And, I think the refugee industry wants to keep it that way! (Think about the enormous stonewalling going on in St. Cloudfor instance!).
How many times over the years have I struggled to try to answer your questions about how much all of this is costing state and federal taxpayers? Now, I have a better understanding of why the facts are so elusive thanks to some researchers who sound like they do want to resettle refugees, but want answers too!
Frost and her fellow researchers are clearly not right-wingers. They are on to something, but will Trump’s ORR listen?
Before you read know that “service providers” is the polite word for resettlement “contractors.”
Resettling refugees has become harder to justify, but not for the reasons you may expect. Lost in the passionate rhetoric of lobbyists, politicians and humanitarian agencies are statistics and evidence.
Appeals to forestall resettlement efforts speak to fears of terrorists infiltrating refugee flows, notwithstanding evidence that suggests otherwise. Advocates of resettlement reference duty, morality and hospitality, but don’t provide compelling evidence to justify the financial and social strains resettlement places on host communities.
Proponents on both sides struggle to support their reasoning with evidence, and this is the real issue. The absence of consistent data collection and measurement by service providers and government agencies has impaired policy makers’ ability to craft effective policy. Furthermore, resettlement data is full of holes and redundancies because service delivery agencies do not coordinate their data collection efforts. Additionally, service providers are unable to answer basic questions about the effectiveness of their programs and current resettlement trends because their data are not structured in an analyzable format.
Standardizing refugee resettlement data collection could revolutionize the resettlement process. It would facilitate analysis, enabling service providers and those interested in refugee statistics to more easily understand what is happening in real time. This information would also enable service providers to better serve refugee communities and educate policymakers on current trends, potential issues and policy gaps.
[….]
Without meaningful data standards, agencies and organizations may struggle to evaluate their work and share information. Because funding is typically tied to defined performance or outcome measures, evaluation is a crucial element of program design. The absence of data standards makes evaluation problematic and makes comparisons across programs nearly impossible. The University of Utah’s Center for Research on Migration and Refugee Integration’s recently attempted to evaluate Catholic Community Services’ refugee case management program but was stymied before it even began because the case data were not collected in an analysis-friendly format; moreover, it is impossible to track refugee outcomes as individuals pass from one agency’s stewardship to another’s. Service providers and policymakers across the country face similar challenges.
[…..]
Data standardization can only happen if the United States’ Office of Refugee Resettlement takes the lead on this issue.Access to federal funding is already conditional on reporting to the office. The simple solution is this: tie federal funds to data standardization and formatting.
So why isn’t it being done?—surely reform doesn’t require the lazy lunks in Congress. ORR can require this before it throws more of your money at the US Refugee contractors. So why aren’t they doing it? I think I have a guess!
This was posted a couple of weeks ago, but I hadn’t seen it until today when the IRC (a resettlement contractor) was crowing about it on twitter.
Friends lobbyist Yasmine Taeb came to her job for the Quakers from the Center for American Progress (Podesta!). No surprise. https://www.fcnl.org/people/yasmine-taeb
If you didn’t know, the Friends (aka Quakers) are very pro-more-immigration. They are involved in defending the Palestinians in the Middle East as well (story for another day).
Newsfrom the Friends Committee on National Legislation. I’m sure you might have guessed if your member of Congress was on the letter, but we are grateful to the ‘Friends’ for listing them for us.
In response to the Trump administration’s announcement of a historically low refugee admissions goal for 2018, over 100 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the White House calling on the administration to increase the refugee admissions goal from 45,000 to 110,000. Additionally, this letter expresses concern over a proposed “assimilation standard” for refugees.
FCNL Legislative Director for Human Rights and Civil Liberties Yasmine Taeb made the following statement….
The letter to the president can be found below. [I did not count the signatures, they said 100.—ed]
Dear President Trump,
We write to express our deep disappointment in your decision to set the Presidential Determination (PD) for Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2018 at 45,000. We strongly urge you to reconsider this decision and increase the refugee admission level to 110,000 for Fiscal Year 2018. Further, we are alarmed by proposed changes to the resettlement process to require refugees to meet an assimilation standard and ask you brief us at least 30 days before any such changes are made.
As you know, the world is in the midst of the largest refugee crisis in history. An unprecedented 65.6 million people across the globe have been forcibly displaced from their homes because of violence, persecution, and war. Approximately 22.5 million of those individuals are refugees, and more than half are children. The U.S. has a moral imperative to welcome refugees, who are the most thoroughly vetted people who enter our country. America taking a leadership role during this crisis bolsters our credibility as a nation of immigrants founded on the promise to welcome those seeking a better life.
