Utah embraces refugees, will LDS church become a federal refugee contractor?

01/13/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“Even people that live here, they don’t even know they have that many refugees in the state.”

Aden Batar, Catholic Community Services

Right now, most refugees resettled in ‘welcoming’ Utah are placed there through Catholic organizations under the umbrella of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, but the Mormon church is jumping on the bandwagon. So far they haven’t applied to become a refugee contractor (to get direct grants from the federal government), but I have been speculating about the possibility that they are in the learning stage right now working along with Catholic agencies.

Esar Met, listens to proceedings in Judge Judith Atherton's court room, at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, Thursday, January 9, 2014. Esar Met is accused of killing 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo, who disappeared on March 31, 2008. — Poster boy for refugee program in Utah! They will never mention the sensational trial of Burmese Muslim refugee, Esar Met, sentenced to life in prison in Salt Lake City in 2014. He brutally raped and murdered a 9-year-old Christian Burmese girl. Met was likely placed in a housing complex with Burmese Christians by one of the Utah’s resettlement agencies. Was it the Catholic agency? National media never reported the story! I’m not going to let it die! https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/05/15/utah-burmese-muslim-refugee-sentenced-in-brutal-rapemurder-of-little-girl/

If you missed it yesterday, you might want to read my post about the millions of tax dollars the US Conference of Catholic Bishops receives every year for their charitable (Ha! Ha!) work here.
It doesn’t surprise me that other ‘religious charities’ might want to get on the gravy train! See recent posts on the Mormon church and refugees here.
Here is a the fluffy puffy news from The National Catholic Reporter (the star of the story is a Somali refugee) about how wonderful the refugee program is in Utah.

Aden Batar’s first taste of Utah came more than 20 years ago as a high school student in his native Somalia. An agriculture team from Utah State University had traveled there to work with Somali farmers on their farming techniques. Batar was a promising student then, learning about the snow in Salt Lake City from the ag workers, studying English and planning for law school.

[….]

Now 48, Batar was the first Somali refugee resettled by Catholic Community Services (CCS) of Utah in 1994. The agency has helped to resettle close to 7,000 men, women and children in the state, the majority since 1996. That same year, Batar got a job as a case manager with CCS in part because he could speak Somali.

“Utah is home to more than 60,000 refugees,” said Batar, now the immigration and refugee resettlement director at CCS, which is affiliated with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He credits a partnership between the Catholic church and the Church of Latter Day Saints for much of the immigration work done in the state. “Even people that live here, they don’t even know they have that many refugees in the state.”

[….]

hser-ner-moo-esar-met-facebook — Hser Ner Moo: The medical examiner testified that she died in “excruciating pain” and her mother wonders if coming to America was the right thing to do.

Concerns about terrorism and the prospect of harsher immigration laws under the incoming Donald Trump administration aren’t making the work of CCS and Holy Cross Ministries any easier, but they’ve frankly got too much on their plates right now to worry much about what might happen in the future.

If it’s still a surprise that so many refugees end up in Utah, it may be even more so to learn that they are often the “most difficult to serve,” Batar said. The refugees are usually part of large families, people with medical issues or disabilities, or women who have suffered trauma and are the head of household. Utah is popular not just because housing is inexpensive there, although it is, Batar said.

We can only assume that Utah has run out of American poor people for the LDS church to serve, so they have moved on to importing poverty to the state.
Near the end we hear from Rick Scott, manager of North American humanitarian operations for the LDS Church in America and Canada:

The LDS Church had explored becoming a resettlement agency itself, Scott said, but it currently provides cash, commodities (mattresses, food, hygiene products, etc.), resources, and volunteer assistance to CCS.

Frankly, I think they still are exploring it! But, to break into the monopoly the nine volags (federal contractors) have, an organization wishing to become a direct resettlement agency must prove they have experience with refugees. What better way to get it than to partner with the largest contractor—the US Conference of Catholic Bishops—to learn the ropes.
There is a lot more that might be of interest to Utah residents, go here to read the glowing report about Utah wrapping its arms around refugees.

