Late in September the word went outthat 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.
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 bycontacting 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!
But he is not alone. Continue reading to see which other Republican Senators have joined with some of the most vocal Open Borders Dems in opposing (slamming!) the President on the refugee ceiling for the new fiscal year which began on Tuesday.
Lankford slams Trump plan to reduce refugee admissions
Sen. James Lankford on Friday came out against the Trump administration’s plan to reduce the number of refugees allowed into the United States.
“I’m disappointed to see that the administration has once again decided to decrease the number of refugees we allow into our country,” Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, said.
Lankford leader of the pack in 2018 as ‘faith’ leaders gather on the Hill to oppose the President and support ‘Dreamers’ and to push for more refugees for your towns and cities. https://stream.org/immigration-debate-lankford-faith-leaders/
“Over the last few months, the Department of Homeland Security implemented multiple policies that have resulted in a decrease in migrants at the U.S. southern border.
“While I appreciate the administration’s focus on curbing illegal immigration and caring for asylum seekers, that doesn’t mean we should continue to reduce the admittance of refugees who are fleeing from persecution in their home countries to support these policies.”
[….]
Lankford and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., sent a letter last month wrote a letter signed by other senators to three of Trump’s cabinet secretaries urging the refugee cap to be raised from this year’s level. [That would mean they were pushing for more than 30,000!—ed]
The letter, signed by several other senators from both parties, states, “At a time when we are facing the ‘highest levels of displacement on record,’ according to the United Nations Refugee Agency, we urge you to increase the refugee resettlement cap and to admit as many refugees as possible within that cap. America has a responsibility to promote compassion and democracy around the world through assistance to vulnerable and displaced people.”
The letter is here, but as I mentioned previously no specific number of refugees is proposed leaving them free to blast the President for whatever number he recommended. (The Open Borders agitators were pushing for 95,000 knowing full well that would never happen.)
Here are the signers of the letter in addition to Lankford and his sidekick, Senator Chris Coons (D) of Delaware.
I think it’s kind of handy to have this list of the hardcore promoters of more refugees in the US Senate. (Rs are on the Left and Dems on the right.)
As many of you may recall, at this time last year the Trump Administration set the CEILING, for resettlement of refugees largely chosen by the UN for the fiscal year, at 30,000. And, that is exactly how many refugees were admitted and distributed to 48 states and the District of Columbia.
That 30,000 does not include the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV)from Iraq (181) and Afghanistan (7,501!) who entered the US this past fiscal year with all of the benefits refugees receive (welfare, food stamps, job counseling, housing, medical care and the list goes on!)
For the fiscal year that begins today, the President hasreduced the ceiling (or cap) to 18,000and by doing so has lit a firestorm in the refugee industry that includes Open Borders advocacy groups, federal resettlement contractors, and businesses which are freely admitting that they need the steady flow of cheap legal labor (labor that doesn’t complain and can’t readily leave!).
So from what countries did they originate and which states were the most ‘welcoming?’
The top five sending countries (FY19) in descending order are these:
DR Congo
Burma
Ukraine
Afghanistan (if you add the SIVs, Afghans would make up the second highest number of taxpayer supported ‘refugees’ for this year.)
Eritrea
Muslim refugees made up about 16% of the 30,000. However, virtually all of the SIVs are Muslims so that would push the percentage of arriving ‘refugees’ who are Muslims to 33%. No Muslim ban!
Here is a map showing where the 30,000 were placed. There is a spread sheet detailing where the SIVs were placed, but it isn’t in this handy format.
I know the numbers are difficult to read so here are the top ten ‘welcoming’ states for FY19:
Texas
Washington
New York
California
Kentucky
Ohio
North Carolina
Arizona
Georgia
Michigan
Teddy and Uncle Joe were chief sponsors of the Refugee Act of 1980, yet Delaware, Biden’s home state, rarely gets any refugees. Hmmmmm!
Two states received no refugees.
Wyoming has never agreed to resettling refugees in the history of the program. And, then Hawaii rarely gets any.
