So says an advocate working to raise money for their needs.
Regular readers may remember that in 2016 Barack Obama (as he was wrapping up his 8 years as President) cut a deal with the then Australian Prime Minister to allow more than a thousand of Australia’s illegal aliens, who tried to break into the country by boat, to be brought to the US as legitimate refugees.
One group of the mostly single men are pictured en route to an American city.
Donald Trump knew instinctively that it was a dumb ‘deal,’ but went along with it anyway. You could hardly call it a deal because a deal implies we get something in exchange. News reports are mysteriously silent about what we got for taking the mostly Muslim men into our country.
If you want to catch up on the details, see my extensive file Australia Dumb Deal.
Here is an update of their arrivals in the US written by a journalist/advocate who leads a non-profit group to help take care of their needs through private charity—admirable if it is all private money.*** However, they are clearly advocates for more US taxpayer spending for so-called refugees that have nothing to do with Americans.
He fingers US refugee resettlement contractors for not doing their jobs!
As you read his story, remember that these ‘refugees’ tried to break into Australia by boat, were caught and detained under Australian law. Theychose to try to illegally enter Australia. They should not have been our problem!
It’s hard to imagine how the US-Australia refugee deal could have been handled worse
Four years ago then Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull struck a deal with then US president Barack Obama to transfer up to 1,250 of Australia’s unwanted refugees to the United States.
As we enter 2021 – despite US president Donald Trump’s condemnation of “this dumb deal” and a pandemic which has crippled the US resettlement system – the transfers continue. About 870 have arrived so far with more slated shortly.
After more than seven years in limbo, refugees will arrive with barely more than the clothes on their backs and they will be plunged into a collapsed economy, a rampant pandemic and a threadbare support system.
After touching down in Los Angeles, refugees are separated from each other and shuttled on to flights to cities from Phoenix to Philadelphia, San Antonio to Salt Lake City. Each will be handed a debt notice for their transfer flights – an absurdity that can total more than $11,000 for families with children.
US refugee policy does require the repayment of airfare ‘loans,’ but large amounts are never repaid. The State Department does not want to publicly reveal how bad the repayment rate is.
Winsor continues:
The new arrivals are offered just 90 days of accommodation and basic support. Then they’re on their own.
Abandoned by refugee resettlement contractors!
In theory, resettlement agencies are supposed to help with job applications, work authorisation and medical assistance in this period. But in reality, many refugees tell us they’re all but abandoned.
[….]
All of it is forced on refugees by the Australian government’s seven-year failure to resolve a crisis of its own making.
Almost all these refugees arrived in the days and months after the government’s sudden 2013 announcement that refugees arriving by boat would be barred from resettling in Australia – a deterrent which appears to have succeeded but has left thousands in limbo.
More than 40% of refugees tell Ads-Up they need assistance with medical care; another 40% request help with dental treatment. Inadequate healthcare on the islands means some arrive with easily treatable infections which have been left to fester undiagnosed.
[….]
Despite everything, most arrivals bear no ill will towards Australians.
They recall those who befriended them via Facebook when they were stranded, or who held vigils and protests. They are grateful to America, and even Trump, for giving them the chance to restart their lives.
*** I could not find a Form990 for Ads-Up. They say that Ads-Up (USA) is a recognised not-for-profit charity under the umbrella of the Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs network. Hmmmm!
“Tragically, in the last four years, we have seen this program become politically divisive and a lightning rod for no good reason, except for scoring political points.”
(Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of LIRS)
And, one of their planned new (?) tactics is to tell more refugee stories for media consumption! Hire more communications personnel! Tell more stories!
When I began writing this blog in 2007, that was one of the things that fired me up!
Every time you turned around there were emotional tear-jerking stories in local and national media about how a struggling refugee came to be in America and how great life was now that he/she lived in some American multi-culti slum!
I called the stories, ‘refugees see first snow’ stories when what I wanted was real reporting on the pros and cons of placing refugees in unsuspecting communities.