Congress must tighten Tuberculosis testing and reporting requirements for refugee flow

01/12/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Michael Patrick Leahy writing at Breitbart published one more report in his series that extensively analyzes the Tuberculosis problem in the US refugee population. Here we learn that in Illinois, 8 cases of ACTIVE TB were discovered in newly resettled refugees.

tb-symptoms-treatment — If you volunteer with a resettlement agency and spot any of these symptoms report it immediately and protect yourself.

This report demonstrates one of my greatest concerns and that is: how long are refugees with active TB wandering around your towns and cities, going to school, shopping at Walmart, and otherwise interacting with the community before anyone even tests them?
Here is Leahy:

The Illinois Department of Public Health has confirmed that eight refugees were diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) “during the initial health screening or within 90 days of the refugee arrival” in the four years between 2012 and 2015. [Within 90 days! So they are walking around with active TB for months!—ed]

This data was not included in the Reported Tuberculosis in the United States documents published annually by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) between 2012 and 2015. Those reports confirmed 1,565 cases of active TB diagnosed among refugees in the 46 states that reported immigration status upon first arrival among foreign-born residents of the United States diagnosed with active TB.

Illinois is one of four states that do not share this data with the CDC. Arizona, Virginia, and Washington are the other three states.

[….]

“CDC encourages states/jurisdictions to provide as complete information as possible, but there is no requirement that they provide immigration status as part of routine surveillance,” a spokesperson told Breitbart News on Monday.

Limiting reporting of cases of TB diagnosed upon arrival, however, fails to capture the majority of the refugee TB cases which develop and are diagnosed more than a year after their arrival.

And, since we are told constantly that refugees can move anywhere they want within the US, how are those cases followed up?
Please go here to read the rest of the story.
And, to see all of Leahy’s reports, click here.

Where is Congress?

There are many things Congress can do to reform the US Refugee Admissions Program and dealing with the health issues presented by refugees who have apparently not been screened and barred from entry is a pretty easy fix.
Congress could require screening abroad and turn away all with both LATENT and definitely those with ACTIVE TB! Many with latent TB will eventually become active TB and you, the US taxpayer, will foot the bill for their meds! You are footing it right now!
And, your health and your family’s health is at risk!

Refugee contractor may have exaggerated numbers in letter promoting Rutland, VT resettlement

01/12/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Every one of you working in your local communities and questioning plans for either expanding the number of refugees in your city or where new sites are planned, pay attention! Do what this housing authority member did—don’t take the contractors word on the economic benefits that refugees supposedly bring to your town or city.
I’ve been begging for years for someone with an economic/business background to thoroughly debunk (with a focused economic study) this illogical notion that bringing more poor people to a poor and struggling city benefits the city economically! I’ve suggested Utica, NY as the case study location.

This meme along with the propaganda that no refugees have been involved in Islamic terrorism are the two major talking points the refugee industry advocates peddle.
Here is Vermont Watchdog. You too can do this!

Gail Johnson, a Rutland resident and Board of Aldermen hopeful, likes to confirm her facts. This practice grew out of necessity when, as a U.S. Navy finance officer, she was in charge of payroll for an entire naval base in Charleston, S.C.

lavinia-limon-96 — In 1996 Lavinia Limon was Bill Clinton’s Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. After leaving government where she doled out grant money, she took the reins of one of nine major government refugee contractors receiving grant money, the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. See Breitbart’s Michael Leahy’s dossier on Limon here last August: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/08/05/twin-falls-refugee-crisis-clinton-appointee/

Now, a member of the Rutland Housing Authority commission, Johnson continues to fact check. “Whatever I say or do, I have proof. I back it up. I expect others to do that as well,” she said.

Johnson never thought she would find discrepancies in a letter by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) to the Rutland Board of Aldermen, but she did.

[….]

In October, the Board of Aldermen sent a letter to USCRI, asking for justification of Rutland’s selection as a refugee relocation site. The agency still has not released the original grant application, which is supposed to spell out in detail Rutland’s suitability. Instead, USCRI CEO Lavinia Limon responded to the board in December, sending a letter that cited numbers of available jobs and housing.

Limon said that, as of Nov. 28, 2016, The Vermont Housing Data showed “284 housing units available for rent in Rutland City.”

