Panic button as refugee contracting agencies begin to downsize as they lose federal $$$

02/17/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have a lot of catching up to do today….
Update: More here on the subject of World Relief downsizing (Nashville).
Here is Leo Hohmann at World Net Daily with a report from yesterday (I spent all day yesterday in Washington) on more news from the federal refugee contractors crying about their federal funding drying up in the wake of the Trump Administration’s slowdown on refugee arrivals.
(We also mentioned some of this news on Tuesday, here), and it is still a mystery as to why “arrivals” would begin to dry up on March 3rd (is it the money flowing to contractors that will dry up?).
Hohmann:

Refugee-resettlement agencies are scrambling to cut staff and, in some cases, close entire offices as they prepare for a reduction in refugee arrivals to the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s unfolding policy.

money_time_in_washington_dc__zina_saunders — Image from Cartoon Movement: http://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/11333

A pro-refugee group leaked an “official guidance” from the U.S. State Department to NPR Wednesday that said refugee arrivals will begin to dry up after March 3.

As WND reported last week, the one part of Trump’s embattled executive order that was not blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court, was his reduction of the fiscal-2017 cap on refugees from 110,000 set by Barack Obama to 50,000. The fiscal year ends Oct. 1.

Since 35,000 refugees have already arrived, that would mean another 15,000 would be allowed in by Oct. 1. The fact that the State Department is now saying new arrivals will end by March 3 means Trump could be planning to lower the ceiling further since it would be nearly impossible to hit the 50,000 cap in a little over two weeks.

Continue here. Hohmann goes on to report on the ‘plight’ of World Relief, one of the nine major federal government refugee contractors***.
And, then here is Katherine Rodriguez at Breitbart on World Relief:

An evangelical relief and development agency that works with the United Nations’ refugee program announced Wednesday that it will lay off 140 staff members and close five offices.

World Relief, which is one of the nine U.S. organizations that works with the UN, called the decision “a direct result of the recent decision by the Trump Administration,” citing President Trump’s executive order that capped the number of refugees allowed into the United States, the Washington Post reported.

[….]

The organization will close its offices in Boise, Idaho; Columbus, Ohio; Miami; Nashville; and Glen Burnie, Md. and lay off 20 percent of its 650 U.S.-based employees. It has 2,500 employees around the world.

Several of the nine resettlement agencies including World Relief have launched fundraisers to cover the unexpected losses they anticipate from the number of refugees admitted.

“It will impact all nine resettlement agencies, so the infrastructure for refugee resettlement in our country — built over decades, at least since the Refugee Act of 1980 — could be decimated,” Matthew Soerens of World Relief said.

Maybe Mr. Soerens doesn’t remember how low the refugee flow was in the wake of 9/11—-lower than what Trump has so far determined it will be.

World Relief received about $42 million in government grants, which amounts to almost three-fourths of the ministry’s total revenue of $62 million, according to the latest IRS filings from the ministry.

Most federal funding for World Relief comes in a one-time, per-refugee grant of $2,025, most of which gets used for expenses such as rent for an apartment and a caseworker for newly arrived refugees during their first 90 days in the country, Soerens said.

Now, the organization has to use nongovernmental funding to make up the difference.

Boo hoo!

More here.
The organization should have been raising private money for decades! In my opinion they got fat and lazy on easy-to-get taxpayer money! And, adding insult to injury, as ‘non-profit’ groups they are arrogant and unaccountable, while using our money to build their bureaucracies.

If there isn’t enough private money for their “humanitarian” work then it means there aren’t enough people in America supporting the movement of tens of thousands of impoverished people to their towns and cities!

I have some ideas on how this program could be reformed, and first and foremost, I would eliminate completely the VOLAG system.
‘Evangelists’ like Soerens (below) have never been able to adequately explain why it is the taxpayers’ Christian duty to welcome the stranger when they obviously can’t convince enough private evangelists to pony up (out of their own pockets!) for refugees coming in from the third world!

screenshot-296 — https://www.cmalliance.org/events/2015/council/speakers

***The nine major federal contractors that prefer to be called VOLAGs (that is short for Voluntary agencies, ha! ha!):

NPR: Resettlement contractors claim they have been told that new arrivals will end March 3

02/14/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“You don’t need to have a moratorium to slow the refugee resettlement program to the point where it dries up and withers on the vine.”

(Bill Frelick)

We get some juicy news here from a National Public Radio story from yesterday ….

First reporter Deborah Amos tells us that the State Department has said there will be no more refugees arriving in the US after March 3. Is that because they expect to hit the 50,000 ceiling by then? Not likely unless they plan to haul them in at 1000 a day! (We were just short of 35,000 as of this morning.) So it is unclear if this is a hard and fast date.
The resettlement contractors “shared” the official guidance they received with reporter Amos:

More than 2,000 refugees, already vetted and approved for travel, have arrived since the ruling was handed down on Feb. 9. But over the weekend, according to refugee advocates who shared the official guidance with NPR, the State Department alerted resettlement agencies that new arrivals will end on March 3.

