When I first started writing RRW now almost 13 years ago, I originally (naively) assumed, as so many newbies do to the issue of refugee resettlement, that we actually admitted refugees for a few years, helped them get educated while protecting them from some threat in Africa (or wherever) and that they then went home.
I quickly learned how wrong I was and that refugees admitted to the US under the US Refugee Admissions Program were here to stay.
However, now, in light of the rage being demonstrated against America, by not just African-Americans, but by unhappy refugees and unhappy and angry so-called ‘Dreamers’ from south of the border (see my post just now at ‘Frauds and Crooks’), maybe the idea of just going home and fixing one’s own native land is an excellent idea whose time has come.
The leadership of the African country of Ghana has launched a ‘Come Home’ movement that should be appealing to many who say white America is a racist land!
And, I am not trying to be funny or provocative here.
This is an idea that should be widely promoted. For those who find America an unhappy place, please take your skills, your talents, your education and your industry and return to your native country (or the country of your heritage) and work to make it better.
Ghana Invites African Americans to ‘Come Home’ in Wake of U.S. Protests
Ghana, considered a gateway of the brutal slave trade to the United States that began more than 400 years ago, is urging “unwanted” Americans of African heritage to resettle within its borders in the wake of the police killing of Minnesota resident George Floyd.
During a memorial and wreath-laying ceremony in honor of Floyd last Friday, Ghana’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Barbara Oteng-Gyasi invited African Americans to “re-settle in Ghana if they feel unwanted” in the United States, the Independent Ghana news outlet reported.
[….]
We continue to open our arms and invite all our brothers and sisters home. Ghana is your home. Africa is your home. We have our arms wide open ready to welcome you home. Please take advantage, come home build a life in Ghana, you do not have to stay where you are not wanted forever, you have a choice and Africa is waiting for you.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. Of course he is referring to American born African Americans, but surely some of the unhappy Somalis raised in America would be welcome too!
[….]
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo officially launched the “Year of Return, Ghana 2019” in Washington, DC, in September 2018, the United Nations noted.
“We know of the extraordinary achievements and contributions they [Africans in the diaspora] made to the lives of the Americans, and it is important that this symbolic year — 400 years later — we commemorate their existence and their sacrifices,” the Ghanaian president declared.
The Ghanaian government launched the 2019 effort to mark 400 years since the first documented slave ship left Africa to the U.S. state of Virginia.
In the months ahead, help me follow this story and see just how many unhappy in America, go home to Africa., or, go home to any other country they came from.
Too bad there is no political will to organize a “go home” movement.
Thanks to reader David for sending this short interview with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society’s Mark Hetfield.
Longtime readers know that Hetfield has been a leading opponent of any refugee program reform efforts the President has proposed both through political agitation and legal action his federally-funded organization has taken.
I always laugh when I hear their line that goes like this about the millions admitted to the US: “not a single one has committed a lethal act of terror.”
He leaves out the dozens who have tried to commit terror acts and failed or who were caught before they could act and the untold numbers that have murdered or raped someone after being admitted.
Reader Michelle had this to say about the clip:
Maybe not an act of terror but in my own town, a refugee slaughtered 3 young children with a machete. And this is only one town. There are lots more. IF that isn’t terror, what is it? I can’t stand these holier than thou officials. He seems to have forgotten all of those that were caught getting ready to act and lots more that have done worse like rape etc.
For more on HIASsee my extensive archive by clicking here.
However, your tax dollars are still flowing out to federal refugee contractors even as the number of arrivals has dropped dramatically.
The Chronicle of Philanthropyhas published a survey of the financial fallout to non-profit groups in the wake of the Chinese virus ‘crisis’ and finds that big foundations are still giving, but otherwise donations to non-profits are declining.
The bleak picture (title with a positive spin!):
Nonprofits That Rely on Foundation Grants Fare Better Than Others Amid Pandemic
Most nonprofits that get foundation grants haven’t suffered cutbacks as many had feared when the Covid-19 and economic crisis struck in March, a study released today finds.
[….]
The survey found that revenue from other sources was far less reliable. Only 14 percent of nonprofit CEOs reported an increase in giving by major donors (those who give more than $7,500 annually), while 43 percent saw gifts from those donors decline. For donors who contribute less than $7,500 annually, only 18 percent of CEOs reported increased giving, while 51 percent saw decreased giving.
