Category: The Opposition

Sixteen Republican Representatives Tell President they Want More than 18,000 Refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 10 Comments

The letter to the President was spearheaded by Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga and was clearly written with the aid of refugee industry lobbyists*** because it contains the language I see everywhere coming out of places like the Refugee Council USA and the federal resettlement contractors who depend on federal dollars for their supposed charitable work.

Republican Rep Bill Huizenga’s letter is boilerplate refugee industry lingo!

Claiming they fear we aren’t protecting enough people experiencing religious persecution they list wholly Muslim countries like Somalia and Afghanistan whose nationals they say we must admit.

But, there is not one word about persecuted Christians, which might have made their appeal to the President understandable at least.

Any day now the President will decide if the number for FY2020 will be 18,000, see here.

Below is Huizenga’s press release and the letter in its entirety.

Is your Republican member of Congress pressing the President for MORE third worlders for your Congressional District?

Huizenga: The Trump Administration Should Reconsider its Position on Refugee Resettlement

On Friday, Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02) sent a letter, with 16 of his Republican colleagues, to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo regarding the need for the United States to continue to open its doors to refugees displaced by conflict and facing religious persecution. The letter is in response to the Trump Administration recently announcing its plan to reduce the number of refugees admitted to the United States to a record-low level of 18,000 people.

“America cannot lead from behind on the issue of religious persecution and refugee resettlement,” said Congressman Bill Huizenga. “West Michigan has a long standing tradition of opening its doors to those facing persecution as well as welcoming individuals who have been displaced because of armed conflict. Whether it is our faith-based institutions, non-profit organizations, or individuals within the community, West Michigan continues to set an example Washington could learn from. The Trump Administration should reconsider its position.”

The letter is available below.

Dear Secretary Pompeo:

Since our nation’s founding, the United States has served as a beacon of hope to those suffering from oppression and conflict across the globe. The Statute of Liberty perfectly encapsulates our outstretched hand, accepting the world’s huddled masses who yearn to be free. As the world continues to face an overwhelming refugee crisis, we respectfully urge you to uphold our nation’s commitment to assist individuals who have been displaced by violence and strife.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are approximately 20 million refugees worldwide with more than 50 percent being children. Among those, roughly eight million refugees are from Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Additionally, another 37,000 people are forced to flee their homes every day due to conflict and persecution in their home countries.

Continued U.S. leadership is critical in addressing ongoing humanitarian crises caused by civil war and persecution and in assisting displaced persons. One area where America can lead is by creating and protecting de-escalation zones near war-torn countries and providing humanitarian assistance to people in need. We must also continue to accept and care for refugees here in America.

In our communities throughout the country, there is a long history of opening doors to assist refugees. Local leaders, faith groups, and businesses have come together to create an environment where refugees are welcomed and receive the services necessary to learn English, find employment, and become part of the fabric of their new communities.

As such, we urge you to maintain the United States’ longstanding commitment to assist refugees with a special focus on assisting individuals hailing from nations facing the worst conditions possible. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Representatives who signed the letter led by Ken Buck (CO) include: Fred Upton (MI), Susan W. Brooks (IN), John Curtis (UT), Scott Tipton (CO), Doug Lamborn (CO), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Steve Stivers (OH), Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA), John Katko (NY), Dan Newhouse (WA), Rob Woodall (GA), Chris Stewart (UT), and Mario Diaz-Balart (FL).

In July, Congressman Huizenga spoke out against eliminating the refugee resettlement program when reports circulated that the Trump Administration was considering such a proposal.

If you live in the district of one of those members and disagree with their pressuring the President, you need to let your representative know.

When they sign letters like this they assume it is a freebie for them.  They will get brownie points from Open Borders Inc. and suffer no down side.

It is your job to be sure they know there is a downside.  You could write a letter to your local paper critical of their stance on refugees.  Be sure to attend town halls when they are home campaigning so you can ask them in public to defend their position on refugees.

Maybe ask them why you, the taxpayers, are paying for it all but have no say in where they will be placed, and most importantly ask why we aren’t taking care of our own vulnerable Americans first!

*** A final comment on the subject of lobbyists.  The refugee industry has lobbyists galore.  Not just the Refugee Council USA but every one of the nine contractors has either formal lobbyists (Catholic Bishops and Lutherans for example) and informal lobbyists who help identify soft touches on the refugee program.

Some one, or several, draft a letter like this, and it is the lobbyist working with their principle author, in this case Huzienga staffers, who run around Capitol Hill with the draft letter to get co-signers.  It might require reaching back to the district to get some influential church group, interfaith group, Chamber of Commerce types who then also call the member to encourage their support for the letter.

