Strong reactions (fear too!) from federal refugee resettlement contractors/supporters in wake of Trump win

11/15/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“I do believe that future flows will be affected significantly!”

(Doris Meissner reacting to Trump win)

Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart has a good piece yesterday, a compendium of views from the refugee contractors and immigration industry activists. Check it out here.
I’ve got a couple more stories I want to mention this morning. The first is one focusing on Rutland, VT which has just recently been chosen by the US State Department as a new site for Syrian Muslim refugee resettlement after months of strong opposition that roiled the political waters in the town.

I Love Rutland keck vpr 2016 — Will Rutland get its 100 Syrians, or not? http://digital.vpr.net/post/how-will-trump-presidency-impact-us-refugee-resettlement#stream/0

The article at Vermont Public Radio features quotes from Doris Meissner, a woman who is the doyenne of the Washington DC refugee/asylum/immigration circles.
Meissner was around for the passage of the original Refugee Act of 1980 and I’ve heard her speak a couple of times over the years. (Her bio is here)
The first time was at the ‘celebration’ for the 30th anniversary of the Refugee Act at Georgetown University in 2010. I was struck by one thing Ms. Meissner said at a conference that seemed heavily weighted toward a discussion of the asylum portion of the Act and the opportunities it afforded to get more people in to the US.
She told the audience that the original discussions about asylum were geared toward the odd ballet dancer (referencing Russians I presume) who would ask for asylum when performing in the US. But, she and the audience seemed to be pleased that asylum was now a process that was getting tens of thousands in to the US each year as they feared the normal channel for refugee resettlement was constricting and not fast enough for their purposes.
In 2011, I wrote this post about asylum-seeking-Somalis at our southern border and suggested a Congressional investigation (where are you Trey Gowdy?) to determine if non-profit groups were actually aiding and abetting illegal aliens coming across the world and who miraculously (who pays for the travel?) got the the US southern border and knew to ask for asylum. Meissner is quoted as saying that they have to wait too long in our normal process so they come here illegally. Congress should call Meissner to testify.

The specter of Donald Trump was haunting them already on October 29, 2015:

Again at Georgetown University, this time in October 2015, Meissner was the moderator of a panel on the upcoming 2016 Presidential election. Trump was on their minds and here is what I said in my post:

The “Trump phenomenon” has them obviously shaken and they are trying to figure out how to cope with it. The phrase “Trump phenomenon” was practically the first words out of Ms. Meissner’s mouth when she opened the session. They expected immigration to be an important issue in 2016, but with a different tone to the discussion, not Trump’s outright “anti-immigrant tone.” The whole presentation that followed was based on the understanding that this audience was all pro-Democrat/pro-Hillary.

The refugee resettlement industry needs your money (less money=fewer refugees)!

Back to the article at Vermont Public Radio and what Ms. Meissner told them…

Doris Meissner is the former commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and is currently a Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute*** in Washington. She says given the strong language Trump used about refugees in the campaign, she expects big changes.

“It will not be business as usual where refugee resettlement is concerned once he’s in office, and that might in particular affect the Syrian program,” Meissner says.

[….]

Meissner says that while it’s possible Trump would send back refugees now living in the United States, she thinks that would be a very costly and difficult. And given the deplorable conditions in Syria, she believes it’s unlikely.

“But I do believe that future flows will be affected significantly,” she says.

[….]

Meissner says U.S. immigration law sets a benchmark of allowing 50,000 refugees a year into the country. But she says the president has the power to come to Congress on an annual basis to propose boosting or cutting that number, and she expects Trump to call for reductions.

Funds for the coming year’s refugee resettlement programs are currently included in the federal budget. But that budget is part of continuing resolution, which means it needs to be renewed by Congress on Dec. 9.

Meissner says she expects those funds will remain, but admits nothing is certain.

Meissner gets it, they can’t function without the money Congress appropriates so once again I am pleading with you to call your member of Congress and your two US Senators and tell them to DEFUND the RAP in the lame duck session that is now upon us!

And, beware!

Look for larger numbers of border crashers to be asking for asylum. I’ll bet a buck that massive numbers of immigration lawyers are on standby waiting to process asylum claims especially if the RAP is slowed or stopped.
*** See what I said about the Migration Policy Institute here in 2011.

Hundreds of Somalis and other Africans coming across US southern border, requesting asylum

09/12/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of America…..
This is nothing new, it’s been going on for all the years I’ve been writing this blog. However, I expect the pace has been picking up lately as they fear that Trump might be serious about the wall.
You know that anyone, supposedly impoverished, but with the resources to travel across the world to get to our border, has to be up to no good. In fact, since we take thousands (over 8,000 Somalis this year alone) of supposedly legitimate refugees from Africa, my first question is, so why didn’t they apply through regular channels?

mexicali-mexico-map — So how do the poor, struggling asylum seekers know exactly where to go? Who is instructing them? The same person or persons paying their way?

