Are NGO "rescue" ships in the Mediterranean helping to destabilize Europe?

12/07/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yes, say investigators whose information is pretty persuasive. They say Americans are involved too.

Invasion of Europe news…..

phoenix-rescue-in-2015 — Rescued off the coast of Libya in 2015 with the help of MOAS’ Phoenix. http://mashable.com/2015/08/05/migrants-mediterranean-boat-disaster/#pJaJI9ynZkqA

A few days ago, an American reader sent me a story about the supposedly non-profit groups that have furnished rescue ships operating in the Mediterranean. I didn’t have time to look at it carefully (and I knew I had previously written about one such ship, here), but when a longtime reader from Malta sent me more links yesterday, I spent a little time just now going over reports.
The allegations are that the ‘non-profit’ ships may be working in concert with human traffickers in Libya and that they are not simply picking up (mostly economic) migrants in European waters, but meeting the Africans and Middle Easterners who want to get to Europe in the waters right off Libya. In such locations any foundering vessel would logically be returned to the African coast, the shortest distance by far, but are intercepted and taken all the way to Italy.
(By the way, any mention of Libya gets my blood boiling because we know it is now a gateway for invaders of Europe thanks to Hillary Clinton—a story I followed from its outset!)

Here is one story on the allegations against these ‘non-profits.’
The Way:

For two months, GEFIRA using marinetraffic.com have been monitoring the movements of ships owned by a couple of NGOs, and, using data from data.unhcr.org.

Gerira [GEFIRA?] have kept track of the daily arrivals of African immigrants in Italy. It turned out we have witnessed a massive scam of illegal human trafficting.

NGOs, smugglers, the mafia in cahoots with the European Union have shipped thousands of illegals into Europe under the pretext of rescuing people, assisted by the Italian coast guard which coordinated their activities.

Human traffickers contact the Italian coast guard in advance to receive support and to pick up their dubious cargo. NGO ships are directed to the “rescue spot” even as those to be rescued are still in Libya.

chris-catrambone — The Catrambones on board the Phoenix. Our story is here in February 2015. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2015/02/11/millionaire-couple-based-in-malta-rescuing-illegal-migrants-in-the-mediterranean-sea/

The 15 ships GEFIRA observed are owned or leased by NGOs have regularly been seen to leave their Italian ports, head south, stop short of reaching the Libyan coast, pick up their human cargo, and take course back 260 miles to Italy even though the port of Zarzis in Tunis is just 60 mile away from the rescue spot.

The organizations in question are: MOAS, Jugend Rettet, Stichting Bootvluchting, Médecins Sans Frontières, Save the Children, Proactiva Open Arms, Sea-Watch.org, Sea-Eye and Life Boat.

Go here to see a video explanation of this investigation.
And, then learn more about the Louisiana-born owner of one ship we told you about in February 2015 (photo at right). The last line of the newest story is this:

One cannot help but wonder whether the MOAS people are honest saviours or they are on a mission to destabilise Europe even further.

From GEFIRA.org:

MOAS stands for Migrant Offshore Aid Station. It is a Malta-based non-governmental organisation, which set itself the task of patrolling the Mediterranean and rescuing people in high seas, lifting them up from dinghies, rafts and boats onto the Phoenix, the MOAS-owned trawler, a vessel complete with drones for scanning the waters, and ferrying migrants from places several miles off the Libyan shore to Sicily. The organisation is run by Chris Catrambone (35) and his wife Regina.

Continue reading here.
And, by the way, in February of this year, we reported that the ‘Phoenix’ was headed to Asia to rescue Muslim Rohingya, but I don’t know if that ever happened. (I’m always surprised by how much information is here at RRW that I’ve forgotten about!)

Even if the ‘rescue’ ships are doing nothing illegal, their very presence simply encourages more migrants to attempt sea crossings.

For our complete ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive, click here.

Rep. Brian Babin to Congress: Don't fund Obama refugee slush fund!

12/06/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As I have been saying, Congress is going to be deciding on the so-called Continuing Budget Resolution this week because they are all eager to get out of Dodge (DC).

mccarthy-and-ryan-2 — Big test!!! Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Speaker Paul Ryan will soon show their colors on Refugee Admissions Program if they cave and give the Obama ORR BILLIONS more of your dollars to spend before the end of March. We will be watching!

