Editor: This is another copy of testimony submitted in response to my offer to post testimony that readers have sent, or are sending, to the US State Department before May 19th.  Your testimony can be long or short, more detailed or less so.  Just send something!  And, then be sure to copy it to your elected officials.

Less than 24 hours left to get something in to the US State Department!

From Elena:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am opposed to any expansion of the refugee population in this country. I reside in Missoula Montana where a new International Rescue Committee Office is scheduled to open. To my knowledge there has been no formal refugee integration plan. I asked one of the Missoula County Commissioners, who signed a letter welcoming the refugees, when would the Reception and Placement (R & P) Abstract be available to the public? She had no clue as to what I was talking about.

According to a recent local paper article, what was initially promised has already changed.

Here is what the Missoula Independent was now reporting:

“When the IRC’s request was approved, the prospect that refugees placed in Missoula would actually originate from Middle Eastern countries such as Syria seemed slim, as Syrians make up a small portion of those currently entering the United States.

However, IRC officials now say resettlement of Syrians appears more likely. Most refugees who relocate to the U.S. are placed with relatives, but Missoula’s fledgling program will likely draw from the roughly 30 percent of all arriving refugees who don’t have U.S. family ties.”

We have seen nothing in writing that provides any of the following information:

A list of the countries from which the refugees will come:

Health Care Access and Refugees with Special Needs:

Public Outreach:

Employment Services:

Housing:

Educational Services (language):

Also unknown are details regarding how long they would remain on Federal subsidies and what happens when those subsidies end?

There’s a major difference between “immigrants” and “refugees”. Both don’t even come near to being similar to those coming to America in the 19th and 20th centuries. Back then their first stop was Ellis Island and they had to have a sponsor. Today they seem to be colonizing rather than integrating and accepting our culture and government.

Lastly, if the refugee resettlement in Europe and Australia is any indication of what we in America can expect, then we better take a long and hard look at ANY resettlement program and plans.

This is the ninth testimony in our series leading up to the deadline for testimony at 5 p.m. on May 19th. Go here for where they are archived. We are posting as many as we can because we know the US State Department has refused in the past to make them public (so much for Obama transparency!).
Because I have so many of your testimonies, I promise to continue to post them even after the deadline has passed.

First, many apologies to all of you who thought I meant I would send your comments to the State Department.  I don’t think they would like that very much!   I offered merely to publish them here at RRW after (or even before) you send them in so that they would not completely disappear down a black hole and so that others would know that they are not alone.
So, here below, as suggested by another reader, is a very clear line about where to send them by 5 p.m. tomorrow May 19th!

Persons wishing to submit written comments on the appropriate size and scope of the FY 2017 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program should submit them by 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 19, 2016 via email to PRM-Comments@state.gov or fax (202) 453-9393.

For all of you who don’t know what we are talking about, go back to this post for a complete discussion. HOWEVER, I JUST NOW NOTICED THAT THE FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE HAS THE WRONG DATES IN IT! I’ve written to the State Department for clarification! [update May 19th: we did hear from the State Department and they admitted they had made an error! You have until 5 p.m. today to get your testimony submitted.]
And, thanks to all who sent comments to me.  I am still in the process of reading them all and getting them posted. Needless to say, I had no idea that so many of you would take the time to write.
All of the testimony we have posted so far and other information on this important opportunity is archived here.
 

You have until 5 p.m. on Thursday to send testimony to the US State Department about what you think the “size and scope” of the US Refugee Admissions Program should be in FY2017.

‘Size and scope’ means how many should we admit (Obama has already said he wants 100,000) and where should they come from.  See here.
My apologies……
I realized from some ‘testimony’ I have received that I was not clear in this post and some of you thought I would submit your testimony to the State Department.  I can’t do that.  I was only offering to re-produce (post) your testimony on these pages because we know the State Department has in the past refused to make any of it public.
They use the privacy excuse, but what I really want to see is what the federal resettlement contractors (the big nine) are telling the State Dept., and those should be made public because they are essentially government agencies operating mostly on taxpayer dollars.
Please send in testimony.  I have reproduced below the Federal Register Notice.  Then you can send your testimony to me at refugeewatcher@gmail.com (with the word ‘testimony’ in the subject line). (I am still plowing through the testimonies I have received.)
However, please be polite, after reviewing carefully some I have gotten, I apologize but I can’t publish a few (no threats please!).
Click here to read what I have posted so far.
And, last but not least, send your testimony to all of your elected officials, especially your two US Senators and your Congressman! Tell them you want all testimony made public.  Heck, they write the laws, not the State Department! 

