The filthy rich US Conference of Catholic Bishopsis at odds with the Trump Administration over immigration policy—so what else is new!
“America welcomes refugees; that is who we are, that is what we do.” Vasquez chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration is telling Trump.
Here is a long (too long) recitation of everything the President is doing to annoy Catholic Bishops, but one thing is missing and that is that the Trump Administration has reduced by tens of millions the boodle the Bishops get from the US Treasury!
Could that be the real reason they are so hot under the collar?
Trump administration at odds with Catholic leaders on immigration policies
This has been the summer of discontent for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on U.S. immigration policy. Since June the U.S. bishops have released more than 10 statements reflecting their displeasure with a broad range of White House decisions on immigration.
The U.S.C.C.B. has criticized the administration’s treatment of migrant detainees, especially children, challenging policy that has resulted in the separation of families and led to inhumane conditions at detention sites. It has resisted White House plans to rewrite asylum rules and to allow temporary protected status for vulnerable migrant communities to expire, and it has deplored proposed cuts to foreign aid that bishops say will only drive more migrants to the U.S. border.
[….]
On Sept. 13 the U.S.C.C.B. weighed in on immigration again, this time on plans that critics charge will mean the end of the United States as a safe haven for the world’s refugees.
So get this, large numbers of Catholics are supporting the President!
Ethics professor Heyer with the Pope. Catholics who support Trump are “ignoring their bishops.”
Resistance to the president’s immigration policies is high when measured among all Catholics, but white Catholics offered Trump 56 percent of their vote in 2016 and a majority of white Catholics—51 percent—still maintain a favorable opinion of the president—many among them presumably support White House immigration proposals. Those who do are not only ignoring their bishops, said Kristin Heyer, discussing the subject via email, they are endorsing positions at sharp odds with church teaching on migration and its call to protect the lives and the human dignity of migrating people.
Ms. Heyer is a professor of theological ethics at Boston College.
“The Catholic social tradition recognizes the right of sovereign nations to control their borders,” Ms. Heyer said, “but the right is not understood to be absolute. In the case of blatant human rights violations, the right to state sovereignty is relativized by the tradition’s primary commitment to protecting human dignity.”
[….]
“As the Catholic Church prepares to celebrate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees” on Sept. 29, “we are reminded of Pope Francis urging us all to work for a ‘globalization of solidarity’ with refugees, not a globalization of ‘indifference,’” the bishops said.
It is long, so you can read the rest yourself byclicking here. Catholics should definitely read it so you know the entire litany of complaints the Bishops have with the Prez.
Absent from the article is any mention of the fact that the USCCB is one of the largest ‘non-profit’ recipients of taxpayer dollars going to what they call their “migration program.”
Gee, I wonder how the humanitarians are managing with a budgetary loss of $24 million in one year!
From arecent financial statement(page 10). This is only the federal tax dollars the USCCB receives for its migration services. They receive many millions more for myriad programs they run for the federal government.
Holy moly! Their revenue received from the US Treasury dropped by nearly a third in one year ($24 million went poof!).
The disingenuous Leftwing media is never going to mention that there is TAXPAYER funded payola involved in the USCCB’s supposed ‘Christian charity,’ so I guess I will just have to keep repeating myself!
I’vealready reported that our US military wants to give tickets to America to more Iraqi and Afghan ‘refugees’ as rewards for helping us in those long wars—one more reason not to go to war in Islamic terrorist-producing countries.
And, I would like to know for how many years after we’ve ended a war are we responsible for moving their nationals to our towns and cities?
See the staggering numbers of Special Immigrant Visa holders we have admitted from Afghanistan and Iraq already! Over 56,000 from Afghanistan and over 18,000 from Iraq!
Why doesn’t NBC report that information?
Here NBCcharacterizes this year’s battle over the annual presidential determination as one of Stephen Miller vs. America’s mighty military!
Pentagon is last holdout as Stephen Miller tries to slash number of refugees allowed in U.S.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is fighting against proposals by White House officials to drastically cut the number of refugees allowed into the U.S., and has called for reserving visas for Iraqis who risked their lives working for U.S. troops, according to five people familiar with the plan.
Miller vs. the military
In internal discussions, the Defense Department has expressed opposition to any further reductions to the current annual ceiling of 30,000 for refugee admissions, which already is at a historic low for the 40-year-old U.S. refugee program, the sources told NBC News.