The Obama Administration is asking for a huge special funding addition because they claim the Office of Refugee Resettlement is going to run out of cash in February (the CR would, if as predicted, extend 2016 funding levels through March). ORR has (surprise!) a huge number of Unaccompanied Alien Children to take care of as the border is being assaulted by all those wanting in before Trump takes office.
I told you all about it here last week.
Now, Rep. Brian Babin of Texas pleads in an opinion piece at the Daily Caller for the REPUBLICAN led Congress to not fall for it because once appropriated it will literally be a slush fund available to ORR which they could distribute to the refugee contractors through all sorts of means even if Trump cuts off the flow of refugees on January 21st (which he can do!).
I’ll let you read Babin’s op-ed yourself because I have one more important warning for you and I have to get out of here shortly.

Warning!

Even if the House of Representatives does not capitulate to the Administration’s plea for BILLIONS more of your tax dollars, the Senate Appropriations Committee might very well be happy to accommodate Obama and add in the money. [For Marylanders remember Babs Mikulski is on this committee!!! Swan song? Money for more Muslims for Maryland?—ed]
If the Senate adds the money, when the House and Senate conference committee meets to iron-out differences between their respective versions of the funding bill, the House leadership (Paul Ryan!) could waffle and not fight for the House version on this important point.
We know their tricks and it goes like this: ‘Gosh we tried, but the Senate put the money in and there was nothing we could do about it! We sure don’t want to shut down the government over this.’ (Of course it would be Obama shutting down the government for not signing the CR!)
You need to put pressure on your House members to not add in the money and then to stick to their guns in conference committee—tall order I know!

And, tell the Trump transition team what could go down here! This is a test for Speaker Ryan and whether he will work with Trump on Trump’s promises about the refugee program.

All of our posts, on the all important funding issue, are tagged ‘Where is Congress.’

The kids at William and Mary pushing ahead with refugee resolution

12/04/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

See our earlier post on efforts by students (whose residence is elsewhere) campaigning to get Syrian Muslim (98% of those we are admitting are Muslim) refugees placed in the historic town of Williamsburg, VA.

colonial-williamsburg — Sam and friends: Colonial Williamsburg needs some diversity and Syrian Muslims should do the trick! Got mosque yet?

They held a community forum this past week (30 or so attended according to news reports) and said they planned to push ahead in Williamsburg and around the state with their resolution idea.
This is the latest at The Virginia Gazette (emphasis mine):

There are no Syrian refugees in Williamsburg, but there could be soon. Students at William and Mary want to let refugees know they’re welcome here, if the state sees fit.

Speaking at a forum on Tuesday evening, students said the rationale for passing a resolution through city council is making sure refugees understand that they’ll enter a community that hopes to support them.

A resolution does not guarantee Williamsburg will take in any refugees — the federal government lets non-governmental organizations gauge where refugees might best fit.

Those organizations factor in aspects like the availability of open housing and the presence of an immigrant community. [Remember this last bit, once you have an immigrant seed community started then you are likely to get even more!—ed]

[….]

[Sam] Steed*** said Newport News actually voted to keep its 51 refugees out of the city, but the government placed them there anyway. [Important to note: elected body did not want refugees resettled in Newport News but shoved down their throats anyway!—ed]

“Certainly, a lot of refugees feel unwelcome (in Newport News),” Steed said.

Other places have to make it clear that they will accept Syrian refugees, Steed said. He considers Williamsburg at the start to get similar resolutions passed around the state.

Don’t these young activists read the news?

Yes, we agree that those getting in to the US on student visas do pose a huge security risk, but the Ohio Somali Slasher is a resettled refugee. Even NBC News reported that!

Not only is the process for refugees long, it’s considered one of the most stringent in the world, Vollavanh said. Those coming in on a student visa or work visa have less red tape.

He noted that the Somalian refugee killed at Ohio State on Nov. 28 was in the country on a student visa. [Huh?—ed]

Readers in Virginia who might be concerned that the refugee activists at William and Mary might be checking out your towns in which to push their resolution should see our ‘Tens things your town needs to know before ‘welcoming’ refugees‘ here.
***Learn more about Sam Steed as a lobbyist in Washington for Amnesty International, here.

Refugee Industry lobbyists want to talk to Trump transition team

12/04/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As we have reported on several occasions already, they are worried of course about the implications for their futures with Trump in the White House.
The UN/US Refugee Admissions Program is built on massive amounts of federal dollars going to nine major refugee contractors (to be precise they have grants and contracts with the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in HHS) to place refugees in hundreds and hundreds of American towns and cities.

naomi-steinberg — Naomi Steinberg, RCUSA Director: Closing refugee resettlement would “feed into narratives spread by ISIS that the U.S. is anti-Muslim.” So, we are trying to make ISIS happy with us?