Those of us who want to see the US Refugee Admissions program slowed, reformed or dumped outright have no lobbyist on the Hill!

 

 

Longtime Federal Bureaucrat who Created Refugee Program Swipes at Trump

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Well, I should say he is claiming credit for creating the present-day US Refugee Admissions Program in 1979.

Editor:  By the way, I’ve been away at a conference to talk about how RRW was “deplatformed” by WordPressdotcom and am now back at my computer with news about why the US Refugee Admissions Program Mr. Purcell says he created must be dumped (and reformed if there is a will for some sort of program). 

I know this might be getting too wonky, but it’s important to know how the program began and how it has gone wrong (or was wrong all along!)—something the speech police have been trying to stop me from telling you!

James N. Purcell, in an opinion piece in the Dallas News, says the refugee program was designed to leave out local and state government approval of refugee placement claiming it was “fairer” to leave them out of what he says is a federal decision.

I set up the U.S. refugee resettlement program that Trump is attacking

At a campaign rally last week in Minneapolis, the president trumpeted a recently issued executive order that would prohibit refugee resettlements unless states and cities expressly consented to them. He went on to say, “no other president would be doing that.”

https://www.sanangelosunriserotary.org/stories/our-guest-speaker-nbsp-mr-james-n-purcell-jr

[….]

There is a better way for state and local officials to make their views known that’s worked in the past.

This issue was a concern when I set up the U.S. refugee resettlement program in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter and when I was later named the official director of the program by President Ronald Reagan. We went out of our way to avoid the Damocles sword that President Donald Trump is now swinging.

Rather than force national decisions on state and local governments (which they were unable to make and has the effect of politicizing these decisions), we came up with a fairer and more humane approach that respected their unique roles. [So whatever happened to the Tenth Amendment?—ed]

The Refugee Act of 1980 recognized the essential contributions expected of state and local governments and made achievement of them possible.

What is he talking about!  Were the “essential contributions expected” of the state and local governments the enormous costs associated with welfare, education, health care, housing and so forth—costs now borne by state and local taxpayers with little financial help from Washington?

And, get this, the role of state coordinator was created to help identify and resolve problems.  How many of you reading this even knew you had state coordinators***?

 

The act required the federal government to coordinate and consult regularly with state refugee coordinators about proposed resettlements. Many potential problems were identified and resolved through monitoring and oversight, and record resettlement was achieved without serious incidents.

Now, without apparently knowing what he has revealed he tells us how the NGOs (the federally-funded refugee contractors, Leftwing phony ‘religious’ groups) really run the show he claims they tried not to “politicize.”

Perhaps that was why I was so perplexed in 1986 to receive a scathing letter from one of Minnesota’s leading politicians demanding that I cease resettlement of Hmong in Minnesota forthwith. This demand was so out of character for Minnesota that I immediately informed NGOs working on Hmong resettlement. By the end of the next week, Minnesotans were so outraged that I received letters reversing earlier criticisms and asking for more Hmong refugees.

Unbelievable!  He was the US State Department’s director of the Refugee Admissions Program and he tipped off his contractors that an elected official in Minnesota was having a problem with the refugee program and they in turn ginned-up letters from their flocks (Catholics and Lutherans mostly) to send him asking for more Hmong refugees.  (This was of course a few years before the major influx of Somalis to Minnesota began.)

So why wasn’t this all handled as he said they designed the program, through the State Refugee Coordinator?  Why? Because the program is run by the contractors who are paid out of the US Treasury to place refugees wherever they choose!  (See my recent post with a list of the present-day contractors, here.)

There will be no real reform of the US Refugee Program as long as the contractors are paid by us while acting as Leftwing political agitation groups.

*** Go here to see who your state refugee coordinator is.  If you know anything about the program in your state you will notice that many of them are affiliated with a federal contractor.

Got a problem in your state, or just want to know more about the program there?  Call your coordinator.  You can start by asking for your state’s most recent Refugee Plan on file with the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement.  Be polite and you will get some information (maybe not much!) but something.

Don’t miss my post on the major drug bust of Hmong in Wisconsin recently.

More Delays in Refugee Admissions as President has Yet to Sign-Off on 2020 Numbers

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 2 Comments

Late in September the word went out that for the new fiscal year (2020) which began on October first, the CEILING on refugee admissions for the year would be 18,000 (not the zero I wanted!), and that arrivals would be delayed for three weeks.

The three weeks end on Monday, the 21st, but now comes word that more refugee flights have been cancelled and the new arrivals are expected to begin trickling in after the 28th of the month.

We also learn that the President has yet to sign-off on the 18,000!

Needless to say the refugee contractors*** are not happy.

