We previously reported on data regarding top languages of refugees here in April of last year.
This is the latest from the US State Department’s Refugee Processing Center, here. This is data for the period from 2008 up until April 30, 2016.
Remember, these are only the languages spoken by refugees, this does not include those spoken by other categories of legal immigrants or of illegal immigrants.
[If the above isn’t clear enough, this is the list: Arabic, Nepali, Somali, Sgaw Karen, Spanish, Chaldean, Burmese, Armenian, Kiswahili, other.]
We notice that since we reported a year ago, Somali has moved up to number three. Also Kayah (a language from Burma) is off the list and Kiswahili (African language) replaces it at number 9. I’m guessing that is because the State Department is moving ahead quickly with its proposed resettlement to your towns of 50,000 from the DR Congo.
Pay attention new refugee resettlement towns and cities!
When contemplating becoming a “welcoming” refugee community, remember you, state and local taxpayers are responsible for providing interpreters (Bill Clinton Executive Order!) for just about anything from medical treatment, problems in the school system and in the criminal justice system, etc. etc. etc.
Back in 1980 when Jimmy Carter signed the monster into law (after it was pushed through the Senate by Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden) everyone jumped on board (every state but Wyoming!) and figured this was just one of those warm and fuzzy feel-good plans from Washington. Thank Senators Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden for being the ‘brains’ behind the bill that became the Refugee Act of 1980
It was put on auto-pilot (no serious review by Congress has happened in 35 years) until now when the once seemingly innocuous program has grown so large, so costly and fraught with security risks that the public is finally paying attention. Here is the latest on North Dakota, a state with one of the highest per capita rates of refugee placement, and where elected officials are now trying to figure out what rights they have to slow it or get out altogether.
The story is hereat Breitbart where reporter Michael Patrick Leahy tells us how the North Dakota Senator and former governor doesn’t understand how the program works. Read the story. Learn how much your state is on the hook for!
Now this…
Every “humanitarian arrival” costs the US taxpayer a bare minimum of $10,000 per person. Do our Washington elected officials even have a clue?
I want to use this opportunity of the Breitbart story to highlight a brief mention of the cost of the program reporter Leahy mentions near the end. Here is what Leahy said:
Hoeven is not the only member of Congress who does not seem to understand how the federal refugee resettlement program works. In fact, hardly any members of Congress seem to have such an understanding.That may be the most obvious reason to explain why Congress continues to fund the VOLAGS who operate it to the tune of $1 billion a year.
Since a reader asked just this morning about the cost of the program (in light of the upcomingopportunity to testify), the best I can do is send you here to Obama’s proposed FY 2016 Report to Congress (from Sept. of 2015) on what the Administration said the program would cost the feds in this year (2016). Go to Table VII and see that they estimated $1.19 billion total. That includes $652 million for the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
However, when you go hereto the Dept. of Health and Human Services FY2017 Budget Justification (begin on p. 244) you will see a very different story. Either the budget has dramatically increased (from 2016 to 2017) or Obama was downplaying the costs only 6 months ago. Get this! Obama’s FY2017 budget includes (rounded number) $2.2 BILLION just for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) where they say they will care for 213,000 “humanitarian arrivals” including Obama’s 100,000 refugees he has been touting for next year.
The FY 2017 budget of $2,184,860,000 for this account represents the cost of maintaining current law and service requirements for additional refugees and other Entrants and unaccompanied children and for expanding assistance to domestic victms of trafficking. The funding levels for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance account in FY 2017, particularly with regard to Transitional and Medical Services, Social Services, Preventative Health, and Survivors of Torture programs.
The President’ Budget request would support a total of 213,000 humanitarian arrivals in FY 2017, including 100,000 refugees, consistent with the Administration’s commitment to admit at least this number of refugees in FY 2017. The FY 2017 base funding level for unaccompanied children represents an increase of $278,000,000, which is flat from the base resources available in FY 2016, including carryover.
I’m rotten at math, but doesn’t that amount to over $10,000 per refugee just for the ORR share.
That over $2 billion figure does not include the costs of the US State Department which pays contractors their per head fee and it doesn’t include the enormous security screening costs for the Dept. of Homeland Security for the large numbers arriving from Muslim countries.
And, it most certainly does not include the (surely!) billions in welfare payments, medical care and education for the children refugees receive.
Yesterday I reminded readersthat you have ten days to send in comments to the State Department about the “size and scope” of the Refugee Admissions Program for FY2017.
A commenter at our facebook page told people not to bother because they won’t listen anyway. Frankly, it just sounded like the advice of a lazy negative person to me. I told you in my post that there are many things you can and should do with your testimony even if you know the US State Department won’t listen to you. So please do it!
I just now realized that I told you in December 2015what I said in previous years (called for a moratorium) and outlined a bit of the history of this “scoping” meeting. We attended for a few years in person until they stopped holding public hearings altogether, and we can only assume that they didn’t want to hear from us in person anymore. They also keep the testimony secret now (we previously were able to get all the testimony if we attended the public hearing).
