COVID-19 News: UN Suspends Refugee Travel; However, 69 New Refugees Arrived in US Since Monday

The International Organization for Migration, a wing of the UN, announced refugee travel was being suspended. “This is a temporary measure that will be in place only for as long as it remains essential, ” said the IOM in a statement released yesterday.

I am still not seeing any official announcement from the US State Department and no commentary, so far, from the refugee contractors.  See below that 69 new refugee arrivals were ‘welcomed’ to America since Monday.

Here is IOM:

IOM, UNHCR announce temporary suspension of resettlement travel for refugees

If you see the distinctive IOM blue bags at the airport, it is a sure sign of refugee arrivals. IOM arranges the plane tickets that you, taxpayers, pay for!

Geneva – As countries drastically reduce entry into their territories owing to the COVID-19 global health crisis, and restrictions around international air travel are introduced, travel arrangements for resettling refugees are currently subject to severe disruptions. Some States have also placed a hold on resettlement arrivals given their public health situation, which impacts on their capacity to receive newly resettled refugees.

Refugee families are being directly impacted by these quickly evolving regulations in the course of their travel, with some experiencing extensive delays while others have been stranded or separated from family members.

In addition, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and IOM, the International Organization for Migration, are concerned that international travel could increase the exposure of refugees to the virus.

As a result, IOM and UNHCR are taking steps to suspend resettlement departures for refugees. This is a temporary measure that will be in place only for as long as it remains essential.

[….]

Both agencies look forward to resuming full resettlement travel as soon as prudence and logistics permit.

More here.

I decided to check to see if we were still seeing refugee arrivals since I reported, here, that as of a week ago, there was not a slowdown.

Here are the numbers this morning at the Refugee Processing Center from Monday (the 13th) to this morning.

We had 69 arrivals, 62 of those from the DR Congo.

In 2013, Anne Richard, Obama’s head honcho for refugees, told then UNHCR that we would ‘welcome’ 50,000 impoverished Congolese to America.

Just to review, in 2013 the Obama Administration told the UN that we we would take 50,000 needy people from the DR Congo over five years.

In 2020, we are at 60,880 and they are still coming in in large numbers.

In fact, since Trump took office we have admitted 32,000 from the DR Congo and distributed them throughout America.

Here is a map from the Refugee Processing Center showing where 69 refugees were placed since Monday.  62 hailed from the DR Congo (including the 13 who went to Idaho and 21 of 22 who were placed in Texas).

In addition to the 62 from the DR Congo, 3 refugees arrived from Iraq, 2 from Eritrea and one each from India and Somalia.

These numbers do not include the Special Immigrant Visa holders arriving from Afghanistan and Iraq and treated like refugees.  There is no daily breakdown that I know of for their arrival.  Make note that since October 1, 2019 to yesterday we admitted 6,867 special refugees from Afghanistan and 152 from Iraq.  Will check in a few days and see how the number changes.

 

No Slowdown in Refugee Arrivals as Borders Close and Travel Bans Grow Worldwide

I’ve been mentioning in recent posts*** that I have seen no news about curtailing refugee arrivals as travel bans grow world wide, so I just checked the arrival data at the Refugee Processing Center and sure enough there is no slowing of refugee arrivals.

***Update*** UN suspends refugee travel for at least a few weeks so as not to expose refugees to coronavirus.

 

Here (below) is a map of where 1,768 refugees who arrived in the US were placed between February 15th and yesterday.

Thinking maybe a slowdown was evident if I checked the numbers for the last week, I found that we ‘welcomed’ 488 refugees to your towns and cities in the last seven days. No slowdown.  All traveled through airports in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Of the 1,768 ‘new Americans’ who arrived in the last month, the largest numbers came from the DR Congo (728) followed by Ukraine (278), Burma(136), Iraq (130) and Pakistan (50).

Top welcoming states were:  California, Washington, Texas, New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Georgia.

 

 

If you want to research the data at the Refugee Processing Center yourself, I gave instructions on how to do that in Knowledge is Power IV.

