World Refugee Day celebrated in Pittsburgh. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2013/06/25/pittsburgh-world-refugee-day-brought-out-the-diversity-but-few-americans/
Pittsburgh and surrounding communities have reached a “tipping point” and need to plan for a rapidly rising and diverse foreign population, immigration experts tell the Tribune-Review.
“The changes we’re seeing today, which we’ve been seeing for years now and are building, are not merely anecdotal. We’ve reached the tipping point,” said Barbara Murock, manager of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services’ Immigrants and Internationals Initiative.
Murock said that means social welfare agencies, public service nonprofits and religious groups should expand literacy training, career counseling and health care programs for foreign families.
I guess they couldn’t find any local critics willing to speak on the record to a reporter, but they did get Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington to say a few words near the end of the article:
Critics voice concern about how the U.S. refugee resettlement program has morphed over the past decade, arguing that for every success story such as Pittsburgh’s Bhutanese there are others, such as Somali farmers, who struggle in 21st-century urban America.
They want the government to slash refugee quotas.
“The State Department should look at refugee resettlement in the United States as an absolute last resort, not the first. That’s been my problem with the policies. They took the easy way out and sent them here,” said Mark Krikorian, who directs the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies.
Read it all here. Don’t miss the LIVELY comments (do I detect resistance?).
This is how the State Department rolls. They find a community that by its silence is deemed “welcoming” and then they don’t know when to stop delivering more refugees. I’ll be keeping an eye on Pittsburgh and report back when we see the first real local push-back make the news.
By the way, the reporter never quite explains what happens when the “tipping point”is reached.
We did earlier this year report on refugee mental health problems in Pittsburgh, in addition to the World Refugee Day no-show article last year.
VDARE has an amusing analysis of this news items and Pittsburgh’s plight, here (refugees “enriching” Pittsburgh) yesterday.
On Sunday, we reported that the town of Dover, New Hampshire and a couple of other towns in the area were being targeted for a new resettlement site for impoverished third-worlders presumably because nearby Manchester is overloaded and has become a “pocket of resistance.”
Now here comes news (that frankly doesn’t surprise me) because the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in HHS) and their contractors usually operate with greater secrecy and public meetings to answer questions and assess the mood of citizens in a target town are rare.
We have maintained since we first began writing this blog in 2007 that citizens of a community tapped for a new resettlement site are entitled to be informed through public meetings and discussions with elected officials of all the details involved with “welcoming” a large number of impoverished people to their community. The federal government doesn’t operate in the sunshine (as has become painfully obvious to most Americans following the border surge).
DOVER — A state group that helps facilitate the resettlement of international refugees has canceled a meeting with the City Council.
Representatives of the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success, based in Manchester, were scheduled to meet with the City Council on Aug. 13.
In a letter addressed to City officials, including City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. and Mayor Karen Weston, the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success said it is premature to discuss resettlement in Dover and the Tri-City region.
Emma Tobin, Associate Director ORIS http://www.linkedin.com/pub/emma-tobin/31/20a/35b
“I would like to assure you that ORIS has no intention of moving forward with refugee resettlement in the tri-city area unless we have significant support from the communities,” wrote Emma Tobin, associate director for the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success. “Further, our initial meeting with you was meant to be the beginning of a very slow process; refugee resettlement in the tri-city area was never meant to happen overnight, or in a vacuum.”
ORIS is one of several agencies that help identify communities suited for refugee resettlement under the U.S. State Department’s Reception and Placement program. The program provides assistance for refugees to settle in the United States, including assistance with living expenses during a refugee’s first few months in the community. The Reception and Placement program is limited to the first three months after arrival; however, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement works with states and other nongovernmental organizations to provide longer-term cash and medical assistance, as well as language, employment, and social services.
ORIS indicated it would consider meeting with Dover officials and the community in the future.
Don’t hold your breath!
This does not mean that the towns have dodged a bullet. What the contractor and its federal handlers will likely do is bring more refugees into Manchester and then quietly, without public discussion, move them in 3-6 months to surrounding towns. They will tell critics—this is America and people can move to wherever they want and there isn’t anything you can do about it!
One fundamental fact about how the US Refugee Resettlement Program is structured that people need to understand is this—-contractors are paid by the head to resettle refugees, then they get all sorts of other federal grants to “support” them—like teach them English, grow gardens, and how to have healthy marriages (not kidding!)—so THERE IS NO INCENTIVE TO STOP THE FLOW ONCE IT STARTS (the “non-profit” organization has salaries and overhead bills to pay)!
One last thing! On their grants to teach English: If this is an important federal government goal, then there is no reason I can see why the feds couldn’t give grants directly to local community colleges for special ESL classes for immigrants. Why does a quasi-government ‘non-profit’ group need to set up entire new programs for teaching English? I would really like someone in the refugee placement industry to tell me why local colleges couldn’t do those English classes.