[Readers this is an example of what Trump is up against. Here you have federal contractors taking “official” documents to a friendly reporter at NPR!—ed]

Could this notice of a March 3 halt on the program mean there will effectively be a moratorium of 7 months (the new fiscal year doesn’t begin until October 1)? We can only dream! I’ve argued that in order to spur Congress to action to reform the program, the refugee spigot would need to be closed for longer than the original 120-day proposal.
Here is more of what Amos is reporting:

The federal appeals court that blocked the president’s travel ban on people from seven majority-Muslim nations did not directly rule out two provisions in the executive order. Refugee resettlement agencies are scrambling to figure out what they will do if those provisions survive.

bill-frelick-3 — Bill Frelick of Human Rights Watch

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges did not address perhaps the most sweeping provision in the Trump order — the deep cuts in the numbers of refugees allowed to come to the U.S. President Trump slashed the refugee quota for fiscal year 2017 by more than half, to 50,000. [This is so maddening! Just because Obama wished for 110,000 for this fiscal year doesn’t mean Trump cut our usual numbers in half. 50,000 is probably just slightly less than the average annual flow since 9/11—ed]

In addition, the court did not rule on a provision that would make it easier for states and cities to veto refugee placements.

“You don’t need to have a moratorium to slow the refugee resettlement program to the point where it dries up and withers on the vine,” says Bill Frelick, director of Human Rights Watch’s refugee program.

Let the wailing begin!
I’m too weary to write more, but if you have been working on the refugee program where you live and pushing for more transparency and involvement by state and local elected officials, you must read on.
The contractors are scared to death that state and local elected officials will play a greater role in the future, thus possibly messing up their cozy relationship with the feds. You will be especially annoyed about how they say they do extensive coordination with local officials. Yes, friendly ones!

For decades, the refugee resettlement program has been a partnership between the State Department and nine private, voluntary agencies; all but two are faith-based groups. Together, they form a nationwide bureaucracy for resettlement.

I’m going to have to remember that!—a “nationwide bureaucracy for resettlement.”
Actually three of the nine contractors are secular organizations while six are faux religious charities. True religious charities would be sacrificing their own private money to help the stranger, not reaching in to taxpayers’ wallets.

NYT allows wealthy British subject to lecture us about "fundamental American values"

02/12/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I want to scream! I missed this op-ed from January 27th, but the International Rescue Committee is retweeting it this morning and it caught my eye.
***Update*** Look at this ridiculous piece in The Guardian about Miliband (barf!). But, we learn one interesting bit of news—he wants a big job at the UN.

david-miliband-and-hillar-001 — Hillary had a “crush” on Miliband. There was even a story floating around that said she promised him a job in her new ‘Clinton Administration’. Here she is with Miliband in his Foreign Secretary days. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/17/hillary-clinton-david-miliband-interview

Here we have David Miliband, the former Labour Party British Foreign Secretary lecturing Donald Trump about “fundamental American values” after Trump announced his Executive Order to keep America safe by temporarily halting immigration from known terrorist hotspots.
And, to make matters worse Miliband’s organization pulls in over $450 million in government grants every year (click here). Some of that money is used to quietly place refugees in American towns and cities and give George Soros Freedom Awards!
Miliband’s annual salary as CEO of the IRC is a whopping $591,846! But, Leftist media like the NYT never reports any of this!
Here is Miliband’s NYT Op-ed:

President Trump’s executive order suspending the entire resettlement program for 120 days and banning indefinitely the arrival of Syrian refugees is a repudiation of fundamental American values, an abandonment of the United States’ role as a humanitarian leader and, far from protecting the country from extremism, a propaganda gift to those who would plot harm to America.

The next paragraph of Miliband’s Op-ed is a prime example of the selective information people like Miliband put out in their propaganda.
Yes, he is right that most of the refugees entering the US from Iran are non-Muslims (I say most because we do admit some Muslims, why from Iran?). However, he doesn’t tell you that almost 100% of the Syrians admitted to the US are Muslims of both Islamic sects, and only a tiny handful of the persecuted Christians are admitted.
In my data report, here yesterday, I told you that of a recent group of 402 Syrians admitted only 2 are Christians!
Miliband continues…

The order also suggests that the resettlement program should make persecuted religious minorities a higher priority, implying that they have been neglected in the past. This is incorrect; existing law already places strong emphasis on religious persecution among the criteria for resettlement. For example, most of the refugees from Iran — a Muslim-majority country — who are resettled by my organization are not Muslim.

