Governor Ralph Northam Tells the President: Virginia Doesn’t Have Enough Refugees, Will Take More

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment

You may remember Democrat Governor Northam because of the “blackface” scandal  he endured earlier this year, one which would have driven a Republican governor from office and into political oblivion.

Gov. Ralph Northam—we want more third worlders for Virginia!

And, surely you recall his cruel words during an abortion debate about letting babies die post-birth.

So it should be no surprise that one friend quipped when told the news, “yes, kill the babies to make room for the refugees!”

Unless I have missed some, Virginia becomes the 5th state to tell President Trump that the state wants MORE third world poverty (eventually more voters for the Democrat party)!

In the right hand side bar here at RRW  I’m keeping track and so far we have PA, OR, UT, and WA as states where the governor has said, send us more!

As I said here, the Open Borders Refugee Contractors are organizing nationally to pressure the President and to get ready for the flood of migrants they expect once Trump is no longer standing in the way.

Your job is to make sure that Donald Trump remains in the White House for another term or we are done!

Here is ABC13 News:

Gov. Northam: ‘We welcome refugee resettlement in Virginia’

RICHMOND, Va. (WSET) — Governor Ralph Northam sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Monday confirming Virginia will continue to welcome refugees fleeing danger and persecution.

“I have read federal Executive Order 13888, and I write to reaffirm Virginia’s position that we welcome refugee resettlement in the Commonwealth,” he wrote in the letter.

President Donald Trump signed the order in September explaining that the Federal Government will only resettle refugees in those jurisdictions in which both the state and local governments have consented to receive refugees under the Department of State’s Reception and Placement Program.

Two things that jumped out at me from the Governor’s letter indicating that he doesn’t understand the program as it is being carried out by the contractors in the state:

Because of our proximity to Washington, D.C., we are a preferred location for many Special Immigrant Visa holders – Iraqi and Afghanistan refugees who provided services to the U.S. military in those countries, and whose lives and families are in danger because of that service.

What the heck is he talking about?  Why do previous employees of the US military have to live in proximity to Washington, D.C.?  We have brought tens of thousands of Afghan and Iraqi SIVs as separate from the Refugee Admissions Program over the last ten years.

We are never told how the SIVs are divvied up among the contractors and clearly if it is true that more of the Muslim Afghans and Iraqis are being placed near DC (Northern Virginia is mosque-central after all), the contractors have a hand in making that decision along with the feds. The Governor is out of the loop!

If the governor is telling the truth, Virginians should be asking why they are getting a disproportionate share of SIVs.

Virginia Community Capacity Initiative?

And then this:

Virginia helps refugees settle into new homes only in those localities that participate in the Virginia Community Capacity Initiative, which ensures that a community’s elected officials, faith leaders, schools, and other stakeholders are committed to helping refugees build new homes and lives. We work with resettlement agencies that have deep ties to these communities.

“Resettlement agencies” are of course the federal refugee contractors. LOL! and I bet a contractor drafted the governor’s letter.

I had never heard of this Virginia Community Capacity Initiative and when I searched around I found very little, just some verbiage at some Catholic sites about finding housing for refugees.

I doubt the program has any statewide application so for the governor to suggest that all of the communities in the state that receive refugees have already said they can handle more refugees is a stretch (well, a lie!).

I decided to see just how many ‘welcoming’ communities existed in Virginia and so naturally went to the Refugee Processing Center data base.

I limited my search to the last ten years of refugee placement in the state and compiled this list (below) of cities/towns that had refugees placed in their community.

And, you should know that the Afghan/Iraq special refugees are not included in this database. Indeed, I have never found any database which tells us where the SIVs are sent.

Some locations may have only received a handful of refugees, but nonetheless, the list is extensive.  I’m just wondering if the Virginia Community Capacity Initiative was at work in all of them.

