Interesting statistics about your state

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

 Your tax dollars:

I just came across this interesting data base on each state.   It is at the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).   One can see the number of refugee cases and how much federal grant money is being allocated to your state.   For instance you could have fun with the numbers by dividing the federal grant money by the number of refugees in the caseload for a given year.   I just ran a few numbers and learned that some states get in the vicinity of $11,000 per refugee case (and that is just the money going to the state office and does not include money going directly to the volags).  

 Here is even a better one,  West Virginia resettled one (yes, 1) refugee case in 2006 and received a federal grant totaling $100,522.  Sen. Bobby Byrd in action?

 There is other useful information too.   Check it out here.

Utah plans new state refugee office–Iraqis coming

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Governor and Salt Lake County Mayor laud the creation of a new state department to handle the increased needs of a growing refugee community in Utah.   They also need better coordination for dispensing federal funds.   The article today in the Salt Lake Tribune suggests this new office is coming at a critical time to handle the anticipated flow of Iraqi refugees.

Catholic Community Services just resettled its first Iraqi family, said Vladimir Klaich, refugee resettlement program manager.

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“This is just the beginning,” he said. “We expect to have many more, but we don’t know exactly when or how many will be coming.”

I’ve put some information about Utah in the “your state” page above to help you get started on research.  However, now that I have found the handy little database at the Office of Refugee Resettlement here are a few nuggets about Utah.    In 2006, Utah handled 766 cases and received $3,883,038 in federal grants.  Those figures indicate that each case cost the taxpayer $5069.    However keep in mind that this is only a portion of what it costs to resettle refugees.   The volags are paid by the head by the US State Department then the refugees are on some form of welfare.   82% of the cases in 2006 were receiving  medical benefits.   That is no surprise because the average hourly wage was $7.35 for those who were working.

Utah ranks pretty low on the Bobby Byrd Scale.  West Virginia had one case in 2006 and received $100,522 in federal grant money!

Syria has opened door to US Homeland Security

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

AP is reporting this afternoon that Syria will give visas to officials from US Homeland Security in order to screen some of the 12,000 Iraqi refugees the UN has selected for resettlement to America this fiscal year.

Syria has agreed to allow U.S. interviewers into the country to screen Iraqi refugees for admission to the United States, clearing a major obstacle to the Bush administration’s resettlement program.

See our previous posts here and here on who the Iraqis are in Syria.  And, our post on the UN’s role in selecting refugees in Jordan.

Atlas Shrugs posts on Somali refugee problem

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The well-known Atlas Shrugs blog, reporting yesterday on a piece by Jerry Gordon of the ACT [American Congress for Truth] blog on the Somali refugee problem brewing in Emporia, Kansas, asked the questions we have been asking (and trying to answer for you!): 

My question is how did we become centers for immigration without any input from the community or public notification? And how do we take political action on this?”

We are glad to see that others in the country are raising red flags about large numbers of refugees entering the US and not assimiliating, but expecting us to change how we live to accomodate their religion and culture.  And, adding insult to injury, the whole process is funded by you, the taxpayer.

See our Diversity page linked above for articles that further articulate this problem.

As for Atlas’ question, how do we take political action on this?   The first step is what Atlas has just done and what we are trying to do, educate the public about the problem and then bring out the facts on how refugee resettlement works.   My driving force from our early days in the Hagerstown controversy is to educate the public and to insist that citizens be given all the facts.  The democratic process cannot function, and communities cannot weigh in on this community-altering program unless the people know what this program is and who runs it.   Some cities will want more refugees, others won’t, but everyone is entitled to voice an opinion, which is impossible if the program is kept quiet.

Iraqi refugee bill on the move in conference committee

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just two hours ago the UN Observer reported that the  ‘Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act’ which was attached to the Defense Authorization bill at the end of September is now in conference committee.  You can read about it in this news report from EPIC (Education for Peace in Iraq Center).    EPIC joined some of the volags, who coincidentally will receive federal funding to resettle the refugees, in lobbying for this measure.

All last week, EPIC and our colleagues from Amnesty International, Human Rights First, Church World Service, and International Rescue Committee (IRC) met with House lawmakers to urge them to support these important Senate provisions on protecting Iraqi refugees, and suggested ways to strengthen the language to go even further.

We have covered Iraqi refugees extensively and we encourage readers to review our coverage here.  As we have mentioned previously, the US State Department already has the authority to admit Iraqi refugees.  If you notice the groups involved in the drumbeating have opposed the war and by making a big issue of the refugee situation, they get in their licks against the Bush Administration.