Category: Who is going where

Brit who heads International Rescue Committee: Let’s send some more Syrians to San Diego

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Hillary and David Miliband: Hillary’s big crush!
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/17/hillary-clinton-david-miliband-interview

So, they can be with their kind of people!

David Miliband, former UK foreign secretary and recently installed head of one of the nine major federal refugee contractors told the news media in a visit to San Diego this week that 12,000 Syrians should be admitted to the US in 2014.  (Keep in mind that the UK has recently reluctantly agreed to take a whopping 500!).

From KPBS (be sure to watch the clip!).  Emphasis is mine:

This week, the United Nations officials said Syrians are about to replace Afghans as the world’s largest refugee population.

[…..]

The IRC is working to bring Syrian refugees to the United States.

You have to follow the link in the following excerpt to find out that the IRC is lobbying for 12,000.  Remember they are paid by the head for each “refugee” they place in your city or town, and conveniently they have a resettlement office in San Diego!

He said, the IRC is calling on the U.S. to increase the number of refugees ***allowed to resettle in here, and if that happens, some may wind up in San Diego.

Believe me it won’t be only the women, the orphans or the Christians going to San Diego.  And, if the civil war should end in months or a year, they won’t go home to Syria either—this is permanent resettlement!

“If I hope, when the U.S. government decides to increase that number and allow some Syrians, the most needy cases, the kids who’ve have lost their parents, the women who’ve lost their husbands, this would be an ideal place for them to rebuild their lives,” he said.

He said the small Syrian community and larger Middle Eastern community here could give Syrian refugees some sense of of roots and a bit of stability that can allow them to make a contribution to society.

I’m wondering if those San Diego Somali refugee terrorists recently sent to prison were “clients” of the IRC?

Not a peep in any interview about persecuted Christians in Syria.

***Be sure to read the NPR interview where an IRC representative says 12,000 is their magic number this year, but expresses puzzlement as to why the US might be dragging its feet.  NPR interviewer asks:

Would you be at all concerned that letting in thousands of refugees from this particular civil war will also allow in bad actors?

Even NPR gets it (if the refugee importers pretend not to)!

We have an ever-expanding archive on David Miliband, here.

For more ambitious readers, see this 2010 post and follow the links to a National War College Report by State Department employee David Robinson who explained in 2000 how the International Rescue Committee (IRC) (others!) pressured the State Department (through Al Gore!) into taking more than 10,000 Kosovar refugees who didn’t want to come here and who were later flown back to their home country at taxpayer expense.   The IRC apparently needed the warm bodies to resettle because those bodies came with a per head resettlement payment to the IRC, and I feel sure they were never asked to return the $$$.

Maine brain drain! Reverse it with asylum seekers says developer turned spiritualist

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Richard Berman stands in front of Hope House. Berman wants to welcome asylum seekers to brain-drained Maine!

He says the City of Portland “gets it,” but the rest of Maine needs to “wake up!”

We’ve learned recently that as many as 70% of asylum claims are fraudulent, then there is the big NYT story about the Chinese frauds, and just this morning we learned of a large asylum fraud bust in Maryland, but if Mainers, like Richard Berman, want to lure them to Portland with free housing (welfare) until their claims are processed, Maine can have them if they promise to keep them!

Here is the story from the Bangor Daily News. Hat tip: Joanne.  Head honchos from the US State Department were in Maine last week for a PR tour.

PORTLAND, Maine — From home to school to work, the lives of refugees and asylum seekers received closer looks from federal and city officials this week.

On Friday, Feb. 21, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard visited Portland Adult Education and several local businesses to see how refugees and resettlement agencies are faring. Richard was accompanied by Lawrence Bartlett, state department director of refugee admissions.

Asylum seekers are not eligible for welfare nationally until their claims are approved, but in Maine, as we mentioned here recently, they do get welfare support and now they get housing thanks to developer/philanthropist/spiritualist Richard Berman.

On Tuesday, Mayor Michael Brennan cut the ribbon at ceremonies marking the opening of Hope House at 14 Sherman St. The apartment house has been home to 13 Africans seeking political asylum for almost six months.

