18 US Mayors tell Obama: We want MORE Syrian (Muslim) refugees!

09/26/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This story is from Syracuse, NY, but it is all about a letter 18 mayors sent to Obama telling him that they want MORE Syrian refugees now!
Remember Syracuse is the city that saw a beautiful Catholic Church become a mosque. I’m guessing the mayor wants to see more of that because the majority of the Syrians to be admitted to the US through the UN are Sunni Muslims. Kind of ironic that they penned this letter when the Pope was here. Does he want more Muslims to take over more Catholic Churches worldwide?
Clearly Catholic Charities and Mayor Miner of Syracuse do!
From Syracuse.com:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Mayor Stephanie Miner is one of 18 mayors encouraging President Barack Obama to accept additional Syrian refugees into the United States.

miner and Obama — Mayor Stephanie Miner: “[I]…urge you to increase still further the number of Syrian refugees the United States will accept for resettlement.” Photo: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/syracuse_mayor_stephanie_miner_30.html

Miner signed a letter, sent to Obama, that calls for an increase of the number of refugees the U.S. will accept in the next two years. Obama has already pledged to take 10,000 Syrian refugees and increase the overall refugee allowance to 100,000 by 2017.

“Our cities have been transformed by the skills and the spirit of those who come to us from around the world,” the letter reads. “The drive and enterprise of immigrants and refugees have helped build our economies, enliven our arts and culture, and enrich our neighborhoods.”

All 18 mayors are members of Cities United for Immigration Action, a coalition pushing for immigration reform. Along with Miner, mayors from Los Angeles, New York City, Pittsburgh, Boston and Chicago signed the letter. [I bet if you dug into this group, you would find it another George Soros-funded group.—ed]

Syracuse currently accepts between 1,100 and 1,200 refugees each year. Two organizations — Catholic Charities of Onondaga County and Interfaith Works CNY — resettle refugees in Syracuse.

“We have taken in refugees, and will help make room for thousands more,” the letter reads.”

See the letter at Syracuse.com. And here are the 18 cities which need new mayors!

Ed Pawlowski, Mayor of Allentown, PA
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor of Baltimore, MD
Martin J. Walsh, Mayor of Boston, MA
James Diossa, Mayor of Central Falls, RI
Mark Kleinschmidt, Mayor of Chapel Hill, NC
Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago, IL
Edward Terry, Mayor of Clarkston, GA
Nan Whaley, Mayor of Dayton, OH
Domenick Stampone, Mayor of Haledon, NJ
Pedro E. Segarra, Mayor of Hartford, CT
Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles, CA
Betsy Hodges, Mayor of Minneapolis, MN
Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City, NY
Jose Torres, Mayor of Paterson, NJ
William Peduto, Mayor of Pittsburgh, PA
Javier Gonzales, Mayor of Santa Fe, NM
Francis G. Slay, Mayor of St. Louis, MO
Stephanie A. Miner, Mayor of Syracuse, NY

Be sure to check out the hundreds of comments this story generated. I skimmed some and it sure looks like Mayor Miner’s constituents aren’t too thrilled by her invitation.
If you live in any of those 18 cities be sure the citizens there know what their mayor is doing.
Addendum: I just remembered, you can go to this post from a few days ago to see if your city is already getting Syrian Muslims. Note to Catholic Charities, of the 1,700 plus Syrians who were admitted to the US so far, 43 were Christians and there was 1 (one!) Catholic in the bunch.

Drilling down on federal contractors that launder your money to local agencies—Twin Falls again

09/25/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The spotlight in the Twin Falls, Idaho controversy shifts from the big business interests we mentioned in our previous post, to the major federal contractor that is really calling the shots — not the local College of Southern Idaho Refugee Program.
The federal resettlement contractor, located in Arlington, Virginia is known in the refugee industry as USCRI (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants) which passes your tax dollars through to their local affiliate—CSI.

Lavinia Limon again — Learn more about Lavinia here: http://thehispanicblog.com/2012/04/14/who-is-lavinia-limon-meet-the-ceo-of-the-u-s-committee-for-refugees-immigrants/

We continue to be perplexed why there is no federal Form 990 available for CSI’s refugee program and would like to see the College’s financials to see exactly how much is coming in through their books for the refugee program.
However, we get some idea by having a look at the most recently available Form 990 for USCRI.
First, the best page of recent Form 990s is page 9. I say recent because when I first looked at Form 990s years ago these numbers were more prominently presented on page 1.

In 2013, USCRI had an income stream as follows (in red are your tax dollars). Numbers are rounded to save me work!

Government Grants: $35.4 million

Other contributions: $247,000

IOM Collection Fees: $1.7 million (Refugees are loaned tax dollars via the International Organization for Migration, another contractor, for their airfare and must return the loan, however the resettlement contractors get to keep a portion of any money they can wring out of the poor refugees. This is USCRI’s share for that year. It really should have been all returned to the US Treasury.)

Interpreters: $1.2 million (This is probably mostly local tax dollars as the contractors are now in the business of providing their workers and refugees for interpretive services needed in the health care system and criminal justice system to name just two).