***See my tag for COVID-19 to find other posts on the subject here at RRW.

 

Editor’s note:  As RRW approaches its 13th birthday, there are over 10,000 posts archived here at Refugee Resettlement Watch. Unfortunately, it is just me here with no staff and so it has become virtually impossible to answer all of the basic questions that come into my e-mail inbox or to RRW’s facebook page every day. I don’t want to appear rude—I simply haven’t enough hours in the day.

Please take time to visit RRW (don’t just read posts in your e-mail) and use the search window in the right hand sidebar and see if you can find the information you need.  Also see my series that I wrote in recent months entitled Knowledge is Power which explains some basic principles of how Refugee Resettlement is carried out in the US.

And, lastly, I don’t write that much every day, so if you made a habit of reading my posts here on a daily basis, you would eventually catch on to what is happening because I do link back to previous posts as much as possible. LOL!  Thank you for helping me not go crazy!

Malaysia: Mosque Event Spreads COVID-19

This is a follow-up to my post yesterday in which I directed your attention to the Processing Countries map.

Ukraine is the location where the largest numbers of refugees are processed for your towns and cities, but Malaysia is not far behind. 

And, as I said yesterday I am not seeing any US State Department guidance or mention that refugees from these locations are being blocked from entry into the US or are being tested for coronavirus if they are being admitted.

Here is the news from Malaysia (a Muslim country where we process Rohingya Muslims into the US, among other refugees who have found their way to that country).

From Reuters:

Malaysia virus tally hits highest in Southeast Asia due to mosque event

16,000 Muslims attended religious event now believed to be source for rapid spread of COVID-19 in Malaysia. Malaysia is the second largest processing location for refugees being admitted to the US right now. Photo: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-confirms-77-cases-from-mosque-event-in-kl

 

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia reported 190 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, with most linked to a religious event at a mosque that was attended by 16,000 people from several countries.

The new cases bring the total number of infections in the country to 428, the health ministry said, making it the worst affected in Southeast Asia.

A total of 243 cases have been linked to the mosque gathering with 9 cases critically ill in intensive care, the ministry said, adding that all event participants and their close contacts will be placed under mandatory quarantine for 14 days.

About 14,500 Malaysians and 1,500 foreigners attended the religious gathering between Feb. 27 and March 1 at a mosque near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian health authorities have said.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Friday that the country was facing a “second wave” of infections, and warned of an impact on economic growth.

More here.

How many US-bound refugees attended that event two weeks ago and then got on a plane to America?

Ukraine: Top Refugee Processing Country to Close Borders on Tuesday

COVID-19 News…..

From time to time over the years, I’ve told you about “processing countries” which are locations around the world where refugees are gathered and as the word says, are processed into the US.  It doesn’t mean that all those processed are the nationality of the country that is doing the processing.

Indeed when you look at the map of processing locations from the Refugee Processing Center (below), you will see Malaysia, Thailand and Turkey are high on the list, but in those cases they are locations where refugees of various nationalities are being selected for movement to your towns and cities.

 

https://www.wrapsnet.org/documents/Arrivals%20by%20Processing%20Country%20and%20Nationality%20-%20Map%202-29-20.pdf

 

However, in the case of Ukraine, they are mostly (if not all) Ukrainians.  Don’t ask me what the deal is and why we are moving supposedly persecuted Ukrainians to America, but we are.

Every day I look for any news about whether the US State Department is taking any action to either delay refugee arrivals or at least to test refugees for coronavirus exposure and am not seeing it.

That said, I did see that the Ukrainian government has announced that as of March 17th, Ukraine’s borders (both in and out) will close even as the country only has a handful of cases so far, so presumably that will bring refugee arrivals from Ukraine (presently among the largest numbers we are getting) to a halt.

By the way, the largest number of Ukrainian refugees arriving in the US are going to Washington, California and New York states with more cases of COVID-19 than the whole country of Ukraine.

Keep an eye out!  If you see news about delays in refugee arrivals due to the virus crisis let me know!

 

Editor’s note:  As RRW approaches its 13th birthday, there are over 10,000 posts archived here at Refugee Resettlement Watch. Unfortunately, it is just me here with no staff and so it has become virtually impossible to answer all of the basic questions that come into my e-mail inbox or to RRW’s facebook page every day. I don’t want to appear rude—I simply haven’t enough hours in the day.

