Category: The Opposition

Refugee contractors increasingly admitting they can't survive without your money

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….your tax dollars that is. 
They can’t stay afloat on private charitable giving which says to me that there aren’t enough citizens willing to give their OWN money, or wealthy donors, who want more refugees in America!

“When you take out the underpinning that is the federal government support . . . the program is hamstrung.”

Angela Bovill

Here is the story from the Boston Globe yesterday!
It has been like pulling teeth over the years to get the contractors*** to admit that they are largely funded out of the federal, and sometimes state treasuries.  We should thank Donald Trump’s slowdown for forcing them to admit this. (They have had years slower than 50,000, but this year they can blame it on Trump!)

From story entitled:

As refugee arrivals dwindle, resettlement agencies face cuts

Here are a few snips from further down in the  piece:

The organizations receive an initial sum of $950 per refugee from the federal government to support operations, plus grants to finance specific services. [Actually some contractors keep more than $950. But rarely will you see mention of the additional grants!–ed]

Angela Bovill of Ascentria (formerly Lutheran Social Services New England). Don’t ask me why some LSS branches have changed their names, dumping the word Lutheran, in recent years.

Directors across the state said that this funding is critical to sustaining their programs.

“Private support does not make up for federal support,” said Angela Bovill, Ascentria Care Alliance’s chief executive. “When you take out the underpinning that is the federal government support . . . the program is hamstrung.”

With private dollars unable to fill budget holes, some directors have been left with no choice but to lay off staff, they said.

Government funds make up three-fourths of the International Institute of New England’s $1.27 million resettlement budget, and CEO Jeffrey Thielman said he has cut at least four full-time positions to offset a 21 percent reduction in funding.

Ascentria, which receives all of its core resettlement budget from the government, eliminated 17 positions in Massachusetts after a $611,000 shortfall.

More here.
The International Institute of New England is an USCRI subcontractor and Ascentria is a Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services sub office.

In 2013, Ms. Bovill made the astounding admission that refugee resettlement is a business! See here.

Hey, at least she is honest!—a federally-funded business (whatever that is!).
Did you know that I have an entire category called “Taxpayer goodies?” I just checked and see this will be post number 1,488 in the category!
***Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizers paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities.
Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process. I have ideas on how to do that, but no one in Congress every asks!

 

Letter to Sec. of State Tillerson is plea to keep Refugee Program at State Department

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Some of you asked me what I think of the idea floated by the Trump team to move the US Refugee Admissions Program from the State Department to the Dept. of Homeland Security.  This letter helped me decide!
If these are the supporters for keeping it at the DOS, then I vigorously support moving it!

Obama Asst. Sec. of State for PRM does not want the USRAP moved out of the DOS.

The letter reported  by the Washington Post here yesterday was spearheaded by none other than Eric Schwartz (the Soros protege who is now heading Refugees International, see here).  It is also signed by eight of the nine federal refugee contractors*** who have over the years established a cozy relationship with the bureaucrats at State. They are counted among the 58 “foreign policy experts.”
In fact there are 40 ‘experts’ and then 18 non-profit open borders activist groups.
Experts include Anne Richard (see our extensive archive here) and Ellen Sauerbrey (don’t miss this 2007 post!).  Both are former Asst. Secretaries of State for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). Sauerbrey, from Maryland, ran the refugee program for several years under George W. Bush.
Here is the WaPo on the letter (hat tip: Joanne):

A group of prominent foreign policy experts on Monday called on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to keep the office responsible for managing refu­gee inflows a part of the State Department instead of moving it to the Department of Homeland Security.

Last month, a leaked memo showed the administration contemplating a relocation of the Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration. Such a change, says a letter signed by 58 former diplomats and national security advisers, would adversely shift the bureau’s focus from humanitarian and policy concerns to solely security issues.

Ellen Sauerbrey, Bush’s Asst. Sec. of State for PRM, helps make this a “bi-partisan” letter.

