I really don’t get it—why a Libertarian think tank, the CATO Institute is so hot for more refugees for America. I can only assume it has to do with a pro-business orientation (the LEGAL worker issue again). I’m not going to try to figure it out today.
CATO immigration policy analyst David Bier
However, they had a handy graph in a story yesterday criticizing Trump for reducing the overall number of refugees entering the US and pointing out that the number of Christians entering has declined (which is actually a function of the overall decline in numbers). Muslim entrants have declined at an even greater percentage.
This is the latest talking point from the refugee industry—that Trump isn’t admitting enough Christians—and CATO is carrying their public relations water.
Let’s have the debate!
I would really like to see a serious and honest public debate about the economic need for refugee workers, rather than the continued appeals to Americans’ emotions as CATO does here.
This is one of Bier’s wrap-up sentences:
By cutting the refugee program across the board, the Trump administration has not just violated a campaign promise to resettle more Christian refugees—it has condemned many more to desperate poverty, persecution, or death.
Have a debate about labor needs, but leave out the ‘humanitarian’ appeal because we know that isn’t was this is all about.
Update October 9, 2018: My response to the law firm is here.
This morning I received a letter via Federal Express from a large Washington DC law firm (Akin Gump) representing Chobani Yogurt and Hamdi Ulukaya’s Tent Foundation.
They challenge my assertion that the company and the organization are promoting bringing more refugees to the US.
On advice of counsel, I am temporarily removing the post dated October 1, 2018 titled: “Chobani yogurt tycoon, Hamdi Ulukaya, gets Global Citizen award from DC think tank…..” which they find offensive.
“Responsibility-sharing has been replaced by responsibility-shedding.”
Clever phrase by Grandi but a whole lot of average Europeans (Americans too!) are asking why it is their responsibility to save the African continent.
UNHCR Grandi glad-handing with Soros! Oh happy day! https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/12/04/israel-ready-to-deport-thousands-to-africa-un-furious/
UN refugee chief says Med migrant rescues ‘taken hostage’ by politics
The head of the U.N. refugee agency says returns home among the millions of Syrians living abroad are few, and insists that rescues on the Mediterranean Sea have been “taken hostage by politics”— and must be restored.
58 migrants who had been kept out at sea for days have now disembarked in a deal that will divide the group four ways. France, Germany, Portugal and Spain will share them as Italy refused to let the Aquarius 2 dock. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/09/30/58-Aquarius-migrants-disembark-in-Malta/4651538326085/
Filippo Grandi also urged Myanmar’s government to do more to create the conditions for Rohingya Muslims to return home. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a bloody crackdown since August last year.
The wide-ranging address by Grandi at UNHCR’s annual executive committee meeting on Monday comes as the European Union has been riven by discord over how to handle an influx of migrants in recent years — though the rate has dropped off from a record high in 2015.
The new government in Italy, which has taken a stricter line on migrants, has refused to allow in some boats that retrieved desperate people who left from Libya, dropping the dilemma of whether to take them in on fellow EU countries like France and Spain.
Grandi, who is Italian, appealed to Europe to preserve its asylum policies. He noted that Libya — the main launch point for migrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean — has strengthened its coast guard in recent months, but not its other institutions.
As a result, more would-be migrants and refugees have been getting forcibly returned to Libya, and “that means more and more people exposed to exploitation and detention — in horrific conditions.”
“Responsibility-sharing has been replaced by responsibility-shedding,” Grandi said, alluding to the EU squabbles. “Pushing people away cannot be the answer, and negotiating disembarkation boat by boat, even when successful, is not a good option.”
And, don’t miss Hillary cacklingabout killing Qaddafi and bringing down the Libyan government which allowed Libya to become the invasion gateway to Europe.
Hyatt Hotels has announced they will no longer rent conference space to what they call “hate groups.”
They obviously were pressured by a Muslim advocacy group , surely backed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate group” list.
The expanding efforts to silence speech, such as on social media today and where venues (like Hyatt Hotels) refuse to allow people to gather to discuss pressing issues of the day, is the sort of thing the founding fathers feared.
