That is what we learned here in June 2013when Anne Richard, then Asst. Secretary of State for Population Refugees and Migration for President Obama, announced the deal presumably to begin in Fiscal Year 2014 and continue for five years.
Richard with then UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Gutteres who is now Secretary General of the UN.
I just checked the numbers (at Wrapsnet) and see that we have admitted 38,431 from FY14 to the present. So, expect UN pressure to take 11,569 more Congolese from UN camps in Africa over the next couple of years.
(By the way, going back to FY08, we have admitted 48,870 from DR Congo in nearly a decade.)
But…..
We learned the stunning news just a couple of days ago that some of those DR Congo ‘refugees’ would return to African camps if they could. See Utah here.
Although the Trump Administration has slowed the flow from camps in countries like Tanzania, we sure hope that maybe the trend (saying “no” to the UN) will continue.
We can’t afford to bring more extremely impoverished and uneducated people to America (with huge families to boot) to live jobless and unhappy in roach-infested apartments! Doesn’t sound very humanitarian to me!
(In case you are wondering, only 1,860, 3% of the DR Congolese we have admitted since FY08 are Muslim. The remainder represent many religious groups.)
One of the key takeaways for readers is that once we begin admitting large numbers from certain countries, mostly because the UN tells us to, the flow never stops.
Anyone suggesting stopping the flow is hit with the ‘how can you be so cruel to keep family members out’ meme.
Somalis are a prime example—we’ve been admitting them for decades—will we ever stop? How many decades do we continue to clear out the never-ending UN camp pipeline?
Over the next few days I’m going to tell you about some other ethnic groups we aren’t ever going to stop—from Burma, Nepal (Bhutanese) and Iraq—unless someone has the guts to tell the UN NO! No more.
And, this is why it’s a good thing we didn’t open the Syrian spigot in a big way!
They apparently want to make it clear to the Muslim world that they are the good people.
From The Jewish News of Northern California https://www.jweekly.com/2017/11/13/jewish-family-services-silicon-valley-files-suit-halt-refugee-ban/
Here is what Mark Hetfield CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (aka HIAS) said in an e-mail yesterday. (Emphasis is mine)
The Trump Administration shows no signs of backing off their policies against refugees, so we’re taking the Administration to court. Again.
HIAS could lose more than half of its funding if the US Refugee program was dismantled. See below. Don’t miss Hetfield’s salary! Doing well by doing good!
From the moment the first executive order banning refugees and travelers from Muslim countries was issued on January 27th, HIAS and our partners in the American Jewish community have opposed every attempt by President Trump to close America’s doors to those in need of protection.
Our outrage has only grown stronger with every new executive order that prevents thousands of refugees from finding safety in the U.S.
Enough is enough. Together with our longstanding local resettlement partners Jewish Family Service of Seattle and Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley, HIAS yesterday filed a suit to again challenge restrictive policies that seek to prevent vulnerable refugees from finding freedom and safety. As we have for the last 136 years, we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that America remains a country that welcomes refugees instead of turning them away.
Lawsuit: ‘It’s the dismantling of the U.S. refugee program’
Rabbi Berkovitz says Trump is dismantling the whole refugee program which would mean HIAS will lose millions of taxpayer dollars for its advocacy work. (LOL! he didn’t say the last part!)
“People are dying who were given permission to come into this country. It’s tragic,” said Rabbi Will Berkovitz, CEO of Jewish Family Service of Seattle, one of the refugee agencies that’s filed the lawsuit.
“The agenda that’s really thinly veiled here is the dismantlement of the refugee resettlement program as a whole,” Berkovitz said. “Not for now, but forever.”
The lawsuit claims the order is unconstitutional, discriminates against Muslims and gives preference to Christian refugees. [The US might actually give preference to Christians, what is the world coming to!—ed]
You have to give them credit for chutzpah!
HIAS has been a long-time supporter of the Lautenberg Amendmentwhich gave preference for resettlement to Soviet Jews among others, see here.
So are they now saying that the Lautenberg Amendment must go? Look for HIAS to reverse itself and ask Congress to abolish Lautenberg (Ha! Ha!).
