Strong reactions (fear too!) from federal refugee resettlement contractors/supporters in wake of Trump win

11/15/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“I do believe that future flows will be affected significantly!”

(Doris Meissner reacting to Trump win)

Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart has a good piece yesterday, a compendium of views from the refugee contractors and immigration industry activists. Check it out here.
I’ve got a couple more stories I want to mention this morning. The first is one focusing on Rutland, VT which has just recently been chosen by the US State Department as a new site for Syrian Muslim refugee resettlement after months of strong opposition that roiled the political waters in the town.

I Love Rutland keck vpr 2016 — Will Rutland get its 100 Syrians, or not? http://digital.vpr.net/post/how-will-trump-presidency-impact-us-refugee-resettlement#stream/0

The article at Vermont Public Radio features quotes from Doris Meissner, a woman who is the doyenne of the Washington DC refugee/asylum/immigration circles.
Meissner was around for the passage of the original Refugee Act of 1980 and I’ve heard her speak a couple of times over the years. (Her bio is here)
The first time was at the ‘celebration’ for the 30th anniversary of the Refugee Act at Georgetown University in 2010. I was struck by one thing Ms. Meissner said at a conference that seemed heavily weighted toward a discussion of the asylum portion of the Act and the opportunities it afforded to get more people in to the US.
She told the audience that the original discussions about asylum were geared toward the odd ballet dancer (referencing Russians I presume) who would ask for asylum when performing in the US. But, she and the audience seemed to be pleased that asylum was now a process that was getting tens of thousands in to the US each year as they feared the normal channel for refugee resettlement was constricting and not fast enough for their purposes.
In 2011, I wrote this post about asylum-seeking-Somalis at our southern border and suggested a Congressional investigation (where are you Trey Gowdy?) to determine if non-profit groups were actually aiding and abetting illegal aliens coming across the world and who miraculously (who pays for the travel?) got the the US southern border and knew to ask for asylum. Meissner is quoted as saying that they have to wait too long in our normal process so they come here illegally. Congress should call Meissner to testify.

The specter of Donald Trump was haunting them already on October 29, 2015:

Again at Georgetown University, this time in October 2015, Meissner was the moderator of a panel on the upcoming 2016 Presidential election. Trump was on their minds and here is what I said in my post:

The “Trump phenomenon” has them obviously shaken and they are trying to figure out how to cope with it. The phrase “Trump phenomenon” was practically the first words out of Ms. Meissner’s mouth when she opened the session. They expected immigration to be an important issue in 2016, but with a different tone to the discussion, not Trump’s outright “anti-immigrant tone.” The whole presentation that followed was based on the understanding that this audience was all pro-Democrat/pro-Hillary.

The refugee resettlement industry needs your money (less money=fewer refugees)!

Back to the article at Vermont Public Radio and what Ms. Meissner told them…

Doris Meissner is the former commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and is currently a Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute*** in Washington. She says given the strong language Trump used about refugees in the campaign, she expects big changes.

“It will not be business as usual where refugee resettlement is concerned once he’s in office, and that might in particular affect the Syrian program,” Meissner says.

[….]

Meissner says that while it’s possible Trump would send back refugees now living in the United States, she thinks that would be a very costly and difficult. And given the deplorable conditions in Syria, she believes it’s unlikely.

“But I do believe that future flows will be affected significantly,” she says.

[….]

Meissner says U.S. immigration law sets a benchmark of allowing 50,000 refugees a year into the country. But she says the president has the power to come to Congress on an annual basis to propose boosting or cutting that number, and she expects Trump to call for reductions.

Funds for the coming year’s refugee resettlement programs are currently included in the federal budget. But that budget is part of continuing resolution, which means it needs to be renewed by Congress on Dec. 9.

Meissner says she expects those funds will remain, but admits nothing is certain.