Virginia ‘welcoming’ communities:

 

 

And, while I was having fun with the data last night, here are the top ten ethnic groups resettled in Virginia in the last ten years.

11,800 regular refugees (not including SIVs) have been placed in Virginia since October 2009 (a small number compared to some other states). But, again we don’t know how many of the special refugees, SIVs, were provided housing, medical care, and other welfare services in the state.

Virginia’s top ten:

Iraq (3,438)

Bhutan (2,294)

DR Congo (1,328)

Iran (642)

Burma (636)

Afghanistan (536)

Somalia (436)

Eritrea (406)

Syria (361)

Sudan (275)

As I said yesterday at ‘Frauds and Crooks’ …. as Virginia turns blue, we see some very disturbing criminal cases involving ‘new Americans’ of all stripes in the Old Dominion. Check out my posts there.

Refugee Contractors Use Trump September Executive Order to Organize Nationally

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment

And, guess what? You, who either don’t want to see any more refugees coming to America or at least want a say in who we are accepting and whether they are placed in your town, are screwed.

Sorry to sound vulgar, but it is true, because the other side is highly organized and you have no national voice helping to guide you on what to do locally to push back.

It is make or break time! You’ve got a few more weeks to get your message to your local mayors, city councils, and governors.

And, locally is where the refugee contractors are making their big move now  (in addition to suing the President over the September EO that supposedly will give states an opportunity to opt-out of resettlement).

I’m not naming names, but for those of you hoping a national immigration control organization located in Washington, DC (or anywhere in America) will focus on the refugee issue and tell you what to do, forget it!

You are on your own.

And, notice where the debate is!  It isn’t on the issue of whether we should be bringing tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands!) of refugees to the US annually from countries that hate us; it isn’t on whether the whole program is unconstitutional and needs to be dumped and rewritten (if we even want more refugees); it is on which of your towns will be changed forever and who gets to decide that!

Trump’s EO was far from perfect, but he is concerned about the secrecy that has heretofore been the watchword of refugee resettlement decision-making in America. The contractors, which have monopolized all resettlement in the US for decades, love calling the shots from Washington and are fighting tooth and nail not to lose that power.

The nine federal contractors*** and their friends throughout the Open Borders Industry are highly organized with an extensive grassroots network, so when Trump opened the door with his September Executive Order about local and state governments having some say in the decision-making process they have turned on their networks and their people have gone to work.

Indeed, they expect Trump to be gone so they can go back to business as usual of changing America one town at a time, their Executive Order pushback has become a key element in their strategy.

I’ve always hated the expression, but since Trump handed them a lemon they are making lemonade!

Here is the first of many examples, Mary Poole the refugee advocate who opened the door to a new resettlement office in Montana says it best.

From the Missoulian:

Missoula refugee resettlement agency wades through Trump order

Missoula is one of roughly 190 communities in the U.S. that resettle refugees. Only a handful of states don’t. So far none has banned further resettlement, and letters of support are reported from city councils in the likes of Decatur, Georgia; and Alexandria, Virginia.

In 2016 Mary Poole successfully pushed for the opening of an International Rescue Committee subcontractor office for Missoula.

Gary Herbert, Utah’s Republican governor, wrote Trump a letter requesting he “allow us to accept more international refugees in Utah.”

Democratic governors Jay Inslee of Washington and Kate Brown of Oregon have voiced support for resettlement, and on Tuesday Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, announced North Dakota would continue to receive refugees “as long as local governments agree to it,” the Grand Forks Herald reported.

Such responses underline what Soft Landing Missoula’s Mary Poole sees as a bright side to the executive order.

“While it makes an additional hurdle and roadblock, and it’s unfortunate, I think what we’re really going to see are people going to bat for (accepting refugees) in a way we haven’t seen before,” she said. “I’m pretty excited to see that visual representation nationwide to show how important this is.”

And so they are!

Their people are pushing local governments everywhere to shove it back at Trump and put in writing that they WANT MORE REFUGEES!

