From the Swamp: Libertarian Think Tank Bemoans Loss of Refugee Laborers

The Washington DC based Niskanen Center is sad to report that between Trump’s policies and the Chinese Virus the refugee numbers for fiscal year 2020 have shrunk to unimaginably low numbers.

I know it seems like an eternity ago when the President set the refugee admission ceiling for fiscal year 2020 at 18,000 the lowest ceiling ever proposed by any President since the Refugee Admissions Program became law in 1980.

The fiscal year ends on September 30th so there is no chance for any serious recovery of the numbers as the virus is not going away and there are only a little over 90 days before the year ends.  We will be watching however as September rolls around and Donald Trump sets the ceiling for FY2021!

Remember her? Linda Chavez. She is a senior follow at the Niskanen Center and a never-Trumper: https://www.creators.com/read/linda-chavez/03/16/why-i-will-never-vote-for-trump

Here is the Niskanen Center described at Wikipedia as being “aligned with left-libertarian causes.”  Read about them and see what we are up against (as if extreme fake humanitarian Leftists weren’t enough of a problem).

These types are always trumpeting that the refugee program has gotten wide support on both sides of the aisle, but they never say that most Republicans who back the program do so at the behest of Chambers of Commerce and big companies looking for cheap legal labor!

 

2020 Sees Record Low Refugee Resettlement From COVID-19 and Previous Policy

As of World Refugee Day 2020 [June 20th—ed], the U.S. has resettled 7,684 refugees in fiscal year 2020,which began in October 2019. Since the suspension of the program, the U.S. resettled just 304 emergency cases. To compare, the FY 2019 program resettled nearly 20,000 refugees through mid-June — and that was still historically low given resettlement standards over the decades.

But the low admissions totals can’t just be considered a result of COVID-19 suspensions. President Trump limited resettlement to just 18,000 slots this year — the lowest ever. And as we detailed last year, a variety of changes to U.S. refugee policy would make reaching even the 18,000 mark highly difficult without the pandemic.

I published this mostly for their handy graph below (and because I want you to know about another well-funded swamp creature working against President Trump).

Here is just a bit of what Wikipedia says about the Niskanen Center that spun off from the Cato Institute when the Koch Brothers took control of Cato.

The Niskanen Center is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that advocates environmentalism, immigration reform, civil liberties, and strengthening social insurance based on market principles. The center is named after William A. Niskanen, an economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan. The Center states that its “main audience is Washington insiders,” and characterizes itself as a moderate think tank.

Here They Come! UN Announces that Refugee Travel Will Resume Immediately

You may remember that in mid-March the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partner the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the entity that processes refugee travel, announced that due to the Chinese Virus crisis refugees would not be traveling to a new country. This was to protect the refugees from picking up the virus.

It was only a few days ago I told you that refugee travel continued to be stalled at the UN level, well, all that has changed.

Yesterday the UN announced that the program would now resume to deal with an immediate backlog of 10,000 third worlders headed to the first world.

From a press statement by the UNHCR:

Joint Statement: UN refugee chief Grandi and IOM’s Vitorino announce resumption of resettlement travel for refugees

The temporary hold on resettlement travel, which was necessitated by disruptions and restrictions to international air travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, delayed the departures of some 10,000 refugees to resettlement countries. Throughout this period, UNHCR, IOM and partners continued to process and counsel refugees and resettled scores of emergency and urgent cases.

If you see a bag like this at your local airport, know that a new refugee is arriving (that is, assuming you are traveling at all!).

In addition, numerous resettlement countries established or expanded their capacities to apply flexible processing modalities, to adapt and ensure the continuity of their resettlement programs in unpredictable circumstances.

Although many travel restrictions still remain in place, as these begin to lift in many resettlement countries more refugee departures can be anticipated. UNHCR and IOM will continue to work with our government partners and other stakeholders around the world to move towards a return to normal operations as swiftly as the situation allows in each country.”

There was no moratorium!

During the supposed halt in refugee travel, the US admitted 523 (emergency) refugees that were distributed to 33 states.

Using data from the Refugee Processing Center, here is where the 523 who came in during the height of the virus crisis in the US, from March 17th, when the spigot was supposedly closed, to today.

Top ten states ‘welcoming’ refugees are: Texas (always number one!), Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Georgia, Idaho/Utah (tied for tenth place).

 

 

The primary sending countries were the DR Congo (as usual), Burma, Pakistan, El Salvador, Iran and Syria.

I was very surprised to see that 194 of the 523 emergency refugees we admitted are Muslims (37%) of some stripe, included are 13 Somalis. 45 of 65 from Burma are Rohingya Muslims.  No Christians from Syria out of 23 arrivals were among them, and only 4 of 17 from Iraq are Christians.  So much for saving the Christians of Syria and Iraq!

I will be watching and let you know when I see the floodgates fully open!

Ghana Invites African-Americans to Come Home to Africa

When I first started writing RRW now almost 13 years ago, I originally (naively) assumed, as so many newbies do to the issue of refugee resettlement, that we actually admitted refugees for a few years, helped them get educated while protecting them from some threat in Africa (or wherever) and that they then went home.

I quickly learned how wrong I was and that refugees admitted to the US under the US Refugee Admissions Program were here to stay.

However, now, in light of the rage being demonstrated against America, by not just African-Americans, but by unhappy refugees and unhappy and angry so-called ‘Dreamers’ from south of the border (see my post just now at ‘Frauds and Crooks’), maybe the idea of just going home and fixing one’s own native land is an excellent idea whose time has come.

The leadership of the African country of Ghana has launched a ‘Come Home’ movement that should be appealing to many who say white America is a racist land!

