Category: Refugee statistics

Government demographic studies all wrong on Somali numbers in US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We probably have at least twice as many Somalis of ethnic descent living in the US as the federal government is telling us!

This little article caught my eye yesterday, so I went back this morning to look at numbers I have recorded for years.

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Somalis in Minnesota with Somali flags!

From Orangeville.com about Minnesota Somali numbers, with this line at the end:

The 2015 American Community Survey says almost one-third of the more than 129,000 people in the United States reporting Somali ancestry lived in Minnesota.

129,000! No way!

This is what we know:  Back in 2008, I laboriously poured over data provided by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement’s annual reports to Congress and wrote this post about the numbers. (We did not have access to Wrapsnet at the time).  Each year after that I updated the post with the Somalis we admitted to the US—through only the Refugee Admissions Program.

Through FY16 we admitted 136,376 Somali ‘refugees’! 

That number does not include all the Somalis who got in to the US through other means including the Diversity Visa Lottery, those who received student visas and disappeared into the American woodwork, are here protected by Temporary Protected Status, or who came across one of our borders and applied for asylum (or simply disappeared) over the last 3 decades.
And, in order for there to be only 129,000 people of Somali ancestry here it would require us to believe some who came to the US left the country, that a whole heck of a lot of them died while they weren’t having babies for nearly 35 years! It is nuts!
When the government does census counts do they rely completely on who is willing to answer surveys, or do they make some attempt to look at government-held numbers about those who entered the country?  Apparently they rely on Somalis willing to tell them something!
In addition to the 136,376 through FY16, we have admitted 4,478 in the last 4 months and 19 days.
And, we pick up Somalis all over the world, and I can assure you that vetting the wandering Somalis is impossible.
Here is where that 4,478 were placed since October 1, 2016 (according to Wrapsnet):
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If you can’t read Florida, it is 48, Alaska is 6 and Hawaii 0.

 
The top five states ‘welcoming’ Somalis since October 1, 2016 are Minnesota (609), New York (397), Ohio (306), Kentucky (283) and Arizona (276).  Virtually all Somalis are Muslims.
And, of all the ethnic groups entering the US right now, Somalis (I believe) lead the pack in the number of terrorist attacks or attempted terrorist attacks, or who have been arrested and convicted of helping to support jihadists in some form or another.

Frankly, there is absolutely no reason for the US to take in more Somalis! The UN is pushing them on us! We did not break Somalia. Why is the country’s long running civil war our problem? See here.

Tell Donald Trump what you think by clicking here.  Then tell your members of Congress and US Senators to grow a spine and stop this colonization as well!

Will new EO slow the Syrian migration to the US?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Everyone (including me!) would like to know what the President’s new Executive Order might contain. Rumor has it there will be a new one this week.
As you will remember, the original one blocked entry for a limited time from seven countries initially identified by the Obama Administration as terror hotspots.
Additionally, it contained a moratorium for an indeterminate time for refugees (or anyone!) entering the US from Syria.
So, on the eve of a week where we might see more changes in the Trump Administration’s efforts to slow the flow to the US while security screening is made more muscular, I thought it would be good to show you how many Syrians have entered the US since the migration began in earnest in fiscal year 2015.
 
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According to Wrapsnet, in fiscal years 2011, 2012, and 2013 the total Syrian arrivals were less than 100.  Then in FY2014 we admitted 105 Syrians.
But, then in FY2015 the number began to rise—to 1,682—followed by the huge jump to 12,587 in FY2016.  In this fiscal year (FY2017), which is not yet 5 months old, 5,486 have arrived already.
Of the total of 19,860 who arrived in those years (FY2014 to today), 19,577 are Muslims (roughly 98.5% of arrivals are Muslims of some sort). A whopping 19,272 are Sunni Muslims.
Here is where the 19,860 have been placed:
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Florida is 1,075 if you can’t read it. And, Alaska and Hawaii are at zero.

 
And here are the top ten states that ‘welcomed’ them:
 
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Finally, we do know that the number entering the US will be slowed simply by Trump’s legal action to reduce the overall ceiling to 50,000 refugees entering the US before September 30th.  We have been arguing it could still be reduced further, see here.
By the way, it isn’t just security we are concerned about, go here to see how expensive it is (for taxpayers!) to resettle Middle Easterners.
This post is filed in our Trump Watch! category as well as ‘refugee statistics’ and ‘where to find information.’

WSJ explains (sort of) what that March 3rd date means for slowing US refugee admissions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We reported on the “official” notification involving March 3rd, here and here and wondered what the significance of that date might be. It is this notification that caused the refugee resettlement contractors to go into a tailspin about their federal funding.
Thanks to Joanne for spotting this article in the Wall Street Journal that clarifies it (somewhat):

The State Department ordered its embassies abroad to delay booking travel for refugees resettling in the U.S. after March 3.

And below are some snips from the story by reporter Maria Abi-Habib (emphasis is mine):

The U.S. State Department has ordered embassies to slow resettlement of refugees for the next few weeks and delay booking travel for refugees after March 3 as the numbers approach the annual cap of 50,000 set recently by President Donald Trump, according to American officials.

