So says an advocate working to raise money for their needs.
Regular readers may remember that in 2016 Barack Obama (as he was wrapping up his 8 years as President) cut a deal with the then Australian Prime Minister to allow more than a thousand of Australia’s illegal aliens, who tried to break into the country by boat, to be brought to the US as legitimate refugees.
One group of the mostly single men are pictured en route to an American city.
Donald Trump knew instinctively that it was a dumb ‘deal,’ but went along with it anyway. You could hardly call it a deal because a deal implies we get something in exchange. News reports are mysteriously silent about what we got for taking the mostly Muslim men into our country.
If you want to catch up on the details, see my extensive file Australia Dumb Deal.
Here is an update of their arrivals in the US written by a journalist/advocate who leads a non-profit group to help take care of their needs through private charity—admirable if it is all private money.*** However, they are clearly advocates for more US taxpayer spending for so-called refugees that have nothing to do with Americans.
He fingers US refugee resettlement contractors for not doing their jobs!
As you read his story, remember that these ‘refugees’ tried to break into Australia by boat, were caught and detained under Australian law. Theychose to try to illegally enter Australia. They should not have been our problem!
It’s hard to imagine how the US-Australia refugee deal could have been handled worse
Four years ago then Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull struck a deal with then US president Barack Obama to transfer up to 1,250 of Australia’s unwanted refugees to the United States.
As we enter 2021 – despite US president Donald Trump’s condemnation of “this dumb deal” and a pandemic which has crippled the US resettlement system – the transfers continue. About 870 have arrived so far with more slated shortly.
After more than seven years in limbo, refugees will arrive with barely more than the clothes on their backs and they will be plunged into a collapsed economy, a rampant pandemic and a threadbare support system.
After touching down in Los Angeles, refugees are separated from each other and shuttled on to flights to cities from Phoenix to Philadelphia, San Antonio to Salt Lake City. Each will be handed a debt notice for their transfer flights – an absurdity that can total more than $11,000 for families with children.
US refugee policy does require the repayment of airfare ‘loans,’ but large amounts are never repaid. The State Department does not want to publicly reveal how bad the repayment rate is.
Winsor continues:
The new arrivals are offered just 90 days of accommodation and basic support. Then they’re on their own.
Abandoned by refugee resettlement contractors!
In theory, resettlement agencies are supposed to help with job applications, work authorisation and medical assistance in this period. But in reality, many refugees tell us they’re all but abandoned.
[….]
All of it is forced on refugees by the Australian government’s seven-year failure to resolve a crisis of its own making.
Almost all these refugees arrived in the days and months after the government’s sudden 2013 announcement that refugees arriving by boat would be barred from resettling in Australia – a deterrent which appears to have succeeded but has left thousands in limbo.
More than 40% of refugees tell Ads-Up they need assistance with medical care; another 40% request help with dental treatment. Inadequate healthcare on the islands means some arrive with easily treatable infections which have been left to fester undiagnosed.
[….]
Despite everything, most arrivals bear no ill will towards Australians.
They recall those who befriended them via Facebook when they were stranded, or who held vigils and protests. They are grateful to America, and even Trump, for giving them the chance to restart their lives.
*** I could not find a Form990 for Ads-Up. They say that Ads-Up (USA) is a recognised not-for-profit charity under the umbrella of the Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs network. Hmmmm!
You are all aware now that the President is about to make a determination for how many refugees from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East will be admitted to the US in FY2020 which begins in less than three weeks.
There had been talk the President could put the number at zero!
And, you also might have seen the news that the President had a win in the Supreme Court that could limit the number of asylum seekers coming into the country illegally and then requesting asylum which means asking for refugee status. (There is a backlog of hundreds of thousands yet to be processed!)
Yesterday we learned that USCIS Acting Director.Ken Cuccinelli linked the two and suggested that potentially fewer asylum seekers would allow for more third worlders from elsewhere to gain admission.
Oh joy! More “humanitarian space” said Cuccinelli!
But, heck, we won’t know for weeks or months if the Supreme Court decision will move the needle at all, but the refugees could be arriving beginning in 18 days.
This is nuts!
I sure hope someone in the White House has already swatted down the asinine idea!
Cuccinelli: Supreme Court ruling may boost refugee admissions
Acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli suggested Thursday that contemplated reductions in refugee admissions might be scaled back following a Supreme Court asylum ruling Wednesday evening.