Federal Register Notice:

Editor: This is another copy of testimony submitted in response to my offer to post testimony that readers have sent, or are sending, to the US State Department before May 19th.  Your testimony can be long or short, more detailed or less so.  Just send something!  And, then be sure to copy it to your elected officials.

I’m sure readers will agree with most of what Mark says….even if you don’t agree with his primary reason!

As a citizen of the United States of America, I am writing to give input on the FY 2017 U.S. Refugee Admission Program.

I strongly object to the Program’s pattern of admitting people from countries with languages, cultures and religions that are completely at odds to the current and predominant American language, cultures and religions.

What is being done to the North African, Middle Eastern, and Asian refugees in bringing them to the USA is INHUMANE! The lifestyle in which they are used to living is so radically different from the lifestyles that dominate the American scene. They are being traumatized unnecessarily!

As a clinical social worker, I do therapy with people who have been traumatized by various events. I see and hear the hurt and anguish that they experience on a daily basis. It is not fair to the refugees to bring them to a country that is so foreign to their way of life.

Why is the Federal Government and the various Federal contractors continuing to torture these poor refugees by forcing them into such a radically different environment after they have already experienced such trauma by having to leave their homes and peoples?

Why aren’t these desperate refugees being relocated in countries that are similar to the ones which they are fleeing?

If they come from somewhere in North Africa, surely there is another location in North Africa that is relatively peaceful. If they are fleeing from a region in Asia, surely there is another part of Asia that is not under such strife where they can be easily resettled.

We are now reading about refugees who are asking to return to their homelands because they have not been able to adjust to the European or American environments in which they have been placed. In Europe, some countries have even started paying for their return trips home! What an unnecessary waste of limited financial resources! Don’t bring them to such foreign places in the beginning!

We must avoid such unnecessary trauma on these already devastated adults and children.

I am particularly concerned about the Muslim refugees being exposed to the inherent racism and Islamophobia of American culture, as noted by the Obama administration. Why are these individuals being placed in such dangerous circumstances? Shouldn’t they be placed in predominantly Muslim countries where they will be able to easily assimilate and where they will not be in danger from Islamophobes?

In conclusion, as a clinical social worker I am writing out of concern for the refugees who are already traumatized within their own homelands who are being subjected to further trauma by being forced to relocate in a country that is so completely different from their country of origin. This is all so completely unnecessary! This is all so UNFAIR! Please do not bring any more refugees to the racist and Islamophobic USA! Resettle the refugees in another country that is as close as possible to their current language, culture, and religion. By doing so, you will be helping to preserve what little sanity these traumatized refugees retain and helping them start on the road to healing within a generation.

Thank you for listening.

In the spirit of compassion for the refugees,

By the way, because there are refugees who come to America who subsequently become very disillusioned, we have proposed a ‘repatriation fund’ which would pay their airfare back to their home country. In most cases refugees are trapped here because they simply can’t afford the return ticket.
‘Islamophobia’ is a genuine fear based on copious evidence coming to us from all corners of the world.
This is the eighth testimony in our series leading up to the deadline for testimony on May 19th. Go here for where they are archived. We are posting as many as we can because we know the US State Department has refused in the past to make them public (so much for Obama transparency!).

Editor: This is another copy of testimony submitted in response to my offer to post testimony that readers have sent, or are sending, to the US State Department before May 19th.  Your testimony can be long or short, more detailed or less so.  Just send something!  And, then be sure to copy it to your elected officials.

