Strange bedfellows: Refugee resettlement group/ACLU/CAIR

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Although its old news now, it was interesting to discover that Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, a subcontractor of Church World Services located in East Tennessee, joined an ACLU lawsuit challenging the Patriot Act in 2003.   

Bridge’s involvement stemmed from an incident in which the FBI sought information on Iraqi refugees that the resettlement agency had settled in East Tennessee.   Mary Lieberman, then Executive Director of the agency, stated that she was heartbroken that the government did not respect the privacy of these persecuted refugees.

The suit filed in  US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan was the first challenge to the Patriot Act.

 

MUSLIM COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

OF ANN ARBOR, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

v.

JOHN ASHCROFT, in his official capacity

as Attorney General of the United States,

et al.,

Defendants.

    In addition to Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, the groups participating in the lawsuit are Muslim Community Association of Ann Arbor, which operates a mosque and school in Ann Arbor, Michigan; American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a national civil rights organization based in Washington D.C.; Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, a human services organization based in Dearborn, Michigan that operates a medical clinic as well as a center for refugees and torture victims; Council on American-Islamic Relations, a grassroots membership organization based in Washington D.C.; and The Islamic Center of Portland, Masjed As-Saber, which operates a mosque and school in Portland, Oregon.

That is quite a rogues gallery for a kind-hearted enlightened refugee resettlement group to be associating with.

The ACLU withdrew the case in 2006.

To read more go to:   http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/16820prs20030730.html

http://www.aclu.org/FilesPDFs/affidavit_lieberman.pdf

http://www.aclu-tn.org/release073003.htm

Wow! The 200 views mark has been reached

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I am pleased to report that Refugee Resettlement Watch has now had 200 views (not including me!) on our 11th day birthday!    It’s modest I know, but it’s a start.   

Someone remarked to me just yesterday that the mainstream media will not touch this issue because it’s so politically correct to view Refugee Resettlement as a purely “white hat”,  American as apple pie, sort of thing to do—to rescue the world’s persecuted.   We are not suggesting that we never do that, we only want the process reformed— to be open, honest, straightforward and safe.    In other words, this should not be a case of the ends (rescuing people all over the world by bringing them here) justifying the means.

If the mainstream media won’t touch this issue, won’t investigate it or debate it,  guess we will be going around them directly to you—the people most effected by it! 

   Help us spread the word!

Diversity Myth busted

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As the political heat rose about refugee resettlement in my county seat of Hagerstown, MD, an opinion editor at the Herald-Mail, our daily newspaper,  called anyone who questioned whether refugee resettlement was good for our community “unenlightened”.   By that I presume he really meant we were a bunch of xenophobic local yokel right wing hate mongers who needed our horizons broadened by exposure to the holy grail of liberalism—multiculturalism. 

Now here comes a study by Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, that suggests that diverse communities are not healthy communities.  

Putnam’s study reveals that immigration and diversity not only reduce social capital between ethnic groups, but also within the groups themselves. Trust, even for members of one’s own race, is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friendships fewer. The problem isn’t ethnic conflict or troubled racial relations, but withdrawal and isolation. Putnam writes: “In colloquial language, people living in ethnically diverse settings appear to ‘hunker down’—that is, to pull in like a turtle.”

For the full story see John Leo http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-06-25jl.html

In the 41 sites Putnam studied in the U.S., he found that the more diverse the neighborhood, the less residents trust neighbors.

So don’t let them make you feel guilty for asking questions about refugee resettlement.  That is their tactic and you know you aren’t the racist bigot they want you to be!

Leo sums  up Putnam’s findings here:

Diversity does not produce “bad race relations,” Putnam says. Rather, people in diverse communities tend “to withdraw even from close friends, to expect the worst from their community and its leaders, to volunteer less, give less to charity and work on community projects less often, to register to vote less, to agitate for social reform more, but have less faith that they can actually make a difference, and to huddle unhappily in front of the television.” Putnam adds a crushing footnote: his findings “may underestimate the real effect of diversity on social withdrawal.”

So, if refugee resettlement is causing friction in your community, don’t hesitate to ask questions and most of all don’t be intimidated by the enlightened promotors of multiculturalism for all.

Refugee numbers for 2007, so far

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday’s post about the “Bulge” led me to the  numbers of refugees resettled in the US this year so far.    Earlier we had learned that the Department of State Refugee Processing Center keeps statistics that are available to the public.   

You can see what states received refugees and how many at the following link for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2006 up until July 3, 2007.  Check out your state  here:  http://www.wrapsnet.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=j1Ea6tx59%2bU%3d&tabid=211&mid=648 

If you are interested in seeing from what regions of the world the refugees originated, go here:   http://www.wrapsnet.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=DdzgYC9sMbM%3d&tabid=211&mid=627

Look for more information soon on a project we will need your help with.

Refugee Resettlement Watch will do more than watch.  As we get up and running, we will be your community organizing center.   We want you to start taking action to help direct the future of your community.

This is not a bump on the log Blog

The Bulge is coming!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

One hears frequently at this time of year (as the fiscal year runs out) that a big push is underway within Federal govt. agencies to spend their money (your money) so that they can ask for more next year.  Well it appears that refugee resettlement works that way too!  

The US State Department hoped to get 50,000 refugees resettled in the US by Sept 30th but only have around 23,000 so far.   That means that another huge wave of 25,000 refugees could arrive in the US from now until the end of September.   The Courier-Journal in Kentucky calls it the 4th quarter “bulge”.   http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070708/NEWS01/707080480

Officials from the Federal contractors, Kentucky Refugee Ministries and Catholic Charities, are scrambling to alert local health department officials and local school boards to be ready for the hundreds of refugees expected in a very compressed period of time which puts a strain on local resources and often requires the hiring of aditional ESL teachers just as the school year is beginning.

 A problem everywhere and one we have seen in Hagerstown MD, is that volunteers are in short supply so refugees suffer as do local citizens and the local agencies that interact with the refugees.    But that doesn’t stop the contractors who receive federal tax dollars based on the numbers of refugees they resettle.

Church World Services has announced that it will be participating in the bulge as well.  In a July 5th press release, the NYC based contractor announced it will resettle 600-700 refugees per month for the remainder of the fiscal year.   http://www.wfn.org/2007/07/msg00032.html

Most of those refugees will be Burmese (Karen) who have received a waiver from the requirements of the Patriot Act.    This particular ethnic group has been affiliated with a terrorist group in Burma (Myanmar) and would therefore normally be excluded from resettlement.   However, Sec. of State Rice granted a waiver to allow their entry into the US.

CWS is the parent contractor to Virginia Council of Churches whose program has been suspended in Hagerstown, MD for the remainder of the fiscal year due to public controversy over the program.