Massachusetts: Iraqi family of seven living in a motel, so where are all of the bleeding heart humanitarians?

04/24/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….where are all of you ‘Christian’ do-gooders with your personal charitable giving?
This story should make your blood boil. We are lectured that we should “welcome” refugees to our towns and cities and then those doing all the yammering leave families like this one high and dry, living in a series of motels and expecting their teenage children to morph into successful assimilated American citizens (yeh right!).

Jeffret Thielman — Jeffrey Thielman is the CEO of the International Institute of New England which did not respond to a Boston Globe reporter’s call. This family is his responsibility! http://iine.us/2015/06/iine-announces-new-presidentceo-2/

Read this story, read the whole thing from the Boston Globe on Friday (hat tip: Diane). And, don’t get mad at the refugees, get mad at your Senators and Members of Congress, get mad at the UN, get mad at the US State Department and get especially mad at the International Institute of New England which brings them in and drops them off!
Do not read this as a plea for more taxpayer funding, but as a plea for a reduction in the number of refugees we admit. If we can’t take care of them, then don’t bring them.
And, for those of you contemplating ‘welcoming’ refugees to your town for the first time, you will be paying for it. This article highlights the fact that local and state taxpayer dollars are involved; and, that many of these traumatized families require expensive mental health treatment.
It also points out that your local refugee resettlement contractor simply washes its hands of troubled families and moves on to the next paying ‘clients’ the State Department sends them!
I told you yesterday, that the US State Department is accepting testimony (by May 19th) about the size and scope of the Refugee Admissions Program for FY2017 (Obama has already signaled it will recommend bringing in 100,000 for that year). Someone should write up this story from Massachusetts as an important point in your testimony.
Boston Globe (this is just a bit of the story about the contractor):

Refugee families depend on the federal government to help once they arrive. To assist them, the State Department contracts with nonprofits to help families find an apartment, sign up for health care, enroll in ESL classes, obtain food stamps, and look for employment opportunities. But the organizations are only required to provide guidance for three months, and refugees who need more help must turn to state programs and case managers for other benefits such as welfare.

Samantha Kaufman, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, declined to comment on the Rubayes’ plight. “We can’t release any personal information about individuals and families,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Dr. Richard Mollica, director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, called for increased refugee benefits from the government.

“If you have a medical problem or a mental health problem or you’re a survivor of torture, the probability that you’re going to make it to independent living after eight or nine months is probably nil,” Mollica said.

Currently, the biggest allotment of financial aid for refugees is a one-time federal payment of $2,025 for each family member. Some families pool those funds for rent and clothing, but at least $900 of each allowance goes to pay administrative costs to such resettlement agencies as the International Institute of New England, which was assigned to the family originally for three months, according to Rubaye. The International Institute did not respond to queries about resettling refugees. [No surprise!—ed]

There is much more, read it all.
See our recent post on the number of (potentially troubled) Iraqis entering the US and note that in recent years Iraqis made up the largest ethnic group admitted (82% are Muslims). We also have an extensive archive with 688 previous posts on the Iraqi migration to America.
Way back in 2008, a wise Iraqi refugee boy penned a letter to the editor in which he said this about the large number of Iraqis entering the US as refugees:

It is better to have 10 Iraqi refugees who are satisfied with their lives than having 100 angry ones with no life at all.

But, the truth is that resettlement contractors can’t keep their doors open if they slow the flow as each refugee brings money (your taxpayer dollars) per head they resettle. The whole resettlement model is (wrongly, I believe) built on increasing the numbers we admit! It is not about assuring assimilation and success!

NGOs called out, care more about flooding Europe with 'diversity' then with the well-being of refugees

04/24/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe news…..

I didn’t know that major international ‘humanitarian’ organizations had threatened to quit helping refugees in Greece in protest against the German/Turkish deal to return many migrants to Turkey.

wifi-on-lesbos — US resettlement contractor, the International Rescue Committee, tells us that one of the first questions the ‘starving, persecuted refugees’ ask when they arrive in Greece is “do you have wi-fi?” https://medium.com/uprooted/what-refugees-ask-when-they-arrive-in-europe-e09c72c80ea9#.vmld1rhv0

But (whether true or not), the important thing this article reaffirms is that legitimate refugees have a right to ask for care, they don’t have a right to go country shopping.
For instance, every ‘other-than-Mexican’ who arrives at the US Southern Border is NOT a candidate for asylum in the US (although they are being granted asylum) because they could have asked for asylum in Mexico or whatever FIRST safe country they came to in their flight.
If a Somali has traveled via the Middle East, to Russia, to Cuba, to somewhere in South America and then northward to our border, that person should not be granted asylum here. If they were truly persecuted they could have asked for asylum in half a dozen other safe countries on that journey.
Likewise those migrants passing through Turkey, then hopping over to Greece, could claim asylum in Turkey (a SAFE country), but are instead shopping for a better deal in say Germany or Sweden. They really don’t even want asylum in Greece.

