Why are we permanently resettling refugees who say their real wish is to go HOME?

03/02/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

unhcr-firas — Is this Muslim family really in any danger? “Syrian refugee Firas al Ahmad, 30, looks out of the window at his father’s house in Irbid, Jordan, the day before he left for the United States.” © UNHCR/Houssam Hariri http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2017/2/58aeff094/move-offers-bittersweet-hope-struggling-syrian-family.html

That is one of the key questions you should all be asking the Trump Administration as they sort through the millions of refugees to find those they will admit to America. (Trump says his Admin. will admit a whopping 50,000 this year!)
Nayla Rush, writing at the Center for Immigration Studies asks, how is the UNHCR picking the “lucky few?”

98.6% of the Syrians entering the US now are Muslims

In the case of the Syrians, in FY15, FY16, and 5 months in to FY17 we admitted a total of 19,826 Syrians to the US. 19,562 are Muslims, mostly Sunnis. That means that 98.6% were Syrian Muslims (via Wrapsnet). Why so few Christians?
Here is Rush at CIS:

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently shared on its website the story of a Syrian refugee family who was resettled from Jordan to Dallas. The 30-year-old mechanic, Firas al Ahmad, his wife Samira and their three children fled to Jordan at the end of 2013 when the fighting intensified near their home. The family struggled there for over three years due to the “lack of legal work opportunities” and welcomed UNHCR’s offer to resettle in the United States. Once their application approved, they sold their furniture and moved out from their apartment to stay with Firas’ dad in the Jordanian city of Irbid.

screenshot-382

The family is filmed there the day before departure. Firas explained on camera: “I’m leaving because of my kids, for their future. I hope they can get a good education, and have a better life than the one we had … The hardest thing is leaving family members behind. All of them but especially my father.” (Firas’s brothers, aunt, and father left Syria with them.)

Samira too was emotional: “Syria is everything. They say, a nation is like a mother. What’s our worth without our mother?” She then burst in tears. Firas reiterated: “Syria is everything, it is everything to me. The minute the war is over I will go back. Even now I wish it would end today, before we leave, so that we could go home.”

In the text, UNHCR underlined the following: “Resettlement programmes in the United States and other developed countries are designed to offer a lifeline to the most vulnerable refugees, including children at risk, survivors of torture and those with medical needs.”(Emphasis added)

How does this apply to Al-Ahmad’s family? As far as we can tell they do not seem to suffer from any specific vulnerability. By their own admission, they fled Syria because the fighting was getting closer; and they accepted the resettlement offer to give a better life to their children, not because they could not stay in Jordan.

As a reminder, the refugee resettlement program was set up to provide “resettlement to a third country in situations where it is impossible for a person to go back home or remain in the host country.” (Emphasis added.) Also, resettlement is one of UNHCR’s “durable solutions” – resettled refugees in the U.S. are required by law to apply for a green card (permanent residence) in the United States one year after arrival. They can apply for U.S. citizenship five years from entry.

But does the Al-Ahmad family want to stay in the U.S.? Do they wish to become American citizens, or is their loyalty first and foremost to Syria? If their true will is to go back home “the minute the war is over,” why resettle them in the U.S. to begin with?

Rush provides more cases, continue reading here.

It is not about humanitarianism!

I can answer the question about why we are permanently placing Syrian refugees (who would prefer to go home) in to your towns and cities—three reasons (have sympathy for these Syrians being used as pawns!):

~The resettlement contractors are paid by the head to drop off refugees who are essentially paying clients and they want to keep their little federally-funded fiefdoms going.

~The Libs want reliable Democrat voters (especially in red states!).

~The UNHCR is working day and night to erase borders and dilute Christian nations with Muslim migrants.

I don’t think the Syrians are going to make good meatpacking workers (cheap laborers), so I won’t list that as a reason in this case (for Somalis, Burmese yes, for Syrians probably not).
If the Trump Administration is at all serious about reforming the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program they would get the UN out of our immigration decisions and stop funding the so-called ‘religious’ (politically liberal) charities doing the resettling.
Of course, this story makes the argument for the Trump “safe zones” concept!

Senator Tom Cotton's RAISE Act to bring legal immigration under control, but will it control refugee program?