Here is CNN where we learn a little bit more about the closed door meeting on the Hill this past Tuesday between Sec. of State Pompeo and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

More refugee flights to the US are being canceled

Flights for refugees who have been approved to come to the United States continue to be canceled, in some cases for the second time, CNN has learned.

Last month, CNN reported that travel for refugees who were told they could come to the US was postponed, due to a moratorium on travel that extended through October 21, raising concerns among refugee resettlement agencies.

The moratorium will now run until October 28, with arrivals expected to resume on October 29, according to a State Department spokesperson.

Senator Lindsey Graham appealed to Pompeo to bring in the already approved refugees—what thousands?  Graham has been a long-time proponent of the refugee program.

[….]

The Trump administration has proposed capping the number of refugees allowed into the US at 18,000, a historic low. In a meeting this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the US admit refugees who are travel ready, in addition to the 18,000, according to a congressional aide who attended the meeting.

Graham appeared concerned about the situation in Syria, the aide said.

[….]

Jen Smyers works for Church World Service that partnered with the Council on American Islamic Relations in that hokey publicity stunt I reported here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2019/10/16/18-arrested-on-capitol-hill-protesting-trump-refugee-policy-but-where-was-the-media/

The proposed 18,000 refugee cap, coupled with the situation in Syria and postponed travel has fueled concerns.

“There were cases that were re-booked in September for October 8 and then re-booked for October 22 and now trying to rebook for October 29. You’re basically inserting about a month and a half of when someone was expected to travel and when they are,” said Jen Smyers, director of policy and advocacy for the immigration and refugee program at Church World Service, one of the nine resettlement agencies.

More than 200 refugees were expected to travel to the US next week, according to a source familiar. Their flights have been canceled.

[….]

“We will work with our implementing partners to plan for a resumption of refugee arrivals on or after October 29,” a State Department spokesperson said, adding: “This will include rescheduling travel for those affected by the extension of the refugee arrivals pause. By law, no refugees may be admitted this fiscal year until the President determines the number that may be admitted. When the Presidential Determination is issued, we will begin admitting refugees in accordance with its provisions.”

The President has not yet signed off on the 18,000!

The canceling and re-booking of refugee flights suggests that there may be a delay in the President signing off on the 18,000-person refugee cap.

See my post from Thursday about the Hill meeting with Pompeo, here.

It is not too late! You can still weigh in by contacting the White House.  You can be sure that thousands of open borders activists are pressuring the White House any way they can.

***For new readers these are the nine federal refugee contractors that not only place refugees in towns across the country, but lobby Congress and organize publicity against this President all while sucking down millions of your tax dollars!  Cut them loose from the federal teat!

 

 

Dear Tucker, What the Heck Happened to the Daily Caller? Sucking up to Refugee Contractors!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 8 Comments

Did you see the news that Democrat candidate for President Beto O’Rourke told an audience recently that he wanted to pull the tax exempt status of any religious organization that refused to perform gay marriages?

Yes Beto! Get rid of tax exempt status for some ‘religious charities’ but not for the reasons you suggest!

Well after having followed the fake non-profits hired by the feds to place refugees into unsuspecting towns and cities for over a decade, I have been thinking that we ought to pull the tax exempt status of any ‘religious’ group that operates in secrecy, gobbles up millions of tax payer dollars and then goes out and protests against the President (who is funding them!)….

….You know groups like the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Church World Service, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

But holy cow! I never expected to see the Daily Caller  carrying the water for those federal refugee CONTRACTORS in order to take a swipe at Beto.

The Daily Caller, called by wikipedia a right wing media outfit started by Tucker Carlson in 2010, must be trying to suck up to the Left with this distorted piece about how much religious groups do to help the poor and struggling refugees coming into the US from the third world.

Go for it, help the poor refugees (ignoring vulnerable Americans!), but do it with your own private charitable resources—NOT WITH TAXPAYER DOLLARS AND TAX EXEMPT STATUS!

[I just had a look at dozens of posts about the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the millions it receives from the federal government and came across this 2017 post where Tucker Carlson eviscerates the Bishop’s Washington, DC lobbyist! Clearly Carlson is ‘Tucker who?’ at the Daily Caller!]

So what got me fired up this morning?

It is this headline at the Daily Caller:

Religious Institutions Support Refugees, But Beto Wants To Take Away Their Tax-Exempt Status

What do you mean by “but?” I agree with Beto—take away their tax-exempt status!  Of course, however, the young Catholic-educated reporter is referring to his statement about gay marriage.

Here are the opening two paragraphs in a report by Mary Margaret Olohan:

2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke wants to take away religious institution’s tax-exempt status if they will not perform same-sex marriages, but religious institutions make major contributions in helping refugees.