As both Republican and Democratic administrations have confirmed, the United States screens refugees more stringently than any other traveler allowed to enter the United States. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) has safely and successfully resettled more than three million refugees from around the world to American communities across the country since 1975. Refugee applicants must undergo a robust and thorough screening process that takes roughly two years and involves our nation’s top security and counter-terror experts. The exhaustive vetting process includes checking fingerprints and other biometric data against terrorist and criminal databases and multiple interviews through multiple Federal agencies.
Since the enactment of the 1980 Refugee Act, the average annual goal for refugee admissions has been 95,000. In Fiscal Year 2016, the U.S. resettled approximately 85,000 refugees, and the Presidential Determination for Fiscal Year 2017 was 110,000. During the worst refugee crisis in the world, these resettlement numbers pale in comparison to the support our allies are providing and our moral leadership commands. Since Executive Order 13769 was signed, the number of refugees coming to the United States each month has dropped precipitously. Australia, Norway, Canada, Sweden, and Finland all accept more refugees per capita than the United States, with Canada pledging to accept 300,000 refugees in 2017. Failing to do our part to alleviate this global crisis undermines our leadership, diplomacy, and national security.
In addition to the U.S.’s moral responsibility, supporting our allies and partners, whose resources are being strained by hosting large numbers of refugees, promotes security and stability at home and abroad. Twenty national security leaders, including Henry Kissinger, Michael Chertoff, Madeleine Albright, and Leon Panetta wrote a letter in 2015 noting that “resettlement initiatives help advance U.S. national security interests by supporting the stability of our allies and partners that are struggling to host large numbers of refugees.”[1] By doing more to host and assist refugees, the United States would help safeguard the stability of nations like Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, which are hosting the vast majority of Syrian refugees. This can help reduce regional instability and potential for conflict and terrorism. Additionally, severely limiting the number of refugees the U.S. admits perpetuates extremist organizations’ false narrative of a war between Islam and the West.
In order to make clear that the United States rejects this worldview, we must bolster our refugee program by supporting the world’s most vulnerable people, without discriminating based on religion or nationality. As a nation of immigrants, our country has a long history of welcoming newcomers of all different backgrounds. Any efforts to require refugees meet an assimilation standard misunderstands the purpose of our resettlement program which is to assist the most vulnerable. This is especially true if no additional assistance is provided to ensure refugees are successfully integrated into the fabric of our nation.
The 45,000 PD for Fiscal Year 2018 is woefully insufficient when compared to the millions of people who have been forced to flee their home countries. Establishing a PD of 45,000 is the lowest refugee admissions goal in our nation’s history. This would prevent tens of thousands of people from enriching American communities while seeking safety, protection, and an opportunity to provide a better future for themselves and their families in the United States.
The current global humanitarian crisis requires strong American leadership. To reflect that, we request that you reconsider and increase the PD for refugee admissions level to 110,000 for Fiscal Year 2018. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to working together with you and your Administration on this critical issue.
Sincerely,
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Donald S. Beyer, Jr.
Earl Blumenauer
Lisa Blunt Rochester
Suzanne Bonamici
Robert A. Brady
Anthony Brown
Michael Capuano
Salud Carbajal
Tony Cárdenas
André Carson
Judy Chu
David N. Cicilline
Katherine Clark
Yvette D. Clarke
Steve Cohen
John Conyers, Jr.
J. Luis Correa
Joe Courtney
Joe Crowley
Elijah E. Cummings
Danny K. Davis
Peter DeFazio
Diana DeGette
John K. Delaney (My rep who has announced he is running for Prez in 2020!)
Mark DeSaulnier
Ted Deutch
Debbie Dingell
Lloyd Doggett
Michael Doyle
Keith Ellison
Eliot L. Engel
Anna G. Eshoo
Adriano Espaillat
Elizabeth H. Esty
Dwight Evans
Bill Foster
Lois Frankel
Ruben Gallego
John Garamendi
Jimmy Gomez
Josh Gottheimer
Gene Green
Raúl Grijalva
Luis V. Gutiérrez
Colleen Hanabusa
Alcee L. Hastings
Brian Higgins
James Himes
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Pramila Jayapal
Hakeem Jeffries
Marcy Kaptur
William R. Keating
Robin L. Kelly
Joseph P. Kennedy
Ro Khanna
Daniel T. Kildee
James Langevin
Rick Larsen
John B. Larson
Brenda L. Lawrence
Barbara Lee
Sander Levin
Ted W. Lieu
Zoe Lofgren
Alan Lowenthal
Stephen Lynch
Carolyn B. Maloney
Doris Matsui
Betty McCollum
James P. McGovern
Gwen Moore
Seth Moulton
Jerrold Nadler
Grace Napolitano
Donald Norcross
Beto O’Rourke
Frank Pallone, Jr.