Again, legitimate refugees do not have the right to shop for the country of their choice. And, those who have no evidence that they are personally persecuted for one of several reasons have no right to ask for asylum (refugee status) at all.

So here is the article at Commentary Magazine from earlier this month about “rights groups” being exposed as, first and foremost, concerned with politics and changing Europe than with the care of individual refugees.

Israel and its supporters have argued for years that many “human rights” organizations are far less concerned with human rights than with pushing a political agenda. But as long as that political agenda consisted mainly of attacking Israel, most Westerners remained convinced that these groups still deserved their credibility and moral haloes.

[….]

The “human rights community” is outraged by the EU’s recent deal with Ankara, under which all migrants entering Europe via Turkey will be promptly returned there. The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Nils Muiznieks, declared that such “automatic forced return” is “illegal,” and the only acceptable solution is for EU countries to “ramp up the relocation of asylum seekers” into their own borders. Human rights groups similarly asserted that the deal violates international humanitarian law, inter alia, because they claim Turkey is unsafe for refugees. Amnesty, for instance, termed the deal “abhorrent.”

Then, angry over the EU’s refusal to accept their view, the organizations halted assistance to tens of thousands of migrants already in Greece. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children all suspended operations in Greek refugee centers to protest the deal.

[….]

….if Turkey is willing to continue hosting these refugees in exchange for benefits like billions of euros and visa-free access to Europe, there’s no earthly reason why those refugees should be entitled to relocate to the EU instead. Indeed, if Turkey’s drawbacks suffice to entitle refugees to resettle in Europe, at least half the world’s population would be similarly entitled.

[….]

Similarly, refugees in Turkey don’t have it easy, but they’re surviving. Thus, relocating them to Europe isn’t necessary to fulfill the refugee convention’s goals; it’s necessary only to achieve a political purpose: remaking Europe by flooding it with millions of migrants.

Continue reading here.
Remember every person on the move around the world is NOT a refugee, but these organizations making a living in this industry want you to think they are. What we are witnessing in Europe is truly an invasion aided and abetted by the NGOs.
And, go here for our complete ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive.

Small town Montana newspaper editor walks into buzz saw on Syrian refugee issue

04/23/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have a million more things to write about (and am waaayyy behind), but when this popped up in my alerts just now, I thought it was something you all needed to know—Montanans are trying to save themselves from becoming the newest destination for Syrian and other Middle Eastern and African refugees*** and they are being vilified by Leftists now in charge of small newspapers attempting to control the narrative.

Trip Burns — Editor Burns at LinkedIn. An ‘edgy’ photo is worth a thousand words! https://www.linkedin.com/in/trip-burns-99085a9b

Truthfully, I am not wading into all of the he said/they said. You can read it all yourself. But, it seems a new newspaper editor penned a piece last week entitled ‘Syrian refugees are not welcome in Sanders County‘ that has angered the rural Montana community and they are letting him know.
First read what editor/reporter Trip Burns said, here.
Then see his response to the criticism, here, including this from a reader, Les Wood of Plains:

I know that you are a new guy in town, but you better know that we watch over and protect our own. We are not so quick to accept a new guy who thinks that he has all of the liberal answers for the world and that we are a bunch of old retired hicks who don’t know which way is up.

Continue reading here. (I guess we should give him credit for posting all of the criticism!)

You don’t need these small town rags!

I feel like I am beating a dead horse when I say this, but please, all of you in ‘pockets of resistance’ must develop your own alternative media to bypass the Leftwing-controlled corporate media industry. This paper (Clark Fork Valley Press) has a circulation of a whopping 1,466 and is owned by some big corporation called Hagadone Corp. (whoever the heck they are!), see here.
Use your free speech! Get your own facts out on what is happening to Montana by writing blogs, websites, and through other forms of social media! Go door to door with flyers if you must!
***See our extensive archive on the battle for Montana.