Defense officials also proposed setting aside about 6,000 slots specifically for Iraqi applicants who worked for U.S. troops as interpreters or in other jobs, according to one current U.S. official, one former U.S. official and three refugee advocates briefed on the deliberations.
The Pentagon has emerged as the lone voice in internal debates defending the traditional role of a refugee program overseen by the State Department, an unusual twist that reflects the administration’s aggressive stance on immigration and refugees.
The Pentagon’s stance is at odds with White House senior adviser Stephen Miller — the architect of the president’s sweeping crackdown on immigration— and his allies at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, who are all proposing deep cuts or even a halt to refugee admissions for the next fiscal year starting in October.
It is not likely to be zero as the White House floated here in July sending the refugee industrial complex into panic.
The White House, however, is weighing one option that would reduce overall refugee admissions — possibly lowering the cap to 15,000 or lower — while setting aside a certain number of openings for Iraqi applicants, similar to what the Pentagon has proposed, the sources said. [Someone must be blabbing to the media!—ed]
Keep reading and then see this:
Evangelical activist Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council and a strong supporter of President Trump, said earlier this month he was “alarmed” that the administration was considering more dramatic reductions in refugee admissions.
In a letter in July, nine evangelical leaders appealed to the administration to back up its frequent public statements on religious freedom and helping persecuted Christians abroad by raising the cap on refugee admissions.
Of course, Perkins wants more Christians, but those the military wants are mostly Muslims!
Then here, without mentioning that World Relief is one of nine federally-funded(and UN approved) refugee contractors that can’t survive without a steady flow of your tax dollars to their coffers, NBC quotes them as a representative of concerned evangelicals in America.
“The drastic decline in the number of refugees we are resettling in the U.S. is really troubling and it goes against everything that we believe about what our faith teaches us,” said Jenny Yang, vice president for advocacy and policy at World Relief, an evangelical organization that helps resettle refugees in the United States.
“It’s extremely concerning that the administration is not heeding the views of a lot of evangelicals.”
HIAS, for those new to refugee industry lingo, is the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Societyand yesterday they launched a grassroots campaign to pressure Congress into passing legislation that would abolish Trump’s so-called Muslim ban, and make it harder for any future President to keep us safe.
Nevermind that there isn’t a Muslim ban as we reported here a few days ago.
Rohingya Muslims are entering the US as refugees by the thousands, and taxpayer-funded HIAS (about $25 million in one recent year!) and the other federally-funded refugee contractors are being paid to take care of the thousands of US-boundSpecial Immigrant Visa holders from Iraq and Afghanistan (mostly Muslims!)*** who supposedly helped our military (and NGOs!) in those terror-producing hotbed countries!
But, the propagandists in the Open Borders cabal never let facts get in the way of their get-Trump agenda.
They know the bill will never become law while Trump is in the White House, however they are using it as one more media stunt in advance of the 2020 presidential contest. And, they need to keep their followers/donors busy and engaged.
Not enough Muslims in America! HIAS with CAIR protesting the so-called “Muslim ban” at the White House in January 2018. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2018/01/28/church-world-service-and-hias-join-cair-to-protest-at-white-house/
Hereis what HIASis telling its followers to do. (And lucky you! You can read their appeal in ten languages!)
Tell Congress to Support the NO BAN Act
On Tuesday, September 24, Congress will review H.R. 2214, the NO BAN Act. The NO BAN Act will repeal all versions of the Muslim Ban authorized through executive order over the past two years, and will amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit discrimination based on religion. Additionally, it will limit the broad executive authority that allowed the refugee and asylum bans by implementing stricter implementation requirements and greater congressional oversight.
Now, more than ever, it is critical that Members of Congress show their support against discrimination, and support this legislation.
Join us in telling Members of Congress to support the NO BAN Act.
STEP ONE: Find out who your representative ishere.
Continue reading here. They have kindly provided a script in case their followers need guidance about what to say.
Learn more about the bill here. See that it has 170 co-sponsors (all Dems).
If you disagree with HIAS, use their link above to find your representative (I suspect you already know who your representative is) and call your member of Congress to express your views in your own (polite please) words.
***A reader, who wished not to be named, told me that it was the large number of SIVs entering with the help of the contractors that were keeping the refugee ‘non-profits’ afloat during these lean Trump years.
TheRefugee Council USA (RCUSA)is a consortium of Open Borders groups and includes the nine federal refugee contractors that the US State Department hires to place refugees in your towns and cities.