I was interested in this section about refugee resettlement contractor World Relief.
The pandemic has placed a greater burden with more demand for services on nonprofits that serve “historically disadvantaged communities,” according to the survey; 61 percent of those CEOs say the demand for services has increased, compared with 35 percent of CEOs at other nonprofits.
Chitra Hanstad, executive director of World Relief Seattle, said her organization has been hit hard by the loss of government contracts for refugee resettlement, which has come to a halt***.
The nonprofit continues to provide a wide array of services to refugees who have arrived in the United States recently, and demand for those services has increased. [But aren’t we continuously hammered about how refugees are not a burden and are self-sufficient within a few short months of arrival?—ed]
Wealthy people set up family foundations to shelter some of their money and are then able to use the foundation to promote their pet political projects. https://www.stoltefamilyfoundation.org/about#main
However, Hanstad added that donors have been very generous and flexible during the current crisis. She cited in particular the Stolte Family Foundation, created by Heidi and Chris Stolte. Chris Stolte was co-founder of Tableau Software, and Heidi Stolte is a former educator.
[….]
However, Hanstad said that while donors are being generous in terms of immediate need, she’s worried those donations may come at the expense of funding long-term challenges, such as providing refugees with income stability, securing affordable housing, and attaining citizenship status. “I wish people would give as robustly to systemic solutions,” she said.
***But wait! World Relief , the parent contractor to World Relief Seattle, is still bringing in millions of federal bucks!
During the first week of May I reported that World Reliefhad received just short of $30 million from taxpayers in 2019 (an amount higher than they received in many Obama years) and I see that they have received $13 million this year!
Nevermind that it is the United Nations that halted refugee travel due to the Chinese virus crisis.
Refugee contractors are trying to “chart a path forward” as refugee admissions this year are set to be the lowest they have ever been since Senators Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and the peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter, created the US Refugee Admissions Program that became law in 1980.
But, oh how they love their sob stories featuring poor suffering families seeking to be reunited.
Sob story design and promotion is one of the Leftwing media’s greatest skills!
Sorry, no sympathy from me for a mother who leaves her INFANT daughter in a hellhole refugee camp to come to America with a supposedly sick husband expecting then to have the US government fly her daughter to her at a later date.
A family was set to be reunited after nearly four years apart. Then coronavirus struck.
(CNN) More than three years ago, Deman Aman Abshir, a Somali national, faced an impossible choice: leave behind her newborn daughter to come to the United States or watch as her husband’s health worsened.
She left behind an infant daughter, now three years old, to hop on that plane with a supposedly sick hubby. She had another choice!
Abshir and her husband, fleeing deteriorating conditions in Somalia, worried that any delay in leaving could hinder their chances to resettle in the US and get medical treatment, she said. So they left.
[….]
In 2011, amid an ongoing civil war in the country, Abshir decided to leave Somalia and fled to a refugee camp in Ethiopia.
“Life was hard and there was a lot of struggle,” she said.
Over the years, the health of Abshir’s husband, Mohamed Hussen Ibrahim, who was being treated for a neurologic condition that prevented him from walking and doing other daily activities, started to worsen.
His “neurologic condition” apparently didn’t prevent some daily activities!
And, he sure must have gotten some magical medical treatment in the US (on your dime!) because he got a job, but there is not one word in this story about his diagnosis, treatment or recovery.
In late 2016, more than a year after their case had been approved, the couple was ready to depart to the United States.
“Three different situations happened at the same time: my husband’s situation got worse; we had our newborn; we had the process approved,” Abshir recalled. “It was 2016 so Trump was getting elected, so we knew if we had to delay, the opportunity would never come so we had to choose sacrifice to be with our child or leave for the US with my husband to get better treatment.”
She had another choice: Let her husband go on to America (so you could pay for his medical care) and she could stay in Africa with her INFANT daughter!
Now we are expected to believe she is so emotional over the separation that she can’t work!
Abshir’s four-month-old daughter had not been part of the original case, therefore adding her would delay their departure and postpone obtaining medical treatment for her husband. Abshir called the decision to leave Nimco behind “painful,” recounting the difficulty she had in keeping jobs in the US because she was overwhelmed with emotions.