Hope House, which was bought by developer Richard Berman and operated by the nonprofit Hope Acts, solves the most basic question asylum seekers such as Hugues Ingabire, 21, face when they arrive in Portland.

Berman says that Maine doesn’t have enough brains so they need asylum seekers and refugees to make up the shortfall.

Berman said welcoming and getting asylum seekers settled is a benefit to Maine’s future.

“This is the reverse of the brain drain,” he said.

Berman:  Wake up Maine!

Publicist Jen Dimond said she wants Brennan and other Hope House visitors to see the success of the collaboration between Berman and Hope Acts because it is understood the city does not have the resources to provide the full measure of help to refugees and asylum seekers.

Berman said city officials are doing what they can, even though there are limits.

“It seems like the city gets it,” he said. ‘It is the state that needs to wake up.”

So who is Richard Berman—the brain behind the plan for Portland?

Here is an article from last September that tells you all you need to know!

PORTLAND – Richard Berman is not your typical developer

Over the last 40 years, Berman has gained a reputation as a philanthropist, as well as a developer who values community engagement, “smart growth,” historic preservation and affordable housing.

Berman is drawn to mysticism and meditation. He was born and raised Jewish, before turning to Eastern religions. He now attends St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Cape Elizabeth and serves on the Maine Council of Churches.

“Just because you’re a real estate developer doesn’t mean you’re not spiritual,” Berman quipped.

Next month, the Cape Elizabeth resident will turn 68 years old and steer a new course in his career. Berman says will “semi-retire” so he can turn more of his full-time attention to philanthropic endeavors, without having to worry about profit margins.

“I want to turn my talent and treasures to good use,” Berman said. “I’m turning my attention to more spiritual matters like immigration and homelessness.”

Do-gooder-itis?  Or something else?

For new readers, we have an extensive archive on Maine, here. Be sure to check out one of our top posts for the last few years (from 2009)—-Maine the welfare magnet—about how the US State Department and Catholic Charities helped start the migrant stampede to Maine.

African invasion of Europe continues, this time from Morocco

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Some of the “violent” African migrants who stormed the border fence between Morocco and Spanish Melilla.  http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/asylum-policy-and-treatment-of-refugees-in-the-european-union-a-926939.html

Most illegal African migrants travel by sea to get to Europe, but due to a blip in the political boundary of Spain, they have a way in by land.   And, of course to get this far, Morocco must have let them through their other borders!

Update February 28th:  New York Times is reporting the story too with photos.  Not just Africans, but Syrians in the mix.

From AFP:

MADRID – Some 500 African migrants stormed a triple barbed-wire border fence Monday that divides the Spanish territory of Melilla from Morocco, with about 100 making it over, an official said.

The migrants targeted two different sections of the border and were “very violent” as they used “sticks and threw rocks at Spanish and Moroccan police”, said a spokeswoman for the Spanish government’s representative in Melilla.

About 100 of the roughly 500 migrants involved in the border assault managed to enter Melilla, she added.

The Moroccan interior ministry said at least 27 people had been wounded, including 13 members of its security forces hit by rocks that the migrants hurled at them as they stormed the border fence.

Moroccan police arrested around 100 migrants, including 14 who were taken to hospital in the nearby town of Nador suffering injuries caused by the barbed wire that the Spanish authorities have placed on top of the barrier as a deterrent.

Spanish territory on the coast of North Africa

It was the latest in a series of coordinated assaults by African migrants on the border of Melilla, which along with fellow Spanish territory Ceuta has the European Union’s only land borders with Africa.

Some who make it over the fence are allowed to stay in Spain!

The spike in the arrival of migrants to Melilla in recent weeks has caused the population of an internment centre in the Spanish outpost to swell.

The centre, which has room for 480 people, currently houses more than 1,000 migrants. Military tents have been set up at the centre to accomodate the overflow.

Depending on treaties between Spain and the country of origin of each immigrant, some are repatriated and others are allowed into Spain.

Refugee contractors launch PR campaign! Refugees don’t cost local taxpayers a dime!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve seen several stories cross my desk in the last few days like this one from North Dakota—Lutheran Social Services trying to dispel “rumors” that local/state taxpayers are on the hook for refugees placed in their towns and cities.   

