Category: Taxpayer goodies

Here we go again! Refugee Contractors Wail Over Trump Travel Restrictions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 3 Comments

One of the reasons they hate Trump so much is that he has put them on defense and doesn’t let up.

Joy to behold: President Trump putting the Leftists on the defense daily!

After having watched the nine federal resettlement contractors*** operate for going on 13 years I’m laughing as I watch them spin in circles with each new move by the Administration to slow the flow of immigration to America.

And, I long ago learned that they don’t have the best interests of their clients (refugees) at heart, but are really agitating for ever more migrants of any sort as they work to change America by changing the people.

Further confirmation comes in the wake of the latest Trump Administration effort to restrict travel from countries that are not apparently doing their share in weeding-out bad actors who are coming to the US through various legal avenues.

Here is what I said on Saturday when I reported that refugees are exempt from the new travel restrictions:

…if any of the nine federal refugee contractors (whose salaries we, taxpayers, pay) run out and hire lawyers or even open their mouths in opposition to protecting our safety when refugees are not banned, then they show themselves as nothing more than partisan anti-Trump agitators advancing an open borders agenda while hiding under their white hats of phony humanitarianism.

Of course they can’t control themselves and are flailing at the Trump Administration.

They take our tax dollars and agitate daily against our President!

First out of the chute, we have Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (85-90% funded with taxpayer dollars in any given year, for decades) taking their whack at Trump.

Don’t miss: Lutherans paid to take care of foreigners not Americans!

From Crux (a Catholic publication).  Where are the Bishops on this?

Administration imposes travel restrictions on six African, Asian countries

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, CEO of LIRS, and former staffer for Michelle Obama

“This policy has been devastating to thousands of men, women and children whose only beacon of hope is the safety and prosperity that America can offer,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. LIRS is one of the largest refugee resettlement agencies in the nation.

“How can we look at ourselves in the mirror knowing that we are doing less and less, especially when an unprecedented global refugee crisis calls for swift, bold action from the world’s humanitarian leader?” she added in a Jan. 31 statement.

[….]

In her statement, O’Mara Vignarajah said LIRS is “particularly concerned about Burmese refugees who may see America’s doors closed to them at a time of desperate need – including thousands of ethnic Chin, Karen and Muslim Rohingya, who have fled severe persecution.”

“Nearly 5,000 Burmese refugees started to rebuild their lives in America last year, many of whom seek to reunite with family still in harm’s way,” she added.

What she doesn’t tell you is that after they get the original seed communities planted in America they begin working to bring in the relatives.

178,395 Burmese isn’t enough!

I just checked the Refugee Processing Center data and see that since 2002 (when this data base was set up) we have admitted 178,395 Burmese to the US.

21,000 are Muslim Rohingya which we did not admit to the US when I first began writing RRW.

We, didn’t start any wars in Burma!  Their internal ethnic squabbles are their problem. We have no responsibility to do more for the Burmese!  

They take our tax dollars and agitate daily against our President!

Now here comes Church World Service telling its groupies to support the No Ban Act  being heralded by Rep. Ilhan Omar and Speaker Pelosi who, we are told, plans to push it through the House shortly.  Even if it were to pass the House and Senate, the President surely won’t sign it.

So once again we see the typical Democrat tricks to undermine the President, agitate through the media and all the while using their members and followers to push for a bill that is nothing more than a media generating anti-Trump tool.

 

Rep. Ilhan Omar Dems go-to gal for all things Muslim (Tlaib in the wings)!

URGENT: Tell Congress to Oppose New Muslim Ban Expansion and Protect Our Muslim and Refugee Neighbors

 

The administration continues to repeatedly attack refugees, asylum seekers, and our Muslim neighbors, prolonging family separation, undermining our moral and legal obligations to the most vulnerable, and discriminating against people based on their faith or nationality.

Then they give their followers a script for a message to Congress. You could have fun using the basic outline of the script and tell your member to oppose Rep. Omar’s NO BAN ACT bill.