Childcare Service: $350,000 (will give them the benefit of the doubt that this is private income???)

Misc. small stuff

Total income: $39.2 million or about 98% funded by tax dollars!

BTW, CEO Lavinia Limon earned a cool $289,192 according to this Form 990 and another Limon (relative?) earned $139,869. These salaries are in the mid-range for CEOs and employees in the humanitarian business. One of them, in another non-profit, makes close to $500,000 a year.

Limon had served as Bill Clinton’s Director of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement having revolved in and out of government as did her right hand man Eskinder Negash (you saw him here the other day leading the charge for 100,000 Syrians to be admitted to the US this coming year).
Anyway, back to Twin Falls. On Page 10 of the Form 990 you will see that Limon passed $22.3 million of their income (from you) to subcontractors working for them around the country. I was going to list the Top Ten recipients of the money that one could say USCRI launders to subordinates (Does anyone in the federal government follow the money to be sure it is used properly? Are there federal audits?), but I am too lazy. Check the dollar figures yourself in Schedule I.
On their list of grantees is the College of Southern Idaho which received $807,380 (passed to them by USCRI). If they had other income (gifts, fundraiser income, etc.) we have no idea because there is no Form 990 for CSI Refugee Program.
I did check to see if some of the other USCRI beneficiaries have filed separate Form 990s and the answer is yes!
So where is CSI’s? This arrangement with the College of Southern Idaho is a strange one!
We have many posts on Ms. Limon, click here for our archive.
Note to the New York Times reporter who was in Twin Falls on Tuesday evening. I hope you are doing your homework! The finances! The secrecy! The revolving door! The big business interests! The lobbying push by USCRI and others for 100,000 Syrian ‘clients’ for them! All of it!

In Twin Falls, Idaho last night, US State Department official: we don't force refugees on communities that don't want them

09/23/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Correction! Bartlett didn’t say we don’t place refugees in unwelcoming communities, he said “unsafe” ones implying that those who are critical of the program might actually hurt the refugees—what a slap in the face!
Regular readers know that we have been closely following the controversy that has been brewing for months about the refugee resettlement program on-going in the Magic Valley of Idaho. See our post last week where we outlined a public meeting format that would be fair to all sides in the controversy (so it wouldn’t appear as a “dog and pony show”).

Bartlett: We don’t resettle refugees into communities that don’t want them.

Initial reports are that it was surprise! a “dog and pony show,” and that the Times-News refused to use any of the suggestions coming from the citizens in opposition that might have helped community members feel confident that the meeting was a fair one.
In fact, according to a leader of those who are questioning the program, Rick Martin, the public meeting might well be characterized as a meeting one would expect in “communist Cuba.”
We are anxiously waiting for a video tape of the entire meeting and will have more for you then.
However, here are a few nuggets to satisfy your curiosity in addition to the astounding statement reportedly made at the end of the nearly 3-hour meeting by Lawrence Bartlett representing the US State Department—we don’t send refugees to communities not willing to welcome them. (We will get the exact wording from the video taped recording).
From a first hand account:

The meeting was delayed because the line to get in stretched for about a mile and everyone was subjected to screening by a metal-detector and some were frisked.
Those in favor of more refugees being resettled in Twin Falls brought in van and car loads of people from outside of town (presumably from Boise). Some of those were refugees themselves (we have previously mentioned that ploy to play on public sympathy by using refugees as pawns at such meetings).
About 725 people were in attendance.
A New York Times reporter was there, so look for news from the NYT.
Disgusted with the biased way in which the moderator asked questions, about ten in the audience walked out after about 45 minutes. One man shouted, “this is propaganda.”
Opposition leaders were happy with the opportunity to distribute their informational handouts.
There was much discussion about the national security fears of residents.
Questions about the health status of refugees and whether any presented serious medical threats to the community were not satisfactorily answered.
Opposition leaders say only about four of the fifty or so questions they submitted were asked and then the question was paraphrased (spun!) by the moderator. By the way, we had recommended that the paper should not have allowed its editor to moderate the meeting because of previously demonstrated bias, but the paper refused to replace him with a retired judge.

Much more later when we have had an opportunity to view the entire videotape of the meeting.
Oh, and I nearly forgot, you can read the Times-News account of the “forum,” here. (They don’t like RRW to excerpt their material, presumably so you will go and see their advertisers.)
All of our previous coverage of the Twin Falls controversy and the growing ‘Pocket of Resistance’ there can be found by clicking here.

Vast majority of US Muslims are Democrats, so why would Marco Rubio want more?

09/23/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Julia Hahn, who has been doing a fantastic job at Breitbart on the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program has another good article yesterday entitled, ‘REPORT: MUSLIMS ARE THE FASTEST GROWING IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY‘ (hat tip: Cathy).

Here is how she begins (with some much-needed data!):

Trump, never shy to speak up, said in August that the billionaire Facebook founder and No Borders advocate, Mark Zuckerberg, had his own personal US Senator—Marco Rubio. http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/donald-trump-marco-rubio-mark-zuckerberg-immigration/2015/08/18/id/670708/

“Muslims are the fastest growing bloc of immigrants, according to new census data published by the Center for Immigration Studies.