They knew that venting ones views verbally/openly and non-violently in public and often through gatherings of like minded people was an important pressure release valve of sorts.
When people are driven to meet secretly and underground is when real rebellion is fomented.
Originally from the LA Times, but here at the Guam Daily:
Hyatt won’t rent to hate groups
Hyatt Hotels Corp., one of the nation’s largest hotel companies, announced it will no longer host hate groups at its nearly 800 properties, a move that was praised by a Muslim advocacy group.
Mark Hoplamazian, CEO of the hotel company, released a memo to employees Thursday, explaining the new anti-hate policy for Hyatt Hotels Corp.
Scott Simpson, public advocacy director of Muslim Advocates. Learn more about him here: https://www.muslimadvocates.org/about/staff-2/
The hotel company declined to release the memo Friday but instead issued a statement saying: “Hyatt will no longer allow hate groups, those who primarily seek to disparage or demean a specific group of people, to host meetings or events at our hotels.”
Muslim Advocates, an Oakland-based civil rights advocacy group that has been pressing hotel companies to take similar steps against hate groups, called the decision a victory.
“Hyatt’s announcement is a welcome one for consumers who want their hotels to be safe spaces to relax and be themselves free from hostility and discrimination,” said Scott Simpson, public advocacy director for Muslim Advocates.
The Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Virginia hosted a group in September called ACT for America, which describes itself as an organization dedicated to educating and training Americans to “help prevent criminal activity and terrorism.”
But Muslim Advocates accuses ACT for America of being a “white supremacist-aligned anti-Muslim hate group.” Muslim Advocates has pressed Hyatt and other hotel companies to refuse to rent to ACT for America.
[….]
It was not clear from Hyatt’s statement how the hotel company planned to determine which groups promote hate, but it added: “This is a complex and emotional issue, but what we’ve concluded is that we need to commit to a higher level of vetting such that groups using hate speech, primarily seeking to disparage or demean a particular group, are not welcome in our hotels.”
Hint from the story about who might be doing the vetting for Hyatt Hotels….
ACT for America could not be reached for comment but in a news release issued Friday in response to similar accusations by the Southern Poverty Law Center….
Yesterday when I wrote about Chobani Yogurt CEO, Turkish immigrant Hamdi Ulukaya, putting together many global corporations who support and advocate for moving the third world to the first world, I didn’t see Hyatt Hotels on his list yet, but I bet it will soon be there.
By the way, the so-called hospitality industry, like the meatpacking industry, is one of the leading advocates for more cheap LEGAL refugee labor.
I tell my friends not to buy Chobani Yogurt, and….
…it should be pretty easy to find other hotels that aren’t working to silence speech. What the heck there are lots of coffee shops, but getting off of Facebook and Twitter will be hard and that is something I am seriously considering. What do you think?
LOL! The way things are going we might be reaching each other via snail mail soon! (My PO Box is in the lefthand side bar).
Editor’s note: As I reportedhere last week, I received a letter at my home from a Washington, DC lawfirm representing Chobani, LLC and its principal shareholder Hamdi Ulukaya. The letter also references Mr. Ulukaya’s foundation (The Tent Foundation).
They claim that several points I made in a post below are false based on information published by the New York Times, Bloomberg and CNN.
After considering how best to address their many concerns with my post, I determined that it would be most efficient and transparent to simply present their point of view.
So here it is:
~They say that Chobani and Mr. Ulukaya support diversity of opinion.
~They say that Chobani and the Tent Foundation have not advocated bringing more refugees to the US. (They do not say whether Mr. Ulukaya has called for an increase in refugee admissions to the US, only that the Chobani company and Tent have not.)
~They say that Chobani, the Tent Foundation and Mr. Ulukaya have been clear about their objective to provide opportunities for refugees. (Ed—That transparency includes having the Tent Foundation publish a refugee hiring guide jointly with a US refugee resettlement contractor, see here.)