When I read articles like this from Lansing, Michigan about how every one in the resettlement industry is worried that the US will be diminished in the eyes of the world, that ISIS will have a recruiting tool (ISIS would be angry because we are not letting in Muslims!), or that many refugees will not be able to bring their extended families to America, I look for any reference made to the issue of their funding.
Usually there isn’t any—no mention of the fact that Catholic Charities or whichever agency it is, would have to close offices and eliminate staff if their per head payment for refugees, and their grants from ORR stopped coming.
It would be hard for me to list all the reasons I continue writing and educating about the Refugee Admissions Program, but near the top of the list is the fact that there are millions of your tax dollars going to supposed ‘religious’ charities and they never mention it. They pretend, when speaking to reporters who don’t know better, that their work is completely charitable and driven purely by humanitarian zeal. It is a big lie!
‘Humanitarianism’ is a fabulous cover for all sorts of other goals like bringing in cheap immigrant labor for BIG MEAT, etc., or bringing in reliable Democrat voters, or stirring tension in communities by shoving diversity down the throats of Americans who don’t want it. Or, in some sort of sick leftist assuaging of guilt, showing Muslims how loving and open-minded we are by bringing them to your towns by the thousands and putting them on welfare!

stacie-blake — Stacie Blake, right, fielding questions from angry citizens in Rutland, VT in June where her agency, USCRI, had been quietly working with the mayor to bring 100 Syrians to the small city. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/06/26/lack-of-transparency-got-citizens-steamed-in-rutland-vt-in-the-first-place/

Sorry, I’m getting off track, but remember all those things as I tell you that the resettlement industry has a lobbying consortium in Washington, DC—Refugee Council USA—and they want to meet with the Trump team. They have a transition document they would like to present to Trump.

By the way, in August we reported that RCUSA, never satisfied with the number we admit, wanted 200,000 refugees admitted in FY17.

Near the end of the Lansing State Journal story we learn this:

“Yes, we look forward to speaking to the Trump transition team. … We don’t know exactly what the president-elect is planning on doing,” said Naomi Steinberg, director of Refugee Council USA, a coalition of refugee resettlement groups that has reached out to people close to Trump.

She said that while much of the Trump campaign’s rhetoric was “deeply troubling and deeply inaccurate,” the community still wants to work with him and explain the broader value of welcoming refugees. [If there is inaccuracy about the program the fault lies with the feds and the contractors because of the incredible secrecy that has surrounded the program for decades, and continues today!—ed]

Closing off the U.S. from refugee resettlements, she and others said, would break humanitarian commitments made by the West, feed into narratives spread by ISIS that the U.S. is anti-Muslim and poison relationships with key military allies. [Military allies like Turkey? So we have to take in tens of thousands of Middle Eastern Muslim refugees to please Turkey?—ed]

“The idea that America would no longer lead on this issue is unfathomable,” said Stacie Blake, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, an advocacy and resettlement organization in northern Virginia. “We’ve been fielding calls already from individuals very worried about whether their adult child, their sibling, (their) mother will be able to join them as planned.”

Read the whole article, here, especially if you live in Michigan.
See all of our previous posts on the Refugee Council USA by clicking here.
For new readers here are the nine federal resettlement contractors that like to call themselves VOLAGs (that is short for Voluntary Agencies, which they definitely are not!):

Big smooch from Obama to new UN Secretary General Guterres

12/03/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Of course Obama would love him, they are both socialists who believe in distributing the world’s refugees throughout wealthy western countries. (And redistributing your wealth to the third world!)

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) delivers remarks to reporters as he welcomes U.N. Secretary General-designate Antonio Guterres (C), of Portugal, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst http://mobile.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSKBN13R23Z

Yesterday Obama welcomed Antonio Guterres to the White House, here at Reuters:

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said he was confident that United Nations secretary general-elect Antonio Guterres would be an effective leader of the international organization.

“He has an extraordinary reputation,” Obama told reporters ahead of his meeting at the White House with Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal.

[….]

Obama and Guterres were expected to discuss cooperation between the United States and the United Nations.

Guterres said he was ready to forge a relationship with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

He said he was totally committed “to work closely with the United States in the present administration” and “also with the next administration.”

Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has named South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has relatively little foreign policy experience, as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Continue reading here.
We will try to stay on top of this, because as I said here, Nikki Haley has demonstrated weakness when it comes to refugees being admitted to the US. Will she succumb to the arguments Guterres will surely make: Gov. Haley your family benefited from immigration to America, are you going to deny that same privilege to _____ (pick an ethnic group!). And, I have a suspicion that Senator Lindsey (Open Borders) Graham will be hovering behind the curtain.
As UN High Commissioner for Refugees for the past ten years, we naturally followed Guterres’ career, go here for more.
Heard him speak in Washington, here, in 2015.