Delaware got one refugee in FY19 and it also usually only gets a handful—a fact that has always made me laugh since their homeboy, Joe Biden, was one of Ted Kennedy’s sidekicks when the program was created in 1979/80. (Ha! And, don’t say it is because the state is geographically small, RI is smaller than Delaware and it usually gets a bundle!).
West Virginia got 2 refugees, and the District of Columbia got a whopping total of 5 refugees!
What! How can this be? Too many refugees are arriving in one location in a year that we are told has one of the lowest arrival rates of all time.
Iraqi terrorists arrested in Bowling Green in 2011. As a result of this pair getting through our supposedly robust security screening, the entire cohort of Iraqis arriving in the US had to be rescreened that year.
Bowling Green, by the way, is the location where those Iraqi refugee terrorists were found about eight years ago and it is Senator Rand Paul’s hometown.
It has been a controversial resettlement location for years, see my archive here.
There is one important bit of information you need to pay attention to as you read about how the schools can’t cope. Hint! It involves a key component of Trump’s recent Executive Orderthat seeks to allow some cities and states to turn away refugees.
The Bowling Green International Center is working with a special stakeholder group that will address local school superintendents’ concerns that their schools have been “overwhelmed” by the number of refugee arrivals in recent years.
“We’re barely getting by,” Warren County Public Schools Superintendent Rob Clayton said.
Clayton was joined Thursday by Bowling Green Independent School District Superintendent Gary Fields at the International Center’s fourth quarterly meeting with local resettlement stakeholders. [Just a reminder that you—members of the public—should be admitted to these meetings, but I know the contractors do everything in their power to keep the public out.—ed]
Together, the two superintendents emphasized a need for what they described as a more sustainable approach to refugee resettlement.
“We’re at capacity,” Fields said, describing the dearth of resources available to current English learner students in his school district.
By the end of the school year, Fields said, his district anticipates reaching the 20 percent mark for students classified as English learners. In Warren County Public Schools, one in five students fall into that category.
“As of September, we will have 190 Swahili speakers in our school district,” he said. “We have one translator.”
[….]
In some cases, due to the nature of their persecution and displacement from their homeland, refugees have interrupted educational experiences.
Bearing the responsibility for educating those students is sometimes a Herculean effort, Clayton said, citing an example of a 19-year-old student with no formal education.
[….]
Overall, the center received 513 refugees as of Sept. 20. That’s up from 297 refugees resettled in Bowling Green during the previous fiscal year.
Here it is, the major point I want you to see. Refugees are placed with family members who came before them so that once you have a contingent of certain ethnic groups in your ‘welcoming’ town or city more of that ethnic group will follow.
Also, note that there is no way to control “secondary migration” as refugees are permitted to move and often do for jobs or to be with their own kind of people.
Despite the uncertainty around what number the Trump administration would set, the Bowling Green International Center has seen a steady stream of arrivals.
This is mainly due to the role a refugee’s U.S. ties play in the resettlement process.
Refugees can ask to be resettled with family members already established in the country.The International Center also sees a significant number of “secondary migrants,” who initially resettle in other parts of the country and then travel to Bowling Green, often seeking work.
So, although you may hear the contractors squawking about Trump’s plan to let communities (or states) decide if they want more refugees, once a seed community is established there is usually no going back and the resettlement contractors know it.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s esteemed foreign affairs columnist Trudy Rubinhas penned an opinion piece dripping with venom and bias against the President (and White House aide Stephen Miller) claiming we still owe US citizenship to thousands more Iraqi and Afghan “translators” who supposedly all helped the US military.
Trudy Rubin says we must admit thousands more Afghan and Iraqi ‘interpreters’ to America! I want to know when is enough enough?
The war in Iraq ended in 2011, so first let me ask why after 8 years we still must be giving anyone from Iraq (maybe with an exception for truly persecuted Christians) a taxpayer-funded new life in America?
We spent enormous blood and treasure giving Iraqis new leadership and a fresh chance at governing themselves, why must we move tens of thousands of the newly freed Iraqis (mostly Muslims) to a town near you?
Just a reminder here, dear readers, that when we go to war in a Middle Eastern country the Leftists will claim, now and forevermore, that we are morally bankrupt if we don’t bring that country’s nationals to America!
