Tag: California

Sacramento to welcome large number of Syrians says resettlement contractor

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is nothing unexpected in this news article about the new CEO of ‘Opening Doors’ another resettlement agency contracted through Church World Service (one of nine major resettlement contractors working for the UN/US State Department), but I bring it to you because it makes some points we have been making lately.

Deborah Ortiz
Deborah Ortiz to be the new CEO of Opening Doors. Photo: http://sacramentopress.com/2011/03/22/latino-leaders-honored-in-cesar-chavez-resolution/

Yes!  They are contractors!
I had to laugh when I saw this line on their website.  South Carolina readers will recall that when Asst. Sec. of State for PRM, Anne Richard, came to Spartanburg she said that they were not “CONTRACTORS,” but had signed “agreements.”  Someone needs to tell ‘Opening Doors:’

Refugees come to us through our affiliate, Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program that is under contract to the United States Department of State.

First and foremost I was interested in the fact that Opening Doors (largely funded with taxpayer dollars)*** doesn’t just resettle refugees, but works with and for illegal aliens as well. That is a point I have been making lately.  Many who want to see illegal immigration brought under control say “legal immigration is good,” but these groups we fund—like Opening Doors—are perfectly fine with promoting the rights of illegal migrants right along with their resettlement work that is paid for by you!
Here is the story from the Sacramento Bee:

Deborah Ortiz, a veteran public servant who spent years trying to help immigrants and refugees in Sacramento and the state, will soon be aiding hundreds of new Sacramentans fleeing violence or persecution in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and more than half a dozen other nations.

On Jan. 1, the former city council member, assemblywoman and state senator will take over as CEO of Opening Doors, a nonprofit agency that helps refugees, immigrants and human-trafficking survivors achieve self-sufficiency through job training, small-business loans and access to legal and social services. Last year, the agency served more than 650 immigrants and refugees and helped resettle 423. It also assisted 94 human-trafficking survivors.

[….]

Since 2011, when the Syrian conflict started, 1,500 Syrians have been resettled nationwide. Sacramento ranks third in the nation among cities receiving them. Since April, Opening Doors, one of several resettlement agencies here, has resettled 25.  [97% of those arriving in FY2015 are Muslims, does Church World Service not advocate for persecuted Christians?  Guess not!—ed]

Is Opening Doors keeping a huge chunk of the refugees cash?

Then this (below) gave me pause.  Refugees are given cash by the federal government in the amount of $1,975 per person and the contractor usually pockets around $800 of it (per refugee) for their overhead (they are paid by the head for their work, thus they have every incentive to never slow the flow).
Does this mean that Opening Doors is pocketing an even bigger chunk?
Note again, that the contractor’s job is to sign the refugees up for their welfare goodies.  You can be sure that no matter how hard they wish it, the refugees are NOT “independent” in three months as they claim.

Refugees receive $925 in federal funding for the first 30 days. It helps pay for setting up their households, food, housing and nominal expenses. Their refugee status many help them qualify for other income-based public assistance programs including cash assistance, Medi-Cal, and CalFresh (food stamps) for up to eight months for adults without dependent children. Families with children are eligible to receive benefits for four years.

Opening Doors supports them for three months from the date of arrival in Sacramento. The agency enrolls refugees in ESL classes, human services and employment services to help them to become independent at the end of the three months.

Maybe it’s the reporter’s fault, but someone needs to see if this contractor is keeping a big chunk of the refugees’ cash.
*** Here is Opening Doors’ most recently available Form 990.  They are a $1.3 million a year business with just about $1 million coming from your wallets.
Endnote: An Iraqi refugee wrote this criticism of Opening Doors in 2010.

CAIR steps into refugee debate in Redlands, CA

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We told you the other day that concerned citizens have stepped forward in Redlands, CA to question their local elected government about any plans they might have heard about to resettle refugees in Redlands.  Of special concern are the Syrian Muslims now expected to arrive in large numbers in the coming months.
This is new….

CAIR CA
“This paranoia and phobia is rooted in a combination of ignorance and bigotry.” (name calling will get you no where!)

CAIR is the Council on American Islamic Relations and is active (and makes news) in demanding rights for Muslims in America.  However, it is only recently that they have become publicly involved in the Refugee Admissions Program of the UN/US State Department as we told you about here in Connecticut recently (more on CT later this morning).
We have long suspected that they have been quietly advancing the Hijra to America, but again, only recently have we seen news that they are out in the open promoting refugee resettlement.
From Redlands Daily Facts (emphasis is mine):

REDLANDS >> Southern California Islamic leaders have responded to comments made by members of the Redlands Townhall and Redlands Tea Party Patriots about the possibility of Muslim Syrian and African refugees resettling in town.

Members of both groups last week asked the City Council members their plan if asked to resettle refugees. They said they were concerned that Muslims who have beliefs contrary to the United States Constitution and ties to terrorist groups could be living in Redlands.

There is no formal proposal to resettle refugees in Redlands.

