If you want to know where the ‘unaccompanied alien children’ have gone, check with two local agencies—the local department of education and the health department.
There is nothing especially new or surprising in this report from the Gazetteunless you live in long-time ‘welcoming’ Montgomery County, Maryland (I once did), but it does say one new and interesting thing to me—the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement sent over 100 of the ‘children’ (really teenagers!) there in the previousschool year. I wonder how many taxpaying residents knew that?
School begins in Montgomery County on Monday.
Montgomery County executive Isiah Leggett (right) making guacamole with one of the most dangerous men in America, Obama Labor Secretary Thomas Perez. Leggett says it’s our moral duty to care for the alien children (and expand the voter base for my friend Tom!) http://www.gazette.net/article/20140730/NEWS/140739818/0/leggett-x2018-we-need-to-do-what-is-right-x2019&template=gazette
Nearly 50 unaccompanied minors from Central America have been sent to Montgomery County Public Schools since July to attend classes this school year, Superintendent Joshua P. Starr said Thursday.
The 47 children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were directed to the county school system through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, Starr said at the county school board’s Thursday meeting.
“We don’t know if the number’s going to go up,” he said.
Last school year, the refugee resettlement office sent 107 unaccompanied children to the school system. Most of the minors were high school students, Starr said.
Starr said system officials are aware that minors from Central America are also entering county schools through avenues other than the refugee resettlement office, such as through their families. He said school officials discussed the issue during the summer.
The issue goes beyond the school system for the county. Montgomery County Council members met with representatives from public agencies and nonprofits in late July to learn about the situation in Montgomery regarding the immigrant children in its communities.
Assessing their emotional needs!
The system is determining the students’ educational and social-emotional needs and working to address the situation with others, such as the county and nonprofits, he said.
All citizens of Montgomery County are not as eager as Leggett and Starr to welcome the mostly Central American teens:
School board Vice President Patricia O’Neill said at the meeting that, in her experiences talking with county residents, “a lot of people have been very concerned” about the unaccompanied children in county schools.
All of our coverage of the ‘unaccompanied minors’ surging across our southern border is here.
Update! Just so you know! Reader Julia sent us several links about TB in Montgomery Co. Maryland schools, the highest in the state due to the large immigrant population, here.
About the photo: Blogging partner Judy has recently written two posts at Potomac Tea Party Reporton Thomas Perez. In my view he is next in line behind the man himself (Obama), and then Attorney General Eric Holder as one of the three most dangerous race-baiters in America.
See ‘Perez stirring up racial strife‘ here and the follow-up post here from earlier this past week.
PTPR has an extensive archive on Perez, check it out by clicking here.
Last I heard Perez still lives in Montgomery County in that far-left mecca of Takoma Park. Watch for it! When the Obama Administration ends, Perez will be back and be a major political force in Maryland (if not nationally). Is making guacamole with Leggett earlier this month a first step in his return?
You know who should be really worried about this (in addition to American workers) is anyone who is trying to help real legal refugees find work because this plan may include employers of low-skill labor as well if the likes of Tamar Jacoby get their way.
Refugee activists won’t be concerned of course because it’s more about open borders for the refugee contractors than it is about humanitarian concern for needy refugees (or needy Americans).
Obama: Go ahead and joke about golfing all you want, but I am getting it done!
Reports run as high as 50% for the unemployment rate among legal refugees from some ethnic groups. (I can hear the howls from refugee contractors when I say it’s that high, but they don’t really know themselves because they keep phoney records on employment.)
The contractors must report to the feds the employment status of their refugees, but here is what they do—they get the refugee some piddling job that might only last a few months just so they can say their refugees are employed and it doesn’t matter if the refugee is fired or quits after that reporting date. And besides, after a few months, refugees move on to other towns and cities and no one tracks what they are doing!
After meeting with a “bevy” of big-business groups, President Barack Obama is reportedly considering granting them up to 800,000 additional guest-worker visas via executive actions.
According to the Associated Press, “one of the more popular requests among business and family groups is a change in the way green cards are counted,” which would “essentially free up some 800,000 additional visas the first year.” In addition, “other requests have included removing the requirement that some spouses of U.S. citizens return to their native country for at least three years before they can apply for U.S. residency, as well as extending work permits to the spouses of all temporary H1-B skilled workers.” The Obama administration is also considering granting work permits for low-skilled industries as well.
