Category: The Opposition

“Advocacy group” tells Congress to bring in 12,000 Syrians THIS year, waive the security rules

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Molly Groom (Homeland Security): We are working on developing exemptions from terrorist definitions for Syrians. Photo Aljazeera America

Update January 17th:  The US Conference of Catholic Bishops was there too, they want the US to admit 15,000 ASAP.

It’s not just the Lutherans telling Congress—wahhhhh! we want Syrians, it’s the International Rescue Committee (IRC) the Wall Street Journal calls an “advocacy group” that told Senator Dick Durbin’s Judiciary subcommittee last week that they want to forego security measures and bring ’em (12,000) in NOW!

I’m struck by the label “advocacy group,” generally meaning lobbyists, and am wondering why then we are paying the lobbying group millions of taxpayer dollars to lobby for themselves (they are paid by the head to resettle refugees; of course they always want more!).

Just a reminder you pay the new IRC head honcho, David Miliband, nearly a half million dollars a year to do his job for an “advocacy group.”

And, by the way, these “advocacy groups” have been agitating for all the years we’ve written this blog for the post-911 “material support to terrorism bar” to be removed with just about every group of refugees we bring—it was especially a big rallying cry to get the Iraqis in here.  It did cause the Bush Administration to keep the Iraqi flow slow, but eventually, worn down by these groups and their media lackeys, Bush opened the floodgates (and some terrorists got in!).

As the lobbying groups did at the Senate hearing, they like to throw out the ol’ sandwich story—-golly if you gave a sandwich to a terrorist (even a terrorist on the side of the US) then you were barred from entering the US.  The Iraqi terrorists who did get in were making IEDs not sandwiches!

By the way, these are the same stories (sandwiches) we heard with Iraqis and Burmese.  I think it’s amusing that there are still Iraqis coming in and Burmese too, but the “advocacy groups” (bored perhaps with those refugees) have moved on to the newest coolest refugee group—Syrians—to add to their multi-culty collection of immigrants. Plus I suspect the “Syrian crisis” keeps their organization’s name in the news.

Not a word in this story though about the truly persecuted Christian Syrians.  That would not be politically correct for even the supposedly religious refugee contractors.

Here is reporter Miriam Jordan at the Wall Street Journal this past week:

U.S. plans to resettle thousands of Syrians displaced by their country’s civil war could hinge on those refugees receiving exemptions from laws aimed at preventing terrorists from entering the country.

A U.S. official stated publicly for the first time this week that some of the 30,000 especially vulnerable Syrians the United Nations hopes to resettle by the end of 2014 will be referred to the U.S. for resettlement.

[….]

The U.S. has not set a specific target for how many refugees it will resettle. But at a Senate hearing Tuesday, State Department Assistant Secretary Anne Richard said, “We expect to accept referrals for several thousand Syrian refugees in 2014.”

[….]

Molly Groom, acting deputy secretary for the Office of Immigration and Border Security at the Department of Homeland Security, acknowledged that “broad definitions” of terrorist activity under U.S. law were “often a hurdle to resettling otherwise eligible refugees who pose no security threat.” She said agencies were consulting to develop exemptions for the Syrians.

Human Rights First is an “advocacy group” but the International Refugee Committee is a quasi-government agency, a federal contractor***, due to the large portion of its budget you pay!

Anwen Hughes, a lawyer at Human Rights First who has studied the laws’ impact, said that the government has been “reactive, slow,” about giving exemptions up to now, and urged a swifter process, given the magnitude of the Syrian crisis.

The advocacy group has called on the U.S. to work to resettle 15,000 Syrians a year. The International Rescue Committee, another advocacy organization, is pressing the U.S. to set a goal of 12,000 Syrian refugees this year.

When they say “this year” they mean this fiscal year—FY2014—that began October 1, 2013.   And, because the economy is still so weak, it means they will be brought in with poor job prospects and join the ever-expanding welfare rolls.

***If you are seeing this list of contractors for the first time, don’t be fooled by the title—Voluntary Agencies—that is such a joke implying they are doing their resettlement out of private charity and the goodness of their hearts.  It isn’t so.  They could not exist without the millions and millions of tax dollars they each get from the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement to bring refugees to your cities and towns.

Photo is from Aljazeera America which must obviously have covered the hearing.

Bhutanese refugee says he (most) refugees add to US economy….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, Lutherans use your tax dollars to supply cheap labor to Marriott and Hilton!

Truth be told, I don’t have the energy this morning to go through Bhutanese refugee, Som Nath Subedi’s, opinion piece with a fine tooth comb refuting each of his claims about how refugees are a net benefit to the US economy.  But, I also did want to post this and pull out a few things that interested me.

Lutheran leader Roberta Nestaas: Doing well by “advocating for justice” and finding cheap foreign labor for large corporations!

From The Oregonian:

Som Nath Subedi is an exception to the rule when he says this:

When a refugee comes from refugee camps overseas or from a country torn by war or political unrest, he or she takes a travel loan from the U.S. government for airfare. Refugees have to pay that money back. I owed $1,300 for my one-way plane ticket. Within a year, I paid every penny back.