Hereis what we learned from the Jewish agency in California:
Plaintiffs are being represented by the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center; the National Immigration Law Center; attorneys Lauren Aguiar, Mollie M. Kornreich and Abigail Sheehan Davis; Perkins Coie; and HIAS.
Learn more about the directorof the National Immigration Law Center when she was bragging and disparaging then candidate Donald Trump by clicking here. Jim Simpson and I attended the spectacle.
Since all of the refugee contractors receive funding by the head for the refugees they place in your towns, and if the Trump Administration continues to lower the incoming numbers it blows a hole (a crater!) in the budgets of the big nine. HIAS could lose about $23 million if the program was dismantled as they (supposedly) fear.
“Life got harder for me when I came to America…Most of the time, I wish I could go back to the refugee camp in Africa.”
Congolize refugee
Update November 15th: See how many from the DR Congo we have brought in already, here.
This story represents one of my major reasons for writing RRW for the last 10 years.
The do-gooders want ever-greater numbers of refugees admitted to the US despite the fact that many will live in poverty while many of the CEOs of the major resettlement agencies are raking in large 6-figure salaries.
Damn it! If you ‘humanitarians’ care so much for the world’s downtrodden, why do you need to be making salaries in excess of $200,000, $300,000, $500,000 largely funded by the US Treasury?
For the camera, IRC CEO David Miliband shows compassion for children in Nigeria, but where is the compassion for refugees his organization dropped off in Utah and are now living in squalor or are homeless. Doing well by doing good, Miliband makes $591,846 annually. Photo: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3349940/Refugee-kids-bring-David-Miliband-knees-Nigeria.html
And, readers, it isn’t refugees like these in Utah that should be criticized or castigated (they were sold a bill of goods), it is the refugee industry (the globalists) that obviously turns a blind eye to the refugees they brought in previous years.
Instead of admitting only the number of refugees communities can afford or otherwise accommodate, the nine contractors*** always want more. Why?
Because the newly arriving refugees bring-in money by the head to the resettlement agency and that is the primary reason they are so angry at Trump. He has reduced the number of their paying “clients.”
From Deseret News where the story features refugees from the DR Congo.
For new readers, back in 2013, here, Obama’s State Department said it would help clean out UN camps in Africa by bringing 50,000 from the DR Congo to Anytown, USA. We may have already exceeded that number.
When he felt hopeless, the Bible’s words lifted him up and renewed his faith that God had a plan for him. He prayed that the Lord would deliver his family to America.
If he ever made it there, he imagined, he would have a home of his own with a large backyard, where he could tend a garden and watch his children play.
Instead, this is Ngunza’s reality: He lives in a tiny, roach-infested apartment with his wife and 11 children. His job slicing meat at a local deli pays just above minimum wage, which barely covers his monthly rent, and leaves him precious little to feed and clothe his family.
Instead of dreams, these days Ngunza only has fears – that he won’t be able to provide for his family’s basic needs and still keep a roof over their head.
“Just like in the camp,” he says, “I feel trapped all over again.”
Where are you Senator Mike Lee? Why don’t you take the lead and call for an investigation of the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program!
[….]
On its face, the resettlement program is a feel-good story, a symbol of America’s commitment as a global citizen, and for refugees, the epitome of the American Dream.
[….]
Utah is the only state that allocates funding for resettlement agencies – the International Rescue Committee and Catholic Community Services – to offer case management services for a full two-year period. During this time, they provide refugees with job training, housing placement and English language lessons, and more, all with the goal of helping refugees reach self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.
Nevertheless, despite the best of intentions, the Deseret News has found that many refugees are living well below the poverty line. Some are facing eviction. Others have become homeless.
In part, that’s because it is very difficult for arriving refugees to find jobs that pay a living wage and housing they can afford.
It is not the Mormon church doing the resettling in Utah, it is Catholic Charities and the International Rescue Committee (IRC is headed by David Miliband, a Brit, who pulls down a cool $500,000 plus a year salary).