03/01/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Many of you have been directing me to look at the RAISE Act….
As time goes on we will need to talk about this legislation, assuming Senators Cotton and Perdue are able to move it!

senator-tom-cotton — A lot of good things in his bill, but not much reform for out-of-control UN/US Refugee Admissions Program.

Sorry I have not focused on it because on the issue of refugees it is inadequate. Simply placing a 50,000 cap on the program is meaningless if the program continues to run as it does with ‘non-profit’ (federal refugee contractors) groups acting in collusion with a secretive US State Department to place third world poverty in unsuspecting US towns and cities.
And, besides as I said here, the average refugee admission numbers for the years since 9/11/01 (including that high number for 2001) is 65,000. And, those years spanned both the Bush and Obama Administrations.
50,000 does not represent much of a drop.
If the Senators were seeking to cut legal immigration in half, the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program would require a ceiling of about 32,500, right!
Here is the text of the RAISE Act (“Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act”) (S.354).
There is lots of good stuff in the bill (see NumbersUSA here), but not on refugees.

Starving the beast! Another way to set policy at the Department of State

02/28/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Politico is reporting that they are getting out their worry-beads all over the world as the Trump Administration works on its first budget.
Could this mean what we hope it means—a reduction in the millions of dollars we give away to the UNHCR while they dictate to us, telling us which refugees and how many America must take.

unhcr-headquarters-in-geneva — UN High Commissioner for Refugees huge glass-domed office building in Geneva, Switzerland. How many of your tax dollars, paid out through the DOS, keep this international organization going? Aid organizations seem to like nice buildings!

Politico (it is kind of cryptic, but hopeful sounding!):

U.S. diplomats and aid workers have been afraid that President Donald Trump wants to sideline them in favor of the military.

On Monday, they got even more reason for concern.

The Trump administration is developing a federal budget proposal the White House says will give defense programs a $54 billion boost while cutting funding to the other agencies, including the State Department, and especially foreign aid programs.

Lawmakers, foreign embassies and others were scrambling to get the details of the budget plan Monday. Officials at the State Department declined to share their budget reduction targets — it was not clear if the guidance had yet been delivered to them — but some reports forecast as much as 30 percent reduction, a devastating blow.

[….]

Funding for the State Department and foreign assistance falls under what’s called the “international affairs budget,” a category that doesn’t include the military. Those programs overseas — including everything from embassy security to pandemic prevention to refugee assistance via the United Nations — cost roughly $58.8 billion. The vast majority of that figure goes to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

[….]

On a call with reporters, officials with the Office of Management and Budget noted that most federal agencies will be expected to trim their budgets. But they singled out foreign aid programs in particular, indicating the administration believes that other countries are merely taking advantage of the United States.

More here.
I wish I knew exactly how much the US Department of State is paying the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. If anyone can figure it out, send it our way!
Here is one place to start your research!

South Carolina Lutheran agency cutting staff; will bigwigs in Baltimore see pay cuts?

02/28/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum! One more story about a federal resettlement subcontractor having to fire staff because this entire UN/US Refugee Admissions Program was so ill-conceived in the first place and because these supposed ‘religious’ charities became fat and happy on taxpayer dollars rather than raising private money for their “good works.”

lirs-building — The Lutheran Center (LIRS headquarters) is a six-story structure constructed in 1999 on property owned by Baltimore’s historic Christ Lutheran Church. The building is located near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in the historic Federal Hill neighborhood, a charming area rich with history and an eclectic array of eateries and shopping venues. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/07/08/lutherans-may-be-operating-centers-for-unaccompanied-minors-in-your-state/

Here is the news from Charleston, South Carolina’s Post and Courier.
BTW, did you see the news about a town hall somewhere being opened with prayer and the Libs in the audience started shouting: “separation of church and state!” Well, where are they with the resettlement contractors? Where is the ACLU and its lawsuits claiming there should be a separation of church and state?
I digress, here is the news from South Carolina:

Refugee resettlement agency Lutheran Services Carolinas expects to layoff and reassign staff in the wake of President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order dramatically reducing the number of refugees who can enter the United States.

