Fiscal year 2016 ends in about 23 days.
At this time last year Obama said we would distribute to hundreds (thousands?) of towns 85,000 refugees from all over the world. (These will be permanent residents for any of you still harboring the notion that refugees come here temporarily.)
I just checked to see where Obama is with his goal (yes, he reached the 10,000 Syrians goal by shortening the security screening time from nearly 2 years down to 3 months), but will they reach 85,000 total refugees in the next few weeks?
Already we are hearing stories from everywhere that the nine federal contractors aren’t finding enough housing for all of them (where will they put another 11,000?).
The Refugee Processing data base tells us that as of September 1, they had brought in 73,289 which leaves 11,711 to be placed within a few weeks.
Here (below) is where the 73,289 were seeded in FY2016 (last 11 months) so far.
LOL! Check it out, Joe Biden began the refugee program with Ted Kennedy in 1980 and Delaware gets zip!
Category: Who is going where
Northampton, Mass. to hold two "welcoming" public "conversations" this month
We told you the other day that Northampton, Massachusetts was ready and eager to “welcome” Syrian Muslims (99% of Syrians being admitted to the US are Muslims) this coming fiscal year which begins in only a few weeks, on October 1.
Catholic Charities, the primary resettlement agency there is holding two meetings this month to find support and help for the refugees because they do admit that after 90 days Catholic Charities’ (taxpayer-funded) help ends. At that time the refugees become dependent on the goodwill of the city and the welfare that Catholic Charities has signed them up for.
Here is the news at Masslive.com. Our earlier post on the new refugee program for Northhampton is here. How is the housing in this upscale city? A shortage of housing seems to be a growing problem everywhere.
Northampton residents are invited to attend two public conversations on the upcoming resettlement of 51 refugees into the city.
Catholic Charities of Springfield***, the agency contracted with the State Department to facilitate the resettlement, will host the sessions along with a “welcome home” steering group of local leaders.
The first, to be held Sept. 19 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the JFK Middle School cafeteria, will be attended by Mayor David Narkewicz. The second will take place Sept. 24 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Northampton Senior Center.
Susannah Crolius, the Catholic Charities coordinator of outreach and resource development, said the conversations are part of an effort to build a long-term support and integration network for the refugees.
[….]
The State Department typically provides funding for 90 days of services after refugees relocate to the United States….[Catholic Charities gets a cut of that for administering the program—ed]
[….]
Catholic Charities is adopting a small-scale, carefully planned approach, Crolius said; 51 is the minimum number of refugees a host community can accept. [The following year CC will ask for 100 until like Lancaster, PA, the city could get up to 900 a year.—ed]
The is more at Masslive.com.
***Readers who live in this area should read all of our posts on Springfield, Mass where the mayor has been begging for years for the flow to be slowed as the city was overloaded with poor refugees. LOL! the top post at that archive is about hungry refugees in Springfield being arrested for killing and eating the small wildlife in the public park. Does Northampton have a public park?
I’m going to bore readers to death with this, but if the Republican Congress does not increase funding (and maybe even cuts what the contractors like Catholic Charities have been getting!) for the massive numbers of refugees proposed for FY17 these new sites will not be opened. Catholic Charities does not have the money on its own to do this, it requires funding from the US taxpayer to administer this program.
First refugees to arrive in Missoula, MT are homeless; time for local do-gooders to step up
They aren’t on the street, but live in temporary housing (what! some motel?).
I can’t believe this! After all the hoopla and excitement about shoving refugees down the throats of Montanans who don’t want the poverty and cultural disruption third worlders bring to communities, the mighty International Rescue Committee (IRC) headquartered in New York City doesn’t have homes and apartments lined up for the former camp-dwelling Congolese whose arrival has been predicted for months!
Where is Missoula’s R & P Abstract, did the IRC lie to the US State Department about the availability of reasonably priced housing for large families?