Some examples that have come across my desk in recent days:

In Holland, Michigan, here.

In Lancaster, PA, here.

In Oklahoma, here. (The Oklahoma story is particularly informative.)

In Nebraska, here.

And, in Tennessee the Tennessee Office of Refugees run by Catholic Charities has sent out an e-mail with contact information for TN mayors to make it easier for their anti-Trump EO supporters to weigh in:

Contact your local elected officials to let them know their constituents support refugee resettlement.

Chattanooga City Mayor
Andy Berke
(423) 643-7800
mayor@chattanooga.gov

Hamilton County Mayor
Jim Coppinger
(423) 209-6100
Email: hamiltontn.gov/Mayor/form.aspx

Knoxville City Mayor
Madeline Rogero
(865) 215-2040
mayor@knoxvilletn.gov

Knox County Mayor
Glenn Jacobs
(865) 215-2005
Email: knoxcounty.org/email/email_new.php?email_name=county.mayor

Memphis City Mayor
Jim Strickland
(901) 636-6000
mayor@memphistn.gov

Shelby County Mayor
Lee Harris
(901) 222-2000
officeofthemayor@shelbycountytn.gov

Nashville Metro Mayor
John Cooper
(615) 862-6000

 

You can be sure that information like that is going out in your state too!

Because you aren’t going to hear it from any organization giving you marching orders….

…. my message to you is get to your local government and speak up before they do—a big challenge because they have a huge head start on you!

Contact your governor too!

Even if you think that your voices won’t be heard, tell your local and state elected officials what you think anyway, otherwise they will assume that supporting the idea of more refugees for your town or city is a political freebie for them!

Oh, and if you want to make a big splash—challenge your local elected officials in the next election.  Even if you think you can’t win the first time out, your local media will be forced to report on your platform.

A very simple message to your elected officials is this: care for refugees where they live in the world, and let’s take care of poor and vulnerable Americans here first!

 

***The nine federal contractors listed below have dozens of subcontractors working under them around the country.  So although your local resettlement agency has a name not listed here, you can be sure they work for one of the nine major contractors.

They are all very Leftwing political organizations, but the most actively anti-Trump in recent months are in red. You might argue that the Bishops are very political and they are, but I’ve noticed that they are laying low these days (there are a large number of Catholic Trump supporters) and USCRI has been unusually quiet.

 

HIAS Not Telling the Whole Truth as they Sue the President; Raise Money

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment

Further confirmation that the latest legal gambit by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and its fellow federal refugee contractors Church World Service and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service***  is about making money!

Over the last few days I told you here, here  and here about the lawsuit filed this week by the three federal refugee contractors and now I see there is a follow-up appeal by HIAS for guess what—money.

There is one important point you need to know about refugee resettlement, and one that was addressed here by David James, that the contractors don’t explain to their groupies….

Refugees can move!

HIAS CEO Hetfield received Islamic Relief USA’s “Courage” award in 2017. https://www.hias.org/blog/hias-receives-courage-award-islamic-relief-usa-tireless-work-assisting-refugees

They are not required to remain even for a day in the place they are resettled.

Of course if they stay for a few months they get a lot of help from the local sub-contractor to get signed-up for their services (aka welfare, etc), but they are not required to stay where placed.

The contractor’s duties generally end in just a few months after arrival anyway, and the refugees become the responsibility of your local/state services for the poor.

Additionally, the US State Department permits contractors to place refugees anywhere within a hundred mile radius of their nearest office.

In HIAS CEO Mark Hetfield’s e-mail appeal for money on Friday he makes it sound like refugees will not be reunited with their family members who came before them if Trump succeeds in his dastardly plan. That just isn’t so.

***Update*** I have been informed that the EO specifically says it does not apply to family reunification placements.

Also, The US does not block anyone from moving! 

