Feds tickled, just short of 85,000 refugee ceiling for FY 2016 achieved, more "clients" on the way this week

10/03/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Voice of America has a wrap-up article for the FY16 UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program (saves us looking up the numbers). What tickled me was the US Conference of Catholic Bishops head lobbyist referring to refugees as their “clients.” We’ve been telling you that this is a business—big business—a several $ billion a year business.
Voice of America:

WASHINGTON —The United States narrowly missed its refugee cap for the fiscal year, closing out 12 months of political turbulence over admissions policies just five people short of the administration’s target of 85,000.

Special Event: on “Common ground for the common good” (to mark the concluding day of the World Interfaith Harmony Week (1–7 February 2012), as proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 65/5 (A/RES/65/5)) (organized by the Office of the President of the General Assembly, in cooperation with the NGO Community at the United Nations Bill Canny - Catholic RElief Services — Bill Caney (at the UN) is the head honcho for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Here he confirms for us what we knew—refugees are “clients” because this is a business, a lucrative one! The USCCB is paid by the head for each refugee it resettles, so this has been a good year financially.

State Department data as of midnight October 1, the start of the 2017 fiscal year and the reset point for the government’s financial calendar, is the closest the refugee program has come to meeting the presidentially established limit in 24 years. [You knew they would bring them in here fast and not thoroughly vetted because Obama had to speed up his seeding plan—ed]

Among the largest groups of refugees this year were more than 12,500 Syrians, following a self-declared goal by the administration last September to admit at least 10,000 people fleeing civil war and Islamic State violence there.

Refugee Arrivals to the U.S. for FY2016

Dem. Rep. Congo: 16,370
Syria: 12,587
Myanmar: 12,347
Iraq: 9,880
Somalia: 9,020
Bhutan: 5,817
Iran: 3,750
Afghanistan: 2,737
Ukraine: 2,543

Refugee and resettlement officials told VOA last week that travel for some refugees who were scheduled to arrive by the end of September was postponed because the limit had been met. A State Department spokesperson did not confirm how many refugees were affected, but said that those who were delayed would be included in the coming fiscal year, which begins October 1. [See our post of a week ago about the “ceiling” each year—ed]

Our additional “clients” will be arriving shortly says USCCB honcho!

“We understand that some clients may be held back these days and booked immediately in October. Thus, we expect no effect on clients,” said Bill Canny, who heads migration and refugee services for one of the country’s longest-serving resettlement agencies, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

More resettlement cities have been chosen….

anne-richard-in-black — Anne Richard, Asst. Sec. of State for PRM and a former VP at a federal contractor (International Rescue Committee) is delighted to report that they have secretly chosen more towns in which to place refugees (they have 350 towns already) she says.

The article also says that the largest category for FY17 (for the first time) will be the Near East and South Asia category. We will be taking 40,000 of those. (Near East and South Asia includes: Afghanistan, Bhutan/Nepal, Iran, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Syria.)
Anne Richard, Asst. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, reported to VOA on the growing number of cities that will ‘welcome’ refugees! We knew that!***

Richard also said the number of cities where refugees are resettled in the U.S. is “likely to grow” in the coming months. Programs are already in place in roughly 350 cities in nearly every state.

The refugee industry’s lobbying arm weighed in with this:

Naomi Steinberg, director of Refugee Council USA, an advocacy group for 22 NGOs that work in refugee resettlement, said that what stood out for her after what she called “a difficult year of nasty political rhetoric” is that the U.S. continued a “proud tradition” of welcoming those fleeing persecution.

“We know that as loud as those anti-refugee voices are, that they are still in the minority,” said Steinberg.

Please get your testimony off to Senator Sessions today or at the latest tomorrow! Let Sessions know that Ms. Steinberg is blowing smoke!
***These are the new towns/cities we have learned about so far (we have heard that there are 47 new ones!). The selection process is mostly done quietly and out of public view.
Asheville, NC
Rutland, VT
Reno, NV
Ithaca, NY
Missoula, MT
Aberdeen, SD
Charleston, WV
Fayetteville, AR
Blacksburg, VA
Pittsfield, MA
Northhampton, MA
Flint, Michigan
Bloomington, IN

This is insane! Taxpayers pay rent for Somalis who feel the need to visit Somalia (for months!)

10/01/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You cannot make this up! Virtually all Somalis who live in the US came here (we are told) as poor refugees (there are going on 200,000 of them). So how persecuted and fearful of returning home are they if many travel back and forth to Africa and the taxpayers of Minneapolis cover most of their rent while they are gone!
By the way, Somalis are not the only (fake) persecuted and impoverished ‘refugees’ who go ‘home’ for visits from time to time.
This is the story at the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Public housing residents in Minneapolis will no longer need to pay their normal monthly rent when travel abroad erases their income, a change particularly sought by East African immigrants.