Sample Script: “I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and [as a person of faith], I urge you to strongly oppose the cruel and harmful expansion of the Muslim ban that the Trump administration announced today, which will restrict entry to the United States from six new countries. I also urge you to cosponsor the NO BAN Act (S.1123 / H.R.2214), which would ensure that no one is banned from our country based on religious or nationality-based discrimination. My community is still feeling the negative impacts of this administration’s immoral and wrongful bans that continue to tear apart families. No one should be blocked from entering the country just because of their faith tradition or where they come from. My community welcomes refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants, and I urge you to do the same.”

More here.

Just a reminder that Church World Service was awarded $53 MILLION  in federal grants in the last year which amounts to 62% of their income being provided by you—the US taxpayer!

They take our tax dollars and agitate daily against our President!

*** For new readers these (below) are the nine federally-funded refugee contractors that operate as a huge conveyor belt monopolizing all refugee placement in America.

Church World Service one of the ‘religious charities’ responsible for changing America by changing the people with a ‘Christian message.’

And, they do not limit their advocacy toward only legal immigration programs, but are heavily involved in supporting the lawlessness at our borders.

The question isn’t as much about refugees per se, but about who is running federal immigration policy now and into the future?

(I try to post this information once a day, or at least every few days!)

 

I continue to argue that these nine contractors are the heart of America’s Open Borders movement and thus there can never be long-lasting reform of US immigration policy when these nine un-elected phony non-profits are paid by the taxpayers to work as community organizers pushing an open borders agenda.

 

 

 

MN Rep Ilhan Omar Demonstrates Ignorance about US History

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment

Since I’m on the subject of Minnesota Somalis this morning, see this story about how a Supreme Court decision this week helped show us again how Socialist Open Borders advocates, like Somali US Rep Omar, are ignorant of US immigration history.

From Bizpac Review:

Ilhan Omar’s ill-conceived tweet about immigration under Trump backfires

 

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s attempt to jab President Donald Trump over an immigration policy backfired as her own dirty laundry was exposed.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-23/ethics-complaint-filed-against-rep-ilhan-omar-accused-immigration-tax-and-student

The Minnesota Democrat was slammed on social media after she tweeted her reaction to a Supreme Court decision in favor of the Trump administration’s new immigrant wealth test.

Omar quoted from Emma Lazarus’s famous poem etched on the Statue of Liberty in her tweet Monday, asking her nearly two million followers to retweet “if your immigrant ancestors wouldn’t be let in if this means tested immigration policy was in place then.”

The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote on Monday on the public charge rule***, handing Trump a victory in enforcing the new immigration policy unveiled last August which allows officials to reject efforts to obtain green cards, visas and entry into the U.S. for anyone who might need to rely on public benefits, such as Medicaid and food stamps.

[….]

Omar’s finger-pointing backfired as Twitter users pointed out that when their “immigrant ancestors” did come to America, there were no welfare programs to subsidize their assimilation.

See her tweet and many responses.

Here is just one of those responses to her ignorant tweet.

 

Know the history! 

If you don’t know the real story about that dumb poem on the Statue of Liberty read my 2015 post on how it came to be there.

 

*** And before you get too excited, know that there are many categories of migrants to America that are exempt from the “public charge” rules.

From ABC News on the decision:

The rule requires immigration officials to assess factors including an applicant’s age, health and assets, while expanding the list of off-limits public services to include Medicaid, food stamps and housing subsidies.

Pregnant women, children, refugees, asylum seekers and certain members of the military are generally exempt.

 

Minnesota: Somali ‘Community’ Rallies Around Mom as Social Services Removes Kids

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 12 Comments

Diversity is beautiful alert!

Read the story and tell me what jumps out at you!

From the Sahan Journal:

(emphasis is mine)

A northwestern Minnesota county removed a Somali mother’s kids. Somalis want to know why.

Somalis in Minnesota and the world are watching the case of an East Grand Forks mother whose children were removed by child protective services. Somali community members believe she’s being treated unfairly, but the facts are not black and white.