Didn’t the IRC sign a contract with the US State Department that said the refugees must have a home (with a requirement for a certain number of bedrooms for family members) to go to from the airport with the refrigerator stocked with culturally appropriate food?
When do-gooders don’t do good!
I’m going to rage a bit before I give you some snips from The Missoulian (Missoula Refugees face housing issues).
The International Rescue Committee is a behemoth in the Refugee Industry. It is the richest of the nine federal contractors with an annual income in 2014 of $688,920,920 and $454 million of that comes from YOU, the taxpayer. Its CEO, Former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband*** is making $591,846 annually and probably lives in some swanky digs in Manhattan! (See recent Form 990 here)
But, the IRC refuses to co-sign the housing rental agreements with the refugees they are dropping off in Missoula!
It is an outrage! They expect local landlords to waive their rules for the refugees that obviously have no credit and no background checks and no job prospects and take a gamble on them that they can pay the rent for months and years to come! Not to mention the fact that over the last nine years I’ve heard many stories, especially about refugees who have lived in camps, that they do not know how to use modern appliances and often trash them in the process of learning how to operate dish washers, stoves, etc.
Here is the story that got my blood boiling this morning!
Congolese refugees and the people trying to help them get settled in Missoula are facing a housing crisis.
Five families from refugee camps in East Africa will be in town by the end of September, none of them with a source of steady income or credit history.
It’s the job of the local resettlement agency, the International Rescue Committee, to help them secure both as quickly as possible, said IRC director Molly Short Carr.
But record home sales prices in Missoula have placed rentals at a premium. And in a town that swells this time of year with university students – many with no credit ratings themselves – property managers and landlords can afford to be picky about who they rent to.
“We’re kind of hitting a bit of a brick wall,” Carr admitted.
[….]
Missoula has been approved [Why were they approved by the Dept. of State if housing was not available?—ed] as the destination for families of five, four and three people – 25 refugees in all – in the next few weeks, so the hunt for housing is becoming critical.
What a bunch of B.S. this is! We are expected to believe that local landlords should carry the burden of helping teach refugees how to be self-sufficient! Continue reading:
The IRC doesn’t allow its offices to co-sign for refugees.
“Our focus is really on getting them self-sufficient,” said Carr. “Co-signing is kind of a contradiction to self-sufficiency and being able to guide their own lives.”
Hey, here is an idea! maybe Mary Poole and other members of her group could take on the responsibility of co-signing rental agreements with landlords for the families they have ‘welcomed’ to Montana! Maybe put a little of their own skin in the game!
Readers!
If your town is contemplating ‘welcoming’ refugees, please pay attention. The uber-wealthy resettlement contractor will be out of the refugees’ lives in only a few months and the burden of these third world families will be on you—the taxpayers, the landlords, the social services, the school system and the health services of your town!
***David Miliband is a pal of the Clintons, click here for many posts we have written about him in recent years. BTW, Miliband was the first of the resettlement contractors to call for 65,000 Syrians for America before Obama leaves office and he subsequently joined the chorus for an even larger number.
Addendum: After I posted this I thought you might be interested to know that Anne Richard (Asst. Secretary of State for PRM) and Robert Carey (Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement) were both former Vice Presidents at the IRC pulling down 6-figure salaries and are now the two top officials responsible for the entire US Refugee Admissions Program (the revolving door between government and contractor on full display).
Update: Soros spent $600,000 on a pro-refugee PR campaign in Europe (see here). How many refugees might he have helped personally with that kind of money? Or maybe Miliband would forego that huge salary and help needy refugees with it! Nah, he needs it to maintain the jet-setting lifestyle!
Texas appealing decision on lawsuit seeking to stop refugees being placed in Texas
A judge earlier dismissed the governor’s lawsuit saying the state had no authority to stop the flow of refugees to the state. Apparently the governor will appeal. However…..
If the political powers in Texas really wanted to stop the resettlement of refugees in Texas, they would start by getting powerful Senators and Members of Congress doing something in Congress this fall—cut the funding for it! And, then demand reform during the period the funds have been cut (either completely or to a level that would only admit a tiny fraction of the worst cases).