It has happened time and again that refugees simply pack up and move to another city or state at will. (Which is why, although well-intended, the Trump EO really won’t accomplish what I think the designers hoped it would.)

And, as Mr. James reported, the feds can override the wishes of a state or local government.

But, if scaring donations out of people is the goal, then telling their supporters that Trump will block refugees from joining family members is a pretty good talking point.

Here is a bit of Hetfield’s plea for donations:

Here’s why our lawsuit is so important: The administration’s unprecedented action could prevent refugees from joining their U.S.-based families – even though many have waited for years to reunite. It could block communities from welcoming refugees, even if they have long-standing and successful resettlement programs. And it could prevent resettlement agencies from maintaining local affiliate offices that provide essential services to refugees during their first critical years in our country.

So, send us money!

Click here to make a gift of $18 or more right now to stand with HIAS and fight the Trump administration’s unprecedented attempt to close America’s door to thousands of refugees.

For more than a hundred years, our shared Jewish and American values have guided our work helping refugees build new lives of safety and freedom in the United States. It is these values that compel us not to look away from this intolerance – and to take a stand on behalf of those in need of our assistance.

President Trump’s executive action is an insult to the values upon which this nation was founded, and we’re calling on you to stand with us as we fight in court for refugees seeking safe havens in American communities. Please, we’re counting on you to step up at this crucial moment:

Did we mention?  Send money!

Make a gift of $18 or more now – the need has never been more urgent – to support refugees and asylum seekers in their quest for safety and freedom.

HIAS has figured out that Trump is good for their bottom line!

*** In case you think I’m picking on HIAS, I wrote about Church World Service yesterday and I’ll shortly have a post on LIRS!  Those two ‘Christian charities’  are even more heavily dependent on you (taxpayers of America) to keep their refugee businesses flush with cash than is HIAS!

 

Church World Service, One of Three Federal Refugee Contractors Suing Trump Funded from US Treasury

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment

Just like the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), Church World Service, representing some major churches in America,*** do not want you, taxpaying Americans, to have any say in which impoverished third worlders are placed in your towns and cities.

Read all about the lawsuit to put a roadblock before Trump’s September Executive Order that although far from perfect, at least acknowledges that heretofore you have had no say in the demographic future of America.

Nine contractors working with the US State Department make the decisions!

Church World Service CEO Rev. John L. McCullough (far left) was arrested along with CAIR’s Nihad Awad on the Capitol steps last month. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2019/10/13/cair-church-world-service-others-plan-civil-disobedience-at-us-capitol-this-week/

 

As promised yesterday I’ve had a little look into Church World Service’s finances and say once again, if they were a true religious charity, not receiving any taxpayer dollars, we would have no quibble with the sources of their money, or how they spend it.

However, in the case of CWS they are even more heavily funded by you and me than is HIAS and so we have a right to know how our money is being used.  

As I said earlier today, tell your children to grow up to run ‘non-profit charities!’

CEO Rev. John McCullough pulled in over $1 million in compensation in just the last 4 years—lucrative work if you can get it!

Here is a run-down of CWS’s finances from their last four years of Form 990s filed with the IRS.

BTW, for new readers, it was CWS’s activities in my rural county in 2007 that ‘inspired’ me in my investigative work that has become my passion.

And, you should know that CWS also advocates for Open Borders for illegal aliens. (See right)

2015 (Obama year)

$50.1 million from government grants

$25.1 million from other sources of income

Total income: $77.8 million (other smaller sources of income included)(Conservatively 64% federally funded because some of their other smaller amounts of income are from taxpayers too.)

$27 million passed through to other organizations

$16.3 million paid in salaries (salaries do not include other payroll expenses)

$316,714 CEO (McCullough) compensation (includes other compensation from the organization and other related compensation)

 

2016 (Obama’s top refugee ‘welcoming’ year)

$61.3 million from government grants

$24.7 million from other sources of income

Total income: $88.5 million (69% federally funded.)