This news is not new to us, we have many posts written over the years about illegal aliens caught coming across the US border from countries that have spawned terrorists, who then seek asylum and often get it. Earlier reports indicate that they travel great distances, some through Russia, then to Cuba and on to Central America and Mexico before reaching the US border—very expensive trips.
The first logical question we should ask is how in the hell did these supposedly poor “refugees” get all that much money? Someone is paying for the invasion!
I’ve seen other maps like this one which depicts one route taken by Iraqis through Syria, to Russia, to Cuba and then on to Central America. These are not impoverished people making this journey! http://www.zindamagazine.com/html/archives/2007/09.17.07/index_mon.php
In January 2011, I suggested a Congressional investigation of who is helping them from the US end (the NGOs?), here, but I guess our dear leaders in Washington are too busy with other things to listen to me and others!—what could be more important than our safety and our sovereignty? (LOL! I was pretty laughably naive in that 2011 post!)
MCALLEN, Texas—A single group of illegal aliens entering Texas from Mexico over the weekend included foreign nationals from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, according to the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC). The group crossed into the Rio Grande Valley sector from Tamaulipas, Mexico.
“One group of our agents apprehended individuals from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka,” said Albert Spratte, a spokesman for Local 3307 of the NBPC. “Everyone in this group was an adult male. They entered on Saturday, July 26, 2014. Our agents apprehended them, they did not turn themselves in. They were trying to sneak in.”
[…..]
Breitbart News previously reported on foreign nationals coming from Asia, the Middle East, and terror-prone nations from the Horn of Africa—often entering Central America and utilizing the same pathways and smuggling networks as Central Americans and Mexicans who illegally enter the United States. That report was based on information from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Spratte said, “Border Patrol agents in our sector have in the past apprehended aliens from Iraq, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Israel, and from many other nations. People think this is just about Mexico and Central America, but it isn’t. People from all over the world are trying to sneak into the United States.”
Bangladesh is filled with agitated Muslims especially the Rohingya people (we have 174 posts hereon the Rohingya) and most of the Sri Lankans trying to get into first-world countries are associated with Tamil Tigers.
Clearly all these OTMs (other than Mexicans) see an opportunity right now with the border chaos Obama has created.
All of our posts on ‘unaccompanied minors’ may be found by clicking here.
They demonstrated by the thousands on Beacon Hill on Saturday against the Obama Administration-generated surge and Obama pal Governor Deval Patrick’s comments thatMassachusetts will take a thousand of the “children.”(but only for a few months!).
Do you think it’s as fascinating as I do that we are seeing such blow-back about illegal (and LEGAL) immigration in Massachusetts? Not just this demonstration, but also that two Mayors (in the peoples’ republic of Massachusetts!)—in Springfield and in Lynn (as early as 2011)are begging for relief from the refugee overload they have been experiencing.
The only thing I can make of it is that there comes a “tipping point” for everyone, no matter what political persuasion one comes from, when too many is too many! The New England states have been “welcoming” for much longer than some others, thus their population is more saturated with immigrants of all stripes in need of services. So can we expect to see the backlash elsewhere as the numbers of immigrants grow?
Hereis the story at The Blaze(have you seen it in the national mainstream media?). Surely Rush Limbaugh will talk about it today on his show—-he as much as invited people to the demo on Friday, here.
The largest some observers have ever seen there:
Illegal immigration protesters descended upon historic Boston on Saturday decrying Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s decision to offer shelter in the state to unaccompanied minors.
An anti-illegal immigration rally on Beacon Hill outside the State House on Saturday, July 26 was teeming with protesters.
While Bree Sison of CBS Boston estimated that the gathering drew hundreds of people, Jeff Kuhner, the host of WRKO’s The Kuhner Report, who organized the rally, put the number closer to 10,000 people.
People carrying signs that said “Deport illegals,” and “Americans before illegals” stood just outside the State House from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
I predict that if Congress goes home for vacation and does nothing about the flood of ‘unaccompanied alien children’ crossing the border and being distributed around America, elected officials will be getting an earful when they meet constituents during their “break.”
All of our coverage of ‘unaccompanied minors’ ishere(archive goes back several years).
Update August 1st:More here on the cancellation of the opportunity for citizens to learn what refugee resettlement might mean for their towns.
Update July 29th: Public meeting cancelled—no surprise! Read all about it here. Keep this information below if your town becomes a target!
Forgetwhat you hear about local communities having no say, whether tiny historic Doveror surrounding towns will become new resettlement sites for Africans, Asians and Middle Easterners will all depend on the turnout and the questions asked (and answers given!) at an upcoming public meeting scheduled for Dover city hall August 13th, 7 p.m.
The US State Department, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in HHS) (yes, the same agency moving the illegal alien children around the country) and their contractors and subcontractors are running into “pockets of resistance” in already overloaded communities around the country and are out scouting for new fresh territory (like Athens, GA as well).