The report, which analyzes data from American Community Survey (ACS), finds that the foreign-born population in the U.S. hit a new record high 42.4 million in July 2014.

The report details that some of “the sending countries with the largest percentage increases in the number of immigrants living in the United States since 2010 were Saudi Arabia (up 93 percent); Bangladesh (up 37 percent); Iraq (up 36 percent); Egypt (up 25 percent); Pakistan, India, and Ethiopia (all up 24 percent); Nigeria and Ghana (both up 21 percent).”

“In contrast to most sending regions and countries, the number of immigrants from Europe and Canada declined,” the report notes.

As Breitbart News has previously documented, every year the United States voluntarily imports more than a quarter of a million– or 280,000– Muslim migrants. This number includes 117,423 migrants who were permanently resettled with Legal Permanent Resident status, as well as an additional 122,921 temporary Muslim workers and foreign students, and 39,932 Muslim refugee and asylees. This means that each year, the U.S. admits a number of Muslim migrants larger in size than the entire population of Des Moines, Iowa.”

Readers, although the number of refugees and asylees is lower than some other categories, remember that they are eligible for all forms of welfare immediately upon arrival as compared to those who entered under other legal immigration programs. They also get a federal resettlement contracting agency to hold their hands as they sign up, so they are much more costly to the US taxpayer.

What is up with Rubio?

Muslim immigrants (like most immigrants) are going to vote for Democrats, so why should Senator Marco Rubio be open to inviting more to America? On the Syrian issue he squished out here earlier this month by saying he was “open” to taking in Syrians Muslims who are now swamping Europe.
Hahn continues at Breitbart:

According to Pew Research, only 11 percent of Muslim Americans identify as Republican or leaning-Republican, making them one of the most reliable Democrat voting blocs in the country.

[….]

Despite the fact only 11 percent of Muslim voters say that they “lean” Republican, many Republican presidential candidates would like to see the number of Muslim immigrants expanded even further.

For instance, GOP presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)—whose campaign predicts he will be in first place by February—has introduced a new foreign worker bill which would substantially increase Muslim immigration. His bill, known as the I-Squared bill, has been described as the “gold standard of high-tech reform,” by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s immigration lobbying group.

[….]

In addition, Rubio has also his argued that the United States should increase the number of poor Muslim migrants the United States admits as refugees— on top of the tens of thousands already admitted each year. Experts project that the cost of admitting just ten thousand additional refugees will cost U.S. taxpayers $6.5 billion dollars.

There is much more, continue reading here.
I have a hunch that Fox News is hankering for a Rubio/Fiorina ticket in 2016 (or at least that could be Fox owner Rupert Murdoch’s dream team), here. Both could be counted on to do as they are told and support bringing in cheap immigrant labor for big business, something Murdoch has been openly supporting.

Jewish groups blast Obama: No leadership! Proposed Syrian refugee numbers too low

09/23/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Of course this is no surprise to long-time readers, but it is one of the first strong criticisms I’ve seen of Obama who has been the darling of the one-worlders of the No Borders American Hard Left. Back in 2007, there was no reluctance to excoriate George W. Bush when he was going cautiously on admitting Iraqi Muslims to the US.

Hetfield from twitter — Hetfield: Obama is not showing leadership on Syrian resettlement numbers. 10,000 is too low! We want 100,000! https://twitter.com/markjhetfield

Remember that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society*** is paid by the head to resettle refugees of all religious persuasions (including the mostly Muslim Syrians) as very few Jews are in the refugee stream to America these days. HIAS and the other eight federal resettlement contractors would have to close up shop without their infusion of your money!
I’m so sick of lazy (or purposefully deceptive) reporters who never mention the financial incentives behind resettlement.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two U.S. Jewish organizations said the Obama administration’s offer to absorb at least 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year was inadequate.

“Increasing the total number of refugees from 70,000 to 85,000 for next year and to 100,000 for the year after is a nice symbolic gesture,” Mark Hetfield, the president of HIAS, a Jewish group that assists in refugee resettlement and advocates for immigration reform, said Sunday in a statement. “It is a baby step in the right direction. But it is not leadership.”

The Reform movement also said in a statement Monday that Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposed numbers did not meet the mark.

See all of our coverage of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, here. Go here to see if HIAS is working in your city. If one is near you, call the office and ask how many Syrian Muslims they are bringing to your community. Ask them point blank if they will advocate for the persecuted Christians first!
Our huge archive on Syrian refugees is here.
*** Have a look at the most recent Form 990 for HIAS (which re-branded itself and dropped the word Hebrew from its name awhile back). It is a $31 million dollar a year supposed ‘non-profit’ group that receives 55% of its funding from the US taxpayer.
Federal grants total just over $16 million and that is to resettle refugees! And they receive other funds related to their refugee resettlement efforts including over $500,000 in processing fees for loans (refugee air fare loan collections).
Hetfield pulls down a salary (and related income) of just over $300,000 per year and there are 5 other employees in the six-figure range.