More corrections needed: Asylum seeker vs. Refugee

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

Let me say that I am glad to see that new readers arrive here daily, but long time readers, please accept my apologies for repeating information you already know.

Commenter ‘Kansasdudess‘ said this yesterday in a comment to my post on about Twin Falls, Idaho, here.

“id like to point out that in every country except the us refugees are not placed into actual communities..they are housed in refugee camps..geeze if they knew they were going to live in camps and not in sociey with full benefits they wouldnt come..who the hell decided they need to be placed in regular society???!!!! when did refugee status become perminant status? refugee means they go home too…”

Refugees

First, here at RRW we are mostly focused on the present US Refugee Admissions Program established by law in 1980—The Refugee Act of 1980.

Ted and Joe — “Who the hell decided?” asked our commenter. Senators Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden with other Democrat Senators decided in 1979. The Refugee Act of 1980 was then signed in to law by President Jimmy Carter. Congress and the President decided 38 years ago, and if you want to change it now, Congress and the President must decide.

Briefly, refugees, as defined by the Act’, are people we have located abroad (mostly with the help of the UN now) who claim they would be persecuted if returned to their home countries—persecuted for their race, religion, political views and so forth.

We fly them to the US and through US State Department resettlement contractors (nine non-profits) we place them in hundreds of US towns and cities. They are here legally (permanently) and they are on a track to US citizenship.

You are not to be faulted for being confused about the word ‘refugee’ because the Leftists and No Borders activists around the world have done their best to make you think that anyone on the move around the world for any reason is a refugee deserving of special treatment. They are not. Most are economic migrants, some are getting away from civil wars at home, and some are criminals.

But, here the word refugee has a very specific meaning and is used for those who are legally here through the US Refugee Admissions Program.

As for Kansasdudess’s assertion that around the world “refugees” are in camps. Yes, in some places they are, but the vast majority of migrant asylum seekers (they are NOT legal refugees yet) are free in many countries until their asylum claim has been processed—think Germany, Italy, France, the UK etc. etc. There they live mostly in special housing and are free to move about in the community. (There is increasingly more talk in Europe about building detention centers.)

Asylum seekers and Asylees

So what is asylum? That is when migrants of some sort go to another country on their own initiative and then ask for asylum claiming they will be persecuted in their home country if they are returned.

The asylum process is being abused around the world.

All of those Africans and Middle Easterners flooding Europe are not refugees. Some may be able to prove (through an asylum process) that they should get the first class treatment afforded legitimate refugees, but most are economic migrants looking for a better life. I repeat: they are NOT refugees until they are given asylum status.

Here in the US our immigration system is being scammed now as thousands cross our borders and ask for asylum. If they get through the asylum process and are judged to be legitimate refugees, we call them asylees. And, then, just like the refugees we flew in, they can stay and take advantage of the many benefits life in America will give them (including ultimately citizenship).

(I explained asylum here and here, just a few weeks ago!)

So in summary, the word ‘refugee’ used at this site refers to a class of LEGAL immigrant. They are flown here by our government. They are here to stay. They can work. They can get welfare. They will eventually become US citizens.

And, if an asylum seeker can make his or her case through a legal process, then that person can say they are a refugee as well.

Bottomline: words matter!

Don’t fall for the Left’s broad definition of refugee. Everyone on the move around the world is NOT a refugee.

Twin Falls, Idaho welcomed nearly 3,000 refugees in ten years

10/11/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I was very interested to see the list of top cities in the US that ‘welcome’ refugees when I published The Tent Foundation/Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Refugee Hiring Guide the other day.

Where is Twin Falls?

Screenshot (1478)

Today I had a chance to look at the list more carefully and I’ll be darned, I don’t see Twin Falls, Idaho. (If you all check for me and see if somehow I overlooked it, see page 17, 18, and 19 at the guide, here.)

You would think that since The Tent Foundation is Chobani Yogurt CEO Hamdi Ulukaya’s foundation that Twin Falls would be on the list.

Is it possible, I wondered, that Twin Falls welcomed less than 100 refugees in the ten years being analyzed by the Lutheran contractor for the hiring guide?

Important note to readers: I hear from some of you referring to refugees as illegals. They are not. The immigrants we discuss mostly on these pages come to the US through the Refugee Admissions Program signed in to law in 1980. The numbers I’ll be giving you below are primary refugees placed directly in Twin Falls. The data comes from the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center. The numbers below do not include: asylum seekers, asylees, Special Immigrant Visa holders, Diversity Lottery winners, etc. They also do not include secondary refugee migrants. Those are legal refugees placed in another location who have moved, (possibly in this case to Twin Falls) for work or to be with others of their ethnic group. Again, secondary migrants are not included below.

These are all the primary refugees placed in Twin Falls by the US State Department and its local resettlement contractor during the ten year period, 2007-2016 presented in Tent’s Hiring Guide. Data is from Wrapsnet (Refugee Processing Center).

A total of 2,723 were placed in Twin Falls, population 48,260, from 2007 to 2016. (Boise by comparison received 6,918 in the same time period placing it at #29 on the Tent list of top resettlement locations.)

