As I said the other day, there isn’t much news about refugees in the US in the wake of the Chinese virus shutdown except for the fluffy-puffy storieslike this onefrom St. Louis where we learn about the challenging times (no jobs!) a new refugee family from the DR Congo is having as they arrived in the US (in March!) in the midst of stay at home orders.
Still no word when the US would fully open the refugee pipeline, however I see that according to data at the Refugee Processing Centerwe have admitted 35 refugees since May 1.
None came from the DR Congo. They came from various countries with the largest number (14) coming from Syria. Those 14 Syrians were resettled in Idaho, NY and NC.
Meanwhile the Chinese Virus has caused some shifting in target countries (we are told) with fewer migrants seeking asylum in Germany and more going to Spain. Of course that makes no sense to me as Spain has a huge death toll from the virus.
However, this was enlightening and surely explains the attraction to Spain: Spain is welcoming large numbers of asylum seekers from Colombia, Venezuela and Honduras. They must be flying into Spain and simply asking for asylum when they land.
Germany no longer top destination for asylum seekers in Europe
The number of asylum seekers arriving in the European Union decreased significantly in the first quarter of 2020. Spain has overtaken Germany as the country receiving the most asylum applications – suggesting that the coronavirus epidemic is shifting long-standing migration patterns.
Asylum applications in Europe down 25 percent
The number of asylum applications submitted to EU member states, Switzerland and Norway went down by 25 percent in the first four months of 2020, Die Welt reported last week, citing as-yet unpublished numbers from the EU’s asylum agency EASO.
From the beginning of January to the end of April, a total of 164.718 asylum applications were submitted. During the same period in 2019, more than 220.000 applications were received. This year, Spain received the most applications (37.471) – mostly from migrants from Colombia, Venezuela and Honduras.
The uptick in migration from Latin America means that Germany – traditionally the top destination in Europe for asylum seekers – fell in the first quarter of the year to second place, with 33.714 applications, of which 23 percent came from Syria, 9,3 percent from Iraq and 7,7 percent from Afghanistan.
The next top destinations included France with 28.710 applications, Greece (21.153) and Italy (8.025).
Another reason Germany may have lost its luster is that Germany requires asylum seekers to live in reception centers and there are an increasing number of reports of asylum seekers held in German refugee ‘camps’ infected with COVID-19.
Open Borders activists are raising a ruckus, but note that most of those who tested positive are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms.
At least 70 people at a refugee home near Bonn have tested positive for COVID-19. News of the outbreak prompted calls for better protection for asylum-seekers and more testing at the often crowded facilities.
[….]
Most of the people who have tested positive for the virus either had mild or no symptoms, the district government said.
The residents who tested positive have been isolated, authorities said, adding that 60 people whose tests came back negative have been transferred to another home.
Testing ‘happening far too late’
News of the outbreak prompted swift criticism, with politicians urging for better protections for asylum-seekers.
[….]
Asylum-seekers in Germany are required to live in “reception centers,” or shared accommodations, during their asylum applications. Many live with several hundred other inhabitants, with some sharing rooms with strangers.
The conditions and lack of privacy in Germany’s facilities for asylum-seekers have long been criticized by refugee and immigrant rights groups, with the coronavirus pandemic raising fears among asylum-seekers and activists alike.
In case you are wondering how the Rohingya in Bangladesh are faring with the arrival of the virus, there is no additional news and apparently no spreading like wildfire yet. We are watching!
“Now that the virus has entered the world’s largest refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar we are looking at the very real prospect that thousands of people may die from COVID-19.”
(Dr. Shamim Jahan)
Two days ago I told you that the first cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed at a refugee camp in Bangladesh housing tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims.
The mainstream media has been predicting “catastrophic” carnage for weeks.
I’m going to report on the effect on the camp in the days and weeks ahead because I think it will be illustrative on the issue of social distancing.
I’m not wishing for a certain outcome, nor am I predicting what will happen. I will just report.
When it comes to anything to do with the Rohingya, the mainstream media’s myopic view is not to be trusted. Combined with its coverage of COVID, finding facts will be a challenge.
In breathless tones I see that NPR,the Hill,Deutsche Welle, the BBCand Reutersare all jumping on the news they have been waiting for over the last two months.