My refugee alerts these days are filled with articles like this one from Sojourners(a ‘religious’ Left publication):
UNDER A NEW ADMINISTRATION, CAN REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT BE DE-POLITICIZED?
On Nov. 12, at a virtual event celebrating the 40th anniversary of Jesuit Refugee Service, President-elect Joe Biden doubled down on his promise to increase presidential determination for annual refugee admissions to 125,000. That pledge marks a big increase from the record low of 15,000 refugee admissions President Donald Trump had set for the 2021 fiscal year.
[….]
Forty years later [Refugee Act signed into law in 1980 by Jimmy Carter.—ed], the all-time low numbers of refugees resettled in the United States is concerning. But, according to refugee resettlement experts, that number is a symptom of a larger, more alarming problem: Refugee resettlement has become a partisan issue.
You know why it has only in recent years become a hot potato issue? For 30 of the last 40 years no one had any understanding of what the hell these contractors had been doing. I like to think I helped educate the public about the refugee industry!
“Tragically, in the last four years, we have seen this program become politically divisive and a lightning rod for no good reason, except for scoring political points,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). “… My hope is that we can have a serious discussion that could help insulate the program from the political whims of a future executive branch that would once again seek to use refugees as a political cudgel.”
Watch for it! This is what they want—a refugee floor—so that no future President could dramatically reduce the number of refugees because those refugees represent the contractors’ income. Fewer refugees means less money for their coffers.
“Part of the discussion we need to have in the coming months and years ahead is how do we create a more predictable and bipartisan system that potentially sets a refugee floor, in addition to allowing the president to establish a ceiling,” said Vignarajah, who came to the U.S. with her family as a refugee in the late ’70s.
[….]
LIRS CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah previously worked for Michelle Obama, so can we really expect “depolitizing” of the refugee issue?
Along with the eight other organizations that contract with the State Department to resettle refugees in communities across the country, LIRS is taking steps to make bipartisan support of refugee resettlement a reality, in part, by doubling its communications staff in an effort to dispel myths around resettlement.
Think about this! Your tax dollars pay for big salaries so they can tell their “stories” to the media!
“We’re in the business of storytelling so people understand who a refugee is, and why they pick up with the limited belongings they have and come halfway across the world,” Vignarajah said. “In this kind of environment, we need to do a better job of communicating who we are and what we do and who refugees are.”
According to Naomi Steinberg, vice president of policy and advocacy at Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the conversation around refugee resettlement has become “toxified” over the past four years.
[….]
Among their requests of the incoming Biden administration:
Inform Congress of their intent to welcome 125,000 refugees and deliver a report to Congress that makes a case for increased appropriations for refugee resettlement.
Set the presidential determination with slots allocated according to regional needs, which allows the resettlement effort greater flexibility in meeting refugees’ needs.
Invite experts at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security into the larger discussion on refugees.
Appoint a senior-level White House coordinator for refugee resettlement.
Immediately signal to the United Nations the intent to resume United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees referrals domestically and internationally so that they can devise a process quickly and efficiently.
It’s been awhile since I checked the income and salaries of the story tellers at LIRS.
Here is a page from the most recent Form 990 I could find (2018). Under Trump they are 87% federally funded (down about $10 million in federal grants since a top Obama year).
To listen to them whine you would think Trump made them find PRIVATE charitable money.
And here is the same page for 2015 (under Obama they were 95% federally funded):
Now have a look at the salaries.
But, first here is a headline of apost I wrote in February 2018. There has never been any adequate explanation for Hartke’s sudden departure.
Lutherans announce departure of CEO Hartke amid claims of financial irregularities, poor management
Former CEO Hartke
You will see here (below) when comparing the salaries reported to the IRS for 2015 and then 2018, that Hartke did exceptionally well in her last year at LIRS.
We do not yet have any record of the salary the new CEO—Krish O’Mara Vignarajah—is getting, but must assume it is in the same pay range as the salary of Ms. Hartke.
Here are the salaries for top execs at LIRS in 2015:
Here are the salaries for those who survived the inner turmoil that shook LIRS in 2017/2018. See that Hartke’s salary jumped about $100,000 in just three years as she walked out the door!