Nimo Khalif, 33, mother of six surrounded by supporters outside of the Polk County Court House.

CROOKSTON, Minn. — More than 100 Somali people packed the hallways of the Polk County Courthouse Monday, praying and then pressing officials to explain why the six children of a Somali mother had been taken away from her.

Nimo Khalif, 33, a widow who came to America from a refugee camp in Kenya in late 2014, had been raising the children ages 10 months to 16 years alone in East Grand Forks. Suddenly, the kids were in the custody of Polk County child protective services.

A distraught Nimo posted a video pleading in Somali for help. She said she wasn’t told why the children, ages 10 months to 16 years old, were removed and didn’t know what to do. Later, she would describe it as a “kidnapping.”

The Somali community across Minnesota responded. The widely shared video helped deliver supporters to the courthouse Monday, including many who drove nearly five hours from the Twin Cities. [Who helped her create her video to disparage America?—ed]

They left without answers. It turns out the case is more complicated than those responding to Nimo’s pleas might have realized. While concerns remain in the Somali community that Nimo’s being treated differently because she’s Somali, the facts are not yet black and white.

Polk County is five hours from the heart of Little Mogadishu (Minneapolis).

It began when one of Nimo’s daughters allegedly told a teacher in an email that she did not feel safe at home and was afraid to live with her mother.

[….]

The case has reverberated across Minnesota and the world. Somali National TV sent a reporter to cover the hearing. The video it posted on Facebook has nearly 150,000 views.

Somali community members who know Nimo said they couldn’t understand how she suddenly lost custody of her children.

Nimo strived to make sure her children were successful in their academic and Islamic education, said Abdirizak Duale, chair of Al-Huda Islamic Center of East Grand Forks.

[….]

Nimo, 33, works as a teacher’s assistant at Central Middle School, the same school where two of her daughters were taken into protective custody. She remains an employee of the district and has not been put on leave.

She said her husband, the children’s father, died 10 months ago in Uganda, leaving her to raise their children in far northwestern Minnesota without immediate family nearby.

There are many more details and photos, here.

So now tell me, what jumped out at you? 

Was it the fact that she, a “widow,” was resettled in Minnesota, or so we were told in 2014, lives alone struggling to raise six children on a low wage job (surely with the help of MN welfare), but now has a 10-month-old.

Where is the baby-daddy? 

Why isn’t he helping the family? Or, is it possible that the refugee mom traveled back to where she ‘escaped’ from, Africa, 19 months ago for a conjugal visit with her ‘husband’ who is now conveniently dead.

The next time someone tells you that refugees don’t cost state and county taxpayers anything, remember this story.

Nimo Khalif  and her brood will cost plenty—kids’ education, courts, social services, food stamps, housing assistance, medical care!  And what does Polk County and America get other than worldwide criticism?

By the way, anyone seen CAIR Minnesota riding to her rescue?

Some Counties Still Debating Refugee Consent even as Court has Blocked Trump Reform

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Every morning I scan dozens of refugee stories and am seeing that some counties are still debating and voting to support refugee placement in their counties even as the US State Department says it has stopped seeking consent due to the success of Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in finding a friendly court to enjoin the President’s reform initiative.

(In Minnesota the contractors sent out letters to counties to say they could stop debating the issue, and I assume that is going on elsewhere as well.)

Florida Governor DeSantis was one of a handful of Republican governors who did not say whether he was for or against more refugees for 2020 before the refugee contractors succeeded in halting the President’s reform plan.

Any governors who had not yet said yea or nay are keeping their powder dry—especially the Republican governors of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

I was surprised to see how few counties and states got their letters into the State Department prior to the Maryland court enjoining the whole process on January 15th.

Presumably the administration is working on a legal response, but in the meantime the US Refugee Admissions Program will continue to run as it has been for decades with the nine contractors*** pretty much calling the shots with the help of deep staters in the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in HHS).