The Obama administration “has already increased the number of guest-worker permits by possibly 100,000 when it allowed the spouses of high-tech guest-workers who are applying for permanent residency to obtain permits.”
Numerous companies – like Microsoft and Cisco – have massively laid off American workers while pushing the Obama administration for more guest-worker visas at a time when scholars and studies from organizations on the left, right, and center have debunked the notion that there is a shortage of American high-tech workers. The Obama administration reportedly wants to appease big-business interests so they give him air cover for his potential executive amnesty, which may enable millions of illegal immigrants to get work permits in addition to temporary amnesty.
[….]
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) accused the Obama administration of “actively working against the interests of the American worker.”
Not only will the “legal” immigrants be working, but they will be voting because anyone with a driver’s license can vote in most states.
The next time you hear someone say they disapprove of illegal immigration, but LEGAL immigration is o.k. pop them in the nose (gently of course). Our problem is numbers now whether they are legal or illegal!
….invite in more “children” because more migrants means more money for government contractors! (she doesn’t say that! I do!)
Lavinia Limon is the CEO of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, known in the refugee industry as USCRI. Below, published at the Budapest Business Journal (of all places) is her six-point prescription for what the Obama Administration should do to save the ‘unaccompanied alien children’ (child “refugees” she calls them) because how we respond will “define us as a Nation,” she says.
Revolving door! Doing well by doing good!
Limon in 1996 as head of Bill Clinton’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. http://www.c-spanvideo.org/person/42360
It’s mentioned in her bio at the end of this opinion piece, but keep in mind she is one of several refugee contractors who have moved in and out of the revolving door from ‘non-profit’ contractor to government giver-of-grants and then back out again.
She was Bill Clinton’s head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in HHS)after first working in a ‘non-profit’ resettlement agency, and now she heads up the ‘non-profit’ group USCRI where she seeks grants from her former USCRI VP (Eskinder Negash) who now heads Obama’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. Did you get that?
And, be sure to have a look at this post we wrote in 2008 when we nicknamed her “whoop-de-do” when one of her resettlement subcontractors was caught dumping (and not caring for) refugees in Waterbury, CT. It had been revealed to the public that the contractor keeps a cut of what the refugees each are allotted by the feds and she told the reporter that the feds weren’t keeping up with the economic times and she mentioned everyone would squawk if their salaries weren’t growing. She said:
“Whoop-de-do” ….“God help us if our salaries had not kept pace with inflation like that.“
So, let’s see how the inflationary times are treating USCRI and her salary! (I’m going to get to her prescription for handling the southern border invasion, but this is too good!).
In 2008, we reported Ms. Limon’s 2006 salary (while USCRI was taking in $18 million):
In 2006 her salary and other compensation was $195,478. That is up about $20,000 from the previous couple of years.
Are you ready for this!
First, you need to know that in its 2013 Form 990, USCRI took in $35,676,146 and $35,429,570 came from government grants (page 9)—that is, 99% of their funds are from you—the US taxpayer! (much worse than any contractor*** we have reviewed so far). They apparently make virtually no effort to raise private funds in what was supposed to be a public-private partnership when the Refugee Act of 1980 was signed into law by Jimmy Carter.
So what is Ms. Limon’s salary today? Drum roll please!
Now working as a government contractor, you can hire Ms. Limon to speak. http://speakerpedia.com/speakers/lavinia-limon
On page 7 of that Form 990 we learn that Lavinia Limon is making more than the Vice President of the United States whom she ever-so-gently disparages in her op-ed at the Budapest Journal.
Her salary from USCRI and other sources related to her work there is $289,192. It went up 32% since 2006! Has your salary increased that much over so short a time? If she were in the legitimate private sector, then what they pay is none of our business, but she is essentially a government employee, so we have every right to blow our stacks!
Family business? One Peter Limon is listed in that Form 990 as well pulling down a salary of $115,878 and $23,991 from related income.
Consider all of that information when you read this opinion-piece (that you paid for!).
