Category: The Opposition

Shame on You if You Don’t Take 15 Minutes to Do This!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 19 Comments

Turn off the damn faux impeachment hearing! And, for goodness sake forget about shopping and whether Prince Andrew did something to a blond girl whenever.

The President heard your concerns about refugees being placed in your towns with no warning and no local approval and did something about it! Are you going to let him down now?

For those of you who spend the day reading news to inform yourself, stop reading for 15 minutes and do something—I’ll tell you what shortly.

The President listened to your concerns about having no role in the decision making process about where refugees are placed in America.

He has gone out on a (another) political limb and created an Executive Order back in September with the lowest determination for the number of refugees to be admitted to the US since the Kennedy/Biden/Jimmy Carter refugee program became law in 1980.

And, in that Executive Order, although imperfect, he directed the US State Department to collect approvals in writing from governors and county/city elected officials saying they will opt-in (and accept refugees) so that the federal contractors can get their funding to move the Africans, Middle Easterners, Asians, etc. to your towns.

The deadline is approaching and…

….those approvals are now coming in!

Open Borders Inc. and the federally-funded refugee resettlement contractors are turning the process into a referendum on the President and the Refugee Program and have pulled out all the stops as I have been reporting here for days.

My analysis:

Every county in America is up for grabs!

This is the National Association of Counties map that the lobbying arm of the refugee industry is directing its followers to use in order to find the contact information for county government leaders. https://ce.naco.org/

 

Even counties that haven’t previously received refugees are on their hit list. 

They are not sticking with the established resettlement sites I posted here a few days ago. And, mark my words, those approvals from far flung counties will be held by the contractors and used as political cudgels no matter who is President.

By the way, there are 3,242 counties and county equivalents available to be resettled! And, that is how they are turning red states blue—one county at a time.

Both the governor and the local elected body (county government seems to be the primary goal) or possibly a mayor, especially for big cities, must agree to the placement of the impoverished refugees in order for the refugee contractors to get their plans to the State Department and to ultimately be paid to do their work.

(See my right hand sidebar for the governors who have already said yes, or at least the ones we know of.)

The contractors are pushing to obtain the approvals by Christmas in order to get their proposals to the State Department by January 21st.

This is what the Refugee Council USA is telling its followers to do (I told you about it here).  You should follow their model except obviously with a different message:

Your State & Local Officials Need to Hear From You

When you engage your local officials, we encourage you to educate them about the existence and content of the EO and ask whether they will provide written consent to resettle refugees. Here are the top two ways to take action:

 

  • Tell Your Governor to Declare Welcome for Refugees: Click here to contact your governor and tell them to declare that they welcome refugees in your state. Ask them to provide the necessary written consent to the federal government stating that refugees are welcome. A template letter that can be adapted to your state is available here.

 

Letters should be addressed to: Secretary Michael R. Pompeo, U.S. Department of State; and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Carol T. O’Connell, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S. Department of State.

This is what Refugee Watchers Must do ASAP

For the sake of time, focus on your county government and your governor.

You can keep your message simple (choose any or all you like):

~Tell your elected officials that by agreeing to accept refugees they are agreeing that state and local taxpayers pick up the financial burden (refugees are eligible for all forms of welfare) that Kennedy once said would be a federal responsibility.

~Tell your elected officials that we have enough of our own poverty in America and that vulnerable Americans should come first.

~Tell them there are hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers (wannabe refugees) that must be processed first.

~Tell your elected officials that security screening is inadequate and that safety is an issue.

~Tell them that the ‘religious’ ‘charitable’ groups placing those refugees are actually federal contractors who depend on high numbers of refugees to receive their pay from the US Treasury.

~Tell them that the original law created an opportunity for states to opt-in or opt-out that has been ignored for decades.

~Tell them politely about any other concerns you have about the UN program that moves impoverished third worlders to your towns/cities.

If you haven’t been following RRW in recent days, go here, here, and here for more information.

Are you as tough as North Dakotans?   I guess we will soon find out!

Please spread this post far and wide, honestly if we can’t muster at least some small showing of support for the President’s efforts to slow costly, disruptive and possibly dangerous refugee resettlement to the far corners of America, then speaking for me, why should I bother to continue investigating and writing!

Endnote to readers in Ohio: A story here in September says your governor is on board with MORE refugees, but I haven’t seen anything in the last week or so.  Assume he hasn’t sent an official letter yet.

