Trump crosses 40,000 refugees mark! Over 900 in past week! Syrians lead the pack in last 4 weeks

It has been 4 weeks since President Trump announced his 120-day “moratorium” on refugee resettlement as part of the court-halted Executive Order.  And, for the umpteenth time, I repeat that the President did not have to even announce any “moratorium” or put it in an Executive Order!  He has the power to simply stop the processing!

GW Bush loved refugees, yet at this rate Trump will bring in more refugees than Bush. Bush’s average is about 58,000. At the rate of admission for this past week, Trump will surpass that number. Trump has already passed Bush’s lowest year (2003) of 39,554. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/01/27/trump-watch-is-rumored-refugee-cap-reduction-to-50000-that-significant/

Then on March 30th we were stunned to learn that they were aiming to bring in 900 refugees a week through the remainder of the fiscal year that ends on September 30th.
If he and Tillerson keep that pace they will admit around 60,000 this year which is near the average number we have admitted since 9/11.
Do they think we are not watching?
George Bush loved refugees and he averaged under 60,000!

Sure enough, according to Wrapsnet in the last week, from April 6th to today (April 13th) they have admitted 977 refugees in ONE WEEK!

It was yesterday that I noticed Trump had passed the 40,000 mark (it was 40,180 this time yesterday morning).  Today it is 40,602 (you might get slightly different numbers depending on the time of day you check the data, I try to check around the same time every day.)
That is an increase just since this time yesterday of 402!  (See my right hand sidebar where I am tracking the numbers every few days).

Going back to the date that the “moratorium” was supposed to begin on March 16th the Trump State Department has admitted 2,496 refugees.

100 Burmese Muslims admitted to US in last 4 weeks.

Of the 2,496, topping the list are 335 Syrians! 327 of those are Muslims. Other countries, where Trump’s campaign promise of “extreme vetting” was supposed to be put in place (Somalia and Iraq), come in at 283 each, and we admitted 116 Iranians in the last 4 weeks.
Most interesting to me is that we admitted 333 Burmese (that part is no a surprise because we have been admitting Burmese minorities for years and years).
The big surprise is that in just the last 4 weeks we admitted 100 Burmese Rohingya Muslims.  When I first started writing RRW in 2007, we were steering clear of bringing the devout Rohingya to America.

VOLAGs not making so much noise now!

Have you noticed that there are fewer news stories about the Refugee contractors*** screaming bloody murder about Trump (and their loss of federal bucks) in the last week or so? I have.  Has the word gone out to shut up for awhile?
The ultimate test for me will come in September when the Trump Department of State will send its “determination” to the Hill with the proposed numbers for FY2018.  Will Trump simply cave and continue the trend he has begun to bring in the average number of refugees that we have seen in the last 15 years?

Endnote:

We will also be watching to see if the Tillerson Dept. of State will go back to holding public hearings on the size and scope of the US Refugee Admissions Program.  The Obama DOS abandoned the public hearing format in 2015 after several years of hearings that had gotten contentious. See my comments last year here.
The ‘hearing’ is usually in May or possibly early June. We will be watching!
If the Trump team were smart they would hold some field hearings so that citizens impacted by the program could voice their concerns to the Administration—but, don’t hold your breath!
*** For new readers, these are the nine major contractors (VOLAGs), paid by you, to resettle refugees in your towns and cities:

Numbers update from Wrapsnet as refugee arrivals slow to US

In advance of a new EO supposedly coming out on Wednesday, checking the numbers this morning here are a few things I learned.

tillerson-and-trump
Sec. of State Tillerson and Pres. Trump can still set the ceiling lower than 50,000!

Total arrivals this fiscal year (which began on October 1, 2016) are at 36,822.  Last time we checked on 2/23 we were at 36,637.
President Trump has set the ceiling for this fiscal year which ends on September 30th at 50,000 (a number we argue is not that low when one examines all of the post 9/11 years, see here. Bush’s lowest year was 39,554).
47% of the 36,822 are Muslim refugees of some stripe.
Here is how they break down:

Ahmadiyya: 130

Shiite: 2,152

Sunni: 8,659

Muslim (who apparently don’t designate a sect): 6,547

A couple of things that interested me in the numbers.  First we are bringing in large numbers of Burmese Muslims now (Rohingya, I presume).  817 are recorded as from Burma.  In reality we don’t know exactly where they came from.  They could be from the Muslim country of Bangladesh.  These are not our responsibility!
Then for Iraqis we admitted both sides of the warring factions:  1,472 are Shiites and 2,506 are Sunnis.
So, let me get this straight! From Iraq we must have Sunnis saying they are persecuted by Shiites and Shittes saying they are persecuted by Sunnis, and we bring them both to be resettled in your cities.  How long before they go after each other on American soil?
So here (from Wrapsnet) is a map of where the 36,822 were placed one day short of 5 months in to FY2017.
Wyoming remains the only state in the nation with no refugee program.  Of course Washington, DC only gets a tiny number.
screenshot-369

screenshot-370
Florida is 1,197. Alaska is 41 and Hawaii is 3.