~They say that private companies like Chobani are not involved in selecting refugees or the number of refugees to be admitted and that only the federal government plays that role. (Ed.—of course Chobani cannot make, or be involved in, federal decisions on refugee selection, numbers, and their placement. Any such involvement, if shown would be the proper subject of an Inspector General investigation. But, as evidenced by the refugee hiring guide, the Tent Foundation has become an important vehicle for Mr. Ulukaya to show support for the the federally-funded resettlement contractor community.)
~ They say that the Foundation, Chobani LLC or Mr. Ulukaya have not lobbied to influence the refugee resettlement work of the federal government. (Ed.—Even without lobbying, as shown by the hiring guide prepared by the largely federally-funded Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service for the Tent Foundation, the Foundation has shown support for the federal resettlement contractor community.)
~ They say they do not approve of my discussion about a business model built on a steady supply of cheap legal immigrant labor that must rely on welfare to supplement inadequate wages.
~And they clearly disagree with my opinion that it isn’t humane to remove people from their cultural comfort zones to supply the labor needs of large global corporations. (Ed—they say they support diversity of opinion.)
~ They report in the letter that they told World Net Daily to remove a false statement about Chobani pledging to hire more refugees. (Ed.—I assume that means they want it to be clear that Chobani has not pledged to hire more refugees, but isn’t that what the Tent Foundation is all about?)
~Taking offense at my inference that refugees are at the lower end of the pay scale, they cite several media outlets reporting that Chobani employees are paid well above state and federal minimum wages, receive group health benefits and participate in a retirement plan.
A 2016 report from CNN (cited in the letter as documentation of salaries) mentions that Chobani is proud of its starting hourly wage that is in the $11-$12 per hour range (below the presently accepted living wage of $15 an hour), but that Mr. Ulukaya says he is planning to move gradually to the $15 an hour wage. That sounds good, but the CNN article is more than two years old so it would be useful to know if clear progress toward that higher wage has been made in keeping with Mr. Ulukaya’s “Humanity First” solution to immigration.
~They state that Chobani has never tried to exploit wage discrepancies between American workers and the refugee workers at the Chobani plants. (Ed.—In case you are wondering how many refugees are employed by Chobani, a 2016 report at the Huffington Post says the company employs refugees at 30% of the work force. I have seen other reports with up to 40%. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chobani-ceo-refugee-immigrant-hamdi-ulukaya_us_58189ac4e4b0990edc336cab )
We will be seeking more information from primary sources to make our own assessment of the issue of wages. As for welfare utilization, perhaps Chobani LLC in both New York and Idaho, seeking to set the record straight, would undertake a survey of their refugee employees use of social services including food stamps, housing subsidies and medical care, etc. and make public that information.
More later…..
Below is the original post that prompted the October 2, 2018 letter to me from the law firm representing Chobani LLC. The post should now be read with the additional context provided above.
The original post follows:
What does this have to do with refugees?
Everything(!) because Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya is the primary pusher, through his Tent Foundation***, for global corporations to promote bringing more refugees to the US (and to move others around the world) to provide them with a steady supply of cheap LEGAL immigrant labor.
We have written a lot about Chobani Yogurt and its hiring practices in New York and in Twin Falls, Idaho. See my Chobani files here.
Chobani was back in the news this week because he received a Global Citizen Awardalong with the ‘maverick’s’ widow. I suspect if someone researched the Atlantic Council you would find George Soros lurking somewhere in its background!
The gang is all here…..
I laughed to see the headline at Breitbart, thanks to Richard @highblueridge for sending it:
Chobani CEO Pleads with Corporations to Hire Refugees: U.S. Needs ‘Humanity First’ Immigration Policy
LOL! Humanity first! really!
Is it humane to bring more low-skilled workers to the US, yanking them from their cultural comfort zones around the world so they can work menial jobs in the food industry (think Meatpackers! and of course Yogurt manufacturers) via refugee contractors (aka head hunters) who then help the refugees sign up for all of their welfare services (because wages aren’t high enough, they need to be subsidized by you!).
You have to hand it to them! They have figured out a great business model.
I swear that these big global companies must send everyone to some sort of Public Relations 101 class where they are taught to fit the word “humanity,” “humanitarian,” or “humanitarianism” in to every public utterance they make.
