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

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.

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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!

Nashville refugee/immigrant conference disrupted by protestors!

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.

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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).

Surprise! Lutheran refugee contractor got more refugees last year than they planned for

For all of you in ‘welcoming’ towns, do not believe the numbers you are being told! Because the feds are short of locations and they are on a tear to bring in as many refugees as they can (at least up until Trump takes office or their federal money runs out) your state is likely to get more refugees than they initially ‘promised.’
This news from Inforum in Fargo, ND makes it even more clear that Donald Trump must slow the flow in to the country across the board as soon as he is inaugurated.
 

FARGO — More refugees were resettled here in the last fiscal year than Lutheran Social Services North Dakota had expected, the agency reported Thursday, Dec. 8.

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Cass County Commissioner Mary Scherling suggests that Lutheran Social Services send some of the refugees destined for the state to Minot (270 miles from Fargo). What? since they aren’t getting the joys of diversity yet! Photo and bio: https://www.casscountynd.gov/county/Boards/Commission/Commissioners/District5/Pages/MaryScherling.aspx

A total of 558 refugees came to the state by way of LSS in fiscal year 2016, which is 22 percent more than the agency was told to expect by agencies farther up the pipeline. The bulk of the refugees were settled in Fargo-Moorhead: 372 in Fargo, eight in West Fargo and 22 in Moorhead.

Some local government officials have expressed concern over the large number of the newcomers, fearing they would be a strain on resources.

Cass County Commissioner Mary Scherling, who attended the meeting, said Thursday she just wants to be sure local governments can help give refugees a good start in America. She and Commission Chairman Chad Peterson said they’d like LSS to add Minot as a fourth resettlement site in North Dakota. Refugees are now settled in Fargo, Grand Forks and Bismarck.

LSS officials said Thursday they, too, are concerned about their resources, but saying “no” is not easy.

Readers, please pay attention to this next paragraph. Once your town is set up as a resettlement site, not only will the numbers continue to grow, but others of the same ethnic group as your primary refugees will come to live there too.  Our use of the word ‘seeding’ about this program is not an exaggeration.

That’s because some of the funding the agency gets for resettling refugees is based on the number it agrees settle in North Dakota, said Saurav Dahal, an LSS refugee coordinator. It has a much harder time with funding if those refugees move here on their own after resettling in other states.

Whining about funding!  LSS could end up out on a limb with not enough funding because federal ORR funds are drying up (or more accurately being diverted to the Unaccompanied Alien Children crisis) and so is private charitable giving (in fact there was never much private charity to begin with!).

Here is my question: if most refugees are “self-sufficient” in a matter of months, as we are constantly told, then why do they need more “services” paid for by taxpayer “resources?”

For each primary refugee that LSS resettles, the U.S. State Department provides enough funding to give them three months of assistance, Dahal said. That funding is not available for secondary refugees.

For assistance beyond three months, LSS relies on funding from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement and charitable organizations; its aim is to cover as many as eight months. But funding from ORR is not directly tied to the number of refugees resettled, and funding from charities are not assured from year to year.

Dykshoorn and Dahal said the latter two sources of funding aren’t keeping up with the numbers.

Continue reading here.
See our complete archive on North Dakota here (this is one of the states I visited on my fact-finding tour last summer). ND has had some spectacular criminal cases involving refugees. Don’t miss this: Somali sentenced to life in prison for killing native American family.  And the Somali who went on a knife attack in St. Cloud, MN last September was originally resettled in North Dakota.
North Dakotans who think you are getting too many refugees must continue to put pressure on your governor, your state legislature, your local elected officials, but do not forget to pound Senator John Hoeven who sits on the all powerful Senate Appropriations Committee which could dry up resettlement dollars for North Dakota if he had a will to do it!  See here.
I see an important part of my job going forward is to educate you and me on the Appropriations process in Washington. Funding is policy!

Nebraska received (per capita) more refugees last year than any other state

Here is a story from the Omaha World-Herald which used those Pew numbers we reported yesterday, as the hook for this story about how “welcoming” Nebraska is for refugees.
Nebraska is one of the states I visited over the summer, and I am here to report that even if the Republican governor is thrilled about welcoming refugees, the citizens whose towns are being impacted by refugee labor at meat and chicken processing plants, aren’t too thrilled.
 

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Downtown Nickerson, Nebraska where citizens objected to plans to locate a chicken processing plant in the area. One reason they said NO! is that they did not want an influx of Somali refugee workers.

 
No mention in this heartwarming report about Nickerson, Nebraska that actually fought and kept out a new chicken plant here last May.
Cut the humanitarian guilt-trip mumbo-jumbo and be truthful!
I live for the day when resettlement contractors like Lutheran Family Services here are completely out in the open about the work they do providing laborers for BIG MEAT and BIG POULTRY and also tell the public that their salaries and offices are paid for by the US taxpayer (this is not a Christian charity! this is not about passing the collection plate on Sunday morning!).*** Then we can have the debate about why it is in the interests of the American taxpayer to supply foreign labor to giant corporations some of which are not even US-owned!
From the Omaha World-Herald:
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Todd Reckling of Lutheran Family Services at least hints here that LFS works with BIG MEAT which wants refugee workers.

