We told you recently that the NY Times has gone to bat for Hamdi Ulukaya who is changing Twin Falls, Idaho with a refugee worker flow for his world’s largest yogurt plant there. As I said yesterday, some of the big players in the UN/US refugee program are giant corporations, some of them foreign-owned, that want CHEAP labor. Think about it! If companies like Chobani didn’t have the steady supply of immigrant/refugee labor they might have to hire American workers and pay them better wages!
Since I’ve been writing about Church World Service this morning, I thought you might like to see what CWS’s highly paid CEO is saying to the NYT. Is he looking for a little moola from Hamdi? Here:
On behalf of CWS, a global humanitarian organization and refugee resettlement agency, I commend Chobani’s founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, for making the concerted effort to employ more refugees at his yogurt company. In a time of widespread xenophobia and hateful rhetoric, his compassion, boldness and good entrepreneurial sense are especially uplifting.
CWS CEO Rev. John McCullough being arrested in Washington, DC protesting in support of Obama’s executive amnesty. Photo and story here: http://njfon.org/2015/04/08/faith-groups-challenge-fifth-circuit-court-on-presidents-immigration-actions/ McCullough pulls down an annual salary of over $300,000 a year from his CWS work and from “related organizations.” Page 13- 14 http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2015/134/080/2015-134080201-0c44e710-9.pdf
Through his own employment practices, he helps demonstrate that refugees are hardworking, productive members of our society, not the economic burden some suggest.
Mr. Ulukaya, an immigrant from Turkey, also warrants our praise for establishing a foundation that assists migrants, traveling to Greece to witness the refugee crisis firsthand and committing to give away most of his fortune to help refugees.
Mr. Ulukaya illustrates tangibly what’s right about our country: longstanding values of hospitality, diversity and industry.
(Rev.) JOHN L. McCULLOUGH
New York
The writer is president and chief executive of CWS (Church World Service).
Learn about CWS’s finances here.
See our extensive archive on CWS, by clicking here.
Our Twin Falls archive is here. About the photo on McCullough’s arrest: Why would a non-profit group, that is being paid millions of tax dollars each year to help legal refugees get established and find jobs in the US, be out protesting on behalf of illegal aliens who will in turn (if granted amnesty) be in direct competition with refugees for jobs? I have never understood the sense of this. The only logical explanation is that CWS and McCullough are out to change America by changing the people no matter how they have to do it!
We told you on October 28th that Church World Serviceis planning to bring refugees, mostly from Syria and the Middle East, to Poughkeepsie, NY, and the plans were kept secret from the city elected officials and the public in general until very recently. The arrival of the first Syrians is apparently only a month or so away. Erol Kekic, Director Immigration and Refugee Program Church World Service
Because most citizens don’t fully understand how costly resettlement is and they don’t know (because all mainstream media is silent) how disruptive to the social make-up of communities large numbers of refugees have been, they don’t know enough to ask enough good questions so they naturally focus first and foremost on the security issue. They want to know if Islamic terrorists could be hiding among them?
Refugee industry spokesmen are quick to make a joke, asking why would a terrorist want to go through such a lengthy process to get here, when they can simply fly in or walk across the border (a question which invariably brings laughs in the audience).
One thing we never hear about outside of certain circles is the fact that some Muslim refugee children in America have grown up to be jihadists—-dozens of them from the Somali community in Minnesota, for example, have thumbed their noses at your good will and left for battle in Africa or the Middle East. Others have tried to show their jihadist ‘skills’ here. Read about the Poughkeepsie meeting and pay close attention to how an official of Church World Service attempts to answer security concerns.
From the Times-Herald Record:
Former refugee Erol Kekic, executive director of the Immigration and Refugee Program, told attendees that refugees are vetted vigorously, especially those from Syria.
“We have not had one single refugee commit an act of terrorism,” Kekic said to a large round of applause.
Mohamed Mohamud a Somali refugee who came to the US as a child is serving a 30 year sentence for planning to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, OR. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/10/01/portland-or-somali-christmas-tree-bomber-to-be-sentenced-today/
Apparently no one in the audience was knowledgeable enough to ask the follow-up question:
How many refugees have been arrested and convicted of planning terrorist attacks—arrested before they could commit the act?
The answer is a larger number than we should find acceptable!
Off the top of my head: There were the Iraqis men arrested in Kentuckyin 2011 who were working with Al Qaeda in Iraq (doing life in prison now). ABC Newsdid cover this story! Indeed the whole Iraqi flow to America was disrupted for a year or so in the wake of that revelation and all Iraqis on the way in were re-screened.
Then here are some of the kids you welcomed:
There was the Somali Christmas tree bombersentenced in 2014.
Most recently there was the Iraqi refugee who admitted to planning an ISIS bombing in Houston, here.
And, we can’t forget an ISIS sympathizer (Somali refugee) who was successful in attacking and wounding shoppers in a mall in St. Cloud, MN, here.
Although they have never admitted it (to my knowledge), I believe the Chattanooga killer’s family was a resettled refugee family, see here.
There are others, visit our crimes categoryhere with over 2,000 refugee crimes and terror attacks/attack planning from all over the world.