…..we’ve proposed six actions that the United States should take to resolve this issue. We’ve personally handed our proposal to every member of Congress, and we’ve spoken about it with every reporter who’s called. We’re getting some traction on these simple, yet tested ideas:
1. Respect families by allowing parents from El Salvador and Honduras who reside legally in the United States under Temporary Protected Status to apply for their minor children to reunite. The children’s status would then be linked to their parents. This would immediately reduce immigration court backlogs, and would apply to an estimated 30–40 percent of the children surrendering at the border.
2. Keep kids out of the courtrooms by instituting a Children’s Corps based on the Asylum Officer Corps model. Officers will have training in child-sensitive interview techniques and Best Interest Determination standards, and will determine whether a child is eligible for legal relief. This will move the adjudication process from an adversarial judicial process to an administrative process for most children. Reports indicate that 40–60 percent of these children may be eligible for legal protection.
3. Help children avoid the dangerous journey by allowing them to apply for refugee status from their home country. We’ve previously used this process so that Soviet Jews, Vietnamese, and Cubans could avoid life-threatening escapes. Additionally, other North and South American countries may be willing to accept the children for resettlement.
4. Engage the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to determine international protection needs using its well-established procedures.The UNHCR could then refer cases to the U.S. Department of State for further interviewing and approval before resettlement in the United States, and possibly other countries.
5. Forgive the children by granting Children’s Protected Status (CPS) to all unaccompanied children who have already been brought into custody.We used this approach with Cubans and Haitians who arrived illegally in 1980. The government could announce a cut-off date after which new arrivals would be subject to expedited removal. Granting CPS will relieve the government of the burden and cost of adjudicating the cases of the thousands of unaccompanied minors who are at the border, and will increase the Department of Homeland Security’s capacity to handle other immigration cases.
6. Introduce hope by creating a Regulated Entry Procedure for 10,000 unaccompanied immigrant children per year per country from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. As precedent, a lottery system has allowed 20,000 Cubans to enter the United States annually for the past 34 years. The children would enter the United States legally through a process managed and regulated by the U.S. government.
I love the United States, and I have high expectations for its international behavior and reputation. We can do better, and I commit to being part of the solution.
Update August 20th: What do you know, change of plans, “children” not going there after all. Hat tip: Robin
A “financially troubled” Lutheran Church on Long Island riled the community of Commack recently when it said it was considering housing some of the ‘unaccompanied alien children’ flooding the US border in recent months.
A NYC fire fighter who lives next door said: “It’s basically going to be a hotel right next to my house.”
Lutheran church in Commack, NY could become a “hotel” for the unaccompanied alien children. http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2014/aug/16/plan-send-immigrant-kids-ny-church/
A Lutheran church in Commack may host some of the tens of thousands of immigrant children illegally crossing the United States’ border with Mexico mainly to reunite with family here, the church’s pastor said Tuesday.
The financially troubled Holy Cross Lutheran Church had to cancel a meeting last week after outraged neighbors packed the church to protest the proposal, but Rev. Dennis Walker said the congregation is still considering it and hopes to meet in coming weeks to decide.
Walker said community opposition was being fueled by misinformation about the proposal, and he hopes “people will reconsider in a more rational light. This is minimal impact on the community with substantial benefits” such as jobs for workers who would remodel the building to create the living quarters. [Here is one of my questions, if the “children’s” border surge ended tomorrow and the church had already been remodeled, then what? Would it house other migrants of some sort?—ed]
The proposal calls for about 40 children, 4 to 17, to be housed at the church at any one time between seven and 30 days, Walker said. The children would be in transit from federal immigration detention facilities to relatives in the New York area, and would leave only for medical appointments or other important issues, Walker said.
So who does have moola (federal cash!)?
The proposal was brought to the church by Lutheran Social Services of New York, the Manhattan-based agency that would cover cost for the renovation, using federal funds.
Nearby residents firmly oppose the idea. “It’s scary,” said Sheryl Cambria, 35, a special-education teacher at Lindenhurst High School. “I have two little kids. Who’s to say my house is going to be safe?” New York City firefighter Michael Cantwell, 44, said, “It’s basically going to be a hotel right next to my house.”
Not just in Commack, New York, but from sea to shining sea, this is what it is all about, the good pastor admits—
—they get money (your tax dollars) and get to “do the Christian thing!” Who can beat that!