And, on your taxpayer dime!!!
Doing well by doing good! Tell your kids to grow up to be charitable execs at ‘religious’ non-profits funded by the US taxpayer!
And of course the star of their story is the poster girl for Muslim refugees in America—Rep Ilhan Omar.***
Omar you know has been all over the news lately saying that Trump’s army of supporters is the Ku Klux Klan. That might come as news to the thousands of ‘people of color’ who came out in Washington, DC last weekend for the huge rally in support of the President.
An Arab publication credits the Somali “community” in Minnesota and especially Omar for assuring the state would end up in the Biden column.
Nevermind that in September, investigative journalist James O’Keefe exposed possible voter fraud in that same ‘community’ here(fraud that now pales in comparison to the fraud that is alleged in key Democrat controlled cities in at least five states).
From the New Arab which reiterates that the Somalis are in Minnesota thanks to Christian groups (which were paid by the US State Department to place them in Minnesota, but they don’t tell you that).
Trump campaigned on hate in Minnesota. Somalis helped vote him out
It is long and you can read it all. I’ll just highlight this point:
The resettlement of tens of thousands of Somalis in Minnesota – mainly during the height of the east African country’s civil war in the 1990s – was in large part thanks to voluntary agencies (also called VOLAGS), such as Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities, and World Relief Minnesota.
“Voluntary agencies” is a joke because they were handsomely funded by the US taxpayer to change Minnesota.
I went looking to see if I could find a map of Somali strongholds in the US and came up with this. It only shows where Obama placed the most Somalis over a 6 year period.
It does give you some idea where the Somali population centers are because resettlement contractors tend to send the different ethnic groups to join their ‘own kind of people’ thus creating ethnic enclaves.
Data goes dark!
BTW, we will be hamstrung in coming months and years if Biden/Harris are coronated by the media (and our court system fails!) and make it to the White House because the enormously valuable data base that has for decades recorded how many refugees come into the US, where they are from and where they are placed has been gutted.
Those numbers and destinations that have been a great source of information for me here at RRW are no longer available. I can’t believe the Trump people are responsible and suspect the deep staters made the move to hide from us what Biden promises to do on the refugee front (if he is president).
“[We] are hearing the President-elect speak in the language of social justice!”
(Jesuit Refugee Service Director of Advocacy and Operations Giulia McPherson)
He did it yesterday in a recorded message to a leading group that advocates for more refugees for your towns and cities—Jesuit Refugee Servicewhich by the way received $19,478,560 of US taxpayer dollars (grants and contracts) in the last 12 months according to USA Spending.
The Washington DC-based Jesuit Refugee Service USA is one more taxpayer funded ‘non-profit’ that can not survive financially on its own. The “social justice” group requires a massive infusion of your tax dollars every year in order to survive. In case you are wondering there is no separation of “church and state” when it comes to the US Treasury funding ‘religious’ social justice advocacy groups.
In fact, they are even more awash in your money in the last year than they were in 2019! See page from their 2019 annual report below***
Biden pledges to raise refugee ceiling to 125,000 in address to Jesuit group
President-elect Joe Biden announced he will raise the number of refugees allowed into the United States to 125,000 in his first year in office, a major reversal from President Donald Trump’s steep cuts to the U.S. refugee program.
By way of comparison, President Trump set the ceiling for FY2021 at 15,000 and admitted 9,772 in FY20. Under the Refugee Act of 1980, that Biden helped create, the President is solely responsible for setting the admissions ceiling.
It’s not the first time Biden has made that pledge. He previously floated the number in a statement he made during the summer on World Refugee Day.
But it is the first time he has confirmed that number as president-elect.
And, notably, he made the announcement Thursday (Nov. 12) to a Catholic group that works with refugees.
“The United States has long stood as a beacon of hope for the downtrodden and the oppressed, a leader of resettling refugees in our humanitarian response,” Biden said in a prerecorded video set to air during the virtual event celebrating the 40th anniversary of Jesuit Refugee Service.