Mohammad M. Hossain, founder of the Islamic Center of Redlands, said the refugees are homeless and have nothing, so everybody has a duty to help them — that they would be grateful and not commit violence.

The Islamic Community Center of Redlands in Loma Linda is inviting the public to an Open Mosque Day on Sunday in the wake of the comments made during the Oct. 6 City Council meeting.

The center in Loma Linda declined an interview but sent comments by emailed statement.

[….]

Victoria Hargrave of Redlands Townhall said on Wednesday that our nation is based on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and we value freedom of speech, freedom of religion and property rights as protected by the Constitution. She said Muslims reject these values and are coming to America to impose Sharia law.

“This paranoia and phobia is rooted in a combination of ignorance and bigotry,” said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and chairman of the Syrian American Council in a telephone interview Wednesday about the Redlands tea party concerns.

More here…..
I wonder would the mosque and CAIR be involved at all, if we were saving mostly Christian Syrians and not resettling mostly Muslims as we are now.
Concerned citizens should follow the example of the grassroots groups (the pocket of resistance) in Redlands, and go on the offensive by preemptively telling your local elected government that you are concerned about third world refugees coming to your towns especially because those refugees are going to place a large financial burden on state and local taxpayers, in addition to posing a potential security threat.

Remember the Director of the FBI James Comey testified in Congress just last week that they cannot screen Syrian refugees (truth-be-told, they can’t properly screen the Somalis, the Iraqis and the Afghanis either!).

Redlands, CA: Citizens tell mayor—no Syrian or African refugees for us!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

One of the most difficult hurdles we have to overcome is the sheer ignorance of local elected officials about how the Refugee Admissions Program of the UN/US State Department operates.  Here we have a mayor of a California city saying he has no say about refugees being “sponsored” by a Catholic parish.
Mr. Mayor, they are not “sponsored” by the parish.  The local Catholic Charities is PAID by the US State Department to resettle refugees chosen in Washington (by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the US State Dept) for Redlands.  The least you could do is hold a public forum so that you and the community understand exactly what will be expected of you if some of the large number of Syrian Muslims Obama is admitting to the US will be distributed there.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is asking Obama for 100,000 Syrians for this fiscal year. They will be looking at every town in America for future placements.

Foster_Paul
Redlands Mayor Paul Foster still think Catholic Charities “sponsors” refugees! Stuck in the Vietnam era, he apparently doesn’t know they are paid by the US State Department (by the head) to resettle refugees.

It only makes sense that Catholic Charities (USCCB) around the country are gearing up to expand their resettlement operations and I urge all of you to start paying attention.
Go here and see exactly which cities have Catholic Charities operating on behalf of the federal government. Redlands is near Los Angeles and you will find this branch of Catholic Charities listed in San Bernardino.
If you suspect a resettlement contractor, like Catholic Charities, is ramping-up where you live, let us know!

Pocket of resistance?

From Redlands Daily Facts:

REDLANDS >> Some members of Redlands Townhall and the Redlands Tea Party Patriots have called on city officials to keep Syrian and African refugees from resettling here.

They asked City Council members Tuesday what their plan will be if the city is asked to resettle some of the 85,000 refugees expected to come to the United States in 2016.

“We are researching the issue and preparing to provide information to the City Council in the near future,” said city spokesman Carl Baker in an email.

Citizens asking questions!  This is what everyone should be doing right now (even before there is a mention of impoverished third worlders being brought to town).

“Where will they be housed? How will their expenses be paid and by whom? And what will be done to ensure the safety of our community? Our biggest concern is the safety of our family, our children and our grandchildren,” Victoria Hargrave of Redlands Townhall said the council on Tuesday.

“The Obama administration would like to bring in 85,000 Syrian refugees into our country in the calendar year that just started on Oct. 1 and they have admitted that they have no database or source of information with which to vet these refugees,” she said. “There are primarily Sunni Muslims. Al-Qaida are Sunni Muslims whose culture and ideology are completely contrary to our Constitution.”

Intelligence officials and Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns that Islamic State militants could seek to slip into Europe or the U.S. posing as migrants.

[….]

Myhanh Luu, refugee resettlement service director for Catholic Charities San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, which has assisted refugees from all over the world, said they have not yet heard about the Syrian and African refugees needing resettlement in the Inland Empire.

[….]

Mayor Paul Foster said he directed City Manager N. Enrique Martinez to look into the issue. But, he said, it is not the city’s business to tell a parish not to sponsor refugees.

“They certainly would have the right, as they did years ago when we had Laotian and Vietnamese refugees and Cambodian refugees,” Foster said. “Groups all over the country brought refugees in, primarily through faith-based organizations and churches themselves and sponsored them and helped them reestablish their lives in our country.  [The mayor is 35 years behind the times! That is not how refugees are distributed today!—ed]

“I certainly don’t see that as being something local municipal governments should be out there opposing or fighting in any way or telling them what they should be doing.”

Citizens need to disabuse this mayor and others like him of this notion—it is most definitely his job to protect his community from economic, cultural and security stress!  I’m sure the federal government would be happy to run his town!
Go here for more on Pockets of Resistance (we have a relatively new category to archive your activities).