Refugee Council USA Provides Handy Toolkit for Refugee Advocates

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 5 Comments

As I have said innumerable times over a dozen years, the Refugee Council USA is the lobbying arm of the refugee industry.  The nine federal refugee contractors*** are at the heart of it, and all funding for it flows through Church World Service. (See CWS and CAIR, here)

See all of their member organizations, here.

Don’t forget! The refugee contractors, like Church World Service here are not just refugee placement contractors, but are political advocates for the entire Open Borders movement. They shouldn’t be receiving any of your tax dollars!

Needless to say they are mobilizing their networks of Open Borders Activists to defeat Trump’s refugee slowdown and September Executive Order by getting your governors and local government officials to go on record saying they welcome more refugees.

If you are just learning the news that the President is attempting to make a fundamental change in how the US Refugee Admissions Program has operated for nearly 4 decades by giving some say to local and state governments about whether they want more refugees (that will be costing state and local taxpayers millions of dollars to take care of) here are some recent posts you should see.

Contractors sue Trump, here.

Refugee Advocates take aim at local government, here.

Governors are sending letters of support for more refugees, here.

88 Mayors say they want more refugees, 100,000!, but no letter yet, here.

Are you near a resettlement site, here?

Now that you are up-to-speed, see that the Refugee Council USA whose members have a huge financial stake in continued large scale refugee migration to America are working to generate action by their grassroots (and media lackeys) to follow the recent funding guidance from the US State Department.

(Although they claim the EO is illegal and are suing, they tell their followers to do this anyway!)

RCUSA’s Handy Tool Kit should be handy for you too!

Their financial future depends on ginning up their followers, see what they are telling their people to do….

Toolkit link is here.

 

Toolkit for Engaging Elected Officials on the “State & Local Resettlement Ban” Executive Order

 

Background: On September 26, the White House issued an Executive Order (EO 13888) that may drastically reduce, if not entirely stop, the resettlement of refugees in your community. The EO is already creating chaos and confusion about where refugees can be resettled, will lead to family separation for refugee families, and will leave refugees, former refugees and United States citizens without supportive services. To make matters worse, the administration proposed a refugee admissions goal of 18,000 refugees for the next year, a shamefully abysmal number for the world’s most powerful nation that stands in stark contrast to the historic average goal of 95,000 refugees. 

 

Together, these actions are likely to destroy the bipartisan refugee resettlement program for years to come. It’s critical that we work together to demonstrate nationwide, bi-partisan support for refugees and ensure our state and local officials publicly declare welcome for refugees. We need you to make your voice heard at the local level and reach out to your governors, mayors, and county officials and ask them to support refugee resettlement. 

 

Why is the EO harmful? The EO fundamentally alters the structure of the U.S. resettlement program by transferring decisions about who can resettle and where from the federal government to state and locally elected officials. Not only will this ultimately lead to a patchwork of conflicting policies running contrary to the purpose of a national resettlement program, but it will also leave thousands of refugees, former refugees, and U.S. citizens without consistent and routine access to integration services and other supports. The EO subjects families and our community members to the whims of politics and exacerbates uncertainty for refugee families and communities alike by requiring local officials to provide written consent before refugees can be resettled. This is an unprecedented and harmful procedure, particularly given that resettlement agencies already consult regularly with state and local stakeholders regarding community needs. In addition, U.S. citizens, immigrants, refugees, and visitors alike are constitutionally allowed to move freely between cities and states. We do not need explicit permission from cities to travel – or relocate.

 

What We Know: Governors and local officials must provide written consent to opt into resettling refugees in their states and localities. Resettlement agencies are responsible to obtain written governor and local consent – the administration will not be communicating directly to governors or local officials. Consent letters will be publicly available on the State Department’s website. Consent is needed from the governor of a state in order to continue refugee resettlement anywhere in that state. If a governor gives consent but a locality does not, refugees may be resettled in a different locality where consent is provided. Some family reunification cases that use the “follow to join” Visa 93 process may be exempted from parts of this EO. The EO does not directly apply to Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders.

 

In terms of local consent, the administration has referred to the county or county-equivalent. In some cases, there are no counties, and in others, counties do not have the authority. Ultimately, the administration will defer to local community’s determination of who has authority. If you have already reached out to a mayor’s office, please continue to get that consent letter. Our understanding is that in many places, that will suffice. When at all possible, please also obtain consent from a county official as well. The administration is requiring that a list of cities/towns that fall under the jurisdiction of the local body be included within or attached to the letter of consent. This can be prepared by the resettlement office or the official providing the letter, but it must be certified by the consenting official. 