Meissner gets it, they can’t function without the money Congress appropriates so once again I am pleading with you to call your member of Congress and your two US Senators and tell them to DEFUND the RAP in the lame duck session that is now upon us!

And, beware!

Look for larger numbers of border crashers to be asking for asylum. I’ll bet a buck that massive numbers of immigration lawyers are on standby waiting to process asylum claims especially if the RAP is slowed or stopped.
*** See what I said about the Migration Policy Institute here in 2011.

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society lectures Trump; never mentions its pecuniary interest in refugees

11/13/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is one more in my continuing update and review of the financial positions of the nine major federal refugee resettlement contractors.
Here we have HIAS CEO Mark Hetfield admonishing Donald Trump on the day after his big win last Tuesday. I might respect the resettlement contractors a bit if they would make it clear somewhere, sometime, that they have a vested financial interest in the resettlement of refugees rather than this usual holier-than-thou pontification. LOL! maybe there should be a little disclaimer at the end of all media references to them—“This organization is paid by the taxpayers of America to place refugees in towns and cities in 49 states.”

mark-hetfield — CEO Mark Hetfield is pulling down a salary package worth $336,323 running this ‘charity.’ http://www.give.org/charity-reviews/national/human-services/hias-in-silver-spring-md-19163

So far I’ve updated our older financial information on USCRI, LIRS, World Relief, and Church World Service.
USCRI is here (97% funded by taxpayers).
LIRS here (95% funded by taxpayers).
World Relief here (73% funded by taxpayers).
Church World Service here (64% funded by taxpayers).
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society is up next.
And, btw, HIAS was given a huge grant a few years ago to study the growing opposition to the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program and mentioned RRW as a site that should be investigated by the Southern Poverty Law Center which did just that, see here.
Headquartered in Silver Spring,MD, HIAS had an income in 2014 of $36,161,323 according to this Charity Report. Their website is here.
This is how their income breaks down. The way I see it, they are 56% funded by you, the taxpayer, which is the best of the contractors so far as some are above the 90% taxpayer funded level. (The service fee and operating grants below might be tax dollars too, but will give them the benefit of the doubt. The Migrant loan fee is definitely your money).

screenshot-65 — From full report here: http://www.give.org/charity-reviews/national/human-services/hias-in-silver-spring-md-19163

You can check out their Form 990 for that year as well by clicking here.

riva-silverman — Riva Silverman ($250,000)

You will see on page 9 that in addition to CEO Hetfield, they have 9 other staffers making in excess of $100,000 at the top of a paid staff of 76! Why does Riva make so much $$$? And, where is Melanie? As I have said many times before. If these were truly private charitable non-profits and not quasi-government organizations I wouldn’t care what they chose to pay their staff, but since we fund them, we have every right to publish and question their salaries.
Here are some of the places HIAS works:

Affiliates

Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency
Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services
HIAS New York
HIAS Pennsylvania
Jewish Child and Family Services (Chicago)
Jewish Community Services (Baltimore)
Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Pittsburgh
Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco –
Jewish Family and Children’s Services of the East Bay
Jewish Family Service of Buffalo and Erie County
Jewish Family Service of Greater Seattle
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles
Jewish Family Service of Metrowest
Jewish Family Service of San Diego
Jewish Family Service of Washtenaw County
Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts
Jewish Family Services of the Silicon Valley
Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest New Jersey
US Together

HIAS was very involved in lobbying for the ‘Gang of Eight’ amnesty bill a few years ago in the Senate. Still don’t understand why a group resettling legal refugees in search of jobs would want to make it even harder for their refugee clients when they must compete with mostly Hispanic laborers for low skilled jobs.
And, one final thing. It was HIAS that went crazy going after Donald Trump Jr. about likening a decision to take in not properly screened refugees to being told that one skittles candy in a handful was poisoned and asked if you would thus eat any. See what I mean—google HIAS and Skittles.
Our complete archive on the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society is here.

