It is no wonder that citizens throw their hands up in disgust with their so-called leaders in the GOP.
I can’t take the latest from the Tennessee Republicans seriously because for years they have been making the right noises about states rights when it comes to Washington dumping refugees and illegal aliens on the backs of their taxpayers, but somehow never make any headway. Why is that?
It is impossible for me to go back over the leadership Tennessee did display for a brief period when the legislature filed a Tenth Amendment case against the federal government, but then after backing away from it, watched their Republican Governor, Bill Lee, stick his finger in Trump’s eye when Trump attempted to give the states a modicum of say in the distribution of refugees.
For ambitious readers, see my ‘Tennessee’ archives.
Last week we reported on the news from Chattanooga:
Tennessee legislature forms GOP committee to take on unaccompanied minors, refugee resettlement
As recent news stories continue to highlight the arrival of unaccompanied migrant youth in Tennessee — a practice that has gone on since before President Joe Biden took office — top Republicans in the state are seizing on the issue to call for more transparency from the federal government.
On Friday, the Republican speakers of the state House and Senate announced they were forming a legislative study committee to determine how many migrant children are being permanently relocated to the state.
Apparently conflating the recent influx of migrants with refugees, a separate category of individuals Tennessee has for years received following a vetting process, the legislature has formed a “Joint Study Committee on Refugee Issues.” [The UACs are NOT refugees. They are illegal aliens!–ed]
McNally
[….]
“When the federal government abdicates its responsibility to control our borders, states must step in,” Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said in a statement.
“With this study committee, we affirm that there is a clear and compelling state interest in a sane immigration policy.”
[That is really some tough talk wouldn’t you say! Do you feel better now?—ed]
It’s unclear when the committee will begin meeting or whether legislators intend to take any binding action during a special session or during the next legislative session in January.
Gov. Bill Lee’s announcement in December 2019 that Tennessee would continue accepting refugees, despite former President Donald Trump saying states would not have to do so, created tension with some Republican members of the legislature.
[….]
WCRB-TV in Chattanooga reported earlier this month that a group of migrant youth flew into Wilson Air Center in the early hours of May 14 before boarding buses to various Southeastern cities.
After outrage from Republican leaders about the news, The Times Free Press reported this week that the Lee administration had approved a residential child care license in May 2020 for an organization contracting with the federal government to house unaccompanied minors in Chattanooga.
[….]
Mostly teenagers headed to buses in Chattanooga.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, 717 unaccompanied children were brought to Tennessee between Oct. 1 and March 21,a period that spans both Biden and Trump’s time in office. In Nashville, that number was 290.
The office did not provide to The Tennessean information on how many unaccompanied minors were brought to the state since March 21, nor did it answer questions about reports of unaccompanied minors flying into Chattanooga.
As for the transparency issue, I have been reporting for years about the UAC (Unaccompanied Alien Children, a term the Biden team has dropped) data housed at the Office of Refugee Resettlementfor all to see.
Demanding transparency (while fuming!) is a wonderful way for politicians to make their constituents think they are doing something without really doing anything!
The Tennesseanmight want to have another look today because the latest data has been posted. Tennessee is now up to 1,111 from 717.
Just a reminder to one and all, as much as it pains me to say it, Biden is no where near Trump’s levels of UACs sent out to states. See the data for yourself, here. Tennessee received over 2,000 in Trump’s worst year.
Top County data is here. Again, these are just sponsored UACs. The numbers do not reflect all of those still in custody.
And, if you are keeping track, here are the top ten states welcoming the Unaccompanied Alien Children, who will be ‘sponsored’ until they are 18 at which time they disappear into the woodwork of Anytown, USA, never to be heard from again unless and until they commit a crime.
Editor: I started this post yesterday, but couldn’t finish it as RRW went down for awhile making me very nervous. I don’t know what that was about, but it seems to be working fine today. Sure hope you didn’t experience any problems visiting.
I told you back in January that Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota had filed for bankruptcy after getting mired in some affordable housing scheme that is too complex to bother with here.
