Refugee agencies nervous about what's ahead for program under Trump Administration

12/15/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor: Apologies for not posting all of the comments you sent yesterday, most didn’t appear until I got up this morning. What is up with wordpress?
I’ve been keeping an eye out for stories about how refugee resettlement contractors and the Obama agencies responsible for resettlement are reacting to the coming Trump Administration. They are no doubt fearful that Trump will act on his campaign promises—-some are more optimistic than others that it was all talk on the campaign trail.
(For the record we expect Trump to stop the program (at a minimum) from terror producing regions*** of the world within days of his inauguration on January 20th. And, we expect all Obama political appointees responsible for the refugee program to be gone before that date!)

Here is news from VICE magazine (featuring Texas) about some of the reaction (emphasis is mine):

Resettlement agencies in Texas—and other states with governors who have fought to block refugees—are working harder than ever to soothe their clients in the wake of the election of Donald Trump, who pledged during his campaign to severely restrict refugees from settling in the US. Now, as resettlement agencies try to keep a calm face, they also brace for a possible halt on the country’s refugee program, which advocates warn could cause a humanitarian disaster.

erol-kekik-2 — Kekic points out that as legal immigrants refugees are free to move anywhere they wish in America. For more on Kekic, see what I said about him last month: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/11/12/poughkeepsie-church-world-service-official-spins-about-refugee-islamic-terrorists/

The president-elect has kept quiet about his resettlement plans since his election, and his press office did not return requests for comment. But during his campaign, Trump vowed to suspend the acceptance of all Syrians and to stop sending refugees to any community that opposed them. [More on this below—ed]

“A Trump administration will not admit any refugees without the support of the local community where they are being placed,” Trump said just three days before the election in a Minnesota campaign speech. He added that the state had “suffered enough” since Somali refugees began arriving. Later, after a Somali refugee attacked students at Ohio State, Trump tweeted that the 18-year-old “should not have been in our country.”

If a Trump administration does decide to block refugee resettlement in certain communities, the move would be unprecedented. Currently, the Office of Refugee Resettlement places refugees throughout the country with the help of national NGOs under the federal refugee resettlement program. States cannot turn away refugees, even if their communities don’t want them.

[….]

Abbott’s withdrawal, largely seen as a political move, can’t actually prevent new refugees from coming to Texas. But some warn that the Trump administration could cut services and funds, effectively gutting these programs. [This is the key in my opinion because the resettlement contractors have almost no private resources—ed]

“If the services we provide now were to stop, it would be a humanitarian disaster,” Rippenkroeger told me. “There would be people homeless, without medical coverage and food. It would be a very direct human catastrophe so we can’t afford for the program not to be fully functional.”

Look at this! This program costs the federal taxpayer $100 million alone just for Texas for one year!

Texas is slated to receive about $100 million in federal funds for refugee resettlement in 2017…

[….]

“There’s no amount of fundraising we could do to replace federal support.” [That is right because people give their private charitable gifts to efforts they approve of!—ed]

Then this is something I expected was going on big time and not just in Texas—emptying the coffers at ORR before January 20th (not necessarily for refugees but to keep the contractor offices open).

Amid the uncertainty, Rippenkroeger said the Office of Refugee Resettlement was working with a “nose to the grindstone approach” in setting up a system to distribute federal funds through the Texas NGOs.

[….]

Refugee advocates in other parts of the country where anti-refugee sentiment is common displayed similar reserve when I asked them about Trump’s resettlement plans. Cole Varga, executive director of Exodus Refugee Immigration Inc.—the organization that sued Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana and vice president-elect, for trying to block Syrian refugees from the state—told me he was hopeful.

“Currently, we have not received any word from our national partners or the State Department on how the incoming Trump administration will run the federal government’s refugee resettlement program,” Varga told me in an email, declining to comment on the lawsuit.

Do not get excited by Trump’s statement about not sending refugees to communities that don’t want them. This is not realistic and a long-time Church World Service head honcho gives us one reason why:

Even if Trump allows certain communities to pull out of resettlement, he can’t stop refugees from moving states after arriving in the US—which means the most significant difference may be the money states receive, noted Erol Kekic, executive director of the national resettlement agency Church World Service.