“We are convinced that the elimination of PRM’s assistance functions would have profound and negative implications for the Secretary of State’s capacity to influence policy issues of key concern to the United States,” the letter states. “It would also be ironic, as this is one of the bureaus at State that has enjoyed strong bipartisan support over many years.”

The signatories include former officials who served in Republican and Democratic administrations, as well executives from numerous religious and humanitarian organizations that work with newly arrived refugees.

[….]

Eric Schwartz, the president of Refugees International who helped organize the letter sent to Tillerson, said DHS plays an important role in security screening. But he said it does not focus on foreign policy considerations, such as support for host countries where refugees are awaiting admissions and encouraging other nations to take in more displaced people.  [Why is it our job to nag other countries?—ed]

See the letter by clicking here.
Your homework assignment for today is to write to Trump and tell him you like the idea of breaking up the cozy cabal at the DOS by moving the US Refugee Admissions Program to the Dept.of Homeland Security!
***Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizers paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities.  Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process.
Eight of the nine signed the letter to pressure Tillerson.
Noticeably absent as a signatory is the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. I’ve noticed that lately they aren’t signing on to these overtly political letters. Maybe parishioners are getting to their priests! Keep it up!

 

Catholic Bishops, Lutherans lament: not enough refugees coming in to pay our bills

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

LOL! No of course they didn’t say it that way, but that is what they mean.  Instead, once again, it is about the poor refugees left in the lurch in some third world hell hole because of that meany Donald J. Trump.
This is a broken record alert, but I plan to continue to pound the issue of payment to contractors being tied to the number of refugees admitted, so there is never a reasonable discussion about any slowdown or reform of the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program.

If they were paying for their Christian ‘charity’ out of the pockets of good and kind-hearted parishioners, I would have nothing to say. But, until the USCCB admits to the media that they receive 97% of their annual migration fund budget (about $83 million in 2014) from taxpayers, I will be a broken record on the issue.

It was only six days ago I did a new accounting report for the nine federal refugee contractors*** quasi-government agencies that monopolize all resettlement in the US.
Both the Bishops and the Lutheran contractor are 96-97% funded by US taxpayers!
You will never know that by reading this news.  Indeed, Charity Navigator, a service that rates charities to help you decide if you want to give, said this about LIRS (they would have said the same about the USCCB except that outfit doesn’t file a Form 990, that we can find).

This organization is not eligible to be rated by Charity Navigator because, as a service for individual givers, we only rate organizations that depend on support from individual contributors and foundations. Organizations such as this, that get most of their revenue from the government or from program services, are therefore not eligible to be rated.

In this story from Crux (a Catholic publication) we learn that Catholics and Lutherans are #1 and #2 in the number of refugees they drop off in American towns and cities.
Here is Crux (lamentations):

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Amid a federal judge ordering the government to broaden the exemptions to the immigration travel ban partially upheld by the Supreme Court, Catholic and Lutheran leaders lamented that the immigration cap had been reached for refugees without such exemptions for the 2017 fiscal year.

The federal government suspended travel July 12 for refugee immigrants without close family connections after confirming that 50,000 refugees – the limit imposed by President Donald Trump in a March 6 executive order – had arrived on U.S. soil.

“We remain deeply troubled by the human consequences of the revised executive order on refugee admissions and the travel ban,” said Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, in a July 13 statement.

“Resettling only 50,000 refugees a year, down from 110,000, does not reflect the need, our compassion, and our capacity as a nation,” Vasquez added. “We have the ability to continue to assist the most vulnerable among us without sacrificing our values as Americans or the safety and security of our nation.” [Be sure to see my post on the ceilings going back 30 years, here.  Note that Obama got no where near 110,000 until he was virtually walking out the door, now that has become the standard measure!—ed]

“The pause on resettlement and restrictions on the number of persons who can enter our country as refugees will have an immediate effect on our ability to conduct the lifesaving work of providing safety and protection,” said a July 12 statement by Kay Bellor, vice president for programs of Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service, which is second only to the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services in the number of refugees it helps resettle in the United States.  [Yes, it will have an immediate effect because your organization raised virtually NO PRIVATE MONEY!—ed]

William Canny is the Bishops’ lobbyist in DC. He gets his salary, whatever it is, largely from the US taxpayer. Photo and bio here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-canny-989616b1

[….]