Johnson noted that the 284 figure could be a result of expanded search parameters, to potentially place refugees in rent-to-buy situations, homes or condos. However, USCRI only places refugees in apartment rentals. [However, because the numbers coming in now are so astronomical, we are hearing refugees being placed (against federal regulations) in hotels!—ed]

However, when Watchdog checked the site on Jan. 11, only 23 housing locations are listed in Rutland City. Of those listed, none have availability.

[….]

“I’ve worked with people from many backgrounds. I’ve studied Arabic. Refugee settlement is a wonderful humanitarian effort,” she said.

But she said she becomes concerned when settlement agencies claim refugees will be beneficial to Rutland’s economy.

“They say that bringing in refugees is good for our economic recovery. I don’t know that that’s the solution. What I do know, in a bigger sense, is that the logic behind improving our economic recovery in Rutland by bringing in low-income people to generate business, it’s not a logical economic model,” she said.

Instead, Johnson contends, Rutland’s unemployment and lack of affordable housing makes bringing low-income refugee families into the city counterproductive from an economic standpoint.

Please read the whole story, Ms. Johnson found many more discrepancies in Lavinia Limon’s letter.
See my previous post on Rutland where I said Ms. Limon was setting this up (with the New York Times help) to use as a cudgel against Donald Trump should he stop the flow of Syrians after January 20th.
See our many posts on the Rutland controversy, here. And, learn more about Lavinia Limon and USCRI by clicking here.

Catholic Charities placing Somalis from Uganda refugee camp in Minnesota

01/11/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The other day when I wrote about the large number of Somalis entering the US from refugee camps in Kenya, I wondered who were all the refugees coming from Uganda and here we learn they are Somalis too!
We have written so many posts about Somalis/Catholic Charities in Minnesota, I have lost track. But, I do remember when I first learned that it was three ostensibly Christian federal refugee contractors who first placed Muslim Somalis in Minnesota decades ago,and they are still at it. See that 2011 post here.
It was the generous welfare that made Minnesota so attractive to these resettlement contracting agencies.

nakivale-refugee-camp-uganda — Somali Muslims are being placed in Minnesota from Nakivale Refugee Camp in Uganda.

Here is the story that caught my eye just now, from CNS news:

A Somali couple with three children is seeking a new life in Minnesota thanks to a Catholic Charities’ resettlement program that cites a Christian imperative for its work.

“Now the family is together and thankful for their new home. While they are learning about Minnesota and adjusting to the cold weather, they have a place to live and food in the cupboards,” Julia Jenson, Catholic Charities St. Paul-Minneapolis director of external affairs and communications, told CNA.

The family comes from the Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda, which hosts 100,000 Somalis who have fled conflict at home.

[….]

For Ohmann [Laurie Ohmann, senior vice president of client services and community partnerships at Catholic Charities of St. Paul-Minneapolis], the agency’s motive for refugee resettlement is clear.

“It’s an issue of human dignity and supporting their participation in our economic and cultural life,” she said. [Refugee resettlement is about protecting people from persecution, not about economic and cultural opportunities we can give them. See recent report about a Minnesota Somali safely going home to Somalia!—ed]

She cited the principles of Catholic social teaching and Pope Francis’ prominence in “welcoming the stranger and working with the poor and the vulnerable in our community.”

[….]

Ohmann acknowledged some Americans’ safety concerns about refugees.

Ohmann then goes through the usual talking points about security screening, which we have learned is pretty much useless with nomadic Somalis who have no records and whose children have grown up to become jihadists right here in America! See my answer, here, to their talking points about their assertion that refugees are harmless.
And, much to the reporter’s credit for bringing up another of Catholic Charities placement—the Ohio State stabber! So much for vetting!

Among those aided by Catholic Charities affiliates was Abdul Razak Ali Artan, the 20-year-old who in November drove a car into a crowd at Ohio State University then started to stab passersby before he was shot and killed by a campus police officer. The attacker hurt 11 people, one critically.

Artan had come to Dallas as a refugee from Somalia in June 2014 and stayed in Dallas with his six siblings and his mother for about three weeks before moving to Columbus, Ohio. They had been aided by Catholic Charities of Dallas after vetting by the U.S. State Department.

