Category: Taxpayer goodies

Major refugee resettlement agency in meltdown?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Sure sounds like it! 

We reported here that we had heard rumblings, but Breitbart News yesterday has all the gory details from a reliable source close to the organization—Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—headquartered in Baltimore, MD.

Read the bombshell story by Michael Patrick Leahy here.

‘Source: Claims of Financial Mismanagement, Fraud, and Harassment at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Spark External Investigation’

Hartke and Bishop on Hill in March (2)
LIRS CEO Linda Hartke (left) with ELCA Bishop Eaton lobbying on the Hill for more refugees (aka paying clients) in March of this year.

My questions include:

~Will Trump’s federal government suspend LIRS (96% funded by taxpayer dollars) until the truth is learned?

~Will Congress have the energy and the guts to take a look at this?

~And, could this be the tip of the iceberg—is LIRS a one-off or could others of the nine federal contractors  have gotten loosey-goosey with their finances too?

After all when you are ‘doing good’ who would have the audacity to question how you handle free federal money, right?

~And, here is another: If proven true, what impact do these allegations have on LIRS subcontractors (aka affiliates)?

Just to remind longtime readers and for new readers arriving here today, there are nine organizations (supposedly non-profits)*** almost completely funded with US taxpayer dollars which distribute federal money to hundreds of subcontractors working in towns and cities across America where refugees are being placed.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is the parent organization to the offices listed below. So whatever happens in Baltimore could have a direct impact on these local “affiliates.”

For example, LSS-MN does not act independently of the Baltimore ‘mothership’ when it comes to resettling refugees. It is the Baltimore office that sends them cases and the money that comes along with the refugees.  Federal taxpayer dollars simply flow through LIRS headquarters to these subcontractors.  (At the heart of the allegations about federal grant funds is the issue of how much headquarters keeps of the millions of dollars it passes through.)

LIRS affiliates could see an impact if the allegations of financial wrong doing are significant enough for the federal agency (HHS in this case) to issue a ‘stop work order.’

Arkansas
Canopy of Northwest Arkansas, Fayetteville

Arizona
Refugee Focus, Phoenix, Tuscon

California
Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Service, Los Angeles

Colorado
Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, Denver, Colorado Springs, Greeley

Florida
Lutheran Social Services of Northeast Florida, Jacksonville
Lutheran Services Florida, Miami, Orlando, Tampa

Georgia
Lutheran Services of Georgia, Atlanta, Savannah

Illinois
RefugeeOne, Chicago

Maryland
Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, Hyattsville

Massachusetts
Ascentria Community Services, Westfield, Worcester

Michigan
Samaritas, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Grand Rapids, Troy

Minnesota
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, Minneapolis, St. Cloud

Nebraska
Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Omaha

New Hampshire
Ascentria Community Services, Concord

New Mexico
Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, Albuquerque, Santa Fe

New York
Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, Utica

North Carolina
Lutheran Services Carolinas, Raleigh

North Dakota
Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota—Center for New Americans, Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks

Oregon
Lutheran Community Services Northwest, Portland

Pennsylvania
Bethany Christian Services, Allentown, Lancaster, Philadelphia

South Carolina
Lutheran Services Carolinas, Columbia, Charleston

South Dakota
Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, Sioux Falls

Texas
Refugee Services of Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, Amarillo, Houston

Virginia
Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, Falls Church

Washington
Lutheran Community Services Northwest, Tacoma, Vancouver

Wisconsin
Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Madison, Milwaukee

When you read Breitbart’s investigative piece you might not have much concern for the internal personnel machinations/squabbles/bullying/firings/ etc, but like me, you might find anything that suggests the misuse of your tax dollars compelling. Pistachio nuts! (you will have to read Leahy’s piece to see what that means!)

Here is one bit of the detailed report from a source to Breitbart (source refers to LIRS as LIaRS):

Over the six year period from 2011 through 2016, LIaRS revenue from the U.S. government grew from $30 million to almost $65 million. During that time, under CEO Hartke’s oversight, the headquarter’s spending exploded from $8.8 million to $13.5 million with a staff of less than 100. Hartke’s salary also jumped from $182,270 to more than $293,000 last year (note this does not include her 9 percemt employer retirement plan contribution, 100% employer paid health care, and paid time off).