This latest story is at Breitbart, but first revisit a post I wrote in 2011 in which I said Congress should be doing some serious investigation of the supposedly poor Somalis who know to “make their way” to our border and ask for asylum (who is instructing them? and who is giving them the money for such an expensive trip?).
Where is Congress?
I think Congress isn’t investigating because then you would be alerted to a really really scary security situation not so different than Europe is facing. Invasion on a smaller scale, but nevertheless an invasion.

Here is Ildefonso Ortiz at Breitbart:

Hundreds of African asylum seekers have flooded Mexican border cities with the U.S. in an effort to get to California and Texas to obtain U.S. asylum — many of the unvetted migrants are from the terror hotbed of Somalia. Rather than having to hide along the way, the African migrants have been getting a special permit from Mexico that gives them a free pass to the U.S. border.

The influx of asylum seekers from African countries who entered Mexico illegally has been building for several weeks as hundreds of individuals continue to arrive primarily to Mexicali to cross into Calexico, California, in order to seek asylum. Mexican immigration authorities have been spotted ferrying the asylum seekers from shelters and plazas to international bridges with the U.S.

Mexican immigration authorities have largely kept quiet about the wave of African migrants who have been entering Mexico through that country’s southern border and then making their way to the U.S. border to seek asylum. Some of the cities they seek include Calexico and San Ysidro, California, and El Paso, Texas.

Continue reading here.
For new readers, asylum is part of the Refugee Admissions Program. These Africans ask for asylum and then wait for a court date (many of them loose in America). If granted asylum (with the help of dozens and dozens of immigration lawyers wanting to help them) they get the same welfare goodies and a resettlement contractor to help hold their hands through our welfare system and eventually to American citizenship.

Sweden paying 'refugees' to go home (and it is working)

08/31/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe news…..
As Donald Trump continues to flesh out his immigration policies (I assume today he will focus on illegal immigration), I think a little sweetener to nudge people to return home could save America a heck of a lot of money since most migrants, legal and illegal! are figuring out how to tap into our welfare system.

Swedish fear — In 2015 this Middle Eastern asylum seeker refused to get off a bus at his new home in Sweden’s frozen north. He said he feared bears and wolves in the forest. (He might have been more afraid of trees than he admits.) https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2015/01/02/refugee-soap-opera-on-a-bus-in-sweden/

Sweden is offering a cash payment to asylum seekers if they withdraw their application for asylum and go home. Along with longer wait times and living conditions in shelters in the cold north, the plan appears to be working.
Of course, going home for a price is a sure indicator that the migrants were never really ‘refugees’ in the first place, but economic migrants looking for work and/or welfare.
Here is the news from the Independent from late last week:

A record 4,542 asylum seekers withdrew their applications and left Sweden in the first eight months of 2016 as a result of long processing times, strict new rules on family reunion, and payouts to migrants who voluntarily returned to their country of origin.

There were also less than half as many new claims made between January and August 2016, as in the same period of 2015.

Sweden used to be one of Europe’s most popular destinations for migrants, with the number of asylum applications doubling between 2014 and 2015 to more than 160,000.

[….]

But for many asylum seekers who arrived during the influx last year, Sweden has proved less of a utopia than they hoped. Many faced a long, cold winter in political limbo, camped out in makeshift accomodation while the state struggled to cope with the large number of new claims. Less than 500 of the 160,000 arrivals have managed to secure jobs.

Concerned about the strain placed on the economy of the country, which was expected to spend about one per cent of its GDP on asylum seekers in 2016, the Swedish Migration Agency, a government department responsible for processing claims, introduced tougher rules at the start of 2016, designed to deter and keep out asylum seekers.

No surprise!

The Swedish public also appear to be have become more hostile to migrants.

A survey released in February showed immigration was the main concern for 40 per cent of Swedes, above worries about failing schools, joblessness and welfare. The change was the biggest opinion swing in the poll’s history.

Continue reading here and learn about the payment strategy.
We have previously proposed a repatriation fund for unhappy migrants (not just refugees but others) to get them a plane ticket home, we could always add a little sweetener to the pot. Surely the Dems in Congress would not oppose such a fund to help unhappy people get back home.
I’m guessing, we have fifty or more posts on Sweden at RRW. I have long predicted it would be the first European country to fall as the demographic change (and high welfare rate) would push it over the edge. However, maybe there is a glimmer of hope for them after all.
Go here for our Sweden archive. See our ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive here.

These Palestinians are illegal alien criminals, not heroes for trekking across the world to get here

05/18/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is so much I want to say about this Washington Times story, but my posting queue is so long and I am so far behind.
Remember this basic concept as you read this story. LEGITIMATE asylum seekers are to ask for protection in the first safe country in which they arrive—they are nothing more than illegal alien criminals when they use smugglers to get them through 7 safe countries before they arrive at the US border and ask for asylum (refugee) status.
The Palestinian men highlighted in this story clearly had money and were not going to be patient to wait in line to be processed as legitimate refugees.