I know many of you will cite the Boston Bombers. Yes, they were ‘refugees’ who entered the US with their parents who were granted political asylum (which made them refugees). Kekic would argue that they don’t count because they didn’t come through the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program run by contractors like Church World Service.
Be sure to revisit mypost of last weekon Church World Service’s finances. Poor Mr. Kekic is not being paid very well (he doesn’t make the top employees’ list on their recent Form 990) compared to other top execs of the organization. What’s up with that, he has been around for a long time—almost 17 years according to LinkedIn.
What a difference 9 years makes!
In 2007, I started writing Refugee Resettlement Watch because my local newspaper editor wouldn’t send a reporter out to find the answers and explain to the public how it was that a Virginia-based ‘church’ group could choose our county seat in Maryland in which to place impoverished people. I assumed, and I think correctly, that most local papers back then wouldn’t discuss the program in any way other than to report on fluffy-puffy stories about refugees seeing their first snow. The member of Congress representing Poughkeepsie is Sean Patrick Maloney(D) who began his political career in the Clinton White House. Just like every district in America, if you want to slow the flow of refugees (or not start the flow in the first place), there is only one place you should direct your ire, your energy, your political pressure, and that is at your MEMBER OF CONGRESS. They don’t want you to know they could use the power of the purse if they weren’t either complicit in the plan to seed your towns with third worlders/cheap labor, or were too scared to use it. Rep. Maloney is probably hiding, claiming he knows nothing about the plans, but he should know, it is his job! See my 2007 postand the questions I thought the Hagerstown Herald Mail should answer for the public. By the way, Church World Service (setting up shop in Poughkeepsie) was the major contractor where I live too. Virginia Council of Churches was the immediate subcontractor in charge.
I thus chuckled when I saw this reportat the Poughkeepsie Journal this morning. The paper is at least making some effort to educate the public. I would like to add more facts and quibble with some of it, but because of a shortage of time, here are just a couple of reporter Jordan Fenster’s points I want to mention. He lists five things your city needs to know, I have Ten Things,see here.
For new readers see our previous three posts on Poughkeepsie, here, here and here. Poughkeepsie Journal:
Plans to settle 80 refugees in Poughkeepsie have caused much discussion: Can the Church World Service Network set up shop and resettle refugees wherever it wants? Who has authority over the resettlement process?
Here are five things to know about the process of refugee resettlement:
[….]
2. Federal law requires the use of outside contractors
The Refugee Act of 1980 asks the director of the ORR to cut costs whenever possible, and specifically requests the use of outside contractors.
In 2014, the ORR paid out $606,805,703 to state, resettlement and nonprofit agencies, $29,422,396 of which went to programs in New York.
The Church World Service Network is considered an effective agency by the ORR, which tracks refugees’ path to self-sufficiency. In 2014, 83 percent of the organizations refugee clients were deemed “self-sufficient,” more than any other agency contracted by the ORR.
I’m glad to see that the reporter tells readers about the enormous federal TAXPAYER outlay! The Refugee Act of 1980 set up the system of so-called public-private partnerships, but the understanding was that it would be a 50-50 deal, not a 90-10 (or worse deal where taxpayers shell out 90% of the costs, sometimes more). This last bit about self-sufficiency is bogus because a refugee can be on medicaid, food stamps and live in public housing and still be labelled “self-sufficient.”
But, the most interesting thing about #2 above is the use of the word CONTRACTOR. They were not identified (accurately!) as such much before 2007 that I know of. They are federal contractors just like Haliburton is a federal contractor.
Jumping to Poughkeepsie Journal’s point #4 where the reporter made a good choice in choosing Amarillo as an example of a ‘pocket of resistance’ to highlight.One of our posts on Amarillois near the top of our all-time most read posts.
4. Amarillo argued for more state and local control
Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole went to the Texas state house in April to argue against what he said was an inordinately large number of refugees coming into his city, as the Amarillo Globe-News reported.
Harpole testified that his city receives about 500 refugees a year, “more refugees per 100,000 population than any city in the world.”
The problem, according to Harpole, is that he, state leaders and even federal representatives have no say in how many refugees are resettled in a specific location.
“What the Senators are talking about is why the federal government gives the state no control over this and no insight,” he said.
More here.
At this point in time, state officials may have little or no say, but it is one of the major areas of reform needed if there is going to be a refugee program going forward.
But, I don’t want readers to assume that whatever Obama (or God forbid Hillary) want with the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program will happen as if no one has any power to push back. Even Senators Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and Pres. Jimmy Carter (creators of the 1980 Act) knew that there is a way to rein-in this program any time it wanted and that is for CONGRESS USE OF THE POWER OF THE PURSE!
Unfortunately, Congress has shirked its duty for decades!
See one of many of my recent posts on DEFUNDINGthe program in the upcoming Lame Duck session of Congress.