Note that the word ‘humanity’ is never applied to impoverished, job-seeking, Americans!
Read my lips: It is about cheap compliant labor!
(With the Democrat’s side-benefit being that they get more socialist-leaning voters from the refugee arrivals.)
Then, you can have even more fun if you follow the link to the CNN report about Ulukaya’s big award—awarded to him by no less than another of our old favorites from the Obama Administration—Samantha Power (see my many postson what one writer called Hillary, Susan Rice and Power—Obama’s “humanitarian Vulcans!”).
US yogurt billionaire’s solution to immigration: ‘Humanity first’
(CNN) Hamdi Ulukaya, who built yogurt empire Chobani after immigrating to the US in the mid-90s, is challenging Americans to rethink the way they view immigration.
“I have nothing against America first, but ‘humanity first too,'” said Ulukaya in an exclusive interview with CNN on the sidelines of an event for his nonprofit, called Tent Partnership for Refugees.
Staying out of politics but taking a whack at Trump (ROFLMAO):
Above the political fray? Here is Ulukaya at the Clinton Global Initiative with refugee contractor Lavinia Limon. It was her resettlement agency responsible for the refugees being placed in Twin Falls. Did they have a deal even before his plant was built? Imagine where we would be today if Hillary or John McCain had ever become President!
Ulukaya has sought to keep his mission of assisting refugees above the political fray.But on occasion he has denounced the administration’s immigration policies and the way it enforces them. The issue is deeply personal for Ulukaya — a self-made billionaire who grew up tending goat and sheep in rural Turkey.
Ulukaya started recruiting immigrants and refugees to work at Chobani in 2010 — a strategy that drew vicious attacks from far right-wing conspiracy theorists who have spread lies about the company, including allegations Chobani embarked on a secret plot to increase America’s Islamic population.
About 30 percent of Chobani’s employees are immigrants or refugees. He says his employees and suppliers are worried.
[….]
Ulukaya, who launched Tent in 2016, has successfully urged companies to develop solutions by “mobilizing resources, innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit of the business community.”
“They [companies] all know that if you don’t find the way to solve this problem, or make it easier, this human tragedy is going to turn into one of the biggest problems for our children going forward,” he said.
This week, Tent added 20 brands to a growing list of partners pledging to hire refugees or help them build a better life. The latest companies to commit to the cause include Hilton, pasta maker Barilla, Microsoft and Uniqlo. In total, Tent has secured promises from more than 100 companies.
Samantha Power, one of Obama’s “Humanitarian Vulcans” responsible for the destruction of the Libyan state and consequently the migrant invasion of Europe. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2012/05/31/white-houses-power-doing-rinkey-dink-do-gooder-stuff/
[….]
“Even if governments were stepping up to do the right thing, which many, including the US government, are not, the crisis is too big for government,” said Samantha Power, the former US ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017, as she presented Ulukaya the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award this week.
[….]
In 2005, Ulukaya bought a defunct food factory in upstate New York with a small business loan to start making cheese. He eventually grew that into Chobani, which has become the top-selling Greek yogurt brand in the US. Several years after opening his factory, he started hiring refugees who lived in nearby areas.
He tapped the refugee community again in Idaho when Chobani opened a plant in Twin Falls, which is close to the dairy farmers who supply the raw material for his yogurt. Because of his efforts to hire and help refugees, Ulukaya has become the target of far-right websites and bloggers. One site accused Chobani of “call[ing] on [the] biggest American companies to join [an] Islamic surge.”
Laughing again! So will Chobani threaten to sue CNN for bringing all this up again???
Do not miss my postabout how the Tent Foundation hired the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (one of nine federal resettlement contractors) to write a refugee hiring guide.
***Go hereand have a look at the global corporations supporting the movement of refugee laborers around the world. Notice Twitter is one of Tent’s corporations. And, I am sure you will find others that you might not have suspected.
P.S. Why has no one written a book on Samantha Power, a dangerous woman who will be back if the Dems regain the Oval Office?