Jimmy Panetta
Bill Pascrell, Jr.
Donald Payne, Jr.
Ed Perlmutter
Scott Peters
Chellie Pingree
Mark Pocan
Jared Polis
David Price
Mike Quigley
Jamie Raskin
Ben Ray Lujan
Lucille Roybal-Allard
Bobby Rush
Tim Ryan
John Sarbanes
Jan Schakowsky
Adam Schiff
Bradley S. Schneider
Robert C. “Bobby” Scott
José E. Serrano
Carol Shea-Porter
Albio Sires
Louise Slaughter
Adam Smith
Darren Soto
Eric Swalwell
Mark Takano
Dina Titus
Paul Tonko
Norma J. Torres
Niki Tsongas
Juan Vargas
Marc Veasey
Filemon Vela
Nydia Velázquez
Peter J. Visclosky
Timothy Walz
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Bonnie Watson Coleman
Peter Welch
John Yarmuth
Looking for something to do today? If your representative is on the list, tell him or her what you think of the 110,000 refugee wish list.
It doesn’t matter if they don’t listen to you, do it anyway. They need to know that signing a letter like this is not a political freebie!
If you have no rep. on the list, call or write to Delaney!
Sheesh! Not sure I can ever watch ‘Gladiator’ again!
Crowe: I have a few extra rooms in my penthouse in Sydney! Photo: The Australian
Crowe wants to take a refugee home, one of the Muslims presently protesting on Manus Island where those who tried to get to Australia illegally have been housed for the last few years, and help him find a job.
The facility was to be closed by the end of October, but Australia didn’t move the wannabe Australians out and now they are huddled in the facility with no food or water creating a stand off. They fear attack by locals if they venture outside.
Surprisingly what is missing in the news from The Australianis any Trump-bashing for not moving fast enough to consummate Obama’s “dumb deal” and bring 1,250 of them to Anytown, USA.
The impasse is a result of Australia’s policy to deter illegal migration which says if you try to break in to our country, you will never get in. So far they are sticking with it.
Crowe: I want to take a few home with me!
Actor Russell Crowe has blasted the Australian government for its handling of refugees at Manus Island detention centre, offering to house and find work for detainees himself.
In a series of twitter posts, the Gladiator star described the government’s current refugee processing program as “a nation’s shame”.
“Manus. A Nations shame. Lives held in limbo . Lives lived in fear & despair. It’s f***ing disgraceful,” the actor tweeted on Wednesday evening.
A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told The Australian she questioned how the actor expected to carry out his offer considering current immigration policies.
“How does he anticipate he will resettle refugees without the necessary visas?,” she said.
[Why not call his bluff and the bluffs of any other rich Leftists, give them a ‘refugee’ to take home and make them sign for full responsibility for that alien’s expenses and actions for say the next 5 or 10 years? Heck! Maybe even require an up front retainer paid to the government for say $50,000 to help repay the taxpayers for their expenses over the last few years!—ed]
[….]
New Zealand’s new prime minister, 37-year-old Jacinda Ardern, says her country will take 150 of the mostly male detained aliens.
Crowe’s tweets come as the UN Refugee Agency declared an “unfolding humanitarian emergency” on Manus Island, after food, running water and power was cut off at the detention centre after its official closure on Tuesday.
Some 600 asylum seekers have barricaded themselves inside the complex, fearful they will be attacked if they venture outside.
Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani, who is among those on Manus Island, told AAP “the place is like a war zone”. [This ‘refugee’ has become the medial mouthpiece active on social media.—ed]
[….]
Earlier today, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed an offer to take 150 refugees annually from Australia’s detention centres.
For new readers, see my Australia “dumb deal” archive here. Last we heard about 50 have arrived in the US.
Dear Mr. President, if any of these Australian ‘refugees’ commit crimes or terror acts in the US, no one is ever going to remember they were a result of an Obama deal struck in the closing days of his administration. They will be yours! You own it now!
The Refugee Council USA, a group of ‘non-profits’, it is revealed, paid Podesta $100,000 to influence Congress. Was that your taxpayer dollars they used?
RCUSA the lobbying arm of the nine federal resettlement contractors*** and the same group that marched for CAIR in Washington recently hired the lobbying firm—Podesta Group-–to influence certain Senators to continue their advocacy for refugee resettlement/immigration reform and to get Congress to give them more payola!