“Immigration is a federal matter, and if the nation continues to admit refugees, they’re free to go wherever they want the moment they arrive,” Kekic told me. “They may not receive services, but they’re free to move—so even if Governor Abbott says he wants none in Texas, how will he know a refugee won’t move to Texas?”

Continue reading here.
The RAP is built on a house of cards primarily based on federal funding per head of refugee admitted to the US. The ultimate answer is to stop the program (stop the numbers coming in and the funding for it!) altogether until the Refugee Act of 1980 can be reformed or trashed entirely.
I have to laugh when Kekic (above) says that “immigration is a federal matter,” but I would bet a buck he is all for those sanctuary cities thumbing their noses at the incoming Trump team saying they (the city) will decide whether to enforce federal immigration law or not.
***On terror producing regions of the world. I am talking specifically about Syrians, Somalis, Burmese Rohingya Muslims, Afghans, and most Iraqis wherever in the world we are picking them up. For example, Trump’s people can’t say “we won’t take any refugees from Somalia.” Most Somalis are not in Somalia any longer, but scattered around the world (some in very safe countries) and we are taking them to America anyway! Again, at this point in time, Donald Trump as President must stop or slow the flow across the board and not get into the weeds on the issue of whether a community wants refugees or not!

Refugee reports for your winter reading pleasure!

12/14/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Someone asked me about refugee reports, and in this particular case where one could find information on welfare use by refugees.

Annual Reports to Congress

The best place that I know of for that information may be found in the Office of Refugee Resettlement Annual Reports to Congress. (Not to be confused with the reports submitted by the State Department in September in conjunction with the Presidential Determination for the next year.)

screenshot-82 — Annual Reports to Congress are very useful. In the FY2014 report ‘Public Benefit Utilization’ tables begin on page 105. See example below. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/orr_annual_report_to_congress_fy_2014_signed.pdf

Annual reports are listed here.
Federal law requires that the reports be submitted to Congress within 4 months of the close of the previous fiscal year. So unless ORR has failed to update its website, they are now behind for FY2015 (and if they don’t get that one done by the end of January 2017, they will be two years behind!).
There was a point a few years ago (and we wrote about it often and loudly) that ORR was behind by as much as 3 years. I did some research to see when they went off track with following the law and found out it was during Lavinia Limon’s tenure as the Director of ORR during the Clinton Administration. What they apparently did during those years was to take the dates off of the covers, so you never really knew when it was actually submitted. It might say FY~~1987~~ (oops typo supposed to be 1997), but with no date for its delivery to Congress.

But the fact that they were so far off also highlighted the fact that Congress clearly did not care whether they were on time.

See here that Senator Jeff Sessions and Rep. Marsha Blackburn did ultimately go after ORR in late 2015 to force the agency to comply with the law.
So go to the Annual Reports and you will find welfare use for refugees. However, I want you to see page 112 at the end of FY2014 and understand that the reports for such things as welfare use are based on a small sample number of present and former refugees who are able to be found and who are willing to admit to welfare use!
Frankly, there should be a requirement to obtain that data from local welfare agencies, thus forcing local social service agencies to keep track of refugee ‘clients.’
One more thing, since Wrapsnet.org only keeps data back to 2002, you can go back to extensive tables at the end of older annual reports. That is how I found all this information about Somali resettlement all the way back to the beginning.

Proposed refugee admissions for coming year report to Congress

The annual reports I mentioned above are done after the fact, while this report (which is still pretty useful) is sent to Congress usually in the month of September and informs Congress of what the President plans for the upcoming fiscal year. See the most recent one here.

ORR’s Key Indicators

This is a relatively new report and I don’t know if ORR has ever done more than maybe two of these. But, the purpose was to identify states that have the best situation (vis-a-vis social services) for refugees. Here I told readers about how if your state expanded Medicaid, you had a better shot at getting more refugees. This report also tracks secondary migration something that I was told was not done way back in 2007 when I started writing about the Refugee Admissions Program (RAP).
Key Indicators for FY2014 is here.

Congressional Research Service Reports

I have not read the latest one issued just a few weeks ago, but these CRS Reports by Andorra Bruno have been very useful in the past. See the most recent one by clicking here.