Your State & Local Officials Need to Hear From You

 

When you engage your local officials, we encourage you to educate them about the existence and content of the EO and ask whether they will provide written consent to resettle refugees. Here are the top two ways to take action:

 

 

  • Tell Your Governor to Declare Welcome for Refugees: Click here to contact your governor and tell them to declare that they welcome refugees in your state. Ask them to provide the necessary written consent to the federal government stating that refugees are welcome. A template letter that can be adapted to your state is available here.

 

 

 

 

 

Letters should be addressed to: Secretary Michael R. Pompeo, U.S. Department of State; and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Carol T. O’Connell, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S. Department of State.

 

The following language should be included in order to provide consent: “As [Governor/Mayor] of [state/city], I consent to initial refugee resettlement in [state/city] as per the terms of the Executive Order. This consent is valid unless or until withdrawn.”

 

An important note / disclaimer: Since we do not want our communications to imply that we endorse or agree with the EO, it would be helpful to include the following disclaimer in correspondences: “Communication about, or participation in, the implementation of Executive Order (EO) 13888 is not an endorsement of the legality of the EO.”

 

Steps to Organize Meetings with State & Local Officials

 

Template Letter to Officials: Click here for a template letter from community members, click here for a template letter from faith leaders, click here for a template letter from businesses and click here for a template letter from Members of Congress, to governors and state and local officials to invite them to declare welcome for refugees.

 

Step-by-Step Guide: Click here for guidance on how to prepare and organize meetings with governors, mayors, county executives, and other local officials. 

 

Bring Handouts: Bring copies of this letter that is collecting signatures from state and local officials – governors, mayors, state/local legislators, etc. You can also adapt this template letter for your state and local officials for your meeting. 

 

Provide Feedback: Don’t forget to tell us how it went! Click here to fill out a survey with feedback from your meeting. Contact Elissa Diaz at ediaz@cwsglobal.org if you would like help in preparing for and/or following up with your meetings with officials.

 

Additional Resources to Help You Talk to State & Local Officials

 

Talking Points and Messaging Guidance: For talking points on the executive order and the proposed refugee admissions goal of 18,000, please visit our Talking Points primer: http://bit.ly/EOPDTalkingPoints. Additional resources debunking the administration’s harmful “resettlement vs. asylum” narrative is available here: http://bit.ly/PDFactsheet. 

 

EO Factsheet: Click here for a one page backgrounder and here for analysis about the EO and its impact.

 

Power Map: Who can make the decision you need to influence (your primary target)? Who influences them (your secondary targets)? Who uses influence for/against this decision? A power map is a simple yet powerful tool to map decision makers and focus your energy where it makes the greatest impact. Click here for a basic template to construct your power map, and click here for some tips on how to research and map targets.

 

Letters from State & Local Officials: A template letter from state and local officials to the administration that can be easily adapted to your state / locality is available here. Feel free to reach out to Elissa Diaz at ediaz@cwsglobal.org for help crafting a tailored letter for your specific officials. In addition, we are still seeking state and local officials – governors, mayors, state/local legislators, etc. – to sign on to this letter. Here are additional statements declaring welcome for refugees by Governor DeWine (R-OH) and Mayor Ben Walsh (I-Syracuse, NY).

 

Local Resolution Template: Template resolution language for local municipal, county, or other government bodies that authorize, support, or otherwise give a nod in favor of continuing to resettle refugees in response to the refugee EO can be found here.

 

Social Media Guidance: Check out our rapid response toolkit on the refugee admissions goal for sample social media posts, graphics, and more: bit.ly/EOSocialMedia. 

 

*** For new readers, these are the nine federal refugee contractors:

 

 

No Wonder the Refugee Contractors are Sweating Trump Order!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 3 Comments

We’ve been reporting daily (just scroll back and see what I mean!) about the President’s September Executive Order that requires that refugees be placed in cities/counties where the elected officials have said in writing that they welcome more refugees, or in the case of new sites where the city or county wants a new site.

It is no wonder the federal resettlement contractors heads are exploding! They are going to have to work really hard to get their federal boodle!

I’ve been wondering how they are going to accomplish this goal by a deadline supposedly later this month.

In fact, I’ve been seeing a reference to a June 1 date that had me scratching my head. What happens then?