In the process they are losing their fancy and expensive building, a building I saw in my 2016 travels to the state.
So the assumption was that refugee flow into the state was going to be halted at least for awhile.
You might recall that North Dakota’s Republican governor did NOT support President Trump’s effort at reforming the Refugee Admissions Program by allowing local and state governments to have some say in the process of determining the target sites for resettlement.
That brings us to the latest breaking news as Fargo’s Valley News Live says that refugees are being placed in Fargo:
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn said Tuesday that he sat in on a phone call in which Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services stated that they had resettled approximately 25 refugees in Fargo-Moorhead. Deputy Mayor Piepkorn shared concern that he had not been made aware of the resettlement and he questioned whether the City of Fargo was notified prior to rehoming the refugees.
Too funny! NOT! The woman who ran LSSND as it was financially crashing is now working for the governor!
Questions have been raised as to how the action was coordinated. Prior to filing bankruptcy, Lutheran Social Services (LSS) was tasked with refugee resettlement in the state.
Former LSS Director, Jessica Thomasson, now works as the Executive Policy Director at ND Department of Human Services.
The country of origin of the refugees was not made known. In a recent interview with Chris Berg, Gov. Burgum stated that he was open to resettling refugees in the state but he was unaware of any plan to resettle undocumented immigrants from the southern border.
Be sure to watch Chris Berg’s interview with Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn where Piepkorn says he doubts anyone was notified and mentioned specifically the school system.
In response to Deputy Mayor Piepkorn….
President Trump’s failed reform initiative sought to give local governments an opportunity to review plans for resettlement in their jurisdictions with a yes or no sign-off, governors would also have to approve or disapprove the plan.
Shockingly, most Republican governors, including North Dakota’s Doug Burgum, did not back the President’s efforts to shore-up their Tenth Amendment states’ rights.
Here is one of many, many posts on the feckless Republican governors:
At present local governments are supposed to be consulted, but I will bet that the resettlement agency only talked to friendly “stakeholders” in the process of preparing an “abstract” that must be submitted to the US State Department in advance of placements in a given location.
Any elected official should be able to request permission to attend a stakeholder meeting and be permitted to see a recent R & P Abstract prepared by a local resettlement contractor.
Of course, in the case of ND (with no agency operating at the moment), one would most likely go to the state’s Department of Human Services for the most recent Abstract and a schedule of stakeholder meetings.
LOL! that would be the agency now headed by former LSS CEO Thomasson.
One final note: For years we were able to see which refugees went to which towns and cities on an almost daily basis and all the way back to 2002. That database is no longer available. It was shuttered during Trump’s tenure. The feds claimed the website is being overhauled.
Except for the most recent arrivals in the present fiscal year, we are left completely in the dark about the numbers, nationalities and resettlement locations of thousands and thousands of refugee arrivals.
Biden Wants to Prepare for Future Surges of Unaccompanied Minors
Okay, that news is bad enough, but it gave me a chuckle to see how they are spinning the present surge of illegal alien kids with the arrival of Biden in the Oval Office—just happens from time to time, move along, nothing to see!
It is just a normal cycle and we must be better prepared by spending more of your tax dollars for housing for the mostly teenaged boys. That apparently is the talking point coming from this White House.
If you missed my post the other day about planes landing in the night in Tennessee, check it out here:
One good thing about the Tennessee expose’ is that the secrecy angle has brought the Administration’s movement of the ‘children’ to the media’s attention, but it has been going on for years.
We see that WRCB-TV in Chattanooga has an update. I’m happy that they are trying to get more accurate information on the Tennessee situation by using data at the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, but I have a bone to pick with them about their headline. Here is my complaint:
The Unaccompanied Alien Children are illegal aliens NOT REFUGEES.
They aren’t even legitimate asylum seekers unless, and until, they file an asylum claim.
WRBC-TV:
What happens next in the refugee resettlement process of migrant children?
It’s been more than a week since four planes carrying migrant children landed in Chattanooga.