The board of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority approved this week reverting to its previous policy of collecting only minimal rent during extended absences. The change takes effect once approved by federal housing officials, which is expected by year’s end.

warsame-dayton1 — Minnesota Governor Dayton with Warsame. Remember Dayton is the MN pol who said if you don’t like our Somalis, you can move to another state. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2015/10/16/mn-governor-dayton-dont-like-immigrants-get-out-of-minnesota/

Abdi Warsame, a City Council member, told the board that the policy in place for the past five years works a particular hardship on elderly East Africans who must save for long periods if they want to visit their homelands. He said that many receive federal Supplemental Security Income, which is halted when the recipient is outside the United States.

Yet the policy required people to keep paying rent, which is income-based. Travelers gone for 30 to 90 days could apply for a hardship, which meant that they paid the minimum $75 monthly rent during their absence, but were required to make up the difference between that and their normal rent over the next year or two.

The change will mean that residents will pay only the $75 minimum per month, assuming they apply for the hardship status. [Hardship status! Hardship status! How many of you have airfare money to fly to Africa?—ed]

From 50 to 75 public housing residents report such absences annually, according to Mary Boler, an agency manager. She said the cost of the change will be less than $50,000. The agency found that the paperwork burden of tracking repayment was higher than anticipated.

“This was brought up to us again and again and again in every building we visited in our ward,” Warsame said. “Everybody was afraid to leave the country.” [But they weren’t afraid to go home to Somalia the country they supposedly escaped from???—ed]

We are such suckers!
By the way, one reason given for travel is the Hajj (it lasts 4 days not 30-90 days).
Additionally, I wonder is some Somali community activist group getting grants from the feds like the one in Maine.

Obama's 110,000 refugee plan for 2017 is a CEILING! A Trump administration could turn off the spigot

09/29/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

For all the years I’ve been writing RRW (9 now), I’ve seen the Open Borders advocates and the Resettlement contractors*** try to make the President’s proposed numbers (his determination) for the upcoming fiscal year a REQUIRED GOAL. It is not! It is a CEILING. There is no requirement that they must reach that number and in fact most times they don’t.

leahy-and-durbin — If Donald Trump is elected and uses his power by cutting refugee admissions, expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth from Senators Dick Durban and Patrick Leahy, two of the most important members of the Senate welcoming tens of thousands of Middle Eastern and African refugees to your towns.

I’ve posted a table below from the Refugee Processing Center so you will have some idea what the ceiling was each year since 2006 and the number they hit.
By the way, failure to reach that number can usually be attributed to not enough resettlement sites and capacity in those sites (very often a limiting factor is the availability of enough cheap housing), or it might simply be that the UNHCR hasn’t processed enough refugees for us that year.
However, I doubt that this administration in its waning months is going to be responsible and consider capacity.

My guess is that the refugee flow is going to be on steroids for October and in to November.

If Trump is elected they will go completely insane pouring people in here before his inauguration (unless in December the lame duck Congress severely curtails their funding).
To accommodate these vast new numbers Obama has proposed, and because they are wearing out their welcome in existing resettlement sites, we are hearing that there are as many as 47 new targeted towns to be seeded with mostly Middle Eastern and African refugees.

The Continuing Resolution, being voted on this week, will give them enough money (since the Republican leadership has failed us) to get that ball rolling in the first few months. In fact, that ball will get rolling in two days, on October first!
What about Hillary’s 65,000 Syrians?
In yesterday’s hearing someone (Sen. Sessions?) asked about Hillary’s proposed 65,000 Syrians and if there had to be any “consultation” with Congress if she is elected and wants to bring that many in the opening days of her administration. The answer is yes, probably, but what the hell is Congress going to do other than say, ‘thanks for stopping by and informing us!’ Congress’ only recourse is to stop the funding! Don’t hold your breath!
Conversely, because the Refugee Admissions Program is heavily weighted toward the President’s wishes, if Donald Trump should be elected, he has great leeway to cut back, or even propose a moratorium on Obama’s 110,000 goal. He does not have to reach the ceiling!
Of course, he would have to “consult” Congress too. The likes of Senators Patrick Leahy and Dick Durban will be WAILING! (That would be fun to see!)
So, bottomline, Donald Trump must win the Presidency and Congress must cut the funding for the program, or we are finished.
Here is the table I mentioned above. You will be looking at the columns labeled “ceiling” and “admitted.”

