President Donald Trump’s “extreme vetting”.

“Australia remains responsible under international law for those who have sought its protection,” said UNHCR spokeswoman Catherine Stubberfield.

Trump and Turnbull — Trump, only weeks after taking office, told then Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that it was a “dumb deal” but went ahead with it anyway.

“In the context of deteriorating health and reduced medical care, Australia must now act to prevent further tragedy to those forcibly transferred under its so-called ‘offshore processing’ policy. UNHCR renews its call for refugees and asylum-seekers to be moved immediately to Australia, where they can receive adequate support and care.”

You can’t win Donald!

A deal negotiated with former US president Barack Obama to resettle up to 1250 refugees has been hampered by Mr Trump’s hardline immigration stance. According to the Department of Home Affairs, 418 people have now been accepted for resettlement under the deal. Médecins Sans Frontières said the rejections were causing people to become “extremely hopeless”.

The federal government has refused calls for the refugees to be brought to Australia or be resettled in New Zealand, arguing that doing so would risk people smugglers restarting their trade. Refugees can also accept resettlement in Papua New Guinea or a 20-year visa to live in Nauru.

More here.

See my extensive file on the ‘Australia deal’ by clicking here. Obama made the deal with the Aussies as he was headed out the door in 2016.

Not our problem!

You might also want to visit my post from just the other day about how we are taking ‘refugees’ (really asylum seekers not even designated refugees yet) off the hands of countries that are safe countries in a process that is clearly stretching international norms on how resettlement is supposed to work.

Two weeks in to the fiscal year, Maryland moves to the top of the list for the most refugees resettled

10/14/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I had told myself that I was going to be more diligent in checking data this year as refugees were being placed by the Trump Administration.

eritrean-refugees2 (1) — Eritreans make up one of the largest groups attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

The first arrivals were reported here four days ago.

So, when I checked just now I was surprised to see that Maryland, which usually comes in in the middle of the pack, had moved to the number one state for resettlement so far.

Granted we are only talking about 30 refugees out of a total of 274 that have arrived in the US since October 1, but I think it is worth mentioning.

Eritrea map — The Trump Administration is prioritizing Africa for resettlement to the US this year. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2018/09/25/trump-administration-to-prioritize-africans-in-fy19-refugee-admissions-to-us/

Using the interactive data reports at Wrapsnet, here is what I learned.

Forty Eritreans entered the US in the last two weeks and 25 of them were placed in Maryland.

Additionally Maryland received 5 from the DR Congo.

Baltimore was the resettlement city for all of the Congolese and all but three of the Eritreans.

Of course if you know anything about Maryland you are likely wondering what the heck are they going to do for jobs in Baltimore (no meatpacking plants that I know of!).

We don’t know what religious affiliation the Eritreans who came to Maryland claim, but know that 17 out of the total 40 Eritreans who came to the US in the last 2 weeks are Muslims.

The usual reason given for why Eritreans are leaving their country is because the dictatorship there has mandatory military conscription. Because of that, you get new neighbors!

(It has been awhile, but see a post I wrote about the diversity being added to a troubled Baltimore.)

Missouri: Catholic refugee agency complains about cuts to their federal funding

10/13/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is my solution for those doing Christian ‘charitable’ work for refugees—find more VOLUNTEERS!

Do Catholics have to be paid by taxpayers to do their religious charitable work, it sure sounds like it!

Everywhere I turn there is a new story about how that mean ol’ Donald Trump is cutting the funding to ‘non-profit’ ‘humanitarian’ groups who place refugees in your towns and cities. There are so many now I don’t post most of them.

This story, however, from Columbia, Missouri had a few nuggets of information, one in particular was new to me.

Refugee and Immigration Services, operated by Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri says it is being paid $4,000 a head per refugee it places. Yikes! That is almost twice any number we have ever seen for the per head payment.

Screenshot (739) — Somali family welcomed to Columbia by Catholic Charities in wake of Trump 2017 ban. https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/somali-refugees-affected-by-the-travel-ban-arrive-in-columbia/article_f7645b92-f54b-11e6-a52c-ab441118728a.html

From the Missourian:

Cuts to refugee admissions hit Columbia resettlement agency

The staff at Refugee and Immigration Services has been under increasing pressure, given the caps President Donald Trump has placed on the number of refugees allowed to enter the country. Those diminishing caps result in less federal money for agencies that serve refugees.

[….]

The budget from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018 fell from $1 million to around $625,000, Dan Lester, director of Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri, said. The local office also went from staff of 11 to seven, with only four being full-time. That means more duties for fewer people.

I just had a look at a recent Form 990 for this Catholic agency and yes they did receive a million dollars of taxpayer money and approximately $793,000 of it went to salaries, benefits, and pension plans for employees!

The agency, which is funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has traditionally received about $4,000 per refugee to provide services during their first six to 12 months in the country, Lester said.

Agencies must help provide:

Payment for their first six months of rent.

Clothing, food and all daily household items.

Assistance in finding a job.

Access to English classes.

Access to social programs they may need, such as counseling or SNAP benefits. [Other welfare—ed]

Orientation into an entirely new culture.

It seems to me that most of that list could be handled by volunteers and private donations!

The Missourian continues…

While the agency still gets its $4,000 per refugee, that funding doesn’t factor in those who came to Columbia in previous years and still rely on local services, Finn said. [That is funny because we are told repeatedly that refugees are self-sufficient and on their own in under 6 months. Hmmm!—ed]

“We just don’t have the time and energy to give the refugees that we used to,” Finn said. “Everyone has a lot more families to work with.”