Please take time to visit RRW (don’t just read posts in your e-mail) and use the search window in the right hand sidebar and see if you can find the information you need.  Also see my series that I wrote in recent months entitled Knowledge is Power which explains some basic principles of how Refugee Resettlement is carried out in the US.

And, lastly, I don’t write that much every day, so if you made a habit of reading my posts here on a daily basis, you would eventually catch on to what is happening because I do link back to previous posts as much as possible. LOL!  Thank you for helping me not go crazy!

While All Eyes Focused Elsewhere, Turkish Leader Renews Effort to Invade Europe with ‘Refugee’ Army

Invasion of Europe news….

Turkish President Recep Erdogan may have seen his opening as the world fixates on the spread of the coronavirus and American media can’t shut up about the lackluster Democrats and their campaign to defeat Donald Trump.

So, we follow the shiny objects the media has chosen for us as the next phase (will it be the final phase?) of the war on western civilization is unfolding at the Greek/Turkish border.

There is an excellent piece by Jared Peterson at American Thinker that explains how many European leaders are digging their graves because they don’t get it—Century after century, Islamic supremacist desires never rest.

 

I told you a week ago that it had begun….

Fighting the Muslim Re-Conquest of Europe on the Greece-Turkey Border

As Americans remain riveted to the corona virus and the nauseating vicissitudes of the Democrats’ battle to choose a presidential nominee — a choice now apparently winnowed down to the Marxist or the moron — this writer’s thoughts once again are drawn to events in Europe. The critical situation now unfolding day by day on the Greek-Turkish border may at first seem of minor concern to America, but in fact it’s a critical part of the overall struggle by patriots on both sides of the Atlantic to preserve Western Civilization.

The same forces working here to dissolve American civilization through mass migration and deliberately inculcated cultural self-loathing are busy in Europe pursuing the same goal by identical means. And the same traditional, patriotic segment of the population, guilty of the crime of loving their civilization and wanting to preserve it, resists cultural dissolution in both Europe and America. The commonality of the struggle is striking.

European patriots, however, face worse odds. Their governments are more ruthless in condemning patriotism and love of country (who knew those feelings made one a Nazi?), and Europeans’ history of submission to authority, and consequent ingrained passivity, make them less inclined to risk social condemnation to save themselves.

[….]

In 1683 Christian Armies defeated the Ottoman Turks at the Gates of Vienna saving Europe for Christendom.  The Polish winged Hussars led what is described as the largest cavalry battle in world history destroying the Muslim hordes led by Kara Mustafa. Erdogan has not forgotten.

Last Saturday, the futility of a purchased peace with Islamist governments was once again revealed with striking clarity: Recep Erdogan explicitly cancelled the 2016 agreement and announced that his government would no longer halt or hinder the estimated 3.5 million non-Turkish Muslims already living in Turkey, and the hundreds of thousands more migrants who will now enter Turkey across its eastern border, in their westward movement across Turkey into Europe, via Greece.

Little more than a week after Erdogan’s announcement, scenes of chaos and violence just short of war are unfolding on the Greek-Turkish border. In the ancient Greek province of Thrace, where Turkey’s European-side province is separated from Greece by the River Evros, Greek soldiers and police, behind fences and barbed wire, face off against would-be border crossers numbering, depending on source, anywhere from 13,000 to 30,000, to 75,000. The numbers of would-be invaders and violence increase daily.

[….]

German language alternative web sites report that the mobs at the Greek border have not had to engage in all that much “trekking” across Turkey, that unmarked buses headed west — as many 5-6 per hour — depart from migrant camps in eastern Turkey, and that Erdogan’s state railroad assists with transporting the invaders to the Greek/EU/Turkish border.

Clearly, this second 21st century Muslim invasion of Europe is Turkey’s child.

[….]

After the amazing governmental capitulation and public passivity in Germany during 2015, Erdogan is smart enough to perceive that now is his chance to dramatically advance through migration what Kara Mustafa failed to achieve in 1683 through direct military invasion: The gradual but relentless Islamization of Europe.

It is a long article, but take a few minutes to focus on something other than viruses and Democrats and read it !

My complete ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive is here.

 

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