Where is Senator Ted Cruz on this? He could lead a campaign to cut the funds this fall in the Senate. And, in the House, Texas Congressman Pete Sessions is in an important seat as Chairman of the Rules Committee. Texas Rep. Michael McCaul is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. And, then of course the brave Texas Congressman Brian Babin is the chief architect of a bill that seeks to halt the program until certain investigations regarding costs and security take place.
So if the Texas governor is serious, he needs to bring together key players in the Texas delegation to get something done now, for FY2017 in the budget and appropriations process! We know where the buck stops on all of this—in Congress and not with the governors.
Here is the lawsuit news from CBS Austin:
Texas is appealing the dismissal of its lawsuit against the federal government and a refugee resettlement agency over the placement of Syrian refugees in the state.
In a notice dated Aug. 12, Texas alerted the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that it would appeal a June decision by Dallas-based U.S. District Judge David Godbey, who ruled the state did not have grounds to sue the federal government over the placement of refugees in Texas and that the state failed to provide a “plausible claim” that a refugee resettlement nonprofit breached its contract.
Representatives with the Texas attorney general’s office, which is representing the state in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Texas first filed suit in December against the federal government and the International Rescue Committee — one of about 20 private nonprofits that have a state contract to resettle refugees in Texas — in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Paris that left 130 dead. Following those attacks, Texas’ Republican leaders raised concerns about the refugee vetting process, and Gov. Greg Abbott in November directed resettlement nonprofits in Texas to halt the resettlement of any Syrian refugees.
But the federal government warned Texas it did not have the power to reject Syrian refugees, and the International Rescue Committee’s Dallas branch informed the state it would continue aiding Syrian refugees placed in Texas.
Continue here.
Don’t get me wrong, this effort in the courts is important to continue the pressure and to educate the public, but the power to stop the flow of unwanted refugees rests with the REPUBLICAN Congress (with the power of the purse) and in my opinion many of those we sent to Washington to represent us are hiding on this issue (and others too of course)!
I know, I know, you all are so disillusioned with Congress and think they are useless, but it is still very very important for you to know that the Republican Congress is responsible for what is happening to your towns. There is no sense screaming at, or about, Obama, but it is important to point a finger at who really is responsible!
One of the many good things Donald Trump said in his fantastic speech on immigration the other night is that legal immigration programs that have gone on for decades will be reviewed in a Trump administration. Folks, this Refugee Admissions Program is 36 years old and has never been seriously reviewed or reformed! It is way past time!
First Syrian family arrives in North Dakota
Last fall Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota which (has a brand new shiny building) and runs the refugee program in the state said no Syrians were slated for North Dakota, but now oopsy, here is a seed family.
From Valley News Live:
North Dakota has not had a Syrian family in the community, at least not until a few days ago.
Last November, Jessica Thomasson CEO of Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota said in a statement “LSSND has stated to these agencies, including the State Department, that it does not feel Syrian resettlement to North Dakota makes sense due to the lack of an established Syrian presence in our communities and due to its focus of resettling families wanting to reunite with family already living in North Dakota.”
Thomasson told me that LSSND resettled a Kurdish family just a few days ago who are from Syria and Iraq.
[….]
She stated LSS does not select who moves to the state, that decision is made by the federal government.
The short article reports on criticism from US Senator John Hoeven and Congressman Keven Cramer.
Every one of you concerned in the state of North Dakota must pressure those two to help lead an effort to cut the funding for refugee resettlement this fall. They can mouth their complaints here in their home state news, but will they work to turn off the spigot of federal funding? That is where the rubber meets the road!
And, one final thought. Do you see how this works, they get refugees spread out in cities and towns, large and small, then they bring in the relatives so it makes it all harder to stop. (How can you be so hateful to break up families and friends.)
See our North Dakota archive here.