Similar operations are happening across the country. Some of those children are being cared for in a group home, but hundreds of others left the airport on a bus.
Channel 3 learned what happens next in the refugee resettlement process, and the number of children relying on sponsors in Tennessee.
From October to March, 66 unaccompanied children were released to a sponsor in Hamilton County.
While the federal government looks for a sponsor, children are taken to one of about 200 facilities across twenty-two states. A child therapist says this process can take a toll on the children involved.
There are about 200 facilities across the country where unaccompanied children are being housed.
One of them is in Chattanooga, which can house between 30 and 50 minors.
As of May 13, there are around 20,000 kids in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, nationwide.Their average stay is 31 days.
More on that shortly…
But, back to the Pew articleI mentioned above. Get ready for another federal agency for the ‘children.’
The Biden administration wants to create a permanent federal workforce to provide housing for unaccompanied migrant children during surges like the one that began in January and continues to overwhelm authorities.
Mayorkas is not wrong. Surges have occurred periodically, but Trump did get a handle on the problem toward the end of his presidency.
“We all know that surges arise periodically,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a congressional hearing earlier this month. “They arose in 2019. They arose in 2016, in 2014 and well before that. Migration is a very dynamic and fluid challenge that we have faced for many, many years.”
Mayorkas said during the hearing that DHS is exploring options, but the agency did not respond to a Stateline request for more detail.
Currently, the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is part of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, houses the children by relying on state-licensed contractors. But Republican governors in Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming recently blocked contractors in their states from taking in the children, claiming that the unaccompanied kids would displace those already in state foster care or limit states’ ability to make new placements.
However, there currently are no federally funded long-term foster care providers for unaccompanied minors in any of those five states.
The Pew article goes on to say that Senator Rob Portman said the previous administration had no surges, but I am sad to say he is wrong. They might not have had a surge at the end of Trump’s time in office, but they sure did have a surge earlier as you will see below.
I know it isn’t what we want to see, but Donald Trump presided over the largest surge year so far.
For perspective, in 2003, when ORR became the agency in charge of UACs, there were 8,000 arriving illegally that year.
And, so here is my big question:
Since over 70% of the ‘childrenare ages 15-17, what happens to them when they age-out as they turn 18? Tens of thousands of Trump’s UACs likely already aged out. Where are they? Why does no one ask? Are they simply loose in your towns and counties? I think so!
And, see that the Left-leaning Migration Policy Institute is critical of the Biden team’s handling of the mess. Are they helping set the narrative that an entire new bureaucratic structure is the only answer to the border crisis?
U.S. housing shortage presents new challenge for refugee resettlement
When the White House announced earlier this month that it would increase the number of refugees granted admission into the United States this fiscal year by four times the previous target, to 62,500 people, reversing course from President Biden’s initial plan, immigrant advocates applauded the decision. Yet groups working to help resettle refugees are now facing another new challenge: finding housing for new migrants.
Rajbhandari — hmmm! a little dissension in the ‘humanitarian’ industry?
Sheryl Rajbhandari, the founder of Heartfelt Tidbits, a Cincinnati-based organization that has helped resettle over 50,000 [their website says 40,000 but who is counting!–ed] people in western Ohio since 2008, worries that refugees will be pushed into inappropriate housing.
The government-approved resettlement agencies*** that sponsor refugees and provide services for the first 90 days will often place them in public housing with high crime rates.
Those agencies “want the money for each individual they resettle. So it’s like ‘We don’t really care if we move people,’” she said.
[….]
Once refugees are in the United States, a resettlement agency is responsible for finding and paying for housing for them for an initial period. In a real estate market driven to new highs by the pandemic, finding that housing has become increasingly difficult.
To be clear, the “resettlement agency,” one of the nine federal contractors*** doesn’t use its own money to pay for the initial housing, it uses your money that is passed through federal grants and contracts to their coffers.
Low-income and potentially dangerous housing may expose already vulnerable families to crime, and it can also restrict those families from getting the resources they need, Rajbhandari argued.