“I promise, as president, I will reclaim that proud legacy for our country. The Biden-Harris administration will restore America’s historic role in protecting the vulnerable and defending the rights of refugees everywhere and raising our annual refugee admission target to 125,000.”
[….]
“That he chose to make this announcement with us tonight is an indication that President-elect Joe Biden is following his faith when it comes to American policy to protect and welcome refugees,” Jesuit Refugee Service Director of Advocacy and Operations Giulia McPherson said in a written statement.
“Not only is it exciting that the United States will once again welcome refugees at an historically high number, but it is also significant that we are hearing the President-elect speak in the language of social justice about the rights of refugees and our call as people of faith and as Americans to accompany them to safety.”
Faith-based organizations, like Jesuit Refugee Service, have long played an important role in refugee resettlement work in the U.S.
That is something they could not do without extracting your taxpayer dollars to do it because there isn’t enough support in the form of real private charity for what they do—help change America by changing the people.
***FromJRS USA’s annual reportfor 2019. (BTW, they are exempt from reporting the details of their finances because as a “religious” group they are exempt from reporting to the IRS!)
Wow! I wasn’t expecting to see that high a percentage of federal funding—63% involuntarily from you!
As I said here last week, there are over 27,000 Muslim refugees in the pipeline waiting for Biden to say the word!
And, you can be sure that right now the “interfaith community” is getting in gear for what they anticipate will be a great blue wave in November and they will all be back in business when Biden/Harris fling open our borders to the third world beginning in January.
Of course you are probably reading this and thinking: don’t we need to get our people back to work and get through the Chinese virus panic before you hit the Hill with your strategic lobbying for more refugees and for more payola!
No! While you are distracted they are busy as they always are working all the angles to get more fundingand influence more members of Congress to see things their way.
If a member is Catholic—send in the Catholics! Jewish? Send in HIAS. If the Muslims want an entree? The Catholics and the Jews will help make that possible.
This article at Devexdescribes the basics of well-organized lobbying efforts in Washington that you, average citizens, can NEVER match.
These are all well-funded organizations with high paid staff working 40-hour work weeks, 52 weeks a year to influence Congress, and they hope very soon to get back into the White House.
(emphasis is mine)
‘We can be very strategic’: How faith-based NGOs advocate on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON — Many NGOs dedicate time to advocacy (aka lobbying) on Capitol Hill to garner support for development and humanitarian policies and funding, but faith-based organizations work together to bring a different perspective to these lobbying efforts.
“We, at one level, are doing what everybody’s doing, which is trying to understand to the greatest extent we can what drives a particular member.And that is as varied as the membership in the House and Senate,” said Bill O’Keefe, executive vice president for mission, mobilization, and advocacy (aka lobbying) at Catholic Relief Services.***
“We do look at what is the religious background of this member, and is there a particular appeal that we can authentically make that would make a difference in this case?”
[….]
CRS aims to meet with every member of Congress regardless of the member’s religious affiliation, O’Keefe said. The organization’s work to eliminate causes of poverty and injustice is rooted in principles of Catholic social teaching, a tradition that bolsters the NGO’s reputation and allows it to work well with members on both sides of the aisle, he said.
[….]
CRS works closely with other faith-based organizations — both those that are part of what O’Keefe calls “Team Catholic,” as well as those of other faiths — on the Hill to coordinate advocacy (aka lobbying) efforts for certain bills or funding requests.
The NGOs determine what type of appeal may be most effective with particular members who may have seats on relevant committees or from whom they want support.
“If there is an office where the elected official is a strong Catholic, it wouldn’t necessarily make sense for HIAS to take the lead on that meeting,” said Naomi Steinberg, vice president of policy and advocacy (aka lobbying) at refugee resettlement organization HIAS.
“Every single day we are in partnership with other faith organizations and we work in coalition on a lot of different issues. What we find is that we are all heading in the same direction and certainly we sometimes might have different strategies, but through the coalition, we really do speak with one voice.
The value of us coming from different faith traditions is that we can be very strategic.”