“As Bishop Vasquez said, it’s very sad, deeply troubling,” MRS executive director William Canny told Catholic News Service July 14.

Pushing for 75,000 refugees in FY18!

At least they have tempered the demand for 200,000 they made of Obama for his last year. If Trump admits 75,000 he will be about 10,000 above the average admissions for the last ten years (which included their dear leader’s years).
Crux continues….

“What we’re advocating for is 75,000” refugees to come into the United States during fiscal 2018, Canny told CNS. “We understand that the administration has security concerns. The administration made some initiative to reduce the number of refugees coming into the country. We don’t agree with it, so at a minimum, we think we should be bringing in 75,000.”

Bellor agreed with the 75,000 figure, noting the number is “less than the need.” Citing United Nations World Refugee Day figures, “the numbers are definitely not shrinking,” she said. “The number of people on the move is 66 million.”

LOL! 75,000 must be the point where they can keep their budgets plenty full with your money!
There is more at Crux, go here to read it all.
Come on all of you (not just the Lutherans and the Catholics), admit that your ‘charitable’ work with refugees could not happen without a huge infusion of more than a half a billion $ a year in federal funding.
And, come on mainstream media, it is time you told the truth!
***Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizers paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities.  Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process.

 

Hetfield of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society thinks Hawaiian judge just opened floodgates

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  By the end of the day we are now over the President’s ceiling by 194, and I think it would only be fair if HIAS set up an office in Hawaii and resettle all of those over the ceiling in that state! After all, Hawaii isn’t getting its fair share—only 3 so far in FY17.
I really don’t mean to turn RRW in to HIAS Watch***, but it is Mark Hetfield, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society’s well paid CEO who is setting himself up as the leading spokesman for the refugee industry.
Here (below) is his statement on the decision by the Hawaiian rogue judge.

Hetfield gets an award: https://www.hias.org/blog/adl-hebrew-union-college-honor-hias-work-behalf-refugees

If the Trump administration allows one judge in Hawaii to prevail, after deciding all by himself, what a “bona fide relationship” is, we might as well call it quits and go to the beach (for life!).

There is no legal standard because the Supreme Court literally made it up on the fly!

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society:

SILVER SPRING, Md.—On Thursday, July 13, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson issued an important ruling in Hawaii halting the implementation of portions of the Trump administration’s executive order banning refugees and travelers from six Muslim-majority countries.

As a result of this ruling, refugees with assurances from U.S.-based resettlement agencies are now officially considered to have “bona fide” relationships with a U.S. entity, as defined by the Supreme Court. The Trump administration had previously interpreted the Supreme Court order to mean that refugees with such ties would not be permitted entry on that basis alone.

In his decision, Judge Watson wrote that “an assurance from a United States resettlement agency, in fact, meets each of the Supreme Court’s touchstones,” and that “bona fide does not get any more bona fide than that.”

Additionally, the Court expanded the administration’s overly narrow interpretation of which close family ties would qualify to be exempted from the refugee ban, which had originally excluded even grandparents and grandchildren.

HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield said, “This is a common-sense ruling which correctly interprets what the Supreme Court explicitly wrote. Critically, thousands of refugees escaping precarious and dangerous situations should now have the chance to find the safety promised to them in this country.”

More here.

Rep. Keith Ellison was the ‘draw’ at NY anti-Trump rally sponsored by HIAS.