Christian Syrians say Pope left them behind in Lesbos

04/23/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You knew the minute you heard it—that the Pope choosing 12 Muslims to take to Rome with him on his plane—was one of the more troublesome actions (of a long list) of this Socialist Pope. See our post on the Pope’s Syrian Muslim refugees by clicking here.

Christian Syrian refugee woman the Pope left behind on Lesbos. Photo: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3550138/Betrayed-Pope-Lesbos-Christian-brother-sister-desperately-disappointed-told-rescued-Holy-Father-left-red-tape.html

Now from the Daily Mail yesterday. It answers our primary question—weren’t there any Christians and other religious minorities to choose from?
And, this bureaucratic (red tape!) excuse for passing up this brother and sister is ridiculous.

A Christian brother and sister from Syria say they have been ‘let down’ by the Pope after he left them behind in a Lesbos refugee camp despite promises they would be given a new life in Italy.

Roula and Malek Abo say they were two of the lucky ‘chosen 12’ refugees selected by the Vatican to be taken from the desperate camp and housed in Rome.

But what seemed like the chance of a lifetime was cruelly snatched away when they were told the following day they couldn’t go. Instead three Muslim families were taken.

Neither Community Sant’Egidio, the charity which organised the trip, or the Vatican would explain the selection process over which migrants were picked.

Spokesman Massimiliano Signifredi called the incident ‘regrettable’ – adding: ‘The problem here is the three Syrians arrived after the March 20 deadline. They arrived just after the agreement between the European Union and Turkey.

Mr Signifredi said: ‘Our staff went to Lesbos and spoke with the people who were selected. But everything was decided by the Vatican.

‘The question why the Pope took only Muslims is difficult to understand and he was suffering, I think, because he wanted to do something also for Christians as the chief of the Catholic Church. But he couldn’t because there is this international agreement [with the EU].’

There is much more here.
See our ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive here.

Texas legislature holds refugee hearing: state taxpayers on the hook for millions

04/22/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As we have been reporting, all across America state legislative bodies are starting to ask questions about how the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program works and who is paying for it all.
Over, and over again, in states like Wyoming (which does not have a program and never has had one), advocates for third world resettlement yammer about how this is all paid for by the feds (from the federal government’s money tree!) and it won’t cost the state or local taxpayer a dime.
You know from reading RRW that that is a bunch of bull, but here again we are given some facts about who is paying.
From the Austin American Statesman:

Citing fears that refugees, particularly those arriving from Syria, could pose a terrorist threat, several Republican state senators pressed Thursday for additional background checks and tighter oversight on agencies that resettle refugees in Texas.

Aaron-Rippenkroeger — See what refugee contractor, Aaron Rippenkroeger, had to say about “welcoming” Syrian and other Muslim refugees to Texas, here last fall: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/opinion/rippenkroeger-texas-should-welcome-syrian-refugees/nncMw/

“Right now, there’s a civil war in Syria, and there are terrorists in Syria, and there have actually been various serious attacks in Europe,” state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, said during a Capitol hearing before the Committee on Health and Human Services.

Echoed by other Republicans, including Sen. Donna Campbell of New Braunfels, Schwertner said he wasn’t confident that the federal government is conducting complete background checks into potential refugees, and he suggested that state health agencies take more control over private resettlement organizations to ensure that new Texans are thoroughly investigated.

“We should have a refugee program, but my concern is for the safety of the citizens of Texas. That is my motivation,” said Schwertner, the committee chairman. “This population needs be thoroughly vetted.”

[….]

Aaron Rippenkroeger, chief executive of Refugee Services of Texas, told the committee that refugees receive thorough background checks before they’re resettled, adding that his organization has never had to report a security risk to the federal government. [Refugee Services of Texas is a subcontractor of three of nine federal contractors.—ed]

[….]

Texas health agencies received $66 million from the federal government in 2015 for refugee-related services, with the state spending an additional $56 million, mostly on Medicaid-paid services.

[….]

Local communities also bear some of the costs of settling refugees, including creating educational services for children and providing translation during 911 calls, Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole said.

Read the whole article here.
Be sure to see our lengthy archive on Amarillo by clicking here. Thanks to greedy meatpackers, the city’s school system is overloaded and the mayor has asked for the flow to be stopped for awhile (to no avail).
Last year I visited Dallas and in advance prepared a three-part series on the refugee program in the state. Texas is still the #1 state in the nation for resettlement of refugees and you can draw a straight line right back to previous governors who never lifted a finger to question the efforts of the open-borders movement to turn Texas blue through mass migration of all kinds.