HIAS began as an agency that resettled Jewish refugees in the U.S. Now, it is one of nine refugee resettlement agencies in the country that works with people of all faiths as well as with refugees abroad — issues Steinberg said have become unfortunately partisan during the Trump administration.
Her team works to develop relationships with congressional offices even when they are not pushing for a particular policy or funding so that when there is a tougher issue on which they seek support, they have existing contacts to tap.
I was a lobbyist decades ago and I can assure you that this is where they spend a lot of their time building their influence. They make friends with staff members and spend time with them, often outside of regular work hours, so that naturally when the lobbyist needs something, they can get a phone call returned or even get an entree to the member on short notice.
Devex continues….
HIAS also ties this advocacy (aka lobbying) closely with its grassroots efforts on refugee issues, which includes urging Jewish communities across the country to contact their members of Congress to express their support for more funding and higher refugee resettlement caps.
[….]
“One of the messages we share with our grassroots advocacy network … is you should never assume that even if your elected official has been on the right side of these refugee issues, that they know how important this is to you, to their constituency,” Steinberg said.
“Keep those calls coming, keep those emails coming. Because we want them to know that people in their district vote partially based on these issues.” [Other than NumbersUSA and FAIR, with limited staff and financing, I don’t know any other organizations doing this on the immigration restriction side of the debate.—ed]
Politics can also impact inroads faith-based organizations are able to make on Capitol Hill. Jihad Saleh Williams, senior advocacy (aka lobbying) and government affairs advisor at Islamic Relief USA, said his organization can have difficulty getting a response from Republican offices who are nervous to meet with a Muslim organization with which they may not be familiar.
As a former congressional aide, Williams said he understands the instinct of Hill staffers to protect their boss at all costs, and that IR USA must understand “discreetness” required for some of its meetings.
[….]
Williams said he often begins outreach with congressional offices by discussing IR USA’s domestic work in order to build relationships.
Many offices incorrectly believe that the organization only works in the Middle East, he said, or only deals with civil liberties and counterterrorism issues. By educating members about work to promote food security and health access — particularly during COVID-19 — in the U.S., Williams said he can gain an entry point to promote the value of international development and humanitarian work as well.
NGOs use interfaith coalitions to work together to counter such misconceptions about particular groups, positioning faith-based organizations as a united block that support the same issues, regardless of religious affiliation, to strengthen their power on the Hill.
[….]
“I really have tried to work hard over time, particularly with Islamic Relief and with other minority religious groups in the United States, to make sure … when people think of the faith community, they don’t just think of the Christian community,” O’Keefe said.
“We partner a lot with Islamic Relief and consider them brothers and sisters in this development and humanitarian world.”
***I just had a look at the most recent Form 990 for Catholic Reliefand learned that in 2018 they had an income stream of over $936 Million and of that $453,988,287 (nearly a half a billion!) came from you, the US taxpayer!
No wonder they are busy lobbying on the Hill.
Here is the salaries page from that Form 990. Sean Callahan sure is doing well by doing good!
Personal anecdote: About 20 years ago I had a reason for wanting to help a Catholic convent in Danang, VN. The sisters there are devout Catholics who had spent a couple of decades in the rice fields when the Communists took over the country. By the year 2000, the government had lightened up on them and they were back running an orphanage and a school for young children, but they needed financial help.
In my naivete I called Catholic Relief to see if they could help that convent and was told “That isn’t what we do!”
Now I have a better understanding of what they do—big fat salaries, lobbying efforts to garner more funding, and efforts to bring more Muslims into the US is what they do! Nuns in Vietnam who love America can go pound sand.
BTW, we will be hamstrung in coming months and years if Biden/Harris are coronated by the media (and our court system fails!) and make it to the White House because the enormously valuable data base that has for decades recorded how many refugees come into the US, where they are from and where they are placed
“That he chose to make this announcement with us tonight is an indication that President-elect Joe Biden is following his faith when it comes to American policy to protect and welcome refugees,” Jesuit Refugee Service Director of Advocacy and Operations Giulia McPherson said in a written statement.