 
Here are the top ten receiving states. 
I repeat! Governor Abbott’s withdrawal of the state of Texas from the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program did not slow the flow to the state! If you want to help President Trump succeed, Texans need to focus their political activism on Senator John Cornyn as we explained here.
 
screenshot-368
 
This post is filed in our Trump Watch! category as well as ‘refugee statistics’ and ‘where to find information.’

UNHCR attempts to push another 1,000 Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh on the west

The Rohingya are another devout Muslim ethnic group that the Trump Administration must beware of! These wandering Rohingya cannot be vetted any better than the Syrians or the Somalis.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship John McCallum, Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and George Soros, Founder and Chairman, Open Society Foundations, meet during the Concordia Summit in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
THE GANG IS ALL HERE! SO SEND THEM TO CANADA! Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship John McCallum, Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and George Soros, Founder and Chairman, Open Society Foundations, meet during the Concordia Summit in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is out scouting the world for pockets of people they can persuade first world countries to take.
And, now, thanks to this news story, I see why Muslim Bangladesh stopped allowing the UNHCR to process, out of that country, Rohingya migrants who came there from Burma. 
You should know that the Burmese say that the Rohingya are from Bangladesh originally anyway.
If Bangladesh allows the ‘refugee’ processing to move forward, just like has happened in Malta, it will create a huge pull factor and more Rohingya will try to flood Bangladesh (a Muslim country btw) in hopes of getting to the US (or Canada, or Australia). Well, maybe not the US now as many fear Trump.
Go here and see that we have already taken 13,500 Rohingya during the Obama Administration.
From the Times of India:

MYANMAR: The United Nations’ refugee agency has asked Bangladesh to allow it to negotiate with the United States, Canada and some European countries to resettle around 1,000 Rohingya Muslims living in the South Asian nation, a senior official at the agency said.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya live in Bangladesh after fleeing Buddhist-majority Myanmar since the early 1990s, and their number has been swelled by an estimated 69,000 escaping an army crackdown in northern Rakhine State in recent months.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would push for resettlement of those most in need, despite growing resistance in some developed countries, particularly the United States under President Donald Trump, UNHCR’s Bangladesh representative, Shinji Kubo, told Reuters on Thursday.

Activities of the UNHCR actually spur migration of third worlders!

Canada, Australia and the United States were the top providers of asylum to Rohingya Muslims who came to Bangladesh from Myanmar before Dhaka stopped the programme around 2012. A Bangladesh government official said it was feared the programme would encourage more people from Myanmar to use it as a transit country to seek asylum in the West.

Continue reading here.

Proud pals!

Yikes! Until I found that photo (BT=Before Trump) at the Huffington Post, I had no idea that Soros was such pals with the UNHCR Grandi. Grandi replaced Antonio Guterres.
So let Canada take them and then we secure our northern border! (Just a joke dear Canadian readers!)
See our Rohingya Reports category with its 197 previous posts!  It is another opportunity if anyone out there who wants to write a book! Research is done!

2,305 refugees admitted to US since Trump EO announced on 1/27

And, since October 1, 2016 (the first day of fiscal year 2017) we are up to 34,430—still time for the Trump Administration to cap entry for this year at less than 50,000 (my suggestion is 35,000).

trump-watch
Trump Watch!

I’m glad to see so many news outlets now tracking refugee numbers, something not done until the last year or so. (You will see some slight discrepancies in numbers depending on what parameters are entered at Wrapsnet and what time of day the reporter accessed the State Department data base.)
Here is what I have this morning:
Since President Trump’s Executive Order on the evening of 1/27, the State Department and its contractors have hustled and placed 2,305 refugees.  (Remember that although the ‘ban’ has been stymied by court wrangling, the 50,000 ceiling, a reduction from Obama’s proposed 110,000, stays in effect.)
Of the 2,305, 1,051 come from the countries that were included in the ban as follows:

Iraq (341)

Iran (115)

Somalia (156)

Sudan (37)

Syria (402) (400 of the Syrians are Muslims and only 2 Christians)

Libya (0)

Yemen (0)

(We rarely bring refugees from those last two countries anyway)

Total:  1,051

Religions?