If Hillary is elected on Tuesday and Sean Patrick Maloney is returned to Congress, without a doubt, there will be no hope for Poughkeepsie……
Many of you may know Church World Service as the ‘church’ charity that does the annual ‘Crop Walk’ where they raise funds in your towns for their migration activities among other things. A list of affiliated churches is below. CWS income from July 1,2014 to June 30,2015. http://cwsglobal.org/about/financials-2/
They are also a part of the ‘religious left’ as a member of the National Council of Churches.
My figures, based on their most recent Form 990, indicate that they are 67% funded by taxpayer dollars. A pie chart on their website puts it at 64%.
This is the latest in my updates on how much each of the nine federal resettlement contractorsreceive from you:
Church World Service is attempting to get an office up and running in Poughkeepsie, NYso that news reminded me to check into their finances. If these contractors were true non-profit groups raising private money for private charity their finances would not be of interest to me, but as a quasi-government agency largely funded with our tax dollars, their financial position (salaries etc) is our business.
Here is a list of all the refugee resettlement officesthey have in the US already (they are adding Poughkeepsie to the list).
This is what I learned from their most recent Form 990, here, on page 9:
CWS CEO Rev. John McCullough being arrested in Washington, DC protesting in support of Obama’s executive amnesty. Photo and story here: http://njfon.org/2015/04/08/faith-groups-challenge-fifth-circuit-court-on-presidents-immigration-actions/ McCullough pulls down an annual salary of over $300,000 a year from his CWS work and from “related organizations.” Page 13- 14 http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2015/134/080/2015-134080201-0c44e710-9.pdf
They had a total income of $77,756,307.
$50,116,190 comes from federal grants (that is you)
$1,730,678 is from Refugee Services Program and likely includes the airfare loan money they pocketed (your money).
And, they have an additional income of $623,006 from something called ‘Development, Emergency, Refugee’ (assuming this is coming from taxpayers too!).
The total income from taxpayers is then $52,469,874. The Crop Walk accounts for about half of the legitimate charitable income in their budget.
Not as bad as the three contractors we’ve already reported on above, but CWS has that Crop Walk to fall back on for extra bucks. I’m calculating this as 67% (they say 64%) of their budget which means that either way they would die if you weren’t ‘contributing’ your tax dollars to their coffers. Go here for our complete archive on Church World Service.
Is your church affiliated with Church World Service?
Uh! Oh! The resettlement contractors are getting awful cocky (and desperate for new sites). I assumed (when I first mentioned Poughkeepsie) that there were some local officials brought in on the plan to begin resettling Syrians in Poughkeepsie in a few short months, but the mayor and others are denying they were informed. Mayor of Poughkeepsie Rob Rolison (R) says he hasn’t been included in discussions while DOS has already approved the site. Welcome to the secret world of refugee planning from Washington. Bio here: http://robrolison.com/about-rob/
It appears, according to USA Today!, that Church World Service and the US State Department acted unilaterally (and against the law!) if they have already settled on this new site.
The Refugee Act of 1980 requires consultation with local elected officials. They often skirt this requirement by putting on a small briefing for someone in local government just to check the box, but wow, they didn’t even do that here (or so the mayor says!).
See our previous posts on Poughkeepsie here, and here.
From USA Today(headline: “Refugee resettlement planned for Poughkeepsie, but city officials unaware”):
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — The Church World Service network expects to settle 80 refugees in the City of Poughkeepsie in the next fiscal year in conjunction with opening a resettlement office in the city, network representative said. But area officials, including City Mayor Rob Rolison, do not have details on how the settlements will work, and the Dutchess County Executive’s Office says it did not have a hand in approving the plan.
The faith-based Church World Service network, or CWS, is set to open a resettlement office in the City of Poughkeepsie, according to Christina Levin, director for external relations at CWS.
[….]
The Poughkeepsie office, which would serve refugees from all countries, was approved by the state Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. The exact location of the office to still to be determined.
CWS’ presence in Poughkeepsie has ignited debate among the candidates for the 18th Congressional District seat in next week’s election, as well as area residents. At least one group of local organizations has banded together to support the resettlement efforts.
Levin said the CWS has been “working with a number of local partners, including the City of Poughkeepsie” in establishing the office.
[….]
But, Rolison said Wednesday he is still seeking answers regarding how the plan will work.
[….]
“We learned recently that they were considering Poughkeepsie for this, and now that is has been announced they’re going to establish one in the greater Poughkeepsie area, I’ve reached out and left a message (with CWS) about it. We’re trying to learn more details. At this point, I don’t have any,” Rolison said.
Much more here. Tip for the mayor: Do not bother with CWS, just go right to the US Department of State in Washington,DC for answers. Find out from Barbara Dayhow all this has come about.
Concerned citizens better get registered for this meeting next week. I warn you this will be a controlled meeting which means they will probably not allow open questions from the floor. Learn a little about something called the Delphi Techniquefor controlling the outcome of a meeting. Here are all of our mentions of the technique, don’t let them herd you like cattle.
Church World Service will hold an information session about the new Poughkeepsie office Thursday, November 10. at the Adriance Memorial Library.
By the way CWS was the contractor where I live that was responsible for the creation of RRW in 2007 because straight answers were not forthcoming. I need to do a new dossier on their finances, but I am tired of researching today…tomorrow maybe!