Sec. of State John Kerry agrees to deal, we will take Australia's rejected 'refugees'

11/13/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Think about this! In 2013 Australia, being invaded by boat people from mostly Muslim countries, declared anyone arriving illegally by boat would be turned back or sent to offshore islands like Nauru where they could submit asylum claims.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry testifies at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 8, 2014. Kerry squarely blamed Russian agents on Tuesday for separatist unrest in eastern Ukraine, saying Moscow could be trying to lay the groundwork for military action like in Crimea. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Only two more months of this guy! So how many refugees is he taking to his home?

Those rejected refuse to go back to their home countries, so guess what! The Obama Administration has agreed to take over a thousand of them to your towns and cities as full-fledged refugees with all the benefits of our welfare system available to them.
How many of our illegal Mexicans and Central Americans is the prosperous country of Australia going to take off our hands?
We told you this was in the works, here, yesterday. And, now here is news from Aljazeera that we are going to do this. (If their asylum claims have been rejected by Australia they are NOT refugees by definition.)

Australia has reached a resettlement deal with the United States for refugees being held in offshore prisons after trying to reach the country by boat.

The Obama administration had agreed to resettle refugees among a group of almost 1,300 people held at on the island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Rights groups have been scathing about conditions at the prison camps.

Another 370 who came to Australia for medical treatment and then refused to return to the islands would also be eligible.

[….]

US Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed that the US had “agreed to consider referrals” from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. [If we are doing this and are sending Homeland Security people to screen the refugees, why does the UN have to have its nose in this business? Are they getting a cut of your tax dollars as middlemen?—ed]

[….]

US Department of Homeland Security officials are expected in Australia this week to begin assessing refugees.

Turnbull would not say how many refugees the US might take, but said the most vulnerable would be given priority. [And, prosperous Australia can’t take the most vulnerable???—ed]

More here.
See our Australia category by clicking here. And, if you are interested in learning more about this practice—of the US taking illegal aliens off the hands of other countries—see our Malta archive as well.
Australia is always in the top three countries from which readers arrive at RRW.

Donald Trump, please try to stop this now! We are about to take 1,800 failed asylum seekers that Australia has rejected

11/12/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

When I wrote about this the other day, I didn’t really think our Department of State could be serious, but obviously the Obama Administration is going to shove it down our throats! How many more outrages will we see regarding refugees before January 20th when Donald Trump will be setting US immigration policy?
Watch the 2013 news about the asylum seekers, angry with Australia and the slow processing of their claims, burn down the asylum center. Link here if this doesn’t open: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoL6dASFh8M

German press (Deutsche Welle) is reporting that we are going to transform Australia’s failed asylum seekers, mostly Muslims, into legitimate refugees bound for Anytown, USA.
I would like to know, from the ‘brains’ at the US State Department, how these 1,800 boat people were vetted. And, most of all, why Australia turned them down!
Deutsche Welle:

The US has agreed to accept 1,800 refugees held at Australian-funded camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, according to media reports. Human rights groups have criticized the conditions in the camps. [What? And, that means because conditions are supposedly bad in an Australian camp, its inhabitants become our problem!—ed]

The Australian newspaper reported on Friday that the US and Australia were close to announcing an agreement for up to 1,800 mainly Muslim refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia on the island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull declined to comment on negotiations with the US. “There’s always speculation about these things” Turnbull said on Melbourne Radio. “And we never comment on them.”

[….]

An agreement struck with the administration of President Barack Obama could be opposed by his successor, Donald Trump who has called for tight restrictions on Muslim immigration into the US.

Human rights groups have condemned the conditions in the camps which they have condemned as an abrogation of Australia’s responsibilities as a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention. There have been street protests over the treatment of the refugees (photo).

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said this week he was looking for countries that would accept all asylum seekers bound for Australia, including those who have had their refugee claims rejected, but who refuse to go home.

Donald Trump really can’t do anything yet, but your Washington reps can!