Ms. Anne C. Richard
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration

Dear Ms. Richard:

When you finally arrived in SC we were hopeful that the administration would listen to us, engage, and respond to public sentiment about the Refugee Resettlement Program. Thank you for seeking to help them, and coming to Spartanburg, SC and other SC venues to visit.

Having listened to your extended presentation of who you are and what you are doing, in despair I finally interrupted and asked how much time was allotted for this hearing. You said, “Just one hour.” With a huge chunk of that time already consumed by you and your entourage, it became clear to us that you did not come to listen but to make your “resettlement sales pitch” and check it off your to-do-list that Congress and others had requested of you, including Rep. Trey Gowdy. And off to the governor to appeal to her sympathy with her own family of immigrants from India and implore SC to sign off on the Federal and UN plan despite the railing of SC citizens. It looked like it was your campaign tour, Ms. Richard.

One striking response you gave was, “We certainly don’t want to send refugees where they are not wanted.” I say again, they are not welcomed until LARGE public hearings are held across Spartanburg County and SC and the citizens have opportunity to hear the plan and have an honest dialogue about what it should and should not look like in SC. I requested large public hearing in our meeting and I was ignored. However, your statement seems disingenuous as both the World Relief Spartanburg program rolls on and the administration’s “deceptive business practices” circumventing the majority of Carolinians and the USA, by surging forward with more refugees, and even sneaking migrant minors over to the court system to be placed with a “sponsor,” and someone thinks we are none the wiser. How do you clean up this kind of behavior so it is not called human trafficking since a lot of people are making huge amounts of money as “refugees” are shuttled in to the USA and put on the “auction block” for the VOLAGS to pick and choose? Well, at least someone has a choice.

We see the genius of American immigration when people came here who shared a passion for freedom, religious freedom, having somewhat of a common-denominator of faith, sometimes the same language, at least a compatible cross-cultural experience, and refugees who were willing to work and pay their own way and become a part of the American fabric. These made great Americans as they passionately assimilated and became US citizens. We applaud this. However, what the administration plans is not only not the same it is counter to who we are.

Ellis Island screened those who came so the USA was not a target of communicable diseases. Your screening has FAILED and is not even guaranteeing to US citizens the refugees’ health.

A trickle, then a flood of poorly-educated, non-native speaking groups of immigrants, often Muslim, have created the most chaotic enclaves our Continent has faced.The tenets of the Muslim faith and culture demand the supplanting of the receiving society’s culture and faith however long it takes. You should know this and have a moratorium on RRP until citizens are granted hearings and proposed refugees have been thoroughly vetted. Then, perhaps, there can be a cooperative effort to address this messy issue.

The sneaky, dangerous, expensive, culture-changing, community-destroying Refugee Resettlement program is on track to fundamentally change America. Isn’t this what the president has said he wants? We are not having it. That is not what America wants either. We love people and desire for refugees to be helped and settled in countries in the Middle East or Near East where there is compatibility with the refugees faith, culture and values. Dr. Ben Carson learned when visiting refugees in Jordan that the refugees really desire to return to their homeland when hostilities subside. If they come to America it is very likely this would never happen. The US could help them in the Middle East for a mere fraction of the cost of bringing them to the US.

But what of the VOLAGS? Neither the financially broke Federal, State or county governments has the resources to fund this unfeasible and unfair system forever, and the Federal government soon cuts off the flow of funds and then WE THE PEOPLE get to pay. This is patently wrong. The only justification for continuing is the president and State Department really care, have hired a lot of people and we have a legacy, program and department to protect no matter the cost. Keep this up and no matter what differences we have there will be no America left as we have known it. I do want to believe the best of you and trust that your love of America will advocate for communication, closure, as well as compassion.

This is the seventh testimony in our series  leading up to the deadline for testimony on May 19th.  Go here for where they are archived. We are posting as many as we can because we know the US State Department has refused in the past to make them public (so much for Obama transparency!).
We have many posts on the controversy involving Spartanburg, SC.  Click here to get caught up.
And, one more thing! If you are sending testimony from South Carolina, please be sure to send it to both of your US Senators and to SC Rep. Trey Gowdy.  Ask them to tell the US State Department to make all the testimony public!