RCUSA is reporting that we have almost reached the 30,000 refugee ceiling set by the President last year.
Right now as we near the first day of Fiscal Year 2020—October first—they have been busy lobbying whoever will listen to pressure the President into admitting 95,000 refugees in the coming year.
If you are interested in learning more about RCUSA, click herefor my huge archive (I’ve been writing about them for at least 10 years!). One fun fact is that Church World Service is the bank for managing their finances.
(I figure the federally funded ‘non-profits’ created RCUSA to keep their hands clean on the issue of lobbying!)
Earlier this month RCUSApublished an interactive map showing who is supporting more refugee resettlement including churches, politicians, interfaith groups and businesses.
Here is a screenshot but you will have to go to RCUSA to see the interactive function!
One of those businesses in Michigan is Western Michigan Beef (no surprise!).
Again, go to RCUSA to see the interactive map, expand it for your state and see who is telling the President to admit tens of thousands of additional refugees beginning in less than two weeks.
“Samaritas is incredibly excited to be partnering with Wayne County and Wayne Metro for this important project that will create opportunities for affordable transitional housing for the New Americans families in our care.”
(Samaritas CEO Sam Beals)
This must be Michigan day for me. Earlier at ‘Frauds and Crooks’I wrote about all of the ‘new American’ doctors going to prison there for ripping off taxpayers and fueling the Opioid Crisis!
Now comes news that Wayne County (of course!) is building housing to accommodate impoverished refugees in partnership with Samaritas. What! All low income Americans in Wayne County have homes!
And, it won’t cost the county a dime because the money is coming via Washington, DC’s famous money tree—-you and me!
Hamtramck’s federally funded Freedom Village will be right here!
Freedom Village, a safe haven for refugees, planned in Hamtramck
Hamtramck — Wayne County is working to aid refugees fleeing their war-torn countries for new lives in Michigan with a safe haven they are calling Freedom Village, officials announced Monday.
The county is partnering with Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, Samaritas and the city of Hamtramck to create the resettlement designed to provide refugees and immigrants with transitional affordable housing.
Construction of three two-family homes to house six families on Faber in Hamtramck is underway and is expected to be completed by summer 2020, county officials said.
The program was created to provide a better life to low-income refugees and immigrants by surrounding them with resources to eventually pursue permanent homeownership opportunities, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans said.
“We are a welcoming county that derives its strength from the diversity of its residents, and this project epitomizes that core value,” Evans said in a statement.
The Hamtramck project will develop newly constructed, affordable houses on Wayne County Land Bank-owned parcels in the city.
After the parcels are cleared, Wayne County will assemble the properties for the Hamtramck Refugee Resettlement project.
Under the agreement, the new construction will be at no cost to the city of Hamtramck. It will increase the taxable value of the vacant lots, bringing them back onto the tax rolls and contributing revenue to the city, officials said.
Wayne County Metropolitan Community Action Agency will serve as the property developer and owner, and Samaritas, a resettlement agency, will place refugees and provide further services.
Those darn Lutherans in the housing business (again)! You need to know that Lutheran Social Services of Michigan rebranded and became Samaritas in 2016.See my post:
Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, rebrands, no longer wants to be tagged as Lutheran
Earlier LSS got into some housing hanky-panky here.
CEO Beals is doing well by doing good. See Samaritas IRS Form 990. Beals is making over $300,000 a year working for the Lutheran ‘charity.’ https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/381/360/2017-381360553-0fe410b2-9.pdf
Back to the Detroit News,
CEO Sam Beals said Samaritas, which has helped resettle families in Michigan for 70 years, couldn’t be more excited for the unique partnership.
“Samaritas is incredibly excited to be partnering with Wayne County and Wayne Metro for this important project that will create opportunities for affordable transitional housing for the New Americans families in our care,” Beals said. “Having beautiful builds like this one, appropriately called Freedom Village, in Hamtramck is much needed and a great location for this project as a welcoming city in metro Detroit.”
[….]
More than 600,000 foreign-born individuals live in Michigan, and of that, more than 70% live in southeast Michigan, according to the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.
[….]
County officials did not disclose the cost of the program but said it’s being funded with federal housing dollars through Wayne County HOME Investment Partnerships Program, a federal grant program through the U.S. Department of Housing and Development.
Samaritas is a $100 Million a year operation and received over $30 million in taxpayer funded grants in one recent year. Now they are in the federal housing business. Hmmmm!