This morning, I opened my alerts to yet another sob story about how refugee families are suffering because they were expecting to bring their whole families here soon and now face a longer wait because of that meany in the White House.

The story is this one from Missoula, Montana—which hosts a very new resettlement site operated by the filthy rich International Rescue Committee.***

(I mentioned it here just last week!)

Today’s story is here:

‘You pray, you pray’: Trump refugee cap places strain on Missoula families

It contains many column inches of stories the Left loves to tell—the stories that count on moving people emotionally. But, it also contained this brief paragraph:

Trump also signed an executive order, set to take effect next summer, that requires resettlement agencies like Missoula’s IRC to obtain state and local government consent before accepting more refugees.

So what is that all about?

There must be guidance published somewhere on how the Executive Order is to be implemented.

Sure enough, here it is and it is evident that the reason for the contractors hitting the panic button is that their FUNDING AFTER JUNE 1 IS TIED TO THEIR COMPLIANCE WITH THE EXECUTIVE ORDER.

FY 2020 Notice of Funding Opportunity for Reception and Placement Program

They must jump through a lot of hoops!  They have to explain how they involved the public in their decision making about who and how many they want to place in a community; they need to say how much private money they have collected toward the project; and of course must have letters from the governor AND the local elected officials apparently by Christmas.

The funding guidance mentions the 50-100 mile radius around each resettlement site that I referenced in my post yesterday.  If you missed it be sure to go back and see if you live near a site.

You are going to have to read the guidance yourself, and I’ll see what I can do to get a lawyer’s opinion on what appears to me to be a massive bureaucratic undertaking for the contractors. Boo hoo! It is about time they are being made accountable!

No wonder they are suing to stop the President!

Just so you know, I don’t think there can ever be real reform of the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program until this entire contracting system that relies on nine Leftwing ‘non-profits’ largely funded by taxpayers (and who hate the President!) to place refugees throughout America.

 

***Note to Montanans!  You must put pressure on your governor because you know the refugee industry there is mobilized!  Additionally, if Missoula is lost, see what you can do to put some political pressure on county government.

Is There a Refugee Resettlement Site Near You?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 7 Comments

Update! Be sure to see my post here as a followup—we found the instructions that the other side is using to help their people how to get mobilized.  You can use this too!

 

As I have been saying for days and weeks now, thanks to the President you will have an opportunity to have a say in whether refugees will be placed in your communities going forward.

The President heard your concerns and has taken an important step to rein-in the refugee contractors. It isn’t perfect, but it is up to you to speak up where you live. He has your back, do you have his?

I have a lot more details for you about how it will work and how the nine federal contractors are trying to stop the President’s Executive Order, but first you need to know where the major resettlement sites are in the nation.

But, never forget these points!

The contractors have been placing refugees in a 50-100 mile radius of their offices. Don’t think you are off the hook if your city isn’t on the map.

See Virginia for example.  They have less than ten main refugee contractor offices, but have placed refugees over the last ten years across the entire state.

(In my next post you will see why the 50-100 mile radius is important.)

Also, the new requirements allow them to place new arriving family members with their spouse and children, and you can’t control that.

And, most importantly, refugees can move! There is nothing to say they can not simply move to the next town or next state and there is nothing you can do about that either.

At this point you are likely saying, why bring any?  Get Trump re-elected and maybe he will be able to do more!

In the meantime….

Here is the State Department’s 2019 Affiliate Map.

I’ve chopped it up so that I could enlarge the text. In case I have edited the screenshot in the middle of a city, see it whole here.

Are you within 50-100 miles of an office?  If so, you must speak up now.

The refugee industry has pulled out all the stops to mobilize their supporters (they have well-established community organizing networks in each of these locations) to tell city/county elected officials that they want refugees and of course the governor must concur. (More on that in an upcoming post. No wonder the contractors are suing Trump!)

Six governors (so far) want more refugees.  I’ll be tracking them as I see news.  See my right hand side bar for the list so far.

This is the legend for the map.  These are the nine contractors, but they all have many subcontractors working under them.

We know there has never been a resettlement agency operating in Wyoming and that Hawaii only gets a handful in some years. West Virginia did have a resettlement office until recently.

Refugees have been placed in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama in recent years, including in 2019. But, the number is extremely low, so I am assuming they were family reunifications.

However, Oklahoma City does have a resettlement agency, so I’m not sure why it isn’t on the map.