They were simply shopping for the best deal (and had money to help them) as they left Gaza and passed through Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico to arrive on the Arizona border.
Here is just a bit of the story, you need to read it all (if you can stand the Washington Times pop-ups and other ads):

FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) – Mounis Hammouda and Hisham Shaban were stranded in Honduras, penniless after being ripped off by a smuggler who was supposed to get them to Mexico so that they could arrive at their final destination, the United States.

The Palestinian men had traveled across the world to escape bloodshed and torture in their homeland, and desperately phoned a friend in Canada to wire them money so they could finish their trek.

[….]

Some migrants cross into the U.S. illegally; others, like Hammouda and Shaban, turn themselves claiming asylum. They were among nearly 42,000 people to seek asylum in 2014 in the U.S., a more than 20 percent increase from 2010.

Immigrants claim asylum because they believe they will face persecution or torture in their homeland.

They can stay in the U.S. if an asylum officer and immigration judge determine that such a fear exists. Many are detained during this process, but some are granted bail while their request moves through the immigration court system, which can take years.

As you watch what is happening in Europe with hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving and asking for asylum, keep in mind this is happening at our borders too (just on a smaller scale so far)! Once granted asylum, these illegal aliens are then eligible just like refugees for all of our welfare benefits, for permission to work and to ultimately become a US citizen.
Check out this other story this morning (hat tip: Joanne): Smugglers made $5 billion in 2015 moving supposed ‘refugees’ around the world.

US Asylum fraud a growing problem; will success of European Muslim invasion inspire more?

01/15/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I believe it will!
We have written often over the years about asylum fraud. But, before I give you the latest story, just a reminder about terminology in use here in America.
A “refugee” is generally considered someone who claims they will be persecuted for one of several reasons and is transported here to America and resettled by a federal contractor. (Running from crime or war is not persecution!)

An “asylum seeker” is someone who gets into the country either illegally or legally (visa overstays etc.) and then asks for asylum claiming he or she will be persecuted if sent home. If granted asylum the migrant is often referred to as an “asylee” or sometimes as a “political refugee.”
Both asylees and refugees are eligible for all sorts of welfare goodies and often come under the ‘care’ (become clients) of a resettlement contractor whose job it is to get them signed up for their ‘services.’
In Europe, most of the hundreds of thousands of European invaders from Muslim countries will be asking for asylum hoping to be declared officially as refugees. The EU’s big mistake is twofold, first they didn’t turn the boats back when the invasion began, and secondly they let them loose among their citizens when they should have built camps to hold them until their cases could be reviewed, but I digress!
I fully expect as migrants see the success asylum seekers are having in Europe there will be an even bigger run on US borders especially in this last year of the Obama Administration (before Trump builds the wall!).
By the way, it is almost exactly five years to the day that I called for a Congressional investigation of asylum fraud when I observed cases of young Somalis who spoke no English getting half way around the world via an enormously expensive trip, and knew to arrive at our southern border and ask for asylum. I contend someone in the US is helping them!
Here is the news at Pajamas Media by Todd Bensman:

Until her 2013 arrest in Texas, the Mexico City-based Nepalese smuggler Rakhi Gauchan was one of the most prolific kingpin smugglers of Islamic world migrants that federal agents had seen in years.

During her long career, Gauchan delivered scores of Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Indians to the Texas and Arizona borders. Ten or more every month, according to court filings from her case. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “special interest alien” (SIA) hunters were glad to finally remove her from the borderlands, because Gauchan confided to an undercover government agent that she believed a Pakistani client she had smuggled into Arizona was a bonafide terrorist. ICE agents rushed to track down the Pakistani, learning he was quite real and living in America, having gained political asylum.

[….]

The Gauchan case, and other SIA smuggling prosecution cases I examined as part of my Naval Postgraduate School thesis research on illegal immigration from Muslim nations, demonstrate that these smugglers literally count on the ease of defrauding the U.S. asylum system to buoy illicit businesses that make terrorist border infiltration possible.

There is much more here.
By the way, the Tsarnaev Boston bomber brothers’ family was a successful asylum case. I also believe the Chattanooga, Tennessee killer’s family was here having been granted asylum, but no one is talking that I know of.
When we talk about refugee admission numbers to the US each year (which in recent years has been around 70,000 per year), please remember that an additional 25,000 or so are granted asylum each year. We didn’t choose and screen those ‘refugees’ they showed up here on their own steam. Many thousands more than that 25,000 are basically loose in America waiting for their cases to be adjudicated.
Update: Be sure to see this excellent piece by Nayla Rush at the Center for Immigration Studies. Did you know most asylum seekers are interviewed by phone and not in person as part of their approval process!