By the way, regarding #5 in my past testimony, they are making progress in their reports to Congress, but most likely only because Congress is now paying some attention.
A reader suggested I re-post this map of the present sites where refugee contractors are working. But, remember they are now scouting out new sites—Missoula, MT, Rutland, VT and Ithaca, NY come immediately to mind. Click here to see the 2016 Affiliates Map more clearly (color coding represents the nine major contractors, see legend).
LOL! I am reminded just now as I look at the map that as many as 5-6 (of nine) major contractors (being paid by the head to resettle the refugees) could be working (and competing!) in your city! Chicago has 8 of the 9!
This is the official launch of the preparations underway for the Obama Administration’s last Refugee Admissions plan to be sent to Congress in September of this year. Obama has already signaled that he wants 100,000 refugees seeded into your towns in FY2017.
Each year at this time, the US State Department takes testimony from the public on how many refugees (and from where) that you, the taxpaying public, thinks we should admit. From past experience, we know, of course, that your testimony goes down a black hole! Address your testimony to: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne C. Richard For probably decades this testimony was taken in public and was dominated by federal contractors. However, we attended in three consecutive years, but starting last year, there was no longer an opportunity to go face-to-face to the State Department to tell them what we think. Why is that? Because in that last year where a PUBLIC hearing was held, the opposition to the program dominated the pro-open borders resettlement contractors and they didn’t like it one bit!
If you would like to see what some of your fellow critics of the program said in the past, go here, here and here (when you click each of these, scroll down for all the posts in the category). These are our archives for any discussion of hearing years 2012 (for FY13), 2013 (for FY14), and 2014 (for FY15). The only reason we obtained any of that testimony is that some of you sent it to us and we attended the hearings in person and were given the testimony.
That testimony is not made public because secrecy has always been the watchword of the program!
I doubt that any Member of Congress or Senator has ever attempted to make that testimony public and I’d bet a million bucks (if I had it!) that no Members/Senators have ever asked for that testimony! Shameful!
Anyway…..
Here (and below) is the Federal Register Notice for FY2017. You have until 5 p.m. on May 19th to submit written testimony!
I’m asking all of you to prepare and send in testimony by the May 19th deadline. You don’t have to do some deep analysis of the program, just tell them what you think, and what is happening where you live. (Please be professional and polite!)
I know I said it goes into a black hole, but you can use your testimony in other ways. Use it to do press releases and letters to the editor. Use it to ask your concerned local elected officials to send in testimony too.
Be sure to send your testimony to all of your elected officials at all levels of government (cc them on the testimony). When sending your testimony to your elected Washington representatives, ask them to do something in your cover letter so that they are at least put on notice that you want a response from them. Federal Register Notice:
The United States actively supports efforts to provide protection, assistance, and durable solutions for refugees. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) is a critical component of the United States’ overall refugee protection efforts around the globe. In Fiscal Year 2016, the President established the ceiling for refugee admissions into the United States at 85,000 refugees.
As we begin to prepare the FY 2017 U.S. Refugee Admission Program, we welcome the public’s input. Information about the Program can be found at http://www.state.gov/g/prm/. Persons wishing to submit written comments on the appropriate size and scope of the FY 2016 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program should submit them by 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 19, 2015 via email to PRM-Comments@state.gov or fax (202) 453-9393.Show citation box
If you have questions about submitting written comments, please contact Delicia Spruell, PRM/Admissions Program Officer at spruellda@state.gov.
Simon Henshaw,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Department of State.
Since readers seem to have liked previous posts onSyriansandSomalisresettled in the US in FY2016, I thought you might like to see how the Iraqi flow is going. I’m surprised to see that the number is much lower than last year. Does that mean we are approaching a point where we have pretty well cleared Iraq of anyone who wants to come to the US?
We have been bringing, on average, about 15,000 Iraqis a year since Obama took office.
As of March 31st (the halfway point in the fiscal year), we invited (only) 4,194 Iraqis to come and live in your towns (data here). That is way down!!!
Here is the map of where they’ve been placed since October 1, 2015 (source: Refugee Processing Center):
The top ten states for Iraqi resettlement are these (they usually place them where there are already a large number of a specific ethnic group because they know they like to live with their own kind of people, and that is o.k. for them, but not for you! You would be racist if you expressed a similar desire—to live with your kind of people!):
California (634)
Texas (579)
Michigan (390)
Washington (214)
Virginia (177)
Illinois (159)
Arizona (157)
Tennessee (143)
Ohio (134)
Florida (112)
Surprisingly Nebraska comes in for honorable mention with 109.
Since the vast majority are Muslims (82%), the feds and the contractors also like to place them where there are plenty of mosques. Here is how this group breaks down (their spelling):
Moslem: 134
Moslem Shiite: 1,294
Moslim Suni: 2,017
LOL! Note that they are bring both sides of the centuries-old dispute between the Moslem sects to live side by side in America (good luck with that!).
We have a huge category on Iraqi refugees with 687 previous posts for ambitious readers!