Of course at least for now the number of refugees coming in has been greatly reduced (will have numbers on Saturday).  And, whatever happens going forward the exercise was useful for flushing out governors and city and county elected officials who are eager to admit more impoverished people to America for you to take care of with your tax dollars.

Below is what the DOS is telling visitors to their website on the Executive Order:

Remember the consent period as described in the ‘funding guidance’ would only have been in effect from June through September so that timetable must surely be seriously impaired now.

Executive Order 13888 on Enhancing State and Local Involvement in Refugee Resettlement provides that refugees may be resettled only in U.S. jurisdictions where both the state and local governments have provided their consent. Close cooperation with state and local governments ensures that refugees are resettled in communities that are eager and equipped to support their successful integration into American society.

The requirements of Executive Order 13888 are incorporated into the annual notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for resettlement agencies that wish to participate in the initial resettlement of refugees in the United States. The NOFO directs resettlement agencies to seek written consents for that fiscal year from the state governor’s office and the chief executive officer of the local government (county or county equivalent) for each state and locality where the resettlement agencies propose to resettle refugees. Currently, this NOFO is closed due to a January 15, 2020 preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court in HIAS v. Trump, PJM 19-3346.

Executive Order 13888 provides that the Secretary of State shall publicly release any written consent of states and localities to the resettlement of refugees. The following is a list of such written consents that the Department of State had received and processed as of January 13, 2020. Currently, the Department of State is not processing or publishing such consents due to a January 15, 2020 preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court in HIAS v. Trump, PJM 19-3346.

Now go here and see the consent letters that had been processed before January 15.

 

*** For new readers these (below) are the nine federally-funded refugee contractors that operate as a huge conveyor belt monopolizing all refugee placement in America.

Church World Service one of the ‘religious charities’ responsible for changing America by changing the people with a ‘Christian message.’

And, they do not limit their advocacy toward only legal immigration programs, but are heavily involved in supporting the lawlessness at our borders.

The question isn’t as much about refugees per se, but about who is running federal immigration policy now and into the future?

(I try to post this information once a day, or at least every few days!)

 

I continue to argue that these nine contractors are the heart of America’s Open Borders movement and thus there can never be long-lasting reform of US immigration policy when these nine un-elected phony non-profits are paid by the taxpayers to work as community organizers pushing an open borders agenda.

 

Leftists Rejoice as Republican Governors Embrace Refugees, Stick it to Trump

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here we go again!

In order to bludgeon the President, here comes another misinformed diatribe using the Republican governors who consented to receiving more impoverished people for their states’ taxpayers to care for.

The writer (Steven Roberts) is a longtime Democrat who has lived in the Washington, DC/New York City elitist bubble as the husband of journalist Cokie Roberts.  But, because he has lived in his bubble he hasn’t a clue about the refugee admissions program (Washington, DC gets only a handful), how it works, how it impacts communities, how it is paid for, and how it has admitted some evil, yes evil, creatures.

But, that hasn’t stopped him from running his mouth about something he knows so little about!

Esar Met, a Burmese Muslim refugee, raped and murdered a little Burmese Christian girl in Utah in 2008. He was sentenced to life in prison. The medical examiner testified that the child died in excruciating pain. The child’s parents wished they had never been resettled to America. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/05/15/utah-burmese-muslim-refugee-sentenced-in-brutal-rapemurder-of-little-girl/

Roberts uses, as the star of his opinion piece, Gary Herbert, the governor of Utah who prattled on about a “beautiful cycle of charity” when he told the State Department to send Utah more refugees.

More like Esar Met?

Did the governor not know about the horrible murder committed by Burmese refugee Esar Met—the trial was front page news in Utah in 2014—when he penned his “beautiful cycle of charity” letter?

Or, is the governor hoping you all have forgotten about it? (If you don’t remember, it didn’t happen, right!)

I suppose we should forgive Roberts because the national media NEVER reported the story and frankly this is the primary reason I continue to report about the other side of the “beautiful cycle of charity.”