screenshot-26

The table above is through August 31, 2016. As of today, September 29th, the FY 2016 admissions are at 84,870 with the Syrians at 12,571 (Refugee Processing Center). When you are looking at the table, note also how they completely stress-out towns (local health departments, schools, etc.) by bringing in large new batches of refugees in the last two months of the fiscal year in their zeal to hit that ceiling.
One more thing! Do you see how far off the mark they were in 2011, that is because those two Iraqi refugee terrorists were discovered living in Kentucky and much security screening had to be repeated.
***For new readers these are the nine federal resettlement contractors who rely almost completely on funding from you, the taxpayer:

US State Department shoving refugees down their throats in Rutland, VT

09/29/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

After months and months of meetings and angry protests, the US State Department has decided to ignore the controversy and begin sending refugees to Rutland before the end of the year.
Just a reminder that the DOS told Senator Sessions subcommittee yesterday that they haven’t decided how many of the 110,000 refugees Obama wants admitted beginning Saturday will be in that number. We recently reported that a contractor spilled the beans in California and said it would be 20,000-30,000.

lavinia-limon — This is the woman who will now be deciding Rutland’s demographic and cultural future. She is the CEO of USCRI and Stacie Blake’s boss. And, she is responsible for the troubles in Twin Falls, Idaho. Limon formerly headed the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement under Bill Clinton. Learn more about her here: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/08/05/twin-falls-refugee-crisis-clinton-appointee/

I predict there will be a wild orgy of resettlements across America in October, November and December and right up until inauguration day so that this administration can get as many ‘new Americans’ seeded before the start of a new presidency.
Of course, if Hillary wins we are done, and, with agreement from the Republican leadership (and the Chamber of Commerce), our gates will be thrown open.
Be sure to see our post yesterday where the embattled (now victorious) Rutland mayor was selling refugee resettlement to rural upstate New York. He called his local opponents on the issue “ignorant by design.”
Here is the news from Vermont Digger:

RUTLAND — Rutland has been selected as a resettlement site for 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugees, according to a State Department spokesperson. The announcement comes after five months of heated debate over whether this small city has the capacity to take in refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East.

“I’m delighted that the Department of State has the faith in our community to be a host city for refugee resettlement,” said Mayor Chris Louras after the announcement Wednesday. “We understand it’s not going to be easy, that there will be challenges, but this community is at its very best when it rises to the challenge.”

Stacie Blake, director of government and community relations for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, said she believes the first families will arrive in mid-December or early January. Blake said USCRI will open an office in Rutland and have two full-time staff members. Staff will undergo an intensive training process that includes working in the agency’s Colchester office, Blake said.

A State Department spokesperson said that although the proposal for 100 refugees has been approved, the number is subject to change. Once refugees arrive in the United States they are free to live wherever they choose.

This is what they will do to any town that thinks it will only be 50 or 100 refugees. Next year it will be 150-200 and pretty soon Rutland will be Lancaster, PA with 700 a year and many many problems!
By the way, does Rutland have a mosque yet? Just asking.
If I lived in Rutland, although too late as your governor and Obama are shoving the refugees down your throats, I would do everything in my power to get rid of this mayor.

At Senate hearing, US State Department refuses to say how many Syrians in next year's flow

09/28/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’m writing and listening to the hearing in the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest. Eventually, when the video is available, you should all take a couple of hours and watch this. Right now Senator Al Franken is talking and doing the ‘my grandfather came from Russia and read the poem on the Statue of Liberty (his ignorance is so profound) act.’

simon-henshaw — Henshaw says the White House hasn’t told them yet about how many Syrians will be in next year’s migration stream.

One of the things that continues to amaze me, it shouldn’t, and that is the Left is always focused on emotions and the facts be damned!
But I digress…..

One big piece of news is that the Obama Administration is refusing to say how many Syrians they want to see admitted beginning Saturday (the first day of the fiscal year).

Simon Henshaw Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration U.S. Department of State told Senator Grassley only that it would be more than 12,500.
Grassley quipped (I’m paraphrasing), ‘is that because it’s a hot political item.’
Yes, exactly. They know the public would go crazy to hear that we were going to bring in 20,000, 30,000 or more.
The subject of Hillary’s 65,000 Syrian Muslim (98% are Sunni Muslims) proposal was raised and Senator Sessions wanted to know, if she becomes President, could she get that number. Henshaw answered that the President can change the numbers ‘with consultation with Congress.’ So, that would mean that Donald Trump would have the same power!
We previously reported that a resettlement contractor told an audience in California that 20,000-30,000 is the Syrian target number.
At this moment Senator Cruz is doing a really good job of making the point about the high Syrian Muslim population being admitted to the US in contrast to the tiny number of Christians.