Given that USG revenue accounts for almost 95 cents of every LIaRS dollar, the only way Hartke could continue to spend on herself and the headquarters is through charging the USG an indirect cost recovery rate on the entire amount of their grants, even though 90 percent of the funds were simply passed through to subawards to the dozens of independent affiliates that actually do the refugee resettlement work (i.e. Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, RefugeeOne of Chicago, Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, etc.).

This is direct contradiction to the Code of Federal Regulations which only allows the ICR to be charged on the first $25,000 of each subaward. LIaRS charges it on all the money, thereby giving them millions of dollars per year to fund their headquarters for doing nothing. As an example, in 2016 of the $54 million in government funds received by LIaRS, more than $55 million was sent out in subawards to the independent affiliates to do the actual resettlement work … but LIaRS managed to charge the government the ICR rate of over 10 percent on that $55 million which brings over $5 million to be kept in Baltimore for Hartke and her office.

If I may be so bold as to tell the Inspector General at Health and Human Services what to do….

….it would be prudent for the IG to issue a Stop Work Order.

If the allegations of inflating direct costs are true and the commensurate lack of internal controls are found, LIRS financial practices raise serious questions about their ability to function as a federal resettlement agency (receiving millions of dollars appropriated by Congress!) at least until this mess is cleared up.

So what can you do?

Wilmot Collins
Note that the new refugee mayor of Helena, Montana is on this board. Ask him what he thinks about the allegations!  http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/11/08/liberian_refugee_wilmot_collins_elected_mayor_of_helena_montana.html

Tell Donald Trump to suspend LIRS while the investigation continues.

And….

After reading the Breitbart expose’ you know that LIRS Board of Directors has launched an internal investigation in addition to whatever the federal government is doing.

See the Board members here and below.  If you are of the Lutheran faith you need to have a word with anyone of them you know plus speak up to your local pastors!

From LIRS website:

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s board of directors sets the organization’s mission goals and ensures that we have the resources, leadership and oversight necessary to carry them out. Our president and leadership team guides the day-to-day operations of the organization as we work toward achieving our mission goals with integrity, courage and fiscal responsibility.

Board Members
The board is composed of 15 members who have knowledge of and commitment to refugees and immigrants. LIRS believes strength is found in diversity and that refugees and immigrants need a voice at the table of influence. All branches of the Lutheran Church as well as other denominations are represented on the board. There are also three former refugees or first generation immigrants on the board. The LIRS president is an ex-officio member of the board.

Executive Committee

At-Large Members

Leadership Team Members

President — Linda Hartke
Contact: president@lirs.org or call 410-230-2785

Chief Operating Officer — Gary Gold-Moritz
Vice President for Programs — Kay Bellor
Vice President for Development, Outreach and Communications — Staci Coomer
Chief Information Officer — William Bisbee

To contact a member of the Leadership Team, email lirs@lirs.org or call 410-230-2700.

 

See my complete archive on LIRS here.

***These are the nine federal contractors receiving millions of tax payer dollars annually. Could any of the others not be following federal grant reporting rules?  Come on Congress, time to get serious about reviewing the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program and how the contractors are spending our money!

 

 

US Bishops lambast Trump over closure of Central American Minors program

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As we told you the other day, the Trump Administration has closed a completely illegal program at the US State Department that was created out of thin air by Obama’s team in 2014.

Obama had taken it upon himself to simply write refugee law!

Besides the fact that youths (mostly male teens) flooding north from Central America are economic migrants and in some cases escaping violence, they are NOT refugees who must prove they were being persecuted for race, religion, political persuasion etc. to be legitimate refugees. Escaping violence is not a criteria in the internationally understood definition of a ‘refugee.’

Bishop immigration
Vasquez: Ending the program perpetuates family breakdown, never mind that the parents didn’t stay home with their children! And, the parents can go home to embrace their children at any time!

And, of course, no where in this whiny article at Catholic News Service does it mention that the Bishops Migration Fund is nearly 100% funded by taxpayer dollars. See here.

They NEVER mention their federal funding to take care of the “children.”

Here is Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration:

Vasquez offered prayers for those affected.

“We continue to pray and express our support for parents who endure anxiety and emotional hardship knowing their children will continue to languish in violence; and to the children themselves, who will not be able to reunite and embrace their parents,” he said.