“Time and energy” sounds like something they could get for free from volunteers!

More here.

By the way, Catholic Charities are usually under the umbrella of their primary federal contractor—The US Conference of Catholic Bishops—for their refugee allotment each year.

We are still taking ‘refugees’ from safe countries

10/13/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Every so often I check out the Processing Country data at the Refugee Processing Center (Wrapsnet) maintained by the US State Department.

rpclogo

More frequently I report to you about the nationalities entering the US, but processing country data is very different.

From processing country data, we learn in which countries supposed ‘refugees’ are processed in to the US, but we don’t learn where they came from before they arrived in that country.

I first became aware of this about ten years ago when I noticed that illegal aliens, who arrived by boat at the tiny island nation of Malta in the Mediterranean, were being sent to the US as refugees. (See my explanation of refugees vs. asylum here yesterday.)

What!!! Malta is a safe country in the EU, anyone arriving there claiming to be a refugee by seeking asylum must apply there, not be packed off to the US.

I have a huge file on Malta where this legally questionable movement of mostly Africans to your towns was put in place during the administration of George W. Bush and continues through today.

We are doing the same with Israel and South Africa where migrants get in to those countries from elsewhere (seeking asylum) and we help those governments out by taking some of their excess off their hands.

Heck, we have our own problem on our southern border where illegal aliens cross by the tens of thousands and then ask for asylum.

Are we going to ask Malta, South Africa and Israel to take a few of our excess asylum seekers? (Don’t laugh!)

Here (below) is the end of the fiscal year data table for Processing Country. I’m posting this now because it will disappear by the beginning of November.

Again, just so you know we are not taking Maltese people, South Africans or Israelis to America, the numbers represented here are people from elsewhere who got in to those three countries and are unwanted by those three countries.

Screenshot (1487)_LI

Screenshot (1488)_LI

Notice the numbers for Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Those are the Australian rejected asylum seekers we are taking off Australia’s hands in the same possibly illegal manner.

There are probably other questionable processing countries above, but the three I have highlighted are countries which I have followed closely over the years.

The Trump Administration could stop this possibly illegal use of the refugee admissions process in a heartbeat if they wanted to! Congress would not have to be involved!

If you haven’t noticed, I have a link in the right hand corner of RRW for the White House contact information. Please take time to express your opinion to the President.

Denver: Former law enforcement officer accused of absconding with refugee charity funds

10/12/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The refugee resettlement contractor has apparently, according to news reports, been shuttered for a couple of years, but now its former Board Chairman, a former deputy sheriff, has been indicted for taking money from the publicly-funded charity.

According to the Patch:

DENVER, CO — A fired former division head of the Denver Sheriff’s Office and a former president of the state Fraternal Order of Police was indicted by a grand jury in Denver earlier this month for allegedly pocking $50,000 from an Aurora refugee charity.

Franklin Gale, 55, of Denver was indicted by a Denver grand jury in connection with the alleged diversion for his own use of multiple checks paid to Ecumenical Refugee And Immigration Services, a non-active refugee resettlement agency that closed under a cloud in 2015 after another embezzlement scandal.

Gale is charged with money laundering, theft, attempting to influence a public servant forgery and vehicle theft. The indictment was handed down Oct. 3 and Gale turned himself in to the Longmont Police, a statement from the Denver District Attorney’s Office said.

[….]

Gale was serving as a non-compensated board member of ERIS in 2015 when the charity was closed down following a 2014 criminal investigation by the Aurora Police Department that resulted in embezzlement and theft charges against two staffers, Genevieve Marie Cruz and Adam Cole Shryock.

Charity navigator CO refugees — See that Charity Navigator has given ERIS its High Concern Advisory rating.

According to the indictment, Gale was a friend of Cruz, who was brought onto the board initially as a consultant. He ended up the president of the board as the organization closed down.

ERIS had received public funds to assist with refugee resettlement through the CARES branch of the Colorado Department of Law Human Services. Those funds were revoked after Cruz and her colleague were charged.

In May of 2015, Gale was elected president of the board of directors and the organization closed its doors.

When Cruz and Shyrock pleaded guilty in 2016, they were ordered by the court to pay $50,000 in restitution to the agency, the indictment said.

According to the grand jury indictment, about a dozen checks were sent to the defunct agency in care of Frank Gale at his Denver home address.

The indictment alleges that between November 2015 and April 2017, Gale wrote $48,668 in checks to himself from the ERIS account and deposited them into an account he established for his minor son. Gale would then make bank account cash withdrawals, ATM withdrawals, and/or transfer the funds from his son’s account to other accounts under his control, thus laundering the money, the indictment alleges. The actions ultimately added up to the theft of $50,000, the DA’s office said in a statement.

Gale is also accused of forging the name and signature of the former board director on a motor vehicle title for a truck owned by ERIS and then getting a new motor vehicle title in his own name.

More here.

Gale is expected to appear in court on Monday, see here.

I was surprised to find that the website is still up for ERIS here.

And, I learned from that site that it was a subcontractor working for two of the nine federal refugee resettlement contractors:

Ecumenical Refugee and Immigration Services (ERIS) helps to resettle refugees and asylees who are legally in Colorado (by Church World Service and Episcopal Migration Ministries), by providing them assistance with educational needs, family and social services, medical attention, employment, and cultural orientation.

There needs to be much more scrutiny than there is at the present time of non-profits benefiting from state and federal tax dollars.