My mission is to balance the news! (and to remember!).

Here is a bit of Roberts’ syndicated column which LOL! brings in my old pals at Church World Service (so get ready for another trip to USA Spending)!

Steven V. Roberts: These Republican governors welcome refugees

Donald Trump didn’t reckon with Gary Herbert.

Since the day the president took office, he has conducted a morally abhorrent and economically absurd campaign against refugees, slashing the annual quota admitted to America from 110,00 during Barack Obama’s last year in office to 18,000 currently.  [Like so many lazy lefties, he fails to mention that Obama never had numbers close to 110,000 in his previous 7 years in office.—ed]

Last fall, Trump doubled down on his appeal to the country’s worst nativist instincts, issuing an executive order that allows individual states and localities to bar all new refugees from resettling within their borders. Clearly, he thought most Republicans would join his cynical crusade.

Utah Governor Herbert, one of many Republican governors to turn on Trump!

Enter Herbert, the governor of Utah since 2009. Not only did he reject Trump’s offer, he wrote a letter to the president welcoming refugees to Utah and asking the administration to send more of them, not fewer.

“Those refugees who resettle in Utah become integrated and accepted into our communities,” wrote the governor. “They become productive employees and responsible citizens. They become contributors to our schools, churches and other civic institutions, even helping serve more recent refugees and thus generating a beautiful cycle of charity. This marvelous compassion is simply embedded into our state’s culture.”

It turns out that “marvelous compassion” is still embedded in our national culture, not just Utah’s, despite the president’s efforts to deny and destroy our heritage. Political leaders across the country, including many Republicans, have soundly rebuked the president because they know Herbert is right: Refugees are an enormous benefit to any community.

Church World Service’s CEO the Reverend McCullough is far left. That is Nihad Awad, CAIR’s head honcho in the middle. They were arrested on the steps of the Capitol this fall protesting the President. McCullough pulls down a handsome salary and benefits package for doing “moral” ‘religious charity’ work.

[….]

Some of the revulsion to Trump’s anti-refugee rampage is simply moral. The Rev. John L. McCullough, president of the Church World Service, an agency that helps resettle refugees, told the New York Times, “With one final blow, the Trump administration has snuffed out Lady Liberty’s torch and ended our nation’s legacy of compassion and welcome.”

[….]

The whole country will suffer from Trump’s poisonous policies. Gary Herbert’s “beautiful cycle of charity” is also a beautiful cycle of growth and prosperity.

You can read it all here . Roberts throws in a bit about how businesses need the cheap labor refugees provide in the “beautiful cycle of charity.”

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=7685

Roberts fails to mention that for its “moral” charitable work Church World Service is paid millions annually by US taxpayers (62.3 % of CWS’s income is from federal grants according to a recent report at Charity Navigator).

Therefore it has a financial interest in opposing the President and lobbying for ever greater numbers of impoverished Africans, Asians and Middle Easterners to be dropped off in your towns and cities (but not in Washington, DC!) for local and state taxpayers to support.

One of CWS’s “moral” agitators!

This is now my third visit to USA Spending in the last week.

See how much boodle the Bishops get, and yesterday I reported on how Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is doing well even under the Trump Administration.

Church World Service is actually doing better under Trump than it did for most of Obama’s years! 

 

https://www.usaspending.gov/#/recipient/c83f597b-f40f-a1a9-e865-31db5c8ea40d-C
What is up with this? See that they are getting more of your money now than they did for most of Obama’s years!!!

 

“Marvelous compassion” pays well!

Here is the page from CWS most recent IRS Form 990.  The good reverend is doing well by doing good—sure must beat leading a flock!

 

Doesn’t that work out to about $130 an hour, not including that extra related income?

 

Is your church a member of Church World Service?

What can you do?

Roberts’ column is syndicated so if you see it show up in your city, write a letter to the editor, use his column to get the paper to publish your views on the UN-driven Refugee Admissions Program.

Three down and six more visits ahead at USASpending.gov!