An Indonesia policeman distributes used clothes to migrants believed to be Rohingya inside a shelter in Lhoksukon, Indonesia's Aceh Province May 11, 2015. Nearly 600 migrants thought to be Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshis were rescued from at least two wooden boats stranded off the coast of Indonesia's northern Aceh province, authorities said on Sunday. REUTERS/Roni Bintang
It defies all common sense to believe Rohingya boat people can be security screened. Story and photo: http://www.thanhniennews.com/region/hundreds-of-refugees-arrive-in-malaysia-indonesia-after-thai-crackdown-52841.html

One thing you need to know is that all of those coming from places like Iran and Iraq are not Muslims, some are Christians and other minorities.
But the total number of Muslims in the group of 2,305 is 1,022.
In addition to those countries above, we admitted Muslim refugees from the following countries: Afghanistan, Burma, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan and Palestine.
In fact 19 of the 87 Burmese we admitted are Muslims.  These are probably the Rohingya boat people who went illegally to places like Malaysia, and I maintain cannot be thoroughly vetted any better than Syrians or Somalis.
This post is filed in our Trump Watch! category as well as ‘refugee statistics’ and ‘where to find information.’

Comment worth noting: Rohingya are economic migrants, fake refugees, do not admit to US

The other day I told you that I believe that the Trump team doesn’t have a good understanding of where all of the questionable ‘refugees’ might be coming from.

rohingya-boat-people
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/01/25/trump-watch-dont-leave-the-rohingya-off-extreme-vetting-list/

We have been taking tens of thousands of refugees from Burma (Myanmar) over many years. Most have been Christian minorities that the Buddhist government there was forcing out. Now we are stepping up and taking Rohingya Muslims from Burma and Bangladesh.
I told you about it here just the other day.  Bangladesh is a Muslim country and so is Malaysia, one of several countries in the region harboring Rohingya boat people.

Why are the Rohingya our problem?

(Obama admitted 13,500 during his term in office.)
I have followed the Rohingya story since I first began writing RRW in 2007 and I can assure you the media has skewed the news to make it appear that the Rohingya are pure as the driven snow.  They never mention that the latest round of conflict began when Muslim men raped and murdered a Buddhist girl.  I have no time to go back over the 194 previous posts in my Rohingya reports category, you might want to have a look yourself. The writer, below, reports things that I found to be true over the years.
This is a comment we received in response to my post here (I don’t know this person). Emphasis is mine.
Winthan Aung:

Those so-called Refugees “Rohingya” Muslims are “economic” refugee. Basically, they are from Bangladesh. They will claim they are from Myanmar, for getting a refugee status and blame Myanmar government with bias fake stories. Trump must not take them into the US anymore. These people are good for nothing, and but for troubles. In Myanmar, they have caused a lot problem. They are with Mujahideen Terrorists.

burmese-monks
Burmese monks making their views clear!

The “Rohingya” name pop out not long ago, ridiculously they wanna claim themselves as new ethnic of Myanmar. In fact, The “Rohingya” word is not mentioned in any dating back to Arakan (now Rakhine) Kingdom years, not long before 1950 as well. In fact, there was no historical report about fighting for Burma Independent movement at all. The ‘Rohingya’ was totally unknown to the British administration of Burma.

In WWII, British India region merged Burma/India border, that opened freely Western border of Myanmar. The people who lived Chittagong of Bangladesh and India got opportunities to travel and work in Western of Myanmar.

The Partition of India gave East Chittagong Bangladeshi people ideas that they could take advantage on the Western part of Burma as well. There was 1971 Bangladesh genocide, the Urdu-speakers was “Non-Bengalis” that time. That worries for Chittagong Bangladeshi, they wouldn’t be considered as Bangladeshi in Bangladesh.

From 1946 a separatist, the jihadist uprising had gripped Arakan and in support of their political agenda, the ‘Rohingya’ myth was created after.

At Uprising of jihadist Chittagong Bangladesh (now Bengali Muslims) chanted “Pakistan Zindabad” while killing Rakhine Citizen. Mujahideen took advantage and encroached Rakhine land at WWII. There were the mass killing of Rakhine people and hundreds of villages burned down in 1942. On 28 March 1942, Bangladeshi Muslims from Northern Arakan massacred around 20,000 Buddhists in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. At the same period, around 5,000 Muslims in Minbya and Mrauk-U Townships were also killed by the Arakanese Buddhists.

However, Myanmar government intervened the Mujahideen movement by the time of 1962. The Myanmar Government banned all Bangladeshi illegal immigrants who are already in Rakhine state (Western Part of Myanmar) not to travel all states of Myanmar. The economic illegal immigrants stuck in Rakhine state, mostly Maungdaw township, Buthidaung and Rathedaung Townships of Northern Rakhine State.