$29.5 million passed through to other organizations

$15.5 million paid in salaries

$333,626 CEO (McCullough) compensation

 

2017 (Trump takes over 3 and 1/2 month into the fiscal year)

$68.4 million from government grants

$24.6 million from other sources of income

Total income: $95.8 million (71% federally funded)

$41 million passed through to other organizations

$16.3 million paid in salaries

$345,366 CEO (McCullough) compensation

 

2018 (Trump year)

$39.3 million from government grants

$23.8 million from other sources of income

Total income: $66.1 million (60% federally funded.)

$20.9 million passed through to other organizations

$13.3 million paid in salaries

$353,220 CEO (McCullough) compensation

 

Interesting trend line!  Unlike HIAS whose budget is growing via private money under Trump, CWS’s is declining (sharply from 2017 to 2018, no wonder they are ticked off).

However, despite the wailing when Trump came in, CWS had an exceptional year in 2017 when it was 71% federally funded.

But the best fun fact is that as the organization’s resources declined in 2018 (closed offices and reduced staff), the Reverend McCullough’s compensation continued an upward climb.  Hmmmm!  Doing well by doing good!

*** Find out if your church is a member congregation of CWS, see here.

Legal Group Suing Trump is Taxpayer Funded Too!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is how progressives do it!  They set up overtly political organizations masquerading as simply humanitarian enterprises and get most of their operating capital from taxpayers!

When I wrote yesterday’s post about the three refugee resettlement contractors, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Church World Service and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service***, hiring a legal firm to sue the President over his September Executive Order, I wondered who funded the International Refugee Assistance Project?

The lawsuit aims to stop the Trump Administration from taking local citizens concerns into account when the feds (with their paid contractors) place refugees quietly into communities large and small.

They will argue in court that refugee law already has a process for taking local concerns into account, but if they think the quarterly consultations are sufficient, let me tell you they are not!

At the local level the contractors and their government supporters do everything in their power (including locking doors and changing meeting locations) to block attendance of critics of the program.

And, of course quarterly consultations are done after the town or city has become a resettlement city.  There is no process in place to give citizens an opportunity to speak up before the city has been chosen.

As I said yesterday, I suspect this is all about attacking Trump AND raking in more money for the organizations bringing the suit.

Here is what you should know about the International Refugee Assistance Project created just last year and headed by Becca Heller.

They are a project of a New York City-based supposedly charitable organization called the Urban Justice Center, set up over three decades ago to protect vulnerable poor people in New York.

Here is what wikipedia reports:

Another warrior for the poor who rakes in hundreds of thousands in compensation annually!

The Urban Justice Center is a non-profit legal services and advocacy organization serving the New York City area. It is known as an incubator for progressive programs and initiatives and for being a significant legal presence in the struggles of New York’s poverty stricken and minority populations.

[….]

The UJC sponsors the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), which works to organize law students and lawyers to develop and enforce legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons. They have offices in New York City, Jordan, and Lebanon. IRAP is a plaintiff in the 2017 decision International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump and co-counsel in Darweesh v. Trump. [Someone will need to update wikipedia with their latest stop Trump case—ed]

The Urban Justice Center is largely funded with taxpayer dollars!

According to the most recent Form 990 available, the UJC pulled in $19.4 million in government grants in a total income stream that year of $31.2 million, making them 62% taxpayer funded!

Tell your kids to grow up to be CEOs of non-profit ‘charities!’

Head honcho Lasdon received $224,873 in direct compensation and another $8,995 in other compensation from the organization or related organizations.

I’m chuckling as I recall telling a young friend who worked for peanuts for another NYC charity for poor people to look up how much the CEO was making.  My friend was shocked and didn’t stay much longer….

*** In case you think I’m picking on HIAS, I’ll shortly have my posts done on CWS and LIRS!  They are even more heavily funded by you—the taxpayers of America!