The next time someone says something like this in your presence ask, so if that parent was so concerned about the welfare of his or her children, why did they leave the child in a hell hole and illegally go to the US for a better life for themselves?

And, if they are so worried now they could reunite easily—in their home country.

The illegal parent here in America is responsible for reuniting his own family by going home!

Lutherans in MN say they are in compliance with all federal audits/requirements, but…

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….they fail to mention that reports coming out of their primary contractor, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (in Baltimore) indicate that maybe there is a bit of a problem there with federal audits…..

I meant to get to this news yesterday in advance of the St. Cloud City Council meeting last night where the majority of the council voted down a resolution (vote was 6-1) by one councilman who is seeking a moratorium on resettlement there in order to assess the economic and social impact resettlement by the Lutherans is having on the community. (I didn’t get to it because I don’t know if it affected all of you, but in many places in the country internet services were down.)

I realized this morning after reading the news at the Star-Tribune that anything I said about the facts involving the Lutheran contractor and subcontractor changing St. Cloud wouldn’t matter one bit.  Here is the St. Cloud Times version of what happened last night (you can see the text of the resolution here and maybe use it as a model where you live!).

The St. Cloud Times, clearly biased against those who want more transparency with the resettlement plan for the city, posted this factually inaccurate opinion piece from Lutheran Social Service of MN the day before the vote.  No surprise that they were helping the Lutheran agency in its quest to forever change St. Cloud and supply local corporations with cheap labor.

Here is what Maureen Warren, a VEEP at LSS-MN told the citizens of St. Cloud:

Maureen-1_smC_HS
Maureen Warren, who btw makes over $200,000 a year in salary and related benefits, is doing well by doing good!  Has she taken any refugees to her home? http://www.lssmn.org/About-Us/Leadership/Maureen-Warren/

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota commends the new resolution supporting a just and welcoming community that passed the St. Cloud City Council on Oct. 23.

We applaud the courage and hard work by members of the City Council and others who have shown leadership and commitment to creating a strong and welcoming community for everyone.

We want to take this opportunity to correct misinformation that has surfaced in recent City Council meetings and media reports about our compliance performance in LSS Refugee Services.

On Oct. 23, the St. Cloud Times reported on a different resolution presented by council member Jeff Johnson at the last council meeting that “calls for a city moratorium on the placement of additional refugees through primary resettlement until Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota — one of six nonprofit organizations that helps settle refugees in Minnesota — demonstrates it is in compliance with federal statutes.”

We want the community to know that the LSS refugee resettlement service is subject to regular financial and service audits by the U.S. State Department and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service — and LSS is in full compliance with all federal laws and regulations.

But, how about the reports coming out of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service that they may not be in full compliance with federal grant laws and regulations?

For new readers, LSS-MN does not get refugee cases or cash directly from the federal government, but the refugees are chosen by LIRS, sent to St. Cloud and LSS-MN gets its payment of federal money passed through LIRS. LIRS receives and doles out your money to it subcontractors.

A fish rots from the head down!

Screenshot (1023).png
LIRS fancy headquarters building in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor

Persistent reports coming out of LIRS indicate that the organization is in turmoil—that the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services did audit LIRS and found irregularities in its financial reporting relating to salaries and possible misuse of grant dollars.

We received a copy of a June 30th letter to the Board of Directors at LIRS from the Inspector General at HHS instructing LIRS to make a “corrective action plan” to account for the budget irregularities.  Some of those irregularities involve ones relating to salaries of headquarters employees, sources in a position to know tell us.

Apparently that letter and subsequent internal turmoil sent the organization in to a tailspin, employees resigned, but others were given handsome severance packages in order to leave quietly, we hear.

In September the Board of Directors at LIRS announced its own investigation of the top management of the contractor that receives on average 96% of its funding from taxpayers!  Here is the text of one e-mail from Board chairman Rev. Michael Rinehart that we received. Clearly whatever is going on, it is very serious.  If federal grant mismanagement occurred, at minimum the organization must repay misappropriated dollars?

From: Michael Rinehart

Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2017

Update:

Executive Committee convened and agreed to an investigation.

I have spoken to Linda.