Rubio and Graham, two of the Senators the Podesta Group was hired to keep on the Open Borders (more refugees!) bandwagon by supplying them with talking points to counter YOU!
This news is a shocker and an indication that the refugee industry is much sleazier than I dreamed even after ten years of following their maneuvers to change America by changing the people.
Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbarthas uncovered an internal agreement (between the group that carries the name of Clinton’s campaign manager and also includes someone in its leadership that came from the Jeb Bush team) that is simply stunning.
For those of you working (on your own dime and your own time) in small ‘pockets of resistance’ in your local communities, look what you are up against!
But take heart! Things may be unraveling and maybe the swamp is starting to be drained after all!
(If you missed it, check out giant foreign meatpacker paying the Lutherans for help with supplying cheap and compliant refugee labor, here.)
The lobbying arm of the refugee resettlement industry hired the Podesta Group earlier this year to deliver “talking points” that provide “cover” to Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and other pro-amnesty Republican members of Congress when discussing the issue of refugee resettlement with the media and other Republicans.
The Refugee Council USA (RCUSA), the “trade organization” of refugee resettlement agencies who receive almost all of their funding from the federal government, paid the Podesta Group $100,000 to lobby Congress in 2017, according to Open Secrets.
RCUSA describes itself as “a coalition of 25 U.S.-based non-governmental organizations . . . dedicated to refugee protection, welcome, and excellence in the U.S. refugee resettlement program.”
The Podesta Group “can help RCUSA develop messaging that concedes the political dynamic that gave rise to the [Trump Executive Order reducing refugee arrivals and increasing vetting], that acknowledges the felt security risk, and that reframes its core asks in a way that does not alienate Republicans but gives them an incentive to collaborate,” the proposal submitted by the Podesta Group in March of this year to the RCUSA for the engagement stated….. (See Breitbart for those snips.)
Leahy continues:
“Our primary targets will be Republicans–and some key Democrats who work well across the aisle–who sit on committees of jurisdiction and whose responsibilities include refugee and asylum policies,” the proposal added.
[….]
Targets specifically identified in the proposal included, among others, Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ)on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as SenatorLindsey 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.
Now check out the proposal from Podesta. Gotta keep the federal money flowing to the refugee contractors (that is why the focus on the Appropriations Committee).
I can’t emphasize this enough! Rather than being discouraged by the money and power lining up against you (as this news shows), in ‘Pockets of Resistance’ you are making great headway in educating your fellow citizens about this secretive and sleazy process called refugee resettlement! Don’t give up now!
With a slowdown in refugee arrivals and thus a slowdown in payments from the Treasury to these contractors, the system (keep fingers crossed!) may be on the verge of self-destructing. [Update May 2020:the system is alive and well and federal money is still flowing to the contractors.]
***These are the nine federal refugee contractors that make-up the core of the Refugee Council USA. We have written about RCUSA often, click here. In addition to their march for CAIR and more Muslim migration to America recently, here is another recent mention. As I reported just two days ago, they alerted the contractors to NOT give out R & P Abstracts (plans for resettlement to your towns and cities) to taxpaying citizens.
Lost in all the hubbub over the tax bill, Hillary/Trump and the Russians, and now another Islamic terrorist attack, is the little known, but growing concern about the reemergence of the Plague, otherwise known as Black Death that decimated Europe in the 14th Century.
Is it even on America’s radar screen?
The disease moved more slowly in the 14th Century. Today we are one refugee and one plane flight away from infecting the North American continent.
Readers should know that many of the countries now on the Plague’s possible flight path are also countries from which refugees arrive almost daily to the US—most specifically Kenya (most US-bound Somalis come through Kenya), Ethiopia and South Africa.
The latest outbreak, which took root in Madagascar, has now killed 124 people and infected around 1,300, but scientists say this figure will definitely rise.
South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Comoros, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Reunion have all been placed on high alert by World Health Organisation (WHO) monitors.
Experts say the deadly disease is caused by the same bacteria that wiped out 25 million people in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries.
And WHO officials, who have been working with Madagascar’s Ministry of Health, warn the risk of the epidemic spreading is “high”.
[….]
…concerned WHO officials claim there is “something different” about this outbreak and “health officials couldn’t explain it”.
Map of countries now infected in East Africa from the UK Express:
Sure hope the Trump Admin is aware and working on this!
See our Health Issues category (340 previous posts archived there) on more about the diseases and mental health problems entering the US with the refugee flow. Did you know refugees with HIV and TB are admitted to the US?