The federal government likes to intimidate (bully!) communities with this notion that they decide (from Washington) where to move the literally over one hundred thousand “refugees” entering the US every year, but they won’t move them to new communities where its citizens demand answers to the all important questions: Who pays for all of this? Where will they work? Who is going to pay for all the children’s education? Do we have enough low-cost subsidized housing for our own people? What other social services will they require? How many foreign language interpreters are available in our criminal justice system? Can our health department handle a flood of mental health problems and communicable diseases? (HIV-AIDS and TB cases are admitted to the US in the refugee program) When will it stop?
In answer to that last question, it won’t! Once a seed community is established the contractors are paid by the head to bring in the family members. At that point, if some in your community raise a warning flag, they will be called racists, xenophobes and bigots—and just plain cruel to oppose reuniting the poor families.
Before I go any further, here is the news I heard yesterday: First from The Granite Grok (3,000 to go to Dover!), a New Hampshire blog (hat tip: Richard) and then here in Foster’s Daily Democrat(hat tip: Joanne).
To prepare for this public meeting (you have 18 days!). This is what I would do (in no particular order):
* Call the mayors in those other New England towns where the community wants the flow stopped. Maybe one or two would even come to your public meeting! And, by the way, some elected officials in Dover or surrounding towns must have quietly suggested that the community would be open to this resettlement site. Find out if that is so, and identify them.
* Learn everything you can about the federal government’s refugee program (start with our fact sheet). Local taxpayers are definitely on the hook for most “services” needed by refugees after the first 8 months.
Blogger Skip Murphy has some questions to ask as well!
* In your research you will learn that the State Department is trying to resettle 50,000 Congolese (announced May 2013) 2,630 so far this fiscal year , but they won’t just resettle Congolese to Dover and surrounding towns. You will get a mix of Muslims and other religions/cultures among Iraqis, Somalis, Burmese and Bhutanese (just naming the top four right now) making the language problems even greater for your school system.
If you are within 100 miles of a refugee overloaded city like Manchester, you are in the target zone for resettlement of more refugees.
* Learn all you can about the supposed non-profit contractors. Know that there is a ‘pocket of resistance’in Manchester and that since Dover is less than 100 miles from Manchester, it is now targeted for the overflow. (100 miles is a magic number for the State Department reuniting families).
By the way, the contractor identified in the Foster’s Daily Democrat article—Organization for Refugees and Immigrant Success—began in 2005 as the Somali Bantu Community Association funded by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement. This is your typical George Soros strategy to spin off other small groups with new names both to confuse people and to make it look like there is a huge movement.
History of ORIS
The Somali Bantu Community Association (SBCA) was a non-profit organization formed in 2005 by a group of Somali Bantu refugees living in the United States. The group, which was funded by the US Department of Refugee Resettlement, assisted refugees in integrating into American culture. In 2011, SBCA reformed as the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success (ORIS), expanding the original mission, as well as increasing and diversifying the staff and board members. Today, our ten-person staff represents six countries and speaks twenty languages.
ORIS has no Form 990’s on file with guidestar, but here are their government grants (you have to type their name in the search window). Here are their other funders. I’m guessing they are also affiliated with one of the big federal contractors, but don’t have the time to do the research at the moment (but you do!).
* This is an important election year and you have some hot races in NH—make this an election-year issue for sure in the US Senate race!
* In advance! Learn about the format of the meeting and study the Delphi Technique! It is a public meeting strategy that government agencies (and the Left!) use to direct the outcome of a meeting to a goal they have predetermined. Be ready to defeat any meeting strategy you identify. And, film the meeting!!!
You need to make sure someone is there for the US government (preferably the US State Department) or you won’t get all your answers. And, this is really important, and I can’t emphasize it enough—do your research ahead of time so they can’t give you a snow-job!
* Set up a blog or facebook page(right now!) to share what you learn with your fellow citizens. The feds don’t like publicity! Letters to the editor help too!
And, I’m sure you can think of a few more things to do—but mostly stay calm and stick to the economic and social facts involved with importing poverty (from anywhere!) to your town.
You will have some hotheads, but don’t worry about them, you gotta have them in any political controversy.
The religious LEFT activists will show up with their hotheads too, to call anyone who questions them racists, ignore them.
Here is what fellow RRW writer Judy said in that 2007 post on the Delphi Technique:
…..those who raise questions like the ones on this blog — questions of health, culture, money, resources, policy, etc. — will be cast as the enemies of everything good and noble. But our questions are valid ones, and we want to make sure they are answered, no matter what is done to make us look bad.
Check out our categories, this post definitely falls in the “community destabilization”category because that is what is happening here and across the country—the open-borders (anti-borders!) Left and the federal bureaucracy are in the business of bringing instability to unsuspecting American towns and cities (ala Saul Alinsky, Cloward and Piven).