The investigation team has formed. They will meet next week in St. Louis.

I have the names of three law firms with whom to talk.

Things are moving fast.

Peace,
Mike
Michael Rinehart, Bishop
Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

We are offering an open invitation for a representative of LIRS in Baltimore (or the Board of Directors) to write a guest column for RRW to explain what exactly is going on if the reports I am receiving are in some way inaccurate!

Just a reminder that getting at the truth is our business because LIRS is almost completely funded from the US Treasury (and Congress is doing nothing to watch out for our money!).

Now to the other compliance audits that LSS-MN referenced in its St. Cloud Times piece—the State Department Service audits.

These are audits done on an irregular basis where someone shows up (usually announced!) from the US State Department to assess whether the local subcontractor (LSS-MN) is complying with its contract mostly regarding the care given to refugees.

The compliance reports that are written are kept secret from the public.

I have heard of them being obtained through FOIA requests that the State Department takes years to respond to.

From the recent St. Cloud R & P Abstract:

Screenshot (1059)

 

If LSS-MN is now in “full compliance” surely they wouldn’t object to releasing those compliance reports where they weren’t compliant and explain to the public what they have done to satisfy the federal requirements that they apparently were not following.

And, readers, isn’t it incredible how little scrutiny they get from Washington—monitoring visits FIVE years apart! And, the 2017 visit was from LIRS in Baltimore.  The US State Department hasn’t been there since 2012!

I’d like to know if there are even any penalties for not being in FULL compliance!

See my giant St. Cloud archive by clicking here.  Don’t miss two posts on LIRS signing contracts with global meatpackers JBS Swift here and Tyson Foods here. (See LSS-MN helped get this deal somehow).

Just think about it—greedy global corporations changing the demographic makeup of small heartland cities with third world-laborers, aided and abetted by the Lutherans!

 

University of Utah researchers: there is no US data system to estimate financial and social impact of refugee resettlement on states/communities

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, I think the refugee industry wants to keep it that way! (Think about the enormous stonewalling going on in St. Cloud for instance!).

How many times over the years have I struggled to try to answer your questions about how much all of this is costing state and federal taxpayers? Now, I have a better understanding of why the facts are so elusive thanks to some researchers who sound like they do want to resettle refugees, but want answers too!

Screenshot (1056)
Frost and her fellow researchers are clearly not right-wingers. They are on to something, but will Trump’s ORR listen?

Before you read know that “service providers” is the polite word for resettlement “contractors.”

Opinion from The Salt Lake Tribune:

Resettling refugees has become harder to justify, but not for the reasons you may expect. Lost in the passionate rhetoric of lobbyists, politicians and humanitarian agencies are statistics and evidence.

Appeals to forestall resettlement efforts speak to fears of terrorists infiltrating refugee flows, notwithstanding evidence that suggests otherwise. Advocates of resettlement reference duty, morality and hospitality, but don’t provide compelling evidence to justify the financial and social strains resettlement places on host communities.

Proponents on both sides struggle to support their reasoning with evidence, and this is the real issue. The absence of consistent data collection and measurement by service providers and government agencies has impaired policy makers’ ability to craft effective policy. Furthermore, resettlement data is full of holes and redundancies because service delivery agencies do not coordinate their data collection efforts. Additionally, service providers are unable to answer basic questions about the effectiveness of their programs and current resettlement trends because their data are not structured in an analyzable format.

Standardizing refugee resettlement data collection could revolutionize the resettlement process. It would facilitate analysis, enabling service providers and those interested in refugee statistics to more easily understand what is happening in real time. This information would also enable service providers to better serve refugee communities and educate policymakers on current trends, potential issues and policy gaps.

[….]

CCSLogo

Without meaningful data standards, agencies and organizations may struggle to evaluate their work and share information. Because funding is typically tied to defined performance or outcome measures, evaluation is a crucial element of program design. The absence of data standards makes evaluation problematic and makes comparisons across programs nearly impossible. The University of Utah’s Center for Research on Migration and Refugee Integration’s recently attempted to evaluate Catholic Community Services’ refugee case management program but was stymied before it even began because the case data were not collected in an analysis-friendly format; moreover, it is impossible to track refugee outcomes as individuals pass from one agency’s stewardship to another’s. Service providers and policymakers across the country face similar challenges.