Walker said the Commack church is in dire financial straitsafter a day care business stopped renting space in June.
The immigrant children program could bring in $8,000 to $10,000 a month, help pay off a $25,000 debt — and allow the church to do the Christian thing, he said.
***According to Guidestar, Lutheran Social Services of New York does not file a Form 990 tax return with the IRS because it says it’s exempt as a “church.” I’ve seen that occasionally over the years (of course, it’s a way of hiding their financials from the public) and wonder that the ACLU isn’t interested in examining this situation—federal money flowing directly to a church (and not a “religious” IRS-approved non-profit group). Hmmm!
Any forensic accountants following the money trail?
Endnote: The AP has a longer story posted on this past Saturday, here. Note that the AP reporter tried to talk with someone at Lutheran Social Services of New York (offices on Riverside Dr at the “God Box” where God is a Leftwinger) and they refused to comment.
For more on ‘unaccompanied minors’ here at RRW, click here.
Geez, you would think that the big media like the Wall Street Journal (Miriam Jordan) might actually do a little more work than to simply join the orchestrated PR chorus (lobbying campaign!) of the likes of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)wailing for more taxpayer funding so they don’t have to reduce staff or heaven-forbid close offices and stop traveling or going to meetings in the wake of the “children’s” border surge.
In fact, as a regular reader here, you know both of those “refugee” (referred to now as “migrant”) contractors (the biggest crybabies) are getting money from two of the US Health and Human Services (Office of Refugee Resettlement) pockets—the one for ‘unaccompanied alien children’ and for the usual refugee flow of third-worlders into America.
Here is the Wall Street Journal’s ho-hum story (virtually the same one we are seeing from publications large and small). Emphasis is mine:
The influx of Central American children across the southern U.S. border in recent months is having an impact on another immigrant community: refugees from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Government funds that would ordinarily go to resettlement programs for refugees have been diverted to help pay for the costs of coping with the recent wave of unaccompanied minors, and it isn’t clear if the money will be entirely restored.
Then get this fear-mongering!
Now retired President and CEO of Lutheran Community Services Northwest, Roberta Nestaas, was making over $200,000 in salary and benefits at the time of her retirement earlier this summer.
“Unfortunately, you are taking from one vulnerable population to provide to another vulnerable population,” said Jacinda Paschoal, regional operations manager for Lutheran Community Services Northwest, which resettles refugees in Oregon and Washington.
She said that tuberculosis testing, follow-up and treatment as well as services for school-aged children and elderly refugees are among those impacted by cuts. More than a dozen staff positions are slated to be eliminated in Portland, she said, because of the reallocation of resources.
I’m betting most readers are now saying—WTH!—we are bringing refugees with tuberculosis into the US and paying for their treatment? YES! Old people who need care too? YES!
And, then this is the blood-boiling part of the story (if that wasn’t enough). The article suggests that these contractors use their own “self-generated funding” to pay for their good works.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and other organizations that serve refugees have taken their concerns to congressional representatives. Among others, the organizations, using federal and self-generated funding, help refugees find housing and work as well as enroll in English classes and get vaccinated. [The reporter could very easily have put a qualifier in this sentence that told readers that MOST of the money they spend is federal money—ed]
How much is federal and how much is private CHARITABLE money? Truth please!
They received income that year of $21,604,804 and $19,557,224 came directly from US taxpayers as government grants. There are other categories of income that are also possibly streams from public money as well. But, assuming just the government grants, that means they are 86% funded by you!
Their CEO, Roberta Nestaas, retired on June 30th of this year and was pulling down a salary and benefits package worth $221,935. Presumably new CEO David Duea will do just as well (by doing good).
Their expenses include $13.7 million in wages and another nearly $2 million in “employee benefits.” Their current officers and directors compensation was $371,575.
Office expenses and occupancy were over $2.3 million.
Travel: $389,574
Meetings and conferences: $219,353
They even have an expense called “Volunteer expenses” which came to $176,510 in that one year.
So now why do you think there is all this wailing going on from quasi-government/quasi-religious supposed non-profits who want more of your money?
Come on! How about some real investigative reporting for a change!
All of our coverage of ‘unaccompanied minors’ is here (the archive goes back several years). Were the US Bishops partially responsible for the surge? We think so!