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Hopefully there will be more clarity early next week from Secretary of State Tillerson and the White House. BTW, sure hope they will pick someone who knows the program to be Asst. Sec. of State for PRM or else the careers will roll them!

What doesn’t make sense to me is that unless they bring them in at 1,000 a day they aren’t going to be near 50,000 by March 3rd.
WSJ continues….

U.S. officials from embassies in the Middle East said they received a directive Tuesday from the State Department’s Population, Refugee and Migration bureau to delay booking travel to the U.S. for refugees awaiting final resettlement after March 3. The directive said the numbers of refugees already admitted is close to Mr. Trump’s cap for 2017. [Not really, we are at almost 36,205 as of this morning. We added 371 since yesterday!—ed]

[….]

The same order also cut the annual limit for refugees for the year ending October 2017 to less than half of the previous administration’s 110,000 ceiling. [This is so annoying, this was Obama’s dreamland number, we have not been near that number for more than 15 years.—ed]

[….]

But the court ruling didn’t affect the 50,000 limit on refugees set out in the order, a State Department spokeswoman said. State Department officials said the refugee cap imposed by Mr. Trump is legal and isn’t being challenged as the constitution allows the president to set admissions numbers for refugees each year.

“In support of the president’s executive order, the department is preparing to reduce the number of weekly refugee arrivals such that we will admit no more than 50,000 refugees by the end of the fiscal year,” the spokeswoman said.

Some 35,000 refugees have already been admitted for the government’s 2017 fiscal year that ends in October, according to State Department figures. That leaves 15,000 slots open for the next 7-½ months. [Not 15,000 now, but 13,795 as of this morning.—ed]

[….]

“There were a lot of people stranded with the first executive order who were up for resettlement,” but their paperwork has now been delayed, said a U.S. embassy employee in the Middle East. The official added that the State Department directive told embassies not to arrange flights beyond March 3 for refugees until the State Department can determine which applicants will be given the remaining resettlement slots.

“For those that don’t make the 15,000 cut, they are out of luck until the next fiscal year,” he said.

Continue reading here.
Readers, the next fiscal year begins on October 1, 2017 and in September the Trump Administration will be sending its “determination” to Congress for “consultation.” The determination letter and report will set a ceiling for the upcoming year and designate how many and from which regions of the world we will take refugees. The 2018 fiscal year is 7 months and 10 days away.
They can’t possibly get that 13,795 in by March 3rd, so it looks like they will have to sort through many more than 13,795 and dribble them in over the remaining months.  However,Trump’s original order called for a complete 120-day moratorium (4 months) and one presumes that is legal and still a possibility when he comes out with a new EO on Monday or Tuesday (or at least that is what is being reported—a new EO early in the week).
I wish I had more information for you. If something leaks out over the weekend, I’ll let you know (or you let me know!), otherwise, we will wait and see!

There is nothing set in concrete about that 50,000 number!

The President can reset it again! at say 37,000, or how about 39,554?  That is the number George W. Bush admitted in 2003 as the Administration feared Islamic terrorists might be in the stream arriving in the wake of 9/11.

Go here and see why it is important for you to let Donald Trump know what you think!

This post is filed in my Trump Watch! category, here.

Too late for Trump to cap the Refugee Admissions Program at 35,000 for this year…

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..but, he can still go below 50,000!

I’ve been arguing that the Trump Administration could further reduce the ceiling for refugee admissions for FY17, something he can legally do and is not effected by the court wrangling over the ‘ban.’
Such an across-the-board cap would allow more months for the Administration and  Congress to come up with a longterm fix for the out of control program because Trump’s ‘determination’ for FY18 would not be due until September 30th.
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This morning I see (at Wrapsnet) that we are now at 35,834 and climbing.  Too late for 35,000!

See that lowering the numbers is not unprecedented because George Bush did it following 9/11, here.
Word is that the EO will be modified next week…it is not too late to drop the ceiling well below 50,000!

Go here and see why it is important for you to let Donald Trump know what you think!

This post is filed in our Trump Watch! category as well as ‘refugee statistics’ and ‘where to find information.’

Where did the FY2017 refugees go so far; 34,825 as of this morning

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

For new readers (and there are many of you!), refugees are admitted on a fiscal year basis. In September of each year, the President sends a determination letter (and report) to Congress and tells Congress how many refugees are proposed for the upcoming fiscal year that begins on October 1 and from which regions of the world they will be taken. Congress’ role is to “consult” only.
Here is Obama’s last determination.
President Trump has already lowered Obama’s ceiling from 110,000 to 50,000. We argue that Trump could go lower still and avoid the Constitutional challenges being raised right now, see here, by lowering the ceiling across the board, across all ethnic groups.
Here at Wrapsnet this morning we see where the 34,825 have been placed in the last 4 and 1/2 months (the US State Department added 395 since yesterday):
 
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Alaska got 32 and Hawaii 3. Texas did not save itself by withdrawing from the program, the Governor must sue as Tennessee is doing!

 

Here are the top ten receiving states (turning red states blue!):

 
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This post is filed in our Trump Watch! category as well as ‘refugee statistics’ and ‘where to find information.’