Call your US Senators and member of Congress!

I’ve been preaching for weeks/months that there is only one place right now (before January 20th) where you can have an impact if you choose to do the work! That is Congress. Call your representatives in Washington on Monday (they should be back to work on Tuesday, but their staffs should be working) and complain about this outrage. Use it as an example of how out of control the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program is.
Tell your representatives to call the US State Department (the Asst. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration) to put a halt to this sheer insanity!
And, while you are at it, tell your members of Congress to DEFUND the RAP in the FY2017 budget that will be before them beginning on Tuesday.

Poughkeepsie: Church World Service official spins about refugee Islamic terrorists

11/12/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We told you on October 28th that Church World Service is planning to bring refugees, mostly from Syria and the Middle East, to Poughkeepsie, NY, and the plans were kept secret from the city elected officials and the public in general until very recently. The arrival of the first Syrians is apparently only a month or so away.

Because most citizens don’t fully understand how costly resettlement is and they don’t know (because all mainstream media is silent) how disruptive to the social make-up of communities large numbers of refugees have been, they don’t know enough to ask enough good questions so they naturally focus first and foremost on the security issue. They want to know if Islamic terrorists could be hiding among them?
Refugee industry spokesmen are quick to make a joke, asking why would a terrorist want to go through such a lengthy process to get here, when they can simply fly in or walk across the border (a question which invariably brings laughs in the audience).
One thing we never hear about outside of certain circles is the fact that some Muslim refugee children in America have grown up to be jihadists—-dozens of them from the Somali community in Minnesota, for example, have thumbed their noses at your good will and left for battle in Africa or the Middle East. Others have tried to show their jihadist ‘skills’ here.
Read about the Poughkeepsie meeting and pay close attention to how an official of Church World Service attempts to answer security concerns.
From the Times-Herald Record:

Former refugee Erol Kekic, executive director of the Immigration and Refugee Program, told attendees that refugees are vetted vigorously, especially those from Syria.

“We have not had one single refugee commit an act of terrorism,” Kekic said to a large round of applause.

mohamed-mohamud — Mohamed Mohamud a Somali refugee who came to the US as a child is serving a 30 year sentence for planning to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, OR. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/10/01/portland-or-somali-christmas-tree-bomber-to-be-sentenced-today/

Apparently no one in the audience was knowledgeable enough to ask the follow-up question:

How many refugees have been arrested and convicted of planning terrorist attacks—arrested before they could commit the act?

The answer is a larger number than we should find acceptable!
Off the top of my head: There were the Iraqis men arrested in Kentucky in 2011 who were working with Al Qaeda in Iraq (doing life in prison now). ABC News did cover this story! Indeed the whole Iraqi flow to America was disrupted for a year or so in the wake of that revelation and all Iraqis on the way in were re-screened.
Then here are some of the kids you welcomed:
There was the Somali Christmas tree bomber sentenced in 2014.
Most recently there was the Iraqi refugee who admitted to planning an ISIS bombing in Houston, here.
And, we can’t forget an ISIS sympathizer (Somali refugee) who was successful in attacking and wounding shoppers in a mall in St. Cloud, MN, here.
Although they have never admitted it (to my knowledge), I believe the Chattanooga killer’s family was a resettled refugee family, see here.
There are others, visit our crimes category here with over 2,000 refugee crimes and terror attacks/attack planning from all over the world.
I know many of you will cite the Boston Bombers. Yes, they were ‘refugees’ who entered the US with their parents who were granted political asylum (which made them refugees). Kekic would argue that they don’t count because they didn’t come through the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program run by contractors like Church World Service.
Be sure to revisit my post of last week on Church World Service’s finances. Poor Mr. Kekic is not being paid very well (he doesn’t make the top employees’ list on their recent Form 990) compared to other top execs of the organization. What’s up with that, he has been around for a long time—almost 17 years according to LinkedIn.