The Twin Falls number of 2,723 should have placed it on Tent’s list (where to find refugees) between Richmond, VA and Lincoln, NE

Screenshot (733)_LI — Twin Falls should be here. I am wondering now how accurate the other numbers are!

When I analyzed the data at Wrapsnet, I learned that Twin Falls ‘welcomed’ refugees from 17 different nationalities during that time period with the largest numbers coming from the following countries:

Bhutan (650)

Burma (620)

Iraq (382)

Eritrea (242)

Iran (229)

DR Congo (217)

Sudan (179)

Afghanistan (85)

Smaller numbers came from 9 other countries surely making it challenging for the school system, the health system and the criminal justice system there to deal with the language barriers and requirements for translation services (just one more cost being passed on to local and state taxpayers!).

I’ll be red-faced, but please let me know if you find Twin Falls on the Tent list of top cities in which employers can find refugee workers.

This post is filed in my ‘Where to find information’ category and in ‘Refugee statistics.’

First FY19 refugees arrive, mostly Africans distributed to 12 states

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

Update October 11th: 35 more came since yesterday. 21 of those were from the DR Congo. Total 108 refugees since October 1.

We told you yesterday that President Trump signed the Memorandum (the Presidential Determination) capping refugee admissions for FY19 which began on October 1 at 30,000.

A total of 73 were admitted yesterday in the first group.

DR Congolese refugees truck — In 2013, the UN asked Obama’s State Department to take 50,000 from the DR Congo over five years. More than 45,000 have arrived so far. The Trump State Department is continuing their resettlement to American towns and cities.

The vast majority (57) are from the DR Congo.

As we previously reported President Trump’s State Department is prioritizing Africans.

I reported here in 2013 that Obama told the UN we would take 50,000 from the DR Congo over five years. We have surpassed 45,000 so far and I will keep you posted about when we go over the 50,000 Obama promised.

I have said repeatedly on these pages that we must get the UN out of the business of choosing our refugees. If we are going to take refugees, let’s choose them ourselves!

We aren’t going to solve Africa’s overpopulation and poverty problems by siphoning off ten thousand (or more) each year.

There are 14 from Afghanistan and two Syrians in this first wave. Nine of the total 73 are Muslims, the remainder are various Christian sects with six from Afghanistan claiming no religion. The two Syrians being placed in Michigan are Muslims.

Below is a map from Wrapsnet showing the states that are ‘welcoming’ refugees in the first ten days of this fiscal year.

Ohio received the most with 16. The top five states were Ohio, Arizona, Vermont, California and Georgia.

Screenshot (728)

Screenshot (729)

Cap for refugee admissions to the US for FY19 finalized—30,000

10/09/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I missed this last week and so did most everyone as official Washington was in turmoil over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.

The President signed the Memorandum on Thursday.

We had already reported on the expected 30,000 cap, but up until the President’s signature on the the determination we still weren’t sure how many refugees could enter the US in the fiscal year we bean just last Monday.

See the Memorandum from the President, here.

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society heavily involved in Midterm election politics

10/09/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A week or so ago I told you about how the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) has launched its “Vote for Welcome” campaign.

Screenshot (1484) — Have you seen this poster where you live?

If you are a new reader you may not know that HIAS is one of nine federal refugee contractors*** paid by the head to place refugees in your towns and cities.

They are also politically involved in ‘welcoming’ migrants of all sorts to America (for instance, they played a major role in attempting to influence Senators during the ‘Gang of Eight’ deliberations a few years ago).

Investigative reporter Jim Simpson writing at the Capital Research Center says that HIAS has received $186 MILLION from the US Treasury in the last ten years. See here.

If President Trump continues to admit fewer numbers of refugees their budgetary bottom-line will suffer.

In my opinion, there is nothing more maddening than an election-year political campaign being run by a non-profit group heavily funded by us—-US taxpayers!

Thanks to reader Brenda for alerting me to their #MissingNeighbors campaign and poster.

From their website:

Screenshot (1483) — This is a screenshot so the links are not hot. If you want to see their toolkit, go here: https://www.hias.org/sites/default/files/hias_2018_elections_toolkit.pdf

You too should be educating candidates!

***Below are the nine federal refugee resettlement contractors.

Faithful readers are probably sick of seeing this list almost every day, but a friend once told me that people need to see something seven times before it completely sinks in, so it seems to me that 70, or even 700 isn’t too much!

And, besides I have new readers every day.

hetfield-at-ny-anti-trump-rally1 — Here is HIAS protesting the Trump Administration in New York in February 2017. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/02/14/breitbart-federally-funded-refugee-resettlement-contractor-hias-organized-ny-rally-against-trump/

The present US Refugee Admissions Program will never be reformed if the system of paying the contractors by the head stays in place and the contractors are permitted to act as Leftwing political agitation groups, community organizers and lobbyists paid on our dime!

And, to add insult to injury they pretend it is all about ‘humanitarianism.’

The number in parenthesis is the percentage of their income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees into your towns and cities and get them signed up for their services (aka welfare)! And, get them registered to vote eventually!

From my most recent accounting, here. However, please see that Nayla Rush at the Center for Immigration Studies has done an update of their income, as has James Simpson at the Capital Research Center!