To hear Ms. Rubin you would not know that since the fall of 2006 through last week we admitted the following astronomical numbers from these two countries.
Afghanistan:
11,142 refugees and 59,104 SIVs (those that supposedly helped us)
(Below I’m going to show you all where Ms. Rubin can find accurate numbers so that maybe next time she won’t get all her facts from refugee contractors who make fat salaries off the US taxpayer and thus have a pecuniary interest in ever-growing refugee numbers.***)
So I guess Trudy Rubin doesn’t think we have already done enough!
And, by the way, by highlighting a sympathetic case she deploys the sob story method to play on her readers’ emotions. I can do that too….learn moreabout the convicted rapist Jasim.
For extra added measure she throws in the canard that our population is declining in America so we need all these new people to pay taxes.
Another Trump scandal: Blocking visas for Iraqis who saved American lives
Apart from Ukraine-gate, another White House scandal revved up recently, almost unnoticed.
The White House effort to block legal immigration shifted into overdrive. The State Department announced last week it would slash the already shrunken U.S. refugee program almost in half, to 18,000 admissions over the next 12 months, nearly eliminating America’s historic role as a safe haven. [I’m questioning why America always has to be a safe haven!—ed]
And the Trump team is trying to limit the impact of a recent D.C. District Court ruling that it end years-long delays in granting special immigrant visas (SIV) for thousands of Afghans and Iraqis who helped the U.S. military – as mandated by Congress.
The SIV mandate is a joke. Then Sen. Ted Kennedy added the provision for SIVs to a defense authorization bill and so there was never a Congressional debate on Iraq and Afghanistan SIVs.
What kind of moral bankrupts try to shut our doors to those who saved American lives?
Cry me a river!
Look who is talking!
“With one final blow, the Trump administration has snuffed out Lady Liberty’s torch and ended our nation’s legacy of compassion and welcome,” says the Rev. John L. McCullough, president of Church World Service,a cooperative ministry of 37 Christian denominations.
Just a cooperative ministry of 37 Christian denominations?
John McCullough pulls down a salary of over $300,000 a year as President and CEO of Church World Service, a federal refugee contractor that got over $40 million in federal tax dollars in a recent year to place refugees throughout America while acting as a leading far left Open Borders political agitation group!
(Ms. Rubin might want to have a look at CWS’s Form 990 here.)
Even more shocking is the White House willingness to betray Iraqis and Afghans who are at risk because they helped the U.S. military.
[….]
Administration callousness beggars belief. Many of these applicants and their families have been hiding for years under death threats.
Meantime, State Department data show that only 1,649 Afghans got SIV visas in 2018, a 60% drop from 2017.
See how she cherry-picks the numbers to put Trump in the worst light! Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, it is time to stop the SIV program? Haven’t we brought enough already? Isn’t 59,104 enough already!
As for Iraqis, the situation is far worse. Those in greatest danger – such as military interpreters and their families – have been tossed into a huge pool of applicants also entitled to visas because they worked for U.S. civilians. That backlog has reached 100,000.
Under Stephen Miller, only 51 Iraqis were admitted in 2018 (as compared with 10,000 in 2016). [LOL! Of course, gotta get their boogey man Miller in here. Don’t they call this dog whistling!—ed]
“They [the SIV applicants] served bravely in support of our missions abroad, and we promised them a pathway to safety in return,” points out Deepa Alagesan, the supervising attorney who brought the successful court case on behalf of the International Refugee Assistance Project.
Under pressure from Congress, 4,000 [more—ed] of the rare refugee slots will supposedly be reserved for Iraqis who worked for the U.S. military. But will they ever receive them?
161,665 refugees and SIVs moved to America isn’t enough?
Was our blood and treasure squandered for a country that eight years after the war ended isn’t safe enough according to the refugee industry agitators?
Are we expected to bring Iraqi ‘refugees’ to our American towns for the next ten years and ten after that?
*** For inquisitive readers, lazy reporters and for Ms. Rubin, hereis where you can find accurate numbers. This is the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center.
These particular data bases for Iraq and Afghanistan show placement for each state for refugee numbers vs. SIV numbers.
Just a cooperative ministry of 37 Christian denominations?