O’Rourke sparked backlash at CNN’s LGBTQ forum on Oct. 10 when he said that religious institutions that would not perform same-sex marriages should lose their tax-exempt status. He reiterated his statements Sunday, adding that this would apply to mosques and minority churches.

And, then she uses the supposed good works of two of nine refugee contractors to make her gushing points about how they help refugees and thus it’s an outrage for Beto (who loves refugees!) to suggest these benevolent politically Leftwing groups should lose tax exempt status.

Let me say it more clearly, it isn’t just that these ‘religious charities’ help refugees with taxpayer dollars, they promote illegal immigration and they actively protest on the streets against this President while living almost entirely on OUR US Treasury! 

See Ms. Olohan’s credentials! https://dailycaller.com/author/Mary+Margaret+Olohan

You can read more from Ms. Mary Margaret Olohan, the Daily Caller‘s Social Issues reporter, yourself, but since she extols the virtues of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) as an example of a ‘religious charity’ making a major contribution to helping refugees (not American poor people!), I thought I would have a look at their most recent IRS Form 990.

[I mentioned the latest finances of the US Catholic Bishops here at ‘Frauds and Crooks.’]

First take a trip down memory lane and see this post about LIRS I wrote on Valentine’s day 2018:

Lutherans announce departure of CEO Hartke amid claims of financial irregularities, poor management

During the Obama years LIRS was 95% federally funded. According to the most recently available Form 990 (2018) they have slipped some and only received 87% of their funding from the US taxpayer—$41 million!

But here is the stunner! CEO Hartke was getting the heave-ho that year, but look at the salary she got going out the door! Over $400,000!  That is about $80,000 more than the previous year! Pay-off?

This is largely your money!
Screenshot of a portion of the salaries page at LIRS 2018 IRS Form 990

What good is it if we have “right wing” media doing propaganda for Open Borders Inc?

So, I suggest Ms. Olohan do a little more research before picking which ‘religious charities’ to use as examples of virtue. And, btw, where was her editor?

Endnote:  I don’t want to sound like I’m whining, but I’ve just spent a couple of hours (I don’t get paid!) doing research that salary-collecting reporters should be doing.

The transgressions of LIRS have been widely reported for years and even if she couldn’t find my work because WordPressdotcom killed RRW, Breitbart did do a bunch of stories on the financial scandal surrounding Hartke’s departure.

Sec. of State Pompeo Consulted with Senate Committee on Refugees, No Media Again

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

On Tuesday while representatives of the Refugee Industry did their “civil disobedience” stunt and got arrested, see here, a legally required consultation occurred with Secretary of State Pompeo and Acting USCIS Director Cuccinelli meeting with the leadership (or at least one leader) of the Senate Judiciary Committee to formally tell Congress that refugee admissions for FY2020 will be capped at 18,000.

In 2015, as leader of the Senate ‘Jihad Caucus,’ Senator Durbin was pushing for the admission of 100,000 Syrians to the US. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2015/10/15/after-visiting-lesbos-illinois-senator-dick-durbin-calls-for-100000-syrians-to-be-admitted-to-us/

How do we know?

Not from any media publication, but only from a press release from Senator Dick Durbin’s office where he chastises the Trump team for being late with their consultation.

I know this is likely boring as heck for most of you, but there is a process required by the Refugee Act of 1980 that has been given short shrift for decades.

For years there was only a perfunctory consultation, often in the closing days of September, where members of Congress never suggested any changes— indeed why bother when both Democrat and Republican presidents were proposing hefty refugee admission numbers.

The House and Senate Judiciary Committees are required to hold hearings as well. However, only Senator Jeff Sessions ever held any type of real substantive hearing on the program in the last decade.

So it is rich that here (press release) Durbin is so obsessed with a process that few on the Hill ever cared a wit about (before Trump!):

In Consultation After Legally-Required Deadline, Durbin Presses Trump Administration On Dismal Refugee Resettlement Goal

In A Meeting With Secretary Pompeo And Acting USCIS Director Cuccinelli, Durbin Called Out Trump Admin’s Decision To Further Erode U.S. Role As Worldwide Leader On Refugees

U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, today met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ken Cuccinelli to press the Trump Administration on its dismal refugee resettlement goal of merely 18,000 to the U.S. in the coming year.

Prior to any presidential determination on the number of refugees to be admitted in the upcoming fiscal year, the law requires that Cabinet-level officials representing the President engage in an in-person consultation with Senate and House Judiciary Committee leaders.

The law is clear that the consultation must occur before the start of the fiscal year. This consultation, on October 15, is after the start of the new fiscal year and in violation of the statute. For the third year in a row, the Trump Administration willfully disregarded the law regarding their obligation to consult with Congress prior to the end of the fiscal year.

More here if you are interested.