Update!  I should have thought to look at the map for 2017 at the time Trump became the President.  Check out that map and see how many more resettlement sites were in operation at that time!  Yikes!  And, I remember that toward the end of the Obama administration, his State Department was looking at another 40 or so possible sites. Progress is being made!

Please note that this post is filed in my ‘Where to find information’ category.

Concord, NH Likely to Support More Refugees as Questions Remain about Trump Order

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment

In the wake of the news I reported yesterday, that Republican Governor Chris Sununu has said NH wants more refugees assuming cities concur, Concord Mayor Jim Bouley says he will support the continued placement of impoverished third worlders in his city.

Concord’s Democrat Mayor Jim Bouley: “I see no reason why we would not sign it” (at December 9th council meeting)

That isn’t surprising, but what did surprise me in this article from the Concord Monitor is that apparently guidance has gone out to those in the refugee industry about a December 20th deadline when both a state governor and someone (?) at the city/county level are in agreement that refugees are welcome, and that welcome must be forwarded in writing to the Secretary of State.

I’ve been searching and have yet to find any such published guidance. However, in this post and a couple more to follow I’ll tell you what I have found that should help you to know what you must do where you live.

So far as we have noted, six governors are on board for more refugees: Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and now New Hampshire.  North Dakota’s governor took a wishy-washy position and said he will go along if his cities want more refugees.

Here is the Concord Monitor:

After Trump rule, Concord must opt-in to accept more refugees

For years, Concord has been a state leader in the acceptance of refugees, taking in more than any other New Hampshire city since 2010.

But whether that practice continues will require a sign-off from the city, following a new policy from President Donald Trump.

In an executive order issued in September, Trump required that both states and localities actively approve refugee resettlements moving forward. Without explicit written consent from both the state’s governor and the city or town, new outside refugees may not be housed in those cities, the order states – a change prompting outcry from refugee rights groups.

On Wednesday, Gov. Chris Sununu announced he had given that statewide consent, penning a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo granting permission for New Hampshire to accept refugees broadly. But he left it up to individual municipalities on how to proceed.

“With this action, it is now up to each city’s mayor whether they want to opt-in to accepting refugees,” Sununu said in a statement.

So far, I have been unable to find any published guidance referenced in this next line:

Now, the pressure is on. Cities and towns have until Dec. 20 to submit their letters of approval to accept resettlement of refugees, according to new guidance from the federal Health and Human Services department and the U.S. Secretary of State that follows the executive order. Sometime around Christmas, HHS will release a list of the states and municipalities that have done so, according to the order.

In an interview Friday, Concord Mayor Jim Bouley said he supports resettlement and that he’ll bring the question before the City Council at its Dec. 9 meeting.

“I see no reason why we would not sign it,” he said. “I think this only makes sense. So I look forward with the blessing of the council to sign it.”

I’m not the only one confused!

Meanwhile, as states and cities begin responding to the late December deadline, aspects of the new rule are in flux. Some refugee advocacy groups have called the executive order illegal, with the national Catholic Legal Immigration Network arguing it contravenes federal law giving the Office of Refugee Resettlement the authority to place refugees.

Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig is on board for more refugees and is just waiting for guidance about whether her whole council must sign off.

And the rules are silent on whether approval is necessary from select boards or city councils – or whether mayors can signal approval on their own prerogatives.

That uncertainty is creating some delays. Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig is supportive of continuing the acceptance of refugees, her office said Friday, but is seeking clarity on whether that move needs sign-off from the Queen City’s full city council.

More here.

Here is what I do know:  The refugee industry has filed suit to stop the Executive Order, see here.

But they are also hedging their bets in case they can’t get it stopped in time which is why they have gone all-in for a grassroots campaign (more in my next post) to pressure governors and mayors into saying they want more refugees.

As I noted here, they see their grassroots and media campaign as a win-win.  They can make Trump look bad, and at the same time force governors and local elected officials to go on record supporting more refugees. (They are looking ahead to the day when Trump is no longer in the White House and they expect the refugee spigot to open wide!)

And, although we see the Executive Order as flawed, you need to get moving and at least let your local elected officials (and governors) know that you are not in agreement with supporting more poor immigrants especially as there are plenty of vulnerable Americans in need of help.

If you remain silent then your elected officials will assume their position for more refugees will have no political cost to them.

And, if you are waiting for instructions from some immigration control organization, forget it!

Not sure if your town/city is already a resettlement site?  See the State Department’s map here.