In fact, Som Nath Subedi, who says he was resettled by Lutheran Community Services, paid a portion to the US government but Lutheran Community Services, or its parent agency (as the collection agency), received a cut of the travel loan that really should have all been returned to the US Treasury.

Tellingly, the US State Department does not reveal how many of those travel loans go unpaid leading us to assume it’s a figure they are ashamed of.

Som Nath Subedi goes on to say that he has paid $30,000 in taxes (including property tax) working for Lutheran Community Services.   He is an outlier.  When he says most refugees pay taxes, he is just flat out wrong.  Incomes are so low that most refugees fall below the levels required to pay taxes at all (if they are working) and in fact probably receive money back through such giveaways as the child tax credit programs.

They don’t get off welfare that easily either, the large majority continue in subsidized housing, get medicaid, and receive food stamps at least.

Then he uses figures from more than ten years ago to say that refugees are employed at a higher rate than US citizens.  It is just not so today and it may not have been so then.   The contractors, like his Lutheran bosses, find menial labor for refugees, count them as employed for reporting purposes, and it doesn’t matter if a few months down the road they are unemployed again.

Here is the part that I especially wanted to note—-here is the truth!  

Big corporations lobby Congress to bring in more LEGAL immigrant labor.  The reason refugees fit the bill is that THEY CANNOT GO HOME.  They are essentially captive (slave!) labor.   And, it’s beneficial to the employer to have workers, like the Bhutanese, who are a bit more docile than say the Somalis the meatpackers had trouble with in recent years.

As a matter of fact, I think that after the stink the Somalis caused with demands for religious accommodation in the workplace, I envision a scenario where big corporations went to the Bush Administration and said we need less troublesome workers and the Bush State Department found them the Bhutanese.

Initially, limited English skills lead most refugees to work entry level jobs that average Americans would rather not do. Big corporations like Marriott and Hilton count on refugees coming here to fill a legal workforce. Those same corporations donated to both Democratic and Republican parties*** and their candidates during the 2012 general election to push for the admission of more legal workers. These hard-working refugees stay at work longer than American co-workers. This helps American employers save some money on training and hiring costs.

Som Nath Subedi goes on to make a pitch for ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ so more refugees can get here more easily, but little does he know that once a few million illegal aliens are legalized it will mean less employment for his people.

It makes me want to scream!    In order for Marriott and Hilton to have cheap, legal, uncomplaining workers (Americans would complain if working conditions weren’t acceptable and wages low), we, the taxpayers must subsidize the lives of foreign laborers while the Lutheran contractors act as the middlemen.

If Lutherans (who are being paid by us right now) want to be head-hunters for Marriott/Hilton why don’t they just do it directly and leave the US taxpayer out of it.  Let the Lutherans sponsor families privately and hand the workers over to the big corporations!

I said I wasn’t going to get into this story too deeply, but I just looked at Lutheran Community Services Northwest’s latest Form 990, and I am even more furious!

On page 9, they took in $21,992,854 that year and $19,879,656 came from GOVERNMENT GRANTS.  90 % of their “charitable” income came from you via the US Treasury (why isn’t it paid by Marriott?).

They paid out over $17 million in salaries/benefits and other employee related expenses.

Office expenses were $1 and a quarter million.  Rent was $1 million (I’m rounding numbers now).

They spent $386,000 traveling and $229,000 on conferences.

Their president Ms. Nestaas took in a cool $216,393 in salary and benefits and it’s almost all on you—the taxpayer!

***Who else is working for Marriott?—Grover Norquist—because it’s all about the $$$.

New York Times slobbers over David Miliband’s arrival in NYC to lead refugee contractor

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

David Miliband (of course you should know) is the former British foreign secretary who now runs one of our largest refugee resettlement agencies—the International Rescue Committee—and makes a cool $400,000 plus salary doing it.  See our archives for more on the man who was a “celebrity” in the UK, but is virtually unrecognizable in NYC.  The New York Times (in its name-dropping story) makes sure we know throughout the article how much he is enjoying his anonymity when he surely was entitled to be among the recognized.

Hillary reportedly said of Miliband, “if you saw him, it would be a big crush.”
Photo: Times of London

The article is long, and long on gush, but gives us one more look at the glitz and glamor that surrounds the human rights industrial complex these days.

From the NYT (emphasis mine):

The speakers at the fund-raising gala in New York last month had come to praise the guest of honor: the new president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband. Amid all the charity-circuit one-liners delivered by big-ticket names like Bill Clinton, George Soros and Samantha Power, a remark by Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state, hit closest to home.

“I would like to dispel the rumor,” Ms. Albright said, “that David himself has sought refuge in America from that most terrible of democratic tyrannies, the British tabloids.”

She may be right, but surely no one would blame Mr. Miliband — a former British foreign secretary, candidate for leader of the Labour Party and newspaper torture victim — if escape had indeed been one of his motives for fleeing England at the end of the summer.