General Accounting Office Reports

There is a really good (useful) GAO Report issued in July 2012 which was commissioned by then Senator Richard Lugar entitled, ‘Greater Consultation with Community Stakeholders Could Strengthen Program.’
Go here to see that report.
I think there are more reports, but that is all my old brain can remember at the moment. Will add more if you know of more!
Example of a table found near the end of the FY2014 Annual Report to Congress linked above (be sure to read the note under the table!). After 5 years 60% of refugees were still on Food Stamps!
screenshot-83

I have a category here at RRW entitled ‘Where to find information’ but it is huge and pretty unwieldy now, but ambitious readers might want to scroll through some of the material archived there.

Nashville refugee/immigrant conference disrupted by protestors!

12/14/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Are some starting to understand that an element of the Open Borders movement is really more concerned about cheap labor for global corporations? That is how I read the message from protestors who stormed the stage in Nashville over the weekend.
For background, you might want to read Leahy’s earlier piece about the conference in general, here.
From Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart:

NASHVILLE, Tennessee–Protesters shouting “liberation not integration” stormed the stage at the National Immigrant Integration Conference on Tuesday, disrupting Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) as he was about to deliver a speech to the gathering, eyewitnesses tell Breitbart News.

ryan-gutierrez-fb-640x480 — Does Donald Trump know that Speaker Paul Ryan and Rep. Gutierrez are on the same side! http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/17/paul-ryans-open-borders-push-luis-gutierrez-exposed-2013-video/

As Breitbart News reported previously, the conference is a gathering of refugee and immigrant advocates meeting to plan opposition to the refugee and immigration policies of President-elect Donald Trump.

A spokesperson for the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), one of the two hosts of the conference, confirmed that Gutierrez’s remarks were disrupted.

[….]

One eyewitness who was present at the conference when the disruption took place offers a more detailed version of the event.

“A group of mostly non-black activists started screaming about black immigrant rights and rushed the stage blocking the speaker [Rep. Gutierrez] with a banner that said ‘What About My Family?,’ ‘Black Immigrants,’ ‘What About Sex Workers, LGBTQ Folk, Muslim Immigrants, Criminalized Immigrants?,’ and ‘Not 1 More Deporation,’” the eyewitness told Breitbart News.

“They [the protesters] accused conference organizers of working with multi-nationals to exploit workers, and they started shouting ‘liberation not integration,’ ” the eyewitness added.

Continue reading here.
In my ideal world I want those promoting refugee resettlement to admit that much of the drive for more refugees to be admitted to the US comes from BIG business looking for legal immigrant workers willing to work for lower wages (which we subsidize with various forms of welfare).
The RAP is not first and foremost about ‘humanitarianism.’ It is about workers and increasing the Democrat voter base. Maybe once that fact is completely out in the open, we could have a fair national debate about the issue!
Business interests (and those making a living admitting refugees) have just very effectively used the bludgeon of name calling (racist!) against anyone who raises the issue. LOL! That is why it was so amusing to hear that in Nashville some activists on the Far Left have caught on!
Endnote: Learn more about the Left’s control of the language: Integration vs. Assimilation (here).

Canada: Privately sponsored Syrian refugees do better than government-supported refugees

12/14/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor: If you saw my weekly roundup on Sunday, here, you know I’ve been off at jury duty this week. It lasts for a month so if you read RRW daily, there will be some days I miss (and probably some great stories too!).
Besides the disparity in their financial status at the end of a year or two, I’m guessing the privately supported Syrians integrated better into the country as well.

For the latest on Canada and the mess they have on their hands (because they brought too many Syrians too fast), go here.

refugee-map-canada — This map of Canada is from December 2015 and shows where private sponsors for Syrians are located. What I wonder about is this: what if the private sponsor quits or otherwise falls short, does the government step in? http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/privately-sponsored-refugee-map-1.3346250

Someone working on a documentary contacted me a few days ago asking me to point him to a family that is being privately sponsored in the US. I don’t know of any because that isn’t something the US does often. However, we have told you before that a group of Libertarians and Open Borders activists and resettlement contractors have been talking about getting a private sponsorship system going here too (there was one previously).
I would consider private sponsorships if we drop the entire VOLAG contractor system and go fully private.
Unfortunately, see here, what the US Open Borders people want is a system like Canada where there are both types of resettlement—privately sponsored and government-supported. I see it as a way for them to increase the numbers entering the US. Perhaps they know that as taxpayers begin to wake up to the reality of what they are paying for in the present US VOLAG system and want it abolished, they are searching for other avenues to keep the flood of refugees coming.
Here is what the Taipei Times is reporting about Canada:

New refugees to Canada are more successful breaking into the job market when sponsored by private community groups rather than by the government, a finding that takes on added importance as the nation welcomes tens of thousands of Syrian migrants.