Plummer is described as the family’s lawyer, but she also happens to be the Executive Director of CRIS a Columbus, Ohio based subcontractor of Church World Service, facts not reported by CNN. https://www.crisohio.org/about-us/
Since then, Plummer has tried to get Nimco’s case approved to reunite with the family. The nearly four-year uphill battle appeared to be reaching a conclusion when the coronavirus pandemic shut down arrivals.
[….]
Abshir, whose husband also lost his job because of the pandemic [“also”? weren’t we just old she couldn’t hold a job due to being emotionally distraught?—ed] has remained hopeful, but extended separations often weigh on families.
[He had a job, wow! He must have recovered from his serious health issue and inability to walk.—ed]
CNN continues….
“I see these cases and it’s joyful when a child reunites with a parent and it’s all wonderful superficially but you can’t get that time back. The child doesn’t know their parents … just the psychological impact to the family for as long as the delay continues,” Plummer said. [Taxpayer-funded counseling ahead?—ed]
All of that is to set the tone for the rest of the article that goes on to bash the Trump Administration.
We do learn that no date has been set to resume refugee resettlement.
Refugee arrivals to the US were suspended as of March 19, with the exception of certain emergency cases, a State Department spokesperson told CNN.
No date has been provided on when admissions will resume.The spokesperson said State “will seek to resume refugee arrivals when it is safe and logistically feasible to do so, subject to any travel restrictions in place at that time.”
I guess you are asking—haven’t they been doing that all along?
Not so much!
Over the years, almost 13 now, writing this blog I’ve come across reports that the mainstream media doesn’t want to talk about—tension in African American communities that don’t take kindly to the arrival of Muslim ‘refugees’ plopped down in the middle of their neighborhoods—as I mentioned herethe other day when writing about how diversity does not bring strength and that the American magical melting pot is a myth.
Now this morning I see that Dean Obeidallah, opining at the Daily Beast , is salivating about the possibility of an alliance that he sees growing between Muslim activists, like CAIR, and African American rights activists.
Unfortunately, in order to read the whole thing a subscription is required, but here is a bit of his thesis with some nuggets about the tensions that have existed. Some of you may have witnessed this in your own multiculti cities.
How Floyd Case Could Finally Unite Blacks and Muslims
(Emphasis is mine)
Despite the Muslim and African-American communities both being minority groups, and the fact that nearly one third of the Muslim American community is black, there’s been a history of tension or mistrust between many in the two groups. And George Floyd’s tragic murder and the reaction that followed both conjure up the past challenges for these two communities—and offer an inspiring sign of hope for the future.
One of the primary areas of friction arises from the fact that some Muslims own delis or even liquor stores in urban neighborhoods where they gladly accept the money of black customers but show no support for the African-American community in time of need.
Others, such as Michigan-based Imam Dawud Walid, who is African-American, [who also happens to be the director of CAIR-Michigan—ed], have called out South Asian and Arab Muslim store owners who profit off the black community by selling them goods that are detrimental to their health, as he did in a tweet this week:
While some have accused the Muslim owners of being welcoming of white patrons but openly hostile to black customers, calling them racist names in Arabic or other languages. [Who knew!—ed]
Add to that, internally in the Muslim community, some Middle Eastern/South Asian Muslims—primarily but not exclusively immigrants—had a history of not welcoming or being dismissive of them simply because of their race. This very point was made by comedian Hasan Minhaj this week on his Netflix series Patriot Act, as he addressed the murder of Floyd and need for “Brown” people—especially Muslims—to be a part of the fight against discrimination.
Go here and subscribe to the Daily Beast for more of this op-ed.
And, to give some perspective on the racist attitude toward blacks by some segments of the Muslim population, visit one of dozens of articles about the history of the African slave trade when Arab Muslims enslaved Africa’s indigenous people as they conquered and colonized North and East Africa.
By the way, you might find it informative to see Obeidallah’s trailer for a 2013 comedy show. I can’t imagine it went over very well with some segments of the Muslim community.
Refugee contractors are trying to “chart a path forward” as refugee admissions this year are set to be the lowest they have ever been since Senators Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and the peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter, created the US Refugee Admissions Program that became law in 1980.
