I just checked the Wrapsnet data base and see that since I wrote last week the daily average of arriving refugees has dropped. Either the data is not up to date as of yesterday (January 15th) or placement has necessarily slowed (we noted problems in Rochester with the huge flow coming in and suspect that could be happening everywhere).
Last week we reported an entry rate of 285 refugees a day (for the first 90 days) and these numbers tell us that the rate is now 257 per day (again assuming the data has been recorded up to yesterday).
Here are some screen shots of FY2017 overall numbers. I laugh every time I see that Delaware has zero because sweet ol’ Joe Biden helped create the Refugee Act of 1980, yet somehow his home state of Delaware always dodges a bullet.
Then here is a shot of the top ten states at the moment. I am fascinated to see that Kentucky is increasingly one of the top ten when it never used to be—must mean that Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul are fine with it! And, we see how impotent Texas is at slowing the flow too!
Tag: Donald Trump
What will Rex Tillerson as Sec. of State do on refugees? (No idea!)
That is the question Daniel Horowitz asks at Conservative Review yesterday. He suggests that silence on the subject doesn’t bode well for those of us who know that the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program must be scrapped as written.
My reading of the Refugee Act of 1980 is that the program is almost completely under the power of the President and Congress “consults,” but definitely does not set the numbers and the regions of the world from which we take refugees.
Here is what Horowitz says:
Given that Rex Tillerson is the first secretary of State nominee with absolutely no political or military experience, we have no clue where he stands on many critical geopolitical issues. After this week’s hearing, which was almost completely consumed with Russia and random Democrat priorities, he is still very much a blank slate, including on the all-important issue of refugees.
One of the most important issues within the purview of the secretary of State is refugee resettlement in general and the UN’s Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in particular. Although the secretary of DHS is widely viewed as the point-man on the issue of immigration, the secretary of State is the gatekeeper. The State Department works with the UN to identify the pool of refugees and bring them to our shores.
A secretary of State who has his priorities straight would serve as a positive influence on Trump and urge him to shut down or curtail the program in the face of pressure from the global elites. On the other hand, a secretary of State who subscribes to the views of James Baker, Condi Rice, Bob Corker, and Robert Gates — all strong backers of Tillerson — could serve as a major negative influence on the president-elect.
With all the negative energy that will inevitably swarm Trump on behalf of Islamic refugee resettlement, a secretary of State with anything short of a full-throated opposition to this program will become a problem in the long run.
[….]
The point is we can’t merely hope for change on immigration; we have to ensure and demand it. While repeal of Obamacare has unfortunately turned out to be needlessly complex and uncertain, the repeal of refugee resettlement is very straightforward and does not require any complicated legislation. It would be nice if we had a sense of where this administration is headed. Radio silence on these issues seldom portends a strong change in a conservative direction. [I am not a lawyer, but I think “repeal” of the Act would require Congress, but halting the program is in Trump’s power. After ‘pausing’ the program, Trump should make Congress repeal or reform it. The pause itself would be the hammer. Otherwise, when Trump leaves office in 4-8 years they could all just go back to the same old program.—ed]
Continue reading here.
Here are my thoughts in no particular order:
~I tell everyone who will listen that we can fix things like Obamacare in due time, but we can never fix the demographic changes we make every day through uncontrolled illegal and LEGAL immigration. And, Trump voters recognized that and thus immigration must be the first priority of this new administration.
~Trump can and should ‘pause’ the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program on day one. Congress can not stop him! In 1980, Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter put the power in the hands of the President to set the numbers and the nationalities.
~Some are suggesting he only pause refugees from terror-exporting regions of the world, but I believe it is politically easier to pause the whole thing. Also, I don’t have enough confidence in new Trump people to understand that although Burma (for instance) isn’t considered a terror-exporting center, we do bring unable-to-be-vetted Rohingya Muslims from that region. We also pick up some Somalis in Europe, and so I believe it will be too hard to define those terror-exporting areas of the world. And, certainly he shouldn’t admit those in the Obama Australia deal.
~That said, I’m giving him a few weeks to get it done, but know that we are adding 285 refugees to your towns and cities every day that he delays. See here. ***Update*** Daily average has dropped to 257, here.