The Lutherans are trying to get their hooks into Wyoming.  Could that be the motivation for this campaign!

Here is the story from WDAY.TV that makes me laugh!

Fargo, N.D. (WDAY TV) -It’s a number that may surprise you. Every year, 400 some refugees make their way to North Dakota.

I love it how they leave the impression that these Africans/Middle Easterners/Asians etc.  just “make their way” to a place like North Dakota—they are in North Dakota because Lutheran Social Services has a lucrative contract with the US State Department (federal taxpayers!) to bring them there and drop them off!

Tonight, Lutheran Social Services held a forum at Fargo Public Library to educate people on refugee integration into the community.

Event organizers say they wanted to dispel the rumors that local tax payers are footing the bill for new Americans.

Of course, some of the cost of refugees rests with local taxpayers!  Who else is paying for the education of the refugee kids but local taxpayers, not to mention the costs to local health clinics and the demand put on local subsidized housing that would normally be available to American low-income citizens.

What did the murder trial of Omar Mohamed Kalmio cost the taxpayers of North Dakota? What will his life sentence cost them? http://www.vdare.com/posts/immigrant-mass-murder-again-somali-quadruple-murderer-is-sentenced-in-north-dakota

And, let’s not forget the cost to local police and county court systems when refugees break the law.  Here is just one case—Somali mass murder in North Dakota—that you know cost local taxpayers a bundle and presumably will cost North Dakota a bundle for his incarceration.

Readers might want to visit this breakdown of the costs of refugees in Georgia showing the federal and state share of the cost (prepared by Refugee Resettlement Relief).  North Dakotans should be asking their state legislature for a similar accounting.

WDAY.TV continued:

Instead, they say, Social Services offers a federally funded program to help refugees.

Yes, sure!  And, the federal funds grow on trees in Washington.  What about federal taxpayers (are North Dakotans not federal tax payers?).  From our fact sheet (here):

The federal programs available to them include:

∙ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) formerly known as AFDC
∙ Medicaid
∙ Food Stamps
∙ Public Housing
∙ Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
∙ Social Security Disability Insurance
∙ Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) (direct services only)
∙ Child Care and Development Fund
∙ Independent Living Program
∙ Job Opportunities for Low Income Individuals (JOLI)
∙ Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
∙ Postsecondary Education Loans and Grants
∙ Refugee Assistance Programs
∙ Title IV Foster Care and Adoption Assistance Payments (if parents are ⌠qualified immigrants – refugees, asylees, etc)
∙ Title XX Social Services Block Grant Funds

Then do they think that citizens are this stupid?  Refugees live on $335 a month for 8 months!

Kavidhe Gundale, Lutheran Social Services: “They get only 335 dollars per month, for 8 months. They have to pay the rent, they have to pay for the gas and everything. “

Good luck North Dakota!

Every year 300 refugees will call Fargo, 90 in Grand Forks and 10 in Bismarck.

While we are on the subject of who is paying for all this, have a look at the most recent Form 990 for Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, here.

In the most recent year available, they had total revenue of $12 million (rounded number) and $8.4 million (70%) came from you via federal grants and contracts.

Here is how most of that was spent (rounded numbers):

$465,000 for current directors and officers compensation

$6.7 million for salaries

$223,000 for pensions

$762,000 for other employee benefits

$1.2 million office expenses

$715,000 travel (who knew ND was that big!)

$124,000 conferences

They would not exist without taxpayer dollars!

Wyoming being fed a pack of lies!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Asst. Secretary of State for PRM, Anne Richard, meeting with Iraqis in Portland, Maine. Trying to make sure Maine stays on board? US State Department needs fresh territory in which to resettle refugees! http://www.pressherald.com/news/Federal-official-visits-Maine-refugee-business-owners-Photos.html

Sorry I can’t say it any other way!

Here is the latest puff-piece being circulated around the country about Wyoming (the only state with no refugee resettlement program) beginning to see the light, we are told, and REQUESTING refugees.   We first reported the Republican governor’s outreach to the feds here.