And, here we go again with this 36 month c***! 18-24 months was the number they previously used and now they are talking about 36 months for refugees waiting (not being screened for 18, 24, or 36 months). And, in fact, in April 2016, the Obama Administration reduced the Syrian screening down to 3 months, see here.
They never mention that in October 2015 FBI Director Comey said here that there is no way to thoroughly screen the Syrians (and I maintain the Somalis either!) because they come from a failed state with NO RECORDS!
And, here, in September 2016, Senator Sessions and Cruz pulled testimony out of the Obama USCIS head that they must often RELY ON THE STRENGTH OF PERSONAL STORIES because they have no data on the refugee.
Nevertheless, Miliband continues to spin his propaganda!

Compared with other types of immigrants, refugees are the most thoroughly vetted group to enter the United States. The resettlement process can take up to 36 months and involves screenings by the Department of Homeland Security, the F.B.I., the Department of Defense, the State Department and the National Counterterrorism Center and United States intelligence community.

There is more, continue reading here if you want to get fired up for the day!
See our growing archive on Miliband here.

Springfield, Mass mayor blasts Jewish Family Services for placing more refugees without notice

02/11/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

They (Jewish Family Services) are concentrating “poverty on top of poverty!”

(Mayor Domenic Sarno)

We told you about Democrat Mayor Domenic Sarno a few years ago when he asked the US State Department to place a moratorium on refugees being deposited in his beleaguered and over-loaded city. Of, course he was ignored as mayors have been ignored in Amarillo, TX, Lewiston, ME and Manchester, NH.

His pleas to the Obama State Department were ignored, will Tillerson’s agency treat him better?

(See our archive on Springfield, here)
So this past week he learned that Jewish Family Services was quietly placing more refugees in the city and he came out firing with both barrels!
From MassLive:

‘Enough is enough’: Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno critical of new ‘influx’ of refugees to city

SPRINGFIELD — Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, after learning that several refugee families are expected to arrive in the Springfield area this week, has renewed criticism of local resettlement agencies, saying “enough is enough.”

In a prepared release, Sarno raised a series of questions about the arrival, saying he had received no advance communication from the Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts***, the resettlement agency.

“Once again, these resettlement agencies with no prior contact and/or coordination efforts with our city departments, use our Springfield as their ‘designated resettlement site,'” Sarno said. “Yet when these resettlement agencies are asked to assist these families in need in their own cities and/or towns — they state they do not have the capacity. Maybe they should try to create their own capacity.”

Sarno had also been critical of resettlement agencies in 2013 and 2014, urging the federal government at that time to put a moratorium on new refugee families settled in Springfield.

Sarno restated his claims of the past that the resettlement of refugees in Springfield was a situation of concentrating “poverty on top of poverty,” with low income people added to low-income areas.

Continue reading here.
*** This is the same agency we told you about here the other day.

Germany has 450,000 failed asylum seekers they plan to deport!

02/11/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe news….

You might want to read my post on asylum here last week. Asylum seekers differ from the refugees we normally talk about because they get to a country like Germany (or the US, or Canada) and ask for asylum claiming they will be persecuted if returned home. The refugees we write most about here are selected abroad and we fly them in.
So the next time you hear that Germany is welcoming refugees in greater numbers than the US, remember these hordes who arrived in Europe with a goal of getting to Germany over the last two years are migrants seeking asylum. Now we are learning that, yikes! Germany has 450,000 who failed to prove their asylum claims and will now be deported.

Gee, wouldn’t it have been a better idea to close their borders in the first place!

merkel-poster — They are not going to love her so much when she starts filling up those planes and flying hundreds of thousands out of dear Deutschland. Poster and story here: http://panteres.com/2015/08/28/angela-merkel-syrians-praise-chancellor-for-receiving-refugees/

From the Daily Mail (a department in Berlin will be created to organize the mass deportations!):

Merkel offers cash handouts worth millions of pounds for migrants to return home in an embarrassing U-turn

Angela Merkel will offer cash handouts worth millions of pounds for migrants to leave Germany in an effort to silence criticism of her ‘open-door’ border policy.

In a highly-embarrassing U-turn over the ill-fated plan, which saw 1.2million migrants flock to the country, Mrs Merkel has now vowed to send many of them home.

The German chancellor agreed a package of measures to speed up the deportation process for an estimated 450,000 migrants who have been rejected asylum.

The controversial plan, which marks a significant toughening of previous proposals, includes a £76million scheme that will offer migrants cash incentives to leave Germany voluntarily.

Many will see the move as a desperate attempt for Miss Merkel to claw back support ahead of her challenging re-election bid in September.

Criticism of her decision to leave Germany’s borders open and welcome all refugees during Europe’s migration crisis in 2015 has led to a surge in support for anti-immigrant parties.

[….]

The proposed crackdown, which has been criticised by human rights groups, will also include the creation of a department in Berlin to co-ordinate mass deportations.

Continue reading here.
The Trump message for Leftwing politicians worldwide: not a winning strategy to promote the replacement of your own people with migrants.
Our entire ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive is here (extends back many years).