Remember readers, this is all about their “compensation,” about money (taxpayer money!) for each refugee they place in your towns.  It is about their office overhead, their staff salaries, their travel budgets, and their ability to put on anti-Trump rallies like this one.
***This gives me an idea.  Readers are always asking me what they can do. Here is something: Start a “watch” for each of the nine contractors. Pick your favorite from the list below and write your own blog! If I can do it, so can you!
If you decide to choose HIAS we have a huge archive on them here (a good place to start!).
Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizers paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities.  Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process.

Hawaii: Rogue judge once again rules for the Imam, attempts to thwart Trump on refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This latest was predicted and reported here by Michael Leahy at Breitbart two days ago.
Update:  Here is Leahy’s (Breitbart) take on this latest legal mess the Supreme Court is responsible for creating!

Judge Derrick Watson

Judge Derrick Watson took advantage of the mess the Supreme Court made in its recent ruling (as Justice Thomas predicted) to once again attempt to stop President Trump from carrying out a simple 120-day moratorium on refugee resettlement in order to analyze the program and determine whether security screening is sufficient.
The Supreme Court literally unconstitutionally legislated when it created a way to go around a Presidentially-determined ceiling as defined by over 3 decades of refugee law and said refugees with a “bona fide relationship” to a family member or to an “entity” could come in over the 50,000 ceiling reached yesterday (here).
BTW, today we have now exceeded the 50,000 ceiling by 168. We are at 50,168 this morning.

Before I give you Politico’s version of the judge’s decision in Hawaii yesterday, let me be clear!

The US State Department under Sec. of  State Rex Tillerson must ignore this decision!

(They should have ignored this rogue judge’s earlier decision as well! You should write to the White House and tell Trump to stand against this runaway judiciary!)
One Hawaiian judge deciding for one Imam (and the refugee-rejecting state of Hawaii!) should not be the one to define “bona fide” a wholly new legal term and a new construct for resettlement thanks to the overzealous SCOTUS.  Where the hell is Congress, btw? Writing law is their job!
Here is Politico:

A federal judge in Hawaii ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to allow grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles and other relatives of people in the U.S. to circumvent the travel ban policy, dealing a temporary blow to one of the president’s signature initiatives.

In an order issued Thursday evening local time in Honolulu, Judge Derrick Watson also prohibited the administration from blocking refugees with a commitment from a resettlement agency in the U.S., a move that could revive the flow of refugee admissions this year.

Along with the State of Hawaii, Imam Ismail Elshikh is a plaintiff in the case (again). In case you missed it, Hawaii is at the bottom of the list of states resettling refugees having only ‘welcomed’ 3 this entire fiscal year so far.

The decision was a victory for opponents of the travel ban, who hoped to broaden the universe of people who could bypass the president’s policy, which temporarily bars travelers from six majority-Muslim nations and suspends the refugee resettlement program.

The Supreme Court issued an order on June 26 that allowed the embattled measure to go into effect, but included the caveat that affected travelers with “bona fide” ties to a person or entity in the U.S. should not be subject to the ban.

[….]

In the realm of refugee resettlement, the administration stood by the contention that a connection to a resettlement agency alone would not meet the criteria to avoid the ban.

[….]

The federal judge added that a refugee with a commitment from a resettlement agency met the standard for a “bona fide” relationship spelled out in the Supreme Court order.

[….]

“It is formal, it is a documented contract, it is binding, it triggers responsibilities and obligations, including compensation, it is issued specific to an individual refugee only when that refugee has been approved for entry by the Department of Homeland Security, and it is issued in the ordinary course, and historically has been for decades,” he wrote. [Don’t let the refugee contractors*** fool you, here we have it, this is about their compensation by you, the American taxpayer!–ed]

“Bona fide does not get any more bona fide than that.”

[….]

On Twitter, an attorney for the plaintiffs, the state of Hawaii and a local imam, celebrated the momentary legal win, which could be met with appeals by the federal government.

Appeals! The Administration better simply ignore this single judge and the Imam!

This post is filed in my ‘Supreme Court’ category, click here for other stories on the hash the Supreme Court has made of refugee law.
***Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizers paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities.  Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process.