In a major victory for President Donald Trump, the high court gave his administration permission Wednesday to implement a sweeping ban on asylum seekers who pass through another country en route to the U.S. The third-country asylum ban is expected to choke off claims by Central Americans and other migrants who transit through Mexico.
With a reduction in asylum cases, Cuccinelli suggested, resources might be redirected to processing refugee claims.Asylum applies to migrants who seek refuge at the border or inside the U.S.; refugee status is sought by applicants from their home countries.
Speaking to several reporters after an event hosted by Axios, Cuccinelli said the court’s ruling could become a factor in discussions over where to set the coming year’s refugee ceiling. Trump cut refugee levels down to the 30,000 in the current fiscal year, a steep decrease over the 110,000 proposed by former President Barack Obama*** before he left office. Trump administration officials have considered slashing admissions again in fiscal year 2020 — possibly even reducing levels to zero.
“It hasn’t necessarily been connected yet, but last night’s Supreme Court decision does affect the humanitarian space,” Cuccinelli said Thursday morning.
***I am so sick of the mediareporting that Obama set the ceiling at 110,000 in his final year in office (in late 2016!) as a way of comparing his numbers in the most favorable light in contrast to Trump’s.
Obama never set a ceiling anywhere near that high in his previous 7 years and only came near that ceiling (aka cap) in a few of those years!
I am so sick of the lazy lying media! Note the ceiling numbers for the last ten years. They cherry-picked the one year that Obama dared to set the ceiling higher than normal in order to show the President’s numbers in the worst light. See the actual admissions column too!
The decision must be made in the next few days, but definitely by the end of September. You must contact the White Houseand let the President know how you are feeling about all of this.
Are we going to simply get more Africans and Middle Easterners when the Central American flow might be curtailed?
How about keeping the “humanitarian space” limited across the board for awhile!
Update June 21st: South Africa no longer the number one most desired country for asylum seekers, gee, I wonder why! Here.
Update June 14th: Some humor about the Obama trip hereat my other blog. Minnesota Somalis protest in solidarity with brothers in S.A. here.
Update June 13th: Obama family trip to South Africa later this month to cost US taxpayers $60-$100 million! (here). There is more! No safari! Sniper team nixed (snipers for wild animals that might eat the Obamas), here.
Update June 11th: South African Muslim lawyers want Obama arrested when he gets to the country later this month, hereat Creeping Sharia.
Update! See this interesting turn of events as American Somalis protest in solidarity, here.
We had learned previously that Barack had been inspired during his college years by the anti-apartheid movement of Nelson Mandela (his first political cause!) and I expect they are going to South Africa once again (or at least Michelle is going a second time, remember the expensive 2011 trip!) to extoll the virtues of the socialist Rainbow Nation.
You can bet the African National Congress is going to hide their refugee problems when the Obama’s arrive.
Somalis protest xenophobia (they call it xenophobia because everyone involved is the same race, this is black on black violence).
Members of the Somali community in South Africa have marched to parliament in Cape Town to protest against recent attacks on foreigners.
Three Somalis have been killed this month and the Somali government has requested the South African authorities to do more to protect their nationals. [We learned yesterday that tens of thousands of Somalis are going home to Somalia—ed]
About 200 people took part in the protest, holding a banner reading: “Everyone is a foreigner somewhere.”
Correspondents say xenophobic attacks have increased recently.
Some of the protesters accused the authorities of not doing enough to prevent attack on foreigners, especially Somalis, or prosecute those responsible.
Two Somali brothers were allegedly hacked to death with an axe in the northern Limpopo province on Thursday night.
Last week, Abdi Nasr Mahmoud was stoned to death in Port Elizabeth.
Mohamed Aden Osman told the BBC that criminals saw Somalis as “soft targets”.
Someone should tell Barack and Michelle that Mandela’s Rainbow Nation is a myth.
….some believe the African National Congress (ANC) government has become distracted by other things.
In May 2008 international newspapers carried the horrific image of Ernesto Nhamuave – a Mozambican man who was “necklaced” – torched by a marauding mob – simply for being a foreigner.
The 35-year-old father of three later died of his injuries.
It resembled the appalling violence during the struggle against white minority rule.
During last year’s xenophobic violence the clashes were between black Africans: locals and those considered outsiders.
New readers: You can learn more about the Rainbow Nation mythology and South Africa’s treatment of refugees in our archives, here. There is growing pressure on western countries to begin resettling South Africa’s refugee over flow.