LINCOLN — Nebraska led the nation in resettling the most refugees per capita during the last year, according to newly released federal government data.

The state welcomed 1,441 refugees, or 76 per 100,000 Nebraskans, between October 2015 and September 2016, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the U.S. State Department’s Refugee Processing Center and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Nebraska is a strong draw for refugees because of its strong economy with accessibility to jobs in hospitality and meatpacking, said Todd Reckling, a vice president of Lutheran Family Services, the state’s largest of three placement agencies. About 90 percent of refugees come to the state to reunite with family already living in Nebraska, he said.

“I’d say Nebraska has a reputation for being a welcoming state,” he said, “a place to provide safety and hope for the families that are coming together.”

Continue reading here, especially if you live in Nebraska!
You will notice at the end of the story that some who are not thrilled about the security concerns with refugees are hanging their hat on Donald Trump to take care of that problem.
For any of you in states (especially with Republican governors who are squishy on the refugee program) do some research on who is donating to their campaigns.
***Lutheran Family Services in Omaha is a subcontractor of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service headquartered in Baltimore which is 95% funded by taxpayers, go here.

At least four (more!) reasons SC Governor Nikki Haley as UN Ambassador makes me nervous

nikki-haley-hinduIn addition to the fact that Haley snubbed constituents worried about the newly expanded refugee resettlement program when it arrived in South Carolina two years ago, here is an article in the Post & Courier (Charleston, SC) about Haley arriving in DC to meet with many on the Hill who will have to confirm her as Donald Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations. The article contains a bunch of red flags for me!
See my previous post, here.
***Update*** December 11, 2016. Keeping up with all things Haley. One advisor tells her not to fall into Trump’s “nationalist trap.”  What the h***! She will be working for Trump, she better not stray off the reservation! See here.

Yikes! She will be in DC to get the annual award at the Kemp Leadership Award dinner.

Post & Courier:

He [deputy chief of staff] said she would already be in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to attend the Kemp Leadership Award Dinner.

Haley is receiving the conservative organization’s annual award in recognition of “exceptional leadership in public policy or private enterprise in advancing the American Idea.”

Kemp, conservative on economics, was an open borders advocate.  See here at VDARE in 2014 ‘The Strange Rebirth of Jack Kemp Republicanism.’

paul-ryan-with-jack-kemp
Be sure to see Ann Coulter: Save us from Paul Ryan and the Kemp boys! http://www.vdare.com/articles/ann-coulter-save-us-from-paul-ryan-and-the-kemp-boys

VDARE also tells us in that same article that Rep. Paul Ryan worked for a think-tank created to promote Kemp’s ideas and considered Kemp a mentor!

Rep. Paul Ryan is leading Republican efforts to pass Amnesty in the House of Representatives. Ryan actually worked for Kemp at Empower America (a now defunct and largely unremembered think-tank) and cites him as a mentor.

And, today! Haley is getting a big award in Kemp’s memory!

The Post & Courier goes on to report that she will visit with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker (Mr. Iran deal!) who (like Haley) has done nothing to slow the flow of refugees to his state and has also snubbed constituents concerned with the influx of Somali and other Muslim refugees to the state.

On Tuesday afternoon, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he anticipated talking with Haley in the days ahead.

“I had a very constructive conversation with her when she was appointed and look forward to talking to her this week,” Corker said.

Continuing with the report in the Post & Courier, we learn she is meeting with the man she really preferred as President, Senator Marco Rubio, who we know will forever be known as one of the Gang of Eight which attempted to get amnesty through Congress while Obama was President.

During her visit this week, she will likely meet with other members of the Foreign Relations Committee, including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who Haley endorsed for president during the Republican primary. She could also drop in on the offices of some Democrats, such as the committee’s ranking member, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland.

And, Cardin is about as far left as anyone in the Senate, what could she possibly say to him to make him not oppose her (that is what scares me, what will she say!).

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Two Swamp Monster pals of Nikki Haley! Senators Rubio and Graham

And the final nail in her coffin from my point of view is her close relationship to Lindsey (Bring’em all in) Graham. In 2015, before Obama opened the Syrian floodgates, Graham was introducing legislation to do just that, see here.
Post & Courier continues:

Recently, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he looked forward to introducing Haley to his colleagues when the time came for her to come to Washington to make the rounds.

So much for draining the swamp!
I admit Trump is a lot smarter than I am, but I still don’t get this pick for the United Nations, unless reining-in the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program is NOT a top agenda item.
If Trump wanted a woman, two tough loyal candidates come to mind: Gov. Sarah Palin and former Rep. Michele Bachmann, who would not have taken one second of politically-correct crap from the likes of Antonio Guterres. Or, any pressure from the all powerful Organization of Islamic Cooperation!
One of my readers suggested this job is a “nothingburger” job, and I respectfully disagree!
We will be keeping a close watch on Turtle Bay when Haley gets there.