“If it’s a high-crime area, folks don’t want to go into that area,” she said. “So folks who might be able to provide assistance don’t feel comfortable driving into places where there are people being shot at and drugs are being dealt.”
Not so subtle pitch for more of your tax dollars to go to refugee resettlement.
The concerns over housing come as organizations working with refugees deal with two challenges: a sudden increase in the cap for people eligible for resettlement and limited government resources in place to help them.
[….]
…there are currently 35,000 refugees who have already passed security checks and have been cleared for entry into the U.S., and there are another 100,000 in the pipeline.
Independent resettlement organizations around the country are optimistic about reaching the 62,500 target, however difficult to achieve. The challenge now will be finding them appropriate housing.
Miry Whitehill, the founder of Miry’s List, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that assists families with the resettlement process, said this is a problem that goes deeper than just housing.
The cost of resettlement loans and plane tickets means many refugees enter the United States already owing money they must repay.
“Something that I think is really important to mention here is that refugees are starting out in debt,” Whitehill said. “Every refugee, they’re required to sign a financial contract agreeing to reimburse the resettlement agency for the cost of their flights.”
Whitehill isn’t telling the whole story on those airfare loans.
IOM bags at airports are the tip-off! Refugees Arriving!
The resettlement agency does collect the loan money from the refugees (when they can get it!), but it was your money, your tax dollars flowing through the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration that shelled out the money in the first place.
When one of the big nine does collect the airfare loan reimbursements, they get to keep a quarter of it for themselves, some years resulting in over a million in extra petty cash. Judicial Watchattempted to find out exactly how much was collected, but got the runaround.
I digress….the takeaway from this story is that Biden’s promised high number of refugees will be placed in crime ridden slums adding to the tensions already evident in most US cities unless you, the taxpayers of America stop being so greedy and spend more money on nicer housing for New Americans (because the US has run out of our own poor people).
Of course,the other option, but never discussed, is to not ‘welcome’ more refugees at this challenging time.
***In case you are new to RRW, here are all of the nine contractors that have monopolized all refugee distribution in the US for decades.
They worked to ‘elect’ Biden/Harris andlobby for open borders. As taxpayers you pay them millions annually to change America by changing the people.
Two of the contractors, the USCCB and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service are alsopaid to find locations for the Unaccompanied Alien Children.
At this very moment they are all out scouting for new, fresh territory in which to place their refugee clients. See Winchester, VA.
For any of you who have followed or even remember the Australia “dumb deal” as Trump called it before honoring it, here is an update.
Australia had passed a law about a decade ago which said if anyone tried to break into the country by boat they would be put in offshore detention and not permitted to ask for asylum in Australia, so they ended up with thousands in detention.
Just as Obama was leaving office in late 2016 he promised to take those rejects off their hands, and so here we are now still doing it, although Biden is slow off the dime while Trump admitted 900.
Many Trump left behind are from Muslim countries on the so-called Muslim ban list. We did, however, admit many Rohingya Muslims Australia was rejecting.
They aren’t “refugees!” They are illegal aliens. It would be like us asking Australia to take a bunch of those aliens jumping our US border right now.
Almost 1000 refugees still in limbo as US deal approaches completion
The Morrison government is yet to find permanent homes for more than 900 refugees still in limbo after going through Australia’s offshore processing regimes in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, some of whom are entering their ninth year in detention.
The 2016 deal to resettle refugees in the United States, struck at the time by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and US President Barack Obama, has filled three quarters of its 1250-person cap.
There are hopes the US could expand the agreement – which Donald Trump honoured – after President Joe Biden increased the US’s annual refugee intake to 62,500 earlier this month.
[….]
To date, 940 refugees have been resettled in the US under the deal, including 34 this year. The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said another 258 refugees had been provisionally approved for resettlement but were still waiting to travel.
One final note: For years we were able to see which refugees went to which towns and cities on an almost daily basis and all the way back to 2002. That database is no longer available. It was shuttered during Trump’s tenure. The feds claimed the website is being overhauled.