And, I am not trying to be funny or provocative here.

This is an idea that should be widely promoted.  For those who find America an unhappy place, please take your skills, your talents, your education and your industry and return to your native country (or the country of your heritage) and work to make it better.

And, by doing so, make the world a better place!

From Breitbart:

Ghana Invites African Americans to ‘Come Home’ in Wake of U.S. Protests

Ghana, considered a gateway of the brutal slave trade to the United States that began more than 400 years ago, is urging “unwanted” Americans of African heritage to resettle within its borders in the wake of the police killing of Minnesota resident George Floyd.

During a memorial and wreath-laying ceremony in honor of Floyd last Friday, Ghana’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Barbara Oteng-Gyasi invited African Americans to “re-settle in Ghana if they feel unwanted” in the United States, the Independent Ghana news outlet reported.

[….]

We continue to open our arms and invite all our brothers and sisters home. Ghana is your home. Africa is your home. We have our arms wide open ready to welcome you home. Please take advantage, come home build a life in Ghana, you do not have to stay where you are not wanted forever, you have a choice and Africa is waiting for you.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. Of course he is referring to American born African Americans, but surely some of the unhappy Somalis raised in America would be welcome too!

[….]

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo officially launched the “Year of Return, Ghana 2019” in Washington, DC, in September 2018, the United Nations noted.

“We know of the extraordinary achievements and contributions they [Africans in the diaspora] made to the lives of the Americans, and it is important that this symbolic year — 400 years later — we commemorate their existence and their sacrifices,” the Ghanaian president declared.

The Ghanaian government launched the 2019 effort to mark 400 years since the first documented slave ship left Africa to the U.S. state of Virginia.

More here.

In the months ahead, help me follow this story and see just how many unhappy in America, go home to Africa., or, go home to any other country they came from.

Too bad there is no political will to organize a “go home” movement.

HIAS CEO Mark Hetfield Confident that Refugees Pose Us No Harm

Thanks to reader David for sending this short interview with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society’s Mark Hetfield.

Longtime readers know that Hetfield has been a leading opponent of any refugee program reform efforts the President has proposed both through political agitation and legal action his federally-funded organization has taken.

I always laugh when I hear their line that goes like this about the millions admitted to the US: “not a single one has committed a lethal act of terror.”

He leaves out the dozens who have tried to commit terror acts and failed or who were caught before they could act and the untold numbers that have murdered or raped someone after being admitted.

Reader Michelle had this to say about the clip:

Maybe not an act of terror but in my own town, a refugee slaughtered 3 young children with a machete. And this is only one town. There are lots more. IF that isn’t terror, what is it? I can’t stand these holier than thou officials. He seems to have forgotten all of those that were caught getting ready to act and lots more that have done worse like rape etc.

For more on HIAS see my extensive archive by clicking here.

Will George Floyd’s Death Unite Muslims Behind Non-Muslim African Americans?

That is what many on the political Left are banking on as CAIR is out front in its call for Muslims to support their black brothers.

Go here to see the entire poster: https://www.cair.com/press_releases/protesting-use-these-posters-study-your-rights-stay-safe/

I guess you are asking—haven’t they been doing that all along?

Not so much!

Over the years, almost 13 now, writing this blog I’ve come across reports that the mainstream media doesn’t want to talk about—tension in African American communities that don’t take kindly to the arrival of Muslim ‘refugees’ plopped down in the middle of their neighborhoods—as I mentioned here the other day when writing about how diversity does not bring strength and that the American magical melting pot is a myth.

Now this morning I see that Dean Obeidallah, opining at the Daily Beast , is salivating about the possibility of an alliance that he sees growing between Muslim activists, like CAIR, and African American rights activists.

Unfortunately, in order to read the whole thing a subscription is required, but here is a bit of his thesis with some nuggets about the tensions that have existed.  Some of you may have witnessed this in your own multiculti cities.

Daily Beast:

How Floyd Case Could Finally Unite Blacks and Muslims

(Emphasis is mine)

Despite the Muslim and African-American communities both being minority groups, and the fact that nearly one third of the Muslim American community is black, there’s been a history of tension or mistrust between many in the two groups. And George Floyd’s tragic murder and the reaction that followed both conjure up the past challenges for these two communities—and offer an inspiring sign of hope for the future.

One of the primary areas of friction arises from the fact that some Muslims own delis or even liquor stores in urban neighborhoods where they gladly accept the money of black customers but show no support for the African-American community in time of need.

Others, such as Michigan-based Imam Dawud Walid, who is African-American, [who also happens to be the director of CAIR-Michigan—ed], have called out South Asian and Arab Muslim store owners who profit off the black community by selling them goods that are detrimental to their health, as he did in a tweet this week:

While some have accused the Muslim owners of being welcoming of white patrons but openly hostile to black customers, calling them racist names in Arabic or other languages. [Who knew!—ed]

Add to that, internally in the Muslim community, some Middle Eastern/South Asian Muslims—primarily but not exclusively immigrants—had a history of not welcoming or being dismissive of them simply because of their race. This very point was made by comedian Hasan Minhaj this week on his Netflix series Patriot Act, as he addressed the murder of Floyd and need for “Brown” people—especially Muslims—to be a part of the fight against discrimination.

Go here and subscribe to the Daily Beast for more of this op-ed.

And, to give some perspective on the racist attitude toward blacks by some segments of the Muslim population, visit one of dozens of articles about the history of the African slave trade when Arab Muslims enslaved Africa’s indigenous people as they conquered and colonized North and East Africa.

By the way, you might find it informative to see Obeidallah’s trailer for a 2013 comedy show.  I can’t imagine it went over very well with some segments of the Muslim community.