Aiden Batar, director of Migration and Refugee Services at Catholic Community Services, says he does not know how many refugees in Utah are homeless or living in poverty. Neither does Poulin with the International Rescue Committee. [Of course they don’t—see no evil!….–ed]
[….]
At the Road Home shelter, the Deseret News met a Congolese refugee family of 11 evicted from their apartment three months ago who have been unable to find another place to live. At an apartment complex in South Salt Lake, a single mother named Feliz, also from the Congo, has been unemployed for two months after losing her job as a maid at a downtown hotel, and she has struggled to find other work.
“Life got harder for me when I came to America,” says Feliz. “I constantly worry that I will be evicted and my family will end up on the street. Most of the time, I wish I could go back to the refugee camp in Africa.”
Dear Donald, maybe it’s time for that repatriation fund we talked about years ago. Set up financing for unhappy refugees to go home! LOL! take it out of the salaries of the top executives of the refugee industry!
What you can do! If you live in Utah (or otherwise have contact with the Senator), call on Senator Mike Lee to launch an investigation!
***The nine federal contractors that monopolize all resettlement in the US are below. Go hereto see a recent accounting of their finances and salaries.
So why are we interested in thislatest news from CNN?
One of Washington’s most prominent lobbying firms is on the verge of shuttering after becoming ensnared by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Kimberley Fritts [who had worked for Jeb Bush!—ed], the chief executive of the Podesta Group, told employees during a Thursday staff meeting that the firm would cease to exist at the end of the year, according to two sources. Employees were asked to clear out their desks and were told they may not be paid beyond November 15, multiple sources said.One of Washington’s most prominent lobbying firms is on the verge of shuttering after becoming ensnared by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
[….]
Talk of potentially closing the Podesta Group marks a dramatic downfall of one of K Street’s most iconic and well-connected firms. In its heyday, Podesta Group was the largest non-law firm lobbying organization in Washington.Tony Podesta, the firm’s founder and chairman, helped fuel the company with work for foreign governments. He and his brother, John, founded the company almost three decades ago. (John Podesta chaired Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. He left the firm in 1993.)
Hans Van De Weerd (Dutch citizen?) is the head of RCUSA as well as a VP at the International Rescue Committee. Was it his bright idea to drop 100K on Podesta?
Even if Mueller wasn’t investigating, the Podesta Group was going to lose influence now that Hillary is a nobody!
Our interest (story here from Breitbart in case you missed it) is in the fact that, for 2017, the Refugee Industry lobbying arm (Refugee Council USA) had dropped 100K on Podesta to lobby certain Senators, including prominent Republicans, for their help in assuring they would get more refugees and more money for themselves.
Targets specifically identified in the proposal included, among others, Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ)on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), all on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
I would love to know whose brilliant idea it was to spend that kind of money on lobbyists in the swamp—-lobbyists who are now on a sinking ship.
Did the refugee contractors get their money’s worth?
And, I would like to know if any of the 100K was our money—taxpayer money!
We reported here that we had heard rumblings, but Breitbart News yesterday has all the gory details from a reliable source close to the organization—Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—headquartered in Baltimore, MD.
Read the bombshell story by Michael Patrick Leahy here.
‘Source: Claims of Financial Mismanagement, Fraud, and Harassment at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Spark External Investigation’
LIRS CEO Linda Hartke (left) with ELCA Bishop Eaton lobbying on the Hill for more refugees (aka paying clients) in March of this year.
My questions include:
~Will Trump’s federal government suspend LIRS (96% funded by taxpayer dollars) until the truth is learned?
~Will Congress have the energy and the guts to take a look at this?
~And, could this be the tip of the iceberg—is LIRS a one-off or could others of the nine federal contractors have gotten loosey-goosey with their finances too?
After all when you are ‘doing good’ who would have the audacity to question how you handle free federal money, right?
~And, here is another: If proven true, what impact do these allegations have on LIRS subcontractors (aka affiliates)?
