The new fiscal year (2018) is now ten days old and we see that the first of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s andPresident Trump’s proposed 45,000 refugees have arrived!
Top ethnic groups arriving in the group of 98 are from the DR Congo (25), Bhutan (21) and Somalia (16). For our friends in Minnesota know this: the Somalis were distributed to Missouri, New Hampshire, Washington and Wisconsin, but, as you know, they can and often do move within months to be with larger groups of Somalis in Minnesota, Ohio and in San Diego.
26 of the 98 are Muslims if you count the 4 Ahmadiyya from Pakistan who went to Maryland.
Here is where the first 98 were placed:
Top five states are Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri and New Hampshire. Alaska and Hawaii got zip.
Just this morning I reread Nayla Rush’s indepth definitive reporton the “deal” Obama set up and Trump is continuing that would bring as many as 1,250 illegal aliens held in detention (by Australia) on offshore islands to your town!
Rush reported that one of the architects of Obama’s dumb deal (now Trump’s dumb deal) was his Asst. Sec. of State Richard, formerly a VP at the International Rescue Committee which had been contracted to do the initial screening of these men.
We reported the other day, here, that 50 are on the way to:
Georgia, Oregon, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona.
I want all of you to take a few minutes and read Rush’s report at the Center for Immigration Studies here. You will see how truly screwed-up our refugee program has been and CONTINUES to be when you see the kinds of people we are admitting—-mostly single men, some held in detention for as long as 4 years, 80% of whom have been declared in need of serious mental health treatment, from countries like Iran, Somalia, and Afghanistan.
‘Extreme vetting?’
No way because instead of the 18-24 months the feds are always bragging about, their vetting was less than a year because the deal was announced only in September of 2016. See one of our many posts where I reported that the on-again, off-again screening began in November and of course, in less than a year, here they come.
So, can we really expect these men to settle down to jobs in meatpacking towns, in apartments funded by you, collecting their welfare benefits and accessing your local mental health clinics on the way to becoming upstanding and contributing American citizens?
This Sunday, Breitbart, the publication run by former Trump adminitration chief strategist Steve Bannon, ran a “news report” which slammed President Trump for continuing an Obama-era deal for the U.S. to resettler Middle Eastern refugees held in Australia.
“The president has now broken two long-promised campaign pledges: Throwing out deals that don’t benefit Americans and stopping the flow of foreign refugees won’t benefit Americans and stopping the flow of foreign refugees,” wrote John Binder in Breitbart.
Haaretz continued….
Ann Coulter, who has been critical of Trump’s lack of follow through on his hardline immigration promises, joined in Breitbart’s anger, Facetiously joking on Twitter, “This never would have happened if Trump had been elected!!!”
Breitart and Coulter were incised [they must mean ‘incensed’—ed] by reports a second group of about 30 refugees held in Australian-run detention centres on South Pacific islands will leave soon for resettlement in the United States under a controversial refugee swap deal.
The first group of 22, including men from Bangladesh, Sudan and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, left one of the camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea on Sunday…
I have a very large archive on the”dumb” Australia deal. If you really want to understand the sheer stupidity of the arrangement, click here.
It is no longer Obama’s “dumb deal,” it is Trump’s!
And, I don’t care what the justification of this deal is. This is an abuse of refugee resettlement law and I maintain that Australia needs us more than we need them!
Contact the White House and your elected officials in Washington and tell them what you think. If you are in one of the five targeted states (listed above) for ‘welcoming’ the Australian rejected asylum seekers, let your governor know what you think as well.
Christian Post reporter Samuel Smith interviewed several leaders of fake charitable organizations to get their take on Trump’s refugee ceiling for the new fiscal year that begins today. It is the anticipated wailing and moaning about that mean Donald Trump—45,000 is not enough poor people to put on the taxpayers’ backs in one year.
However, lo and behold, two tiny mentions (you have to read carefully!) are made, that are rarely (never?) made by the likes of the New York Times and Washington Post.