Plumas Lake, CA is on the US State Department list of cities that have already received Syrian refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Unless the US State Department has made an error in reporting its own data.

John_Garamendi_113th_Congress
Rep. Garamendi (D-CA) represents the 3rd district of California easily within the US State Dept. approved hundred mile radius of Sacramento where resettlement contractors are abundant. The Congressman must now ask the State Department if their data base is wrong! Or is someone not being truthful!

This popped up in my alerts just now from the Appeal-Democrat. The editor must be referring to a blog post here at RRW and he tells us that we are wrong.
Here is the editor:

Syrian refugees in our neghborhood? Not likely, but if it were, what ramifications?

A reader sent along links to a website purporting to advise citizens around the country that Syrian refugees were already coming into the U.S. and had settled in several towns.

The list included Plumas Lake. But we asked a member of U.S. Rep. John Garamendi’s staff to help us find out about it, and it was reported back to us that there are no known refugees in Plumas Lake and that’s it’s pretty unlikely there would be Syrian refugees settled anywhere around the Yuba-Sutter area.

Then this that shows the stunning ignorance of the Congressman or his staff:

Garamendi’s message went on to make a couple other important points:

Syrian refugees are likely to be settled in areas with existing Syrian communities — most likely the metro areas of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Detroit.

It is possible some of the refugees could be settled in additional areas, with the assistance of the nonprofits.

All of the cities listed in my original post are receiving Syrian refugees according to State Department data (not just large cities with Arab populations!). (The State Department and its contractors are well known for keeping resettlement sites secret.)
And, apparently the Office of Congressman Garamendi doesn’t know how to access State Department data.
I just rechecked the Refugee Processing Center data base and Plumas Lake, CA is listed as having received 7 Syrian refugees this year and 3 Ukrainians.  So, I would suggest that Rep. Garamendi go back to the US State Department and ask if they have an error in their data base, or have they mislead him?
For anyone else who would like to have a look (don’t be shy or lazy!), go to the data base and search for ‘arrivals by destination and nationality.’ You will enter the parameters of your search.  I have been using 1/1/2012 as the start date for Syrians entering the US. I usually search by calendar year.
By the way, Plumas Lake is only 30 miles or so from a whole host of federal refugee resettlement contractors so it is no surprise if they are moving the excess out to surrounding towns. (Affordable housing is often a limiting factor in cities like Sacramento!).
You can also use that same data base to learn the religions of the refugees entering the US and we found that 97% of those who have entered from Syria in 2015 are Sunni Muslims.
Go here to see the map of all resettlement contractors operating in the US—including those near Plumas Lake.
To the editor of the Appeal-Democrat, when the US State Department reports the truth—either there are Syrians in your community, or that their database is wrong, let us know!

California No Borders activists call Illegal aliens "refugees" in Napa Valley; want Pelosi to send federal cash

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor:  Subscribers might have just gotten this post in early draft form since my computer is giving me fits this morning! Sorry about that!
This little story in the Napa Valley Register (St. Helena Star) caught my eye since I was just in the beautiful Napa Valley last week.

LOL! Check out this story at Top Right News: http://toprightnews.com/nancy-pelosi-illegal-aliens-border-wish-take-home/

This is what the No Borders Left and their friends in the Catholic Church are trying to do everywhere—-re-classify illegal aliens by calling them “refugees.”
The word “refugee” has a very important distinction that activists like the Jesuit priest and his friends in this story want to erase and that is that a legitimate refugee must be able to prove that he/she is being personally persecuted for one of several reasons including race, religion, or political view and is thus in danger if returned to their home country.  This might seem like a little point to make, but believe me it is a big deal issue for the Left.
Illegal workers in Napa Valley are economic migrants, not refugees.  But, the Left (the Religious Left too) sure would like them designated as refugees so that they will be eligible for all forms of social services and will be given permission to work and eventually to vote here.
From the Napa Valley Register (St. Helena Star) (emphasis is mine):

According to the UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), 51 million men, women, and children have been displaced from their homes due to famine, disease, or economic hardship.

Some of those are in the Napa Valley.

St. Helenans Martin and Rita Bennett invited Father Peter Balleis of the Jesuit Refugee Service to St. Helena on World Refugee Day, June 20, to speak to small groups of people.

Martin Bennett said his focus has become one of advocacy for those who are displaced, the so-called “illegals,” undocumented migrants who come looking for work in the restaurants and the vineyard fields. “The Napa Valley is unparalleled in its generosity to causes,” he said. “But these refugees are here, in the valley, seeking employment.”  [Again, they are NOT refugees.—ed]

And even though they are not necessarily visible or perceived as refugees, he said, their plight needs to be addressed. “We can go where they are, find out what they need, and try to help,” he said. “And we can write letters to the State Department, to Nancy Pelosi, and to Mike Thompson, to encourage them to increase the budget for addressing the issues of refugees.”

I wondered if Pelosi ‘welcomes refugees’ to her California vineyard and found this 2014 story and photo.