Dave Woodyard, the Dallas agency’s president and CEO, said there was nothing that stood out about Artan during his brief stay there. [There are many questions still unanswered about this family’s short stay in Dallas and their abrupt move to Ohio—ed]

More here.
See my HUGE archive on Minnesota by clicking here.
Warning to Trump transition… remember we are bringing in certain potentially dangerous ethnic groups from safe places in the world. So it is important not to say something like: “We will stop refugees from Somalia (the country).” We don’t take refugees from Somalia, we take Somalis who have spread out all over the world!

More news blaming Trump for Africans crossing in to Canada from US and asking for asylum

01/11/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Expect to see a spike around the time when Trump takes office until refugees get a sense of the direction in which the new president may take immigration policy.

(Canadian Immigration lawyer Bashir Khan)

Readers might want to first check out a post from a few days ago where we reported that ‘refugees’ from Ghana were found freezing after a long walk across the US/Manitoba border, click here.
For new readers, just a reminder, we have a Canada category, here, with 186 previous posts going back nearly 10 years.
Canadian immigration lawyers are saying there is an increase in the number of mostly Somalis leaving the US and heading north and they predict that when Trump is inaugurated (in 9 days) the numbers will tick up even higher.
What concerned me most about this news is that if these Somalis were legally admitted to the US, they have nothing to fear. Why bother risking their lives traveling to Canada? So, that can only mean that they were in the US illegally and were possibly waiting on asylum claims to be processed and simply disappeared. How many more illegal Somalis are wandering around America?
Editor: I had previously posted a photo here that I now believe came from a fake news site. I apologize and have removed it.
From CBC Manitoba (hat tip: Joanne). Emphasis is mine:

The number of asylum seekers crossing the Canada-U.S. border into Manitoba on foot instead of through official ports of entry has risen fivefold in the past three years. [Keep in mind that the numbers were going up before Trump even came on the scene!—ed]

In the 2013-2014 fiscal year, 68 people illegally crossed the international border near the small, southern Manitoba community of Emerson and claimed refugee status, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). That jumped to 340 in 2015-2016.

This fiscal year’s numbers have already surpassed that, with 410 asylum seekers making the journey between April and December 2016.

screenshot-131 — Emerson is just north of the United States border at the point where the province of Manitoba and states of Minnesota and North Dakota meet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson,_Manitoba

According to Jacquie Callin, a CBSA spokeswoman, most of those crossing near Emerson are from Somalia, which has been wracked by civil war and political instability since the overthrow of military dictator Siad Barre in 1991.

Canada has the reputation of being a land of liberty and appeals to the unprecedented number of refugees displaced by the world’s various conflicts and crises, said immigration lawyer Bashir Khan. [Business must be booming for Mr. Khan!—ed]

[….]

CBSA reports 119 asylum seekers came to Manitoba in the coldest winter months between December 2015 and March 2016 without passing through a port of entry or border checkpoint.

Pay attention to this next line! Legitimate asylum seekers are to ask for asylum in the country in which they first arrive. If this international understanding was enforced everywhere then many of the problems the world is experiencing with migrants would be solved. Instead migrants now believe they can wander around the world looking for the best deal! It is called asylum shopping.

Under the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement signed in 2002, individuals must seek asylum in the country in which they first arrive, with a few exceptions. For instance, if a Somali refugee who arrived in the United States presented themselves at the Canadian border seeking asylum, they would be sent back to the U.S. unless they had family in Canada. [But were the illegal border-crossers sent back, there is no mention!—ed]

[….]

People entering the country without visas or proper immigration papers have been spotted walking through fields and gravel roads near the border in Emerson, whose southern boundary borders the states of North Dakota and Minnesota.

[….]

RCMP D Division patrols 520 kilometres of the Canada-U.S. border, the world’s longest undefended border. When officers find a person trying to illegally cross, they bring them to the nearest port of entry to be assessed by a CBSA official.

If there’s no admissibility concerns and the person’s refugee claim is legitimate, they are released and a date is set for the claim to be heard. [How many ever show up?—ed]

[….]

Khan said he expects to see a spike around the time when Trump takes office until refugees get a sense of the direction in which the new president may take immigration policy.

LOL! I bet some of you are wondering if you could hire buses to take loads to the border of Justin Trudeau’s ‘welcoming’ Canada.