Due to the poverty of Bangladesh, the economic immigrants from Bangladesh never stop coming to the Western part of Burma. More than 26 million live under the poverty line in Bangladesh, they live on less than $1.25 a day. the Government is not willing to do anything for them.

On the other hands, Myanmar Government was totally corrupted and the Junta was notoriously threatening to all ethnic groups in Myanmar. The Shan, Kachin, Kaya, Kayin, Chin, Rakhine ethnic groups suffered and they become refugees in Thailand and Malaysia. Real ethnic groups of Myanmar got opportunities to settle down in third countries after suffering.

When UNHCR focuses on Myanmar for ethnic crisis, Bangladeshi fake refugees approached and got aids by UNHCR as well, the people who didn’t make $1.25 a day got the opportunity to live with UN aids in Burma is their fortune, as long as they fabricated with fake stories to convince UNHCR staffs of their so-called people beaten up by Junta and harsh treatment of Myanmar Government. In order to convince UNHCR, they had pretended they were one of ethnic, “Rohingya”, which never existed in History of Burma.

When refugees crisis is the focus by internationals. They take advantages of getting resettlement. fake media will promote for their rating. Their advocates gain access to so many political, social and academic platforms to promote their sole agenda. Meanwhile, Myanmar government unethically approached them as well, issue “White card” as temporary identity card and forced them to vote for their Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) at Election. On the other hand, Global Muslims (grassroots to imams) gang up on the people of Myanmar (all over internet and media). Speaking of “Rohingya”, there is no ethnic name in Myanmar, If you have ethnic, you must have own language, they don’t have Rohingya language, they speak only as Chittagong Bengali, breath as Chittagong Bengali, they are only recognized as Bengali in Myanmar, nothing more than that. They are not really stateless, their motherland is Bangladesh.

By staying in the refugees camp in Bangladesh or getting aids from UNHCR office in Myanmar couldn’t make them satisfied. In Myanmar, they cannot travel only in Rakhine state. They later learned about resettlement program of UNHCR. But UNHCR in Myanmar didn’t have any resettlement program for them. However, UNHCR at Malaysia and Thailand provides the refugee to resettlement in third countries.

Getting into Myanmar is easy, bribery helps them to get inside of Myanmar easily. Or just cross over the river where there is no border guard. However, getting to Malaysia is hard for them. Smugglers convinced Bangladeshi how they could earn $1000 in a month in Malaysia. Indeed the Bangladeshi who made to Malaysia could get a better living. Thus, Bangladeshi are deliberately paying smugglers about US$200 to $250 to travel to Malaysia to become economic Refugees. The people who move in this route, bet with their lives at risk. But this is the only way they could effort to travel. If they got lucky, they will get a chance to get resettlement in third countries instantly.

Any Refugees coming to Malaysia/Thailand are usually sent to countries like Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States for resettlement. However, Thailand route has long wait time to get to third countries. Their best destination is the Malaysia. There is already 42,230 Rohingya under UNHCR protection in Malaysia. That is the main motivation for them to get to there, and it is the cheapest way for traveling to Malaysia if they are not very lucky, they usually end up in Thailand, wait for more years to get the resettlement or travel again to Malaysia.

After arriving in Malaysia, they filed asylum (application) at UNHCR for refugee status, UNHCR aid these refugees, and provides monthly allowances for them until they get the settlement in third countries. Anyhow, they could easily go back without problems if they don’t get refugee status (but they are not willing to go back, even without refugee card, they could earn money) or if they have money, they usually buy refugee status in Malaysia. Some smuggler applied UNHCR card for selling the Refugees status in Malaysia. They usually pay Malaysia RM-3,500 for the card. UNHCR aware about those fraudulent activities, but they kept on silences.

The economic refugees are traveling again and again to Malaysia until international leaders push pressure to Bangladesh. Sooner or later, you will see another boat come out from Bangladesh, and claims they are from Myanmar since the topic is hot. In that case, Myanmar government is easy to blame. They have kept doing for the decade. This time they got caught by authorities (Thai, Malaysia, Indonesia) who got enough of their problems (too many crimes cases with Rohingya in Thai, Malaysia), and push back to sea.

The people are sneaking into other countries without papers by boats, they left the Bangladesh, they have only 2 points in this immigration – firstly try to get UNHCR status or get a chance to work in any country, because they don’t get enough to make living in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been overcrowded you can view the Dhaka video – https://www.facebook.com/Rmbds/videos/1245958078756125/, they cannot make up living at there, some of Bangladeshi in that country even sell their organs just little as $5000 well.

If you call these fake people a “Refugees”, then we fail to support real refugees who really need for. We must save cards for real one, not these fakes.

This post is filed in our ‘Comments worth noting’ category here, and in our Rohingya Reports category, here.