Refugees sponsored for a year by a community organization such as a church or a group of private individuals earned C$18,300 (US$13,934) in the 2014 tax year compared with C$13,300 for those who had government support, based on the median estimate of arrivals over the prior five years, according to Statistics Canada data.

[….]

The US has considered adopting Canada’s private sponsorship model, while supporting refugees through federally contracted resettlement agencies that help the newly arrived integrate in the local economy with an early financial boost and other assistance.

So, this is my question: If refugees that are privately sponsored do better than government-supported refugees, then why have any government-supported refugees?

I know why the Open Borders Left will scream bloody murder if Congress were to consider a system where all refugees entering the US would have to have private sponsors! Do you?

Honeymoon over in Canada for many of Trudeau's 35,000! Syrian refugees who can't find work

12/11/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

justin-trudeau — A youthful Justin Trudeau featured in this blog as a young-up-and-coming leader of Canada. I thought this photo was appropriate to highlight this news. http://ojoecollege.blogspot.com/2011/05/young-democratic-leaders-in-canada-and.html

This time last year Canada began ‘welcoming’ thousands of Syrian refugees who were flying in by the planeload as the young new Prime Minister had promised when he was elected weeks before. As a result, Justin Trudeau became the darling of the world’s humanitarians who were clamoring for America to do the same!
Now, one year on, my alerts today are filled with stories like these—panic sets in as one year of government support ends and Syrians can’t find jobs to support their families!
From The Star:

Bedrettin Al Muhamad and his wife, Mariam [featured family—ed] have been taking English classes and making every effort to immerse themselves in Canadian culture since arriving here from Turkey in February.

[….]

But the honeymoon will soon be over, as the Mississauga couple ponders quitting their English classes and starting to look for jobs to support their five children, Hanan, 13; Hasan, 11; Azzam, 9; Mohammad, 8; and Rahaf, 6.

“We are scared we are not going to find jobs. It’s a cause of stress. How are we going to pay for our ($1,735) rent when money stops coming in?” asked Al Muhamad, 37, whose family’s monthly government refugee resettlement assistance ends on Feb. 12.

[….]

For many of the 35,000 Syrians who have arrived in the country — 15,000 in Ontario — since Canada started bringing in planeloads of newcomers last Dec. 9, what is commonly known in the refugee resettlement circle as “Month 13” is looming.

After a year of being warmly welcomed into local communities across the country, the 12-month financial commitment to these refugees by Ottawa and private sponsorship groups will start to come to an end.

trudeau-bearing-coat — Trudeau in December 2015: I come bearing coats (no jobs) but we have coats for this year at least! http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/we-came-to-paradise-syrian-refugees-arrive-in-canada-on-government-plane-1.2696122

And, here is another story (with another featured family) from The Guardian:

Canada had previously granted asylum to a small number of Syrian refugees. But one year ago this week, 163 Syrian refugees were greeted at the airport by Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, in scenes that contrasted sharply with the hostile rhetoric emanating from some US politicians, including then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Thousands more refugees would arrive in Canada the following months, supported either by the federal government or by private citizens who committed to covering their expenses for their first year in Canada.

[….]

But the one-year mark means an end to the monthly living allowance from the government that has, along with food banks and donations, sustained their new lives. From February onwards, the family must either support themselves – a seemingly monumental task considering the parents’ search for jobs have so far been fruitless – or enroll in the province’s social assistance program, in which they would likely receive less of an allowance than what they’re currently receiving.

“All the Syrians say the same thing, we’re worried about what happens after one year. We don’t know. With no stipend, how are we going to live?” Alsakni said through a translator. “It’s like we’re blindfolded. We don’t know what is coming. [This is the mother in the family speaking, she is the only adult in the family to begin to learn English, but she still needs a translator!—ed]

There are many more stories like this in my alerts today.