~Congress did give the Administration more funding for the higher number of refugees coming, but a big chunk of it does not become available until February 17th, so it is important to stop the flow before that date.
~We have had no word on it, but Asst. Sec. of State Anne Richard and Director of ORR Bob Carey should be packing up their offices this week, if they haven’t already. Who the Trump team places in those two positions will tell us where Tillerson and Rep. Tom Price (HHS nominee) are on refugees.
~If Trump pauses now we will already have over 30,000 refugees admitted in the first three months of the 2017 fiscal year. Obama set the level for this year at 110,000, but Trump has no obligation to honor that HUGE number.
~The resettlement contractors will moan and wail because their federal funding depends on numbers they place. Certain members of Congress, including many Republican ‘leaders,’ will scream bloody murder as well (they want cheap immigrant labor!). But, frankly, if Congress thinks it is in our interests to continue taking refugees the UN is pushing on us, let them work on a reform of the program!
Because they are so fearful of being called names, they will never do it unless Donald Trump forces them to!
By the way, when the Bush Administration dramatically reduced the number of refugees coming in 2002 and 2003 (9/11 scared them), they conspired with the resettlement contractors to give them funding to keep their doors open even when they had so many fewer refugees to place. This writer has no sympathy for them, let them raise private money from private ‘humanitarians’ to pay their rent!
Or, heck, maybe the big globalist meatpackers and food processing companies like Chobani Yogurt can pay them to keep their doors open!
More news blaming Trump for Africans crossing in to Canada from US and asking for asylum
Expect to see a spike around the time when Trump takes office until refugees get a sense of the direction in which the new president may take immigration policy.
(Canadian Immigration lawyer Bashir Khan)
Readers might want to first check out a post from a few days ago where we reported that ‘refugees’ from Ghana were found freezing after a long walk across the US/Manitoba border, click here.
For new readers, just a reminder, we have a Canada category, here, with 186 previous posts going back nearly 10 years.
Canadian immigration lawyers are saying there is an increase in the number of mostly Somalis leaving the US and heading north and they predict that when Trump is inaugurated (in 9 days) the numbers will tick up even higher.
What concerned me most about this news is that if these Somalis were legally admitted to the US, they have nothing to fear. Why bother risking their lives traveling to Canada? So, that can only mean that they were in the US illegally and were possibly waiting on asylum claims to be processed and simply disappeared. How many more illegal Somalis are wandering around America?
Editor: I had previously posted a photo here that I now believe came from a fake news site. I apologize and have removed it.
From CBC Manitoba (hat tip: Joanne). Emphasis is mine:
The number of asylum seekers crossing the Canada-U.S. border into Manitoba on foot instead of through official ports of entry has risen fivefold in the past three years. [Keep in mind that the numbers were going up before Trump even came on the scene!—ed]
In the 2013-2014 fiscal year, 68 people illegally crossed the international border near the small, southern Manitoba community of Emerson and claimed refugee status, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). That jumped to 340 in 2015-2016.
This fiscal year’s numbers have already surpassed that, with 410 asylum seekers making the journey between April and December 2016.
According to Jacquie Callin, a CBSA spokeswoman, most of those crossing near Emerson are from Somalia, which has been wracked by civil war and political instability since the overthrow of military dictator Siad Barre in 1991.
Canada has the reputation of being a land of liberty and appeals to the unprecedented number of refugees displaced by the world’s various conflicts and crises, said immigration lawyer Bashir Khan. [Business must be booming for Mr. Khan!—ed]
[….]
CBSA reports 119 asylum seekers came to Manitoba in the coldest winter months between December 2015 and March 2016 without passing through a port of entry or border checkpoint.
Pay attention to this next line! Legitimate asylum seekers are to ask for asylum in the country in which they first arrive. If this international understanding was enforced everywhere then many of the problems the world is experiencing with migrants would be solved. Instead migrants now believe they can wander around the world looking for the best deal! It is called asylum shopping.
Under the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement signed in 2002, individuals must seek asylum in the country in which they first arrive, with a few exceptions. For instance, if a Somali refugee who arrived in the United States presented themselves at the Canadian border seeking asylum, they would be sent back to the U.S. unless they had family in Canada. [But were the illegal border-crossers sent back, there is no mention!—ed]
[….]