IRC staff not so welcoming to man who says he wanted to deal with “knotty” issues:

Some longtime I.R.C. staff members responded to news of his appointment with a certain wariness, mainly because of Mr. Miliband’s foreignness, his celebrity, his lack of experience running nonprofit agencies and because they did not know what his management style would be. (He started the job in September, installing two longtime advisers from Britain as top executives, and said he was spending the first few months getting his head around the organization and the job.)

We are not informed if he has won them over.

Read the whole thing if you feel like it by clicking here.

Amnesty International berates Bulgaria over so-called “hate crimes” against refugees/migrants

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

What makes groups like Amnesty International not understand that citizens of a country sooner or later won’t tolerate being invaded—sooner in small relatively poor countries like Bulgaria where citizens see the impact of being overrun more quickly?

Heck, I’ll bet Amnesty has been pretty ticked-off at the US for “invading” Muslim countries.  So, why when Muslims invade a Christian country are the citizens to lie down and take it?

Jezerca Tigani of Amnesty International: “Xenophobic and racist violence will not be tolerated.”

For new readers, click here, for our complete archive on Bulgaria being swamped by mostly Syrians flooding across their border with Turkey.

Amnesty beats on Bulgaria.  Here is the latest news about attacks on migrants in Sofia and Amnesty’s demands (emphasis is mine):

Bulgaria’s authorities must send a clear message that they will take all necessary measures to curb the growing spate of attacks against refugees and migrants on the streets of the capital city Sofia, Amnesty International said.

The call comes after two Syrian men in their 20s and 30s were injured in a violent attack in Sofia’s Zaharna Fabrika district. A third man targeted in the attack reportedly escaped unscathed. This was the seventh such assault on the city’s streets since the beginning of November 2013.

“So far, instead of investigating and bringing the perpetrators of these violent attacks to justice, the Bulgarian authorities have sought to downplay them as run-of-the-mill muggings and crimes. Bulgaria is obliged under international law to thoroughly investigate any possible hate motive behind these crimes. Hate crimes are an affront to human dignity,” said Jezerca Tigani, a Deputy Director of Europe and Central Asia Programme of Amnesty International.

“The Bulgarian authorities must take a clear and public stance that xenophobic and racist violence will not be tolerated. Refugees and migrants must be protected from any further harassment and violence.”

Bulgaria is working on Plan B—secure the border, build a fence, slow the flow:

Separately, the Interior Ministry said that there had been a decrease in the number of people entering Bulgaria seeking refugee status, halving in the past month.

In October, there were 3626 illegal entrants, but in November the number dropped to 1652, according to the Interior Ministry.

The reason for the decrease in the number was intensified border controls and new security measures, the ministry said. An additional 1400 police had been deployed in the border area and construction of a fence at the Bulgarian-Turkish border had started.

Maybe Ms. Tigani could yell at Turkey for allowing the migrants to wander across Turkey and slip into Bulgaria.  International refugee law requires legitimate asylum seekers to apply for asylum in the first safe country they enter—that would be Turkey!

Jews and Muslims push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We hope so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform is dead for now (forever!)—at least dead before the 2014 elections.  Obama’s Presidency has been so weakened in the last few months we don’t see where he has the ‘mojo’ to push a greatly expanded open borders agenda.

Former SEIU organizer, Alan van Capelle, of Bend the Arc

However, that hasn’t stopped those who want to see, not just illegals made legal, but if S.744 should become law there will be a greatly expanded asylum and refugee program (with less security screening) as well.  (See our posts on S.744 here).

Two groups joining hands to push for Open Borders are Bend the Arc (a Jewish “justice” group) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

From Heritage Florida Jewish News:

WASHINGTON, D.C.—American Jews and American Muslims called on Congress in a joint statement to pass comprehensive immigration reform with a meaningful path to citizenship. In joining together as unlikely allies, Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) renewed their united push to refocus Congress’ attention on the nation’s most pressing domestic policy crisis.

The following is a joint statement from Alan van Capelle, CEO of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice and Haris Tarin, director of the Washington, D.C., office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council:

“In combining our voices, we hope Congress hears that immigration reform is a priority issue across America’s many diverse communities, bringing together even those that many believe have little in common. In fact, America’s Jewish and Muslim communities share the collective experience of facing xenophobia and prejudice for their culture and faith, and being treated as outsiders in our home country.

Comprehensive immigration reform has long been a priority issue for both our communities, as many of our families share stories of immigrating to the U.S. Both of our communities have deep roots here. But both of our communities also know firsthand the struggle to find acceptance in our adopted homeland.

Blah, blah, blah…

We urge you to come together, as we have, to pass comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship, and keep America strong.”

Both Bend the Arc and the Muslim Public Affairs Council have been active in advocating for comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship, citing shared values of treating others with dignity and respect, and the importance of keeping families together.

Read about community organizer Alan van Capelle, here.

Read about MPAC community organizers, here.

Another group pushing for more immigration (Muslims too) is the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society one of the top nine federal refugee resettlement contractors.   Here HIAS apparently had some blow-back from funders, but they are by no means out of the lobbying arena.  S.744 would reward the contractors with even more taxpayer cash!