[…..]

Data standardization can only happen if the United States’ Office of Refugee Resettlement takes the lead on this issue. Access to federal funding is already conditional on reporting to the office. The simple solution is this: tie federal funds to data standardization and formatting.

So why isn’t it being done?—surely reform doesn’t require the lazy lunks in Congress. ORR can require this before it throws more of your money at the US Refugee contractors. So why aren’t they doing it? I think I have a guess!

Refugee lobbying consortium hires Podesta Group

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Refugee Council USA, a group of ‘non-profits’, it is revealed, paid Podesta $100,000 to influence Congress.  Was that your taxpayer dollars they used?

RCUSA the lobbying arm of the nine federal resettlement contractors*** and the same group that marched for CAIR in Washington recently hired the lobbying firm—Podesta Group-–to influence certain Senators to continue their advocacy for refugee resettlement/immigration reform and to get Congress to give them more payola!

For all of the members of RCUSA see this post.

 

Senate Holds Hearing On Extending Term Of FBI Director Mueller
Rubio and Graham, two of the Senators the Podesta Group was hired to keep on the Open Borders (more refugees!) bandwagon by supplying them with talking points to counter YOU!

This news is a shocker and an indication that the refugee industry is much sleazier than I dreamed even after ten years of following their maneuvers to change America by changing the people.

 

Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart has uncovered an internal agreement (between the group that carries the name of Clinton’s campaign manager and also includes someone in its leadership that came from the Jeb Bush team) that is simply stunning.

For those of you working (on your own dime and your own time) in small ‘pockets of resistance’ in your local communities, look what you are up against!

But take heart! Things may be unraveling and maybe the swamp is starting to be drained after all! 

(If you missed it, check out giant foreign meatpacker paying the Lutherans for help with supplying cheap and compliant refugee labor, here.)

Here are Leahy’s opening paragraphs:

The lobbying arm of the refugee resettlement industry hired the Podesta Group earlier this year to deliver “talking points” that provide “cover” to Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and other pro-amnesty Republican members of Congress when discussing the issue of refugee resettlement with the media and other Republicans.

The Refugee Council USA (RCUSA), the “trade organization” of refugee resettlement agencies who receive almost all of their funding from the federal government, paid the Podesta Group $100,000 to lobby Congress in 2017, according to Open Secrets.

RCUSA describes itself as “a coalition of 25 U.S.-based non-governmental organizations . . . dedicated to refugee protection, welcome, and excellence in the U.S. refugee resettlement program.”

The Podesta Group “can help RCUSA develop messaging that concedes the political dynamic that gave rise to the [Trump Executive Order reducing refugee arrivals and increasing vetting], that acknowledges the felt security risk, and that reframes its core asks in a way that does not alienate Republicans but gives them an incentive to collaborate,” the proposal submitted by the Podesta Group in March of this year to the RCUSA for the engagement stated….. (See Breitbart for those snips.)

Leahy continues:

“Our primary targets will be Republicans–and some key Democrats who work well across the aisle–who sit on committees of jurisdiction and whose responsibilities include refugee and asylum policies,” the proposal added.

[….]

Targets specifically identified in the proposal included, among others, Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), all on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Now check out the proposal from Podesta.  Gotta keep the federal money flowing to the refugee contractors (that is why the focus on the Appropriations Committee).

 

Continue reading here, this is so juicy!

I can’t emphasize this enough!  Rather than being discouraged by the money and power lining up against you (as this news shows), in ‘Pockets of Resistance’ you are making great headway in educating your fellow citizens about this secretive and sleazy process called refugee resettlement!  Don’t give up now!

With a slowdown in refugee arrivals and thus a slowdown in payments from the Treasury to these contractors, the system (keep fingers crossed!) may be on the verge of self-destructing. [Update May 2020: the system is alive and well and federal money is still flowing to the contractors.]

***These are the nine federal refugee contractors that make-up the core of the Refugee Council USA.  We have written about RCUSA often, click here.  In addition to their march for CAIR and more Muslim migration to America recently, here is another recent mention.  As I reported just two days ago, they alerted the contractors to NOT give out R & P Abstracts (plans for resettlement to your towns and cities) to taxpaying citizens.