One is that the federal contractors (the big nine)*** are paid out of the US Treasury to do their religious charity and that the numbers of refugees admitted have dipped as low as the 20,000s in the past.I’ll count this as a media breakthrough!
When the big media (including Fox News) investigates and reports on the multi-million dollar industry resettling refugees has become, then ten years of work will have been worth it!
See readily available financial data on how much of your money the nine contractors devour in a year,go here.
Christian Aid Groups Say Trump Lowering Refugee Ceiling to 45,000 Is ‘Absurd’
Erol Kekic, executive director of the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program, one of nine organizations that receives funding from the State Department to resettle refugees in the U.S., said in a statement that the 45,000 limit is “absurdly low” ….
[….]
Bishop Michael Rinehart, chairman of the Board for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, said in a statement shared with CP that the cut to the U.S. refugee ceiling comes at a “a time when the world needs us desperately.”
“[I]t seems we are shutting the door on the Statue of Liberty,” Rinehart said. “I pray that America does not lose its heart and soul.”
Rinehart should learn the facts about the statue, here.
Although they give them lots of column inches to complain, the CP is actually being honest here:
Even though 45,000 would be the lowest U.S. refugee ceiling in a fiscal year set by a president since 1980, there have been years since then when less than 45,000 refugees have been resettled into the U.S., especially in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.
According to the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Center for Immigration Studies, a total of 28,286 refugees were resettled in 2002, and there were only 41,223 admissions in fiscal year 2006.
*** Below are the nine contractors that monopolize all refugee resettlement in America (they have hundreds of subcontractors working for them). The ‘religious’ groups listed below are Leftist social justice, community organizing, activist organizations awash in taxpayer dollars!
Readers ask me all the time what they should do.
Here is an idea: Find out if your local church is affiliated with any of these nine quasi-government agencies and start speaking up in your local churches and synagogues, and if possible in your local newspapers. If you are Catholic, see this.
If we can’t get Washington to make any effort at reform, it is time to focus closer to home.
We are disturbed and deeply disappointed by the proposed presidential determination number of 45,000,” said Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration. http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/faith-groups-ask-government-to-reconsider-historically-low-refugee-cap.cfm
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops insisted that Trump admit 75,000 paying refugee clients to the US beginning October 1. But, not a word at Crux that they receive millions of tax payer dollars for their Christian charity as the largest of nine federal refugee contractors.***
During his weekly audience on September 27, Pope Francis will kick off a two-year “Share the Journey” campaign aimed to encourage Catholics to “encounter” migrants and refugees. In response, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is calling for a National Week of Prayer and Action, scheduled from October 7-13.
The new campaign is focused on providing practical ways for Catholics to break down barriers of fear and build bridges with migrants and refugees.
Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the USCCB are part of a global network of organizations participating in the campaign organized by Caritas Internationalis.
Pope Francis invited the invasion of Italy:
Throughout his papacy, Francis has made the cause of refugees and migrants one of special concern to him. His first trip outside Rome as pope was a day trip to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, where he celebrated mass to memorialize the thousands of refugees that had died there trying to reach Europe.
Pope Francis welcomes migrants to Lampedusa Italy in 2013, see what happened: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/05/20/migrants-burn-down-refugee-center-on-lampedusa-thank-you-pope-francis/
[….]
The National Week of Prayer and Action comes at a time when many leaders of the U.S. Church have clashed with the Trump administration over its policies toward migrants and refugees.
Earlier this month, the administration announced that it would be ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program known as DACA, which provides protection from deportation for qualified immigrants. This decision prompted widespread outrage among members of the U.S. church hierarchy.
In the coming days, the president is also expected to set a ceiling on the number of refugees the U.S. will accept. Administration officials have suggested a limit of 50,000, while the USCCB is advocating for at least 75,000 to be welcomed.
(This story was posted at Crux before the final decision was announced. We know now that Trump came in at 45,000.)
Trump’s 45,000 capon refugees has the Bishops hopping mad, see here. (Not a word there either that the number admitted will affect the Bishop’s bottom line!)