COVID-19 Has Arrived In Rohingya Refugee Camps And Aid Workers Fear The Worst
It’s the moment international aid groups have been dreading for months — the coronavirus has reached the sprawling refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar district of southern Bangladesh, home to roughly a million Rohingya refugees.
Save the Children’s health director in Bangladesh, Dr. Shamim Jahan.
Bangladesh officials said on Thursday that at least two people living in or adjacent to the camps have tested positive for the coronavirus and have now been quarantined amid fears of a humanitarian disaster if the virus spreads unchecked.
“I’m deeply concerned, but, sadly, not surprised at all,” Deepmala Mahla, CARE’s regional director for Asia, told NPR.
“I am scared, I am worried, but I also feel that this is a stark reminder how vulnerable the Rohingya refugees are,” she said.
Save the Children’s health director in Bangladesh, Dr. Shamim Jahan, is worried, too. In a statement, he warned of the “catastrophic” effect of the virus on the Rohingya, and on Bangladesh in general.
“Now that the virus has entered the world’s largest refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar we are looking at the very real prospect that thousands of people may die from COVID-19,” he said.
See my Rohingya Reportscategory with over 200 posts extending back a dozen years. The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic group that is permitted to be resettled in the US (there is no Muslim ban!).
What does that mean for the masses of refugees and other immigrants waiting to find a spot on the chicken or pork processing line in America?
Frankly, it spells doom and our great minds in Washington had better be working on a plan for managing the millions admitted to the US each year as cheap expendable labor.
“As companies have recovered their revenues and reopened their supply chains, they have increasingly invested not on rehiring the workforce but on automation and on reducing their dependence on manpower.”
(Leslie Joseph at Foresters)
The story is from Forbesand it addresses one of the many changes coming to America in the wake of the Chinese virus ‘crisis.’
Coronavirus Is Forcing Companies To Speed Up Automation, For Better And For Worse
Coronavirus will force companies to speed up their plans to replace jobs with automation, according to a report published by analyst company Forrester. In its report, Forrester notes that many companies are set to invest more in automation than in rehiring in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, corroborating earlier reports that had claimed many businesses were already planning to accelerate their automation strategies.
The news comes as businesses ponder how they can resume working amid lockdowns and social distancing. And while many will take the news as confirmation of their worst automation-themed fears, Forrester’s report urges companies who haven’t already done so to ramp up their automation plans. Indeed, Forrester holds that automation may become key to surviving a coronavirus recession, at least as far as businesses are concerned.
Let’s hope some in Washington are thinking ahead, but don’t hold your breath!
Update: After I had posted this story, I spotted this one at The New Yorkerentitled:
An A.F.L.-C.I.O. Adviser Considers the Future of American Workers
It is all about Presidential politics, race and voting, but a key word is missing when Michael Podhorzer, the former political director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., who now serves as a senior adviser to the union’s president, Richard Trumka, discusses the future of the American worker in the wake of COVID.
I’m posting this news because I have been following (for weeks!) the media’s hyper focus on the Chinese Virus and its potential threat to large refugee camps worldwide. Now it appears the first cases have arrived.
The value of social distancing (or lack of it) is about to be tested.
Over two weeks ago I told you that the carnage watch was on, see here.
In case you don’t think the Rohingya have anything to do with you, think again.
You need to know that Rohingya Muslims (there is no Muslim ban!) are being resettled in the US in large numbers (prior to the COVID shutdown) during the Trump Administration.
Here is one story about Rohingya refugees staging a political protest in Arizona a couple of years ago with a little information for you on the Rohingya back story.
See over 200 additional posts on Rohingya in myRohingya Reportscategory.
Their situation is much more complicated than the superficial media-created meme that depicts them as pure as the driven snow while Burmese Buddhists are their persecutors.
Coronavirus: Two Rohingya test positive in refugee camp
Rohingya camp at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
Two Rohingya refugees have tested positive for coronavirus in the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh, officials say.
These are the first confirmed cases among refugees in Cox’s Bazar, where around one million Rohingya are encamped, a government doctor said.
Officials told the BBC that those infected were now being treated in isolation.
About 1,900 other refugees are now being isolated for tests.