Just to remind longtime readers and for new readers arriving here today, there are nine organizations (supposedly non-profits)*** almost completely funded with US taxpayer dollars which distribute federal money to hundreds of subcontractors working in towns and cities across America where refugees are being placed.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is the parent organization to the offices listed below. So whatever happens in Baltimore could have a direct impact on these local “affiliates.”
For example, LSS-MN does not act independently of the Baltimore ‘mothership’ when it comes to resettling refugees. It is the Baltimore office that sends them cases and the money that comes along with the refugees. Federal taxpayer dollars simply flow through LIRS headquarters to these subcontractors. (At the heart of the allegations about federal grant funds is the issue of how much headquarters keeps of the millions of dollars it passes through.)
LIRS affiliates could see an impact if the allegations of financial wrong doing are significant enough for the federal agency (HHS in this case) to issue a ‘stop work order.’
When you read Breitbart’s investigative pieceyou might not have much concern for the internal personnel machinations/squabbles/bullying/firings/ etc, but like me, you might find anything that suggests the misuse of your tax dollars compelling. Pistachio nuts! (you will have to read Leahy’s piece to see what that means!)
Here is one bit of the detailed report from a source to Breitbart (source refers to LIRS as LIaRS):
Over the six year period from 2011 through 2016, LIaRS revenue from the U.S. government grew from $30 million to almost $65 million. During that time, under CEO Hartke’s oversight, the headquarter’s spending exploded from $8.8 million to $13.5 million with a staff of less than 100. Hartke’s salary also jumped from $182,270 to more than $293,000 last year (note this does not include her 9 percemt employer retirement plan contribution, 100% employer paid health care, and paid time off).
Given that USG revenue accounts for almost 95 cents of every LIaRS dollar, the only way Hartke could continue to spend on herself and the headquarters is through charging the USG an indirect cost recovery rate on the entire amount of their grants, even though 90 percent of the funds were simply passed through to subawards to the dozens of independent affiliates that actually do the refugee resettlement work (i.e. Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, RefugeeOne of Chicago, Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, etc.).
This is direct contradiction to the Code of Federal Regulations which only allows the ICR to be charged on the first $25,000 of each subaward. LIaRS charges it on all the money, thereby giving them millions of dollars per year to fund their headquarters for doing nothing. As an example, in 2016 of the $54 million in government funds received by LIaRS, more than $55 million was sent out in subawards to the independent affiliates to do the actual resettlement work … but LIaRS managed to charge the government the ICR rate of over 10 percent on that $55 million which brings over $5 million to be kept in Baltimore for Hartke and her office.
If I may be so bold as to tell the Inspector General at Health and Human Services what to do….
….it would be prudent for the IG to issue a Stop Work Order.
If the allegations of inflating direct costs are true and the commensurate lack of internal controls are found, LIRS financial practices raise serious questions about their ability to function as a federal resettlement agency (receiving millions of dollars appropriated by Congress!) at least until this mess is cleared up.
So what can you do?
Note that the new refugee mayor of Helena, Montana is on this board. Ask him what he thinks about the allegations! http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/11/08/liberian_refugee_wilmot_collins_elected_mayor_of_helena_montana.html
After reading theBreitbart expose’ you know that LIRS Board of Directors has launched an internal investigation in addition to whatever the federal government is doing.
See the Board members here and below. If you are of the Lutheran faith you need to have a word with anyone of them you know plus speak up to your local pastors!
From LIRS website:
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s board of directors sets the organization’s mission goals and ensures that we have the resources, leadership and oversight necessary to carry them out. Our president and leadership team guides the day-to-day operations of the organization as we work toward achieving our mission goals with integrity, courage and fiscal responsibility.
Board Members
The board is composed of 15 members who have knowledge of and commitment to refugees and immigrants. LIRS believes strength is found in diversity and that refugees and immigrants need a voice at the table of influence. All branches of the Lutheran Church as well as other denominations are represented on the board. There are also three former refugees or first generation immigrants on the board. The LIRS president is an ex-officio member of the board.
***These are the nine federal contractors receiving millions of tax payer dollars annually. Could any of the others not be following federal grant reporting rules? Come on Congress, time to get serious about reviewing the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program and how the contractors are spending our money!