People entering the country without visas or proper immigration papers have been spotted walking through fields and gravel roads near the border in Emerson, whose southern boundary borders the states of North Dakota and Minnesota.
[….]
RCMP D Division patrols 520 kilometres of the Canada-U.S. border, the world’s longest undefended border. When officers find a person trying to illegally cross, they bring them to the nearest port of entry to be assessed by a CBSA official.
If there’s no admissibility concerns and the person’s refugee claim is legitimate, they are released and a date is set for the claim to be heard. [How many ever show up?—ed]
[….]
Khan said he expects to see a spike around the time when Trump takes office until refugees get a sense of the direction in which the new president may take immigration policy.
LOL! I bet some of you are wondering if you could hire buses to take loads to the border of Justin Trudeau’s ‘welcoming’ Canada.
Rep. Brian Babin says Donald Trump will stop that insane refugee deal with Australia
If you don’t know what deal I’m talking about, click here.
From The Sydney Morning Herald (hat tip: Richard at Blue Ridge Forum):
Donald Trump “will do everything in his power” to halt the refugee deal between Australia and the US, according to a hardline Texan congressman who is confident no resettlements will ever take place from Manus Island or Nauru.
More than two months after the agreement between outgoing President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was announced, slow progress on applications and lengthy security vetting by the US Department of Homeland Security is raising fear among those held in the Australian offshore immigration detention centres, ahead of Mr Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
More here.
By the way, it was this news that sent me to the ‘Processing Country’ maps that I wrote about earlier to see if we processed anyone in from Australia lately. I didn’t see any.
Don't miss James Simpson's prescription for what must be done about the UN/US Refugee Admissions program
Investigative journalist, author and popular speaker James Simpson has penned an excellent overview of the Refugee Admissions Program published at The Federalist a few days ago.
Full of facts and figures with many links to more information, it is entitled:
Shut Down America’s Refugee Programs Before They Turn Us Into Germany
Simpson concludes with this prescription for the incoming Trump administration reflecting my views as well:
The resettlement program is dangerous, expensive, and unfair to Americans. Its structure encourages endless growth, systemic corruption, cronyism, secrecy, and duplicity. The refugee program must be put on hold. Members of Congress have called for a moratorium, and such legislation is circulating. H.R. 3314, the Resettlement Accountability National Security Act, has 86 co-sponsors.
But legislation isn’t needed. On his first day in office, Trump can pause the entire program by simply resetting the annual refugee targets to whatever number has already been reached this fiscal year. The 1980 Refugee Act gives him authority to do this, and subsequent court decisions have declared Congress’s refugee resettlement oversight authority as advisory only.
Trump has stated his desire to halt resettlement from nations of terrorism concern. It would be wiser to pause the entire program.
Once paused, the entire system must be either trashed or completely reformed. Congress must do that, and by pausing the program it puts the hammer over reluctant Congressional leaders’ heads! If they want to admit refugees to the US, they can reform it or completely scrap the present law and start all over. But, that fight must be fought.
Trump could easily do what George Bush did in the wake of 9/11!
There is precedent for pausing the program. George Bush partially paused it in the two years following 9/11. I just had a look at the ORR Annual Report to Congress for 2003 and entry tables*** are telling. We went from admitting 94,226 refugees in FY2000, and 87,110 in FY2001 to the following numbers for FY02 and FY03: 45,850 and 39,177 respectively.
Going back to my previous post where I reported that we have admitted 25,671 refugees in the first 90 days of this fiscal year, if that rate continues until January 20th (adding another 5,704) that means by inauguration day the number for this fiscal year will be 31,375. And, if Trump doesn’t pause it until January 30th, then we are looking at 34,228 having entered by then (not far off of the Bush numbers).
Your work is not over because Trump must take the initiative to change the law, not just halt or slow the flow during his term in office.
So, pausing, or giving the program a ‘time-out,’ when Trump enters office will not be unprecedented or unreasonable to help assure our safety and will throw the ball to Congress where the law must be changed or in 4-8 years we will be back to square one.
***BTW, I was interested to see the dramatic drop in Somali numbers from 2001 (4,940) to 2002 (242!). Worried about Somalis weren’t they!