As these refugee puff-pieces always do, this one starts out with the lovely success story of Congolese refugee Bertine Bahige (you can read his story yourself).

But, no matter how wonderful a person Bertine Bahige is, and how successful, Wyoming ‘leaders’ must remember at least two things—the cost of the refugees will after a few months be on the backs of the Wyoming taxpayer and no matter what promises you get now, Wyoming will not be choosing the refugees (choosing their nationalities or their religions), nor will it choose how many!  The US State Department will be deciding that with its contractors.

So here is the article designed to tug on your heartstrings, but laced with lies.  From the Casper Star Tribune (via SFGate)  (hat tip: Joanne) Emphasis is mine:

Wyoming is the only state in the nation that doesn’t have a refugee resettlement program.

Bahige is hoping to change that.

He is Wyoming’s delegate for the United Nations Refugee Congress. Since 2010, he’s reached out to the Wyoming congressional delegation, state lawmakers and Gov. Matt Mead in hopes of creating a resettlement program in Wyoming.

Despite roadblocks, he’s pushed the ball in motion.

He’s working with the UW School of Law to draft a plan that Mead will consider for adoption.

They think they are going to get ALL federal money for this (note to Republican Governor Mead—that is taxpayer money too, and it comes with strings! You are handing over your state sovereignty and demographic future to the US State Department.)

No state dollars would fund a refugee resettlement program. The federal government would pump money into state agencies and a nongovernmental organization to oversee the initiative, said Suzan Pritchett, co-director at UW’s Center for International Human Rights Law Advocacy.

Wyoming’s Department of Family Services, Department of Workforce Services and Department of Health are among the agencies that would work with the federal government’s Health and Human Services and State Department to channel the money, said Merit Thomas, a policy adviser in the governor’s office.

Wyomingites, please take a few minutes and have a look at the costs to counties in Georgia for refugee resettlement. From Refugee Resettlement Relief.  Here!  And, longtime readers know that Tennesseans have for the last couple of years been attempting to get numbers like these out of their state agencies.

Wyoming will not pick the number or the nationalities/religions of refugees!

Suzan Pritchitt: “It may be inappropriate for some types of immigrant populations to move here.”

States like Colorado and Utah received more than 1,000 refugees in 2013. Wyoming would open its doors to a smaller number, Pritchett said. [Suzan Pritchett co-director at UW’s Center for International Human Rights Law Advocacy—ed]

The state’s low immigrant population may make it difficult for refugees who require certain places of worship and other cultural customs, she said.

This above, is of course, a reference to Muslim refugees.  Don’t worry Ms. Pritchett, the US State Department will send you Muslims who will in turn build mosques, if you don’t have them already!

“Wyoming is not an immigrant-heavy state,” she said. “It may be inappropriate for some types of immigrant populations to move here. We are thinking about what’s the best fit for Wyoming and the capacity it can handle. It won’t be on the 1,000 per-year end of the scale.”  [Again, Wyoming will not be making those decisions!—ed]

Refugees who arrive in the U.S. aren’t arbitrarily picked. After the UN chooses candidates, the Department of Homeland Security vets their backgrounds. Then the State Department chooses what cities will be best for the candidates.

They are not becoming self-sufficient!  It may be a goal, but it is not happening!  Look how they have chosen their words!

The goal of resettlement is not to enlist people on government welfare programs, Barclay said.

“It’s about self-sufficiency,” he said.

The refugees are enrolled in federal assistance programs like food stamps, but after eight months the federal government begins to wane support for most refugees. [Not true! refugees are on food stamps for years!—ed] Within the first four months, refugees are required to have jobs. One stipulation is that the immigrants have to repay their plane tickets. [And, the contractors get a cut of what they collect!—ed]

In Colorado, 72 percent of all refugees who found work became self-sufficient, said Paul Stein, state refugee coordinator.  [72% who found work!  What percent found work? And, how long did it take them?—ed]

All over America refugees are not working!  Pockets of resistance to new resettlement have developed and the feds are desperate for new territory for thousands entering the US every month, so….

….to the residents of Casper and Gillette—you must ask questions!  Lots and lots of questions!