The Rohingya in the crowded camps of Cox’s Bazar have been living under lockdown since 14 March.
In Greece, which is also home to large numbers of refugees, officials are hoping to relocate around 1,600 vulnerable persons from its camps to other countries as the pandemic eases.
Two migrants who reached Greece’s Lesbos island this week tested positive for Covid-19 and were isolated with no contact with refugee camps on the island.
Go here to read about the big Greek camps. A couple of newly arrived African migrants have tested positive for the Chinese virus, but notice that the big island camps are still largely not impacted.
Tomorrow is the previously stated date for refugees to begin arriving again in large numbers. They have been trickling in, probably a couple of hundred in the last two months since refugee travel was halted by the United Nations, but the US Refugee Program is largely shut down.
Special Immigrant Visas do continue to arrive from Afghanistan by the hundreds, but I’ll leave that discussion for another day.
Meanwhile the only news coming out of the mainstream media about refugees in America are sob stories about how they are struggling, out of work, fearful of being evicted, and trying to cope with COVID (like all of America!).
Some are working in essential services like meatpacking (Yogurt making?), others like those in the hospitality industry are out of work in large numbers.
Hereis one such story from Twin Falls, Idahowhere controversy over refugee resettlement has been muted after years of public protests about how the program was changing Idaho.
‘It’s like we’re living a half life’ — For refugees, COVID-19 impacts depend on where they live
The star of this story, a refugee from the DR Congo, says he is more worried about his brother in a refugee camp in Africa.
However, so far, the Chinese Virus has made no significant impact on refugee camps (although as I have reportedit isn’t for the media’s lack of interest, they expect catastrophe momentarily).
The article mostly discusses how challenging it is for refugees to live here in America these days (especially as many can’t speak English) and how the refugee agencies are short of funding and also cannot help refugees in person. (Why not? Where are their masks?)
They really aren’t short of funding as I pointed out here. The nine major contractors that send money down to subcontractors are getting nearly as much as they did during the Obama years (some are getting more!) when thousands upon thousands arrived every month!
The motherships must be holding on to the cash in order to pay salaries of their top execs. Besides, letting the low level staffers go makes for a better media story anyway!
Here is one little snip from this publication (these Idaho papers are prickly, they once sent me a letter telling me I couldn’t snip their stories).
Director Zeze Rwasama College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center in Twin Falls, Idaho. CSI is a subcontractor of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
The federal government pushed the date resettlements would restart from May 1 to May 15, but resettlement centers anticipate it will be pushed again.
“For that to happen involves the coordination of many government agencies to allow a refugee to travel,” Rwasama said.
“Many of those agencies are working with limited staff. I don’t see how we can receive refugees during this time.”
Coping with reduced budgets:
Now that refugee resettlement is halted in the wake of COVID-19, federal funding coming to resettlement programs will be drastically reduced…
Then there is an AP storycirculating mostly about Arizona Afghans you can read yourself entitled:
New refugees struggle to find footing in US during pandemic
Coping with reduced budgets! Not!
The College of Southern Idaho Refugee Program is a subcontractorof the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrantswhich is almost 100% funded by taxpayers. Its chief executive officer makes at least a quarter of a million a year in salary (last we checked) that YOU are paying.
Here is how they are doing financially from USA Spending….
The $90 million in the left hand corner is the amount of federal funding they have received in the last 12 months!
The International Rescue Committee, also mentioned in the Twin Falls sob story, has seen little change in its financial position from the Obama years. Its CEO, David Miliband, is pulling down a salary approaching a million dollars annually.
How about if they pony-up some of their federal funding to directly feed and house refugees they have distributed around America for years.
Why should taxpayers first pay for the resettlement and now pay for refugee care during the virus crisis?
$215 Million in the last twelve months!
This is no time to resume admitting more poverty to America!
At least 70 people at a refugee home near Bonn have tested positive for COVID-19. News of the outbreak prompted calls for better protection for asylum-seekers and more testing at the often crowded facilities.
Coronavirus will force companies to speed up their plans to replace jobs with automation, according to a report published by analyst company Forrester. In its report, Forrester notes that many companies are set to invest more in automation than in rehiring in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, corroborating earlier reports that had claimed many businesses were already planning to accelerate their automation strategies.