***The UN/US Refugee Admissions Program will never be reformed as long as these nine federal contractors are allowed to accept federal funds and then lobby and otherwise community organize in order to keep the taxpayer-funded gravy train rolling.
This is more than the usual press statement from the White House on the Presidential Determination. In my experience previous statements have been shorter and certainly not so defensive.
Whose bright idea was it to ‘split the baby’ and place a cap on refugees arriving in the US at a number to anger both sides (Tillerson, Trump, Haley, McMaster?) Unless he morphed into Obama, Trump will never make the Open Borders Left happy, so why look weak and disrespect the base?
Below (hat tip Richard at Blue Ridge Forum) are just some of the nuggets (interspersed with comments from me) that interested me. Read the whole thinghere.
It reads like a press statement to justify suspending the whole program, or at least dropping the number significantly! 45,000 is not a significant drop!
President Donald J. Trump is Taking a Responsible and Humanitarian Approach on Refugees
President Trump has determined that up to 45,000 refugees may be admitted into the United States in Fiscal Year 2018. [George Bush averaged under 45,000 admissions from FY 2002-2008.—ed]
Editor: The difference between us and other countries being flooded with ‘refugees’ is that those refugees will not become permanent voting citizens in places like Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. Those we take are on a path to citizenship.
With this new ceiling, the United States will continue to permanently resettle more refugees than any other country and we will continue to offer protection to the most vulnerable…
Editor: Remember readers that successful asylum seekers (those granted asylum) are refugees eligible for all the perks and privileges given to the refugees we fly in. They can access welfare and become citizens. They are refugees even if the media continues to say that the likes of the Boston Bombers are not refugees.
The decision reflects the need to concentrate limited resources on the approximately 270,000 aliens who have applied for asylum but have not been properly vetted, and are already present in the United States.
Editor: The next time you hear the contractors/volags say there are no terrorists in the refugee pool in America, remember this:
As of February 2017, more than 300 individuals who were initially admitted to the United States as refugees were under FBI investigation for potential ties to suspected terrorists.
Since 2011, there have been at least 20 admitted refugees who have been arrested or removed from the United States based on terrorism investigations.
In 2016, a Somali refugee attacked 11 Americans at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, approximately two dozen individuals who had been admitted to the United States as refugees have been removed or arrested and convicted of terrorism-related offenses.
Editor: This is the first time in a long time we have heard a word about any state or local say about what is being dumped on communities from Washington, but couched in squishy language (help build trust in refugee resettlement). Who wrote this press release???
In February, the President met with local sheriffs at the White House to hear their concerns, including those about refugees who were resettled in their communities without local input.
President Trump believes in enhancing existing efforts to work closely with State and local leaders to help build community trust in refugee resettlement efforts while also determining the best placement of resettled refugees in the United States.
Editor: Regarding this next section of the White House press statement, there is no mechanism in place for any refugees who have been admitted to the US to go home. Over the years penniless unhappy refugees have come forward to say they made a mistake and want to go back home, but can’t afford to pay the airfare. We have argued that there should be a way to accommodate their wishes.
One primary goal of United States refugee policy is to enable refugees to ultimately return home, where they can be reunited with friends and family and help rebuild their communities.
[….]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent more than $96 billion on programs supporting or benefiting refugees between 2005 and 2014.
HHS surveys from the Obama Administration show that 45% of refugees arriving between 2011 and 2015 were receiving cash assistance, 49% were receiving Medicaid, and that nearly 75% were receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Read it all here. I am sure I will be revisiting it.
45,000 is way too many and nothing here has changed my mind about that!
Indeed much of what is written above could have been used as justification for suspending the whole program!
And, by the way, where is the much more useful report that is supposed to have been delivered to Congress before the determination?
Endnote: In case you missed it, Donald began welcoming those Australian rejected asylum seekers just this week as he surpassed his 50,000 CEILING for FY17 by 3,695! Total as of this morning for FY17 is 53,695.
Maybe the Prez should invite those mostly single men who have lived in detention for as long as 4 years to the White House and show them to the media (and show his family what a humanitarian he can be)!