Federal courts have halted Trump’s order suspending the U.S. refugee admissions program. But the courts did not touch a provision of the order that slashed the cap on refugees from 110,000 to 50,000 this fiscal year. As of January 31, just under 40,000 refugees have been admitted to the U.S., including 28 in Charleston. [For the umpteenth time, there was no slashing in half! That 110,000 (ceiling!) was Obama’s last wish, nothing more! Average has been around 65,000 since 9/11.—ed]

Agencies such as Lutheran Services Carolinas, which resettles refugees in Charleston, Columbia and Raleigh, rely on federal money tied to each refugee they help resettle.

Yes! As I have been saying, it’s a kind of ponzi scheme built on ever-increasing numbers of refugees (paying clients!) being admitted to the US.
Post and Courier continues…..

Lutheran Services Carolinas is an affiliate of Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine national organizations*** working on behalf of the federal government to help resettle refugees. Linda Hartke, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, estimates between 70 and 80 positions so far have been cut at partner agencies across the country.

“We and all of the resettlement networks are looking at reductions of staff,” Hartke said. “There’s not funding to pay for staff if refugees aren’t arriving. There’s some work that needs to be continued, but if the arrivals are dropping by more than 50 percent, it’s not good stewardship of resources to try to maintain staff infrastructure.”

***Update*** Hartke to receive Maryland business award, here.

Now, let’s have a little look at LIRS financial situation….

Why does no mainstream media ever bother doing this?
First, see one of their pages at USA Spending. From 2008-2016 they received $358,862,898 of your money from the US Treasury.

screenshot-374 — I’ve screenshot only 5 of 164 “transactions” here at USA Spending: https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?k=Lutheran%20Immigration%20and%20Refugee%20Service

This (below) is a page from the most recent Form 990 that I could find. Do you see that the federally-funded portion of their total revenue that year ($59,862,898) included $55,341,275 in federal grants and that loan servicing fee ($1,817,755) is likely the travel loan collection fee they receive from collecting money from refugees for their airfare (that was all your money too).
Thus 95% of their income comes from you—the American taxpayer!
Look at that paltry little bit of money they raised privately!

screenshot-376 — http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/132/574/2014-132574854-0bc6c937-9.pdf

Will any of the bigwigs in Baltimore see a pay cut or is Ms. Hartke preserving their resources at the top?
Is that good stewardship? I find it uncomfortable to report people’s salaries, and if this was a real non-profit group or a private business instead of a quasi-government agency, it would be none of our business what they pay their staff.
However, it isn’t a real non-profit group and since we pay the vast majority of their salaries, you should know what you pay them.
For comparison, go here to see what members of Congress make ($174,000 on average). Speaker of the House Paul Ryan makes less ($223,500) than Ms. Hartke! (You are paying for both of them!)

screenshot-375 — http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/132/574/2014-132574854-0bc6c937-9.pdf

So how many of you are crying for the contractors now?
For our complete archive on LIRS, click here.
***These are the nine federal refugee contractors:

Hillary pal, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, vetoes refugee reporting bill

02/25/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Bills like these are really innocuous. They don’t stop any refugee placement in the state, they simply tell state officials and the public who is in the state. The information would aide local officials in determining school capacity, housing availability and other welfare services that would need to be provided to these legal immigrants.
From CBS:

RICHMOND, Va. (NEWSPLEX) — A bill requiring an annual report on refugees resettled in Virginia has been vetoed.

terry-and-hillary — Governor Terry McAuliffe has a long association with the Clintons. Transparency has never been a top priority for these pols.

Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed House Bill 2002 on Friday, saying the report would “send a message of exclusion to people looking for the chance to rebuild their lives” and poses a danger to them.

The legislation would have required nonprofit resettlement agencies and local affiliates that provide refugee or other immigrant resettlement services, like the International Rescue Committee, to report information regarding those settled in the Commonwealth.

The state Department of Social Services would then collate and submit a report to the governor’s office and the General Assembly each year.

The report would include information such as the total number of individuals resettled in Virginia by the agency; the locality where the individual was resettled; the individual’s age, gender and nation of origin; and whether the individual was placed through the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program.

More here.
It would be interesting to see if Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan would veto a similar bill! Hogan has spoken in favor of more refugees for Maryland.