No surprise, Time magazine publishes biased (anti-Trump) report on refugee controversy

01/09/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Time reporter, Maya Rhodan, quotes Anne Richard the Obama Assistant Secretary of State, and public relations people at two resettlement contracting agencies, an academician, but no one on the side of slowing the flow of refugees to America for economic and security reasons! And, there are plenty of us out here now! She does quote Kellyanne Conway to be sure you know that it is Trump vs. the humanitarians!
Here is the story (actually we thank Ms. Rhodan for giving us so much information we didn’t have!):

anne-richard-un-symbol — Poor Anne Richard has been constantly challenged about how she does her job.

Officials at the State Department and beyond are anxious about what the Trump presidency means for their work.

The past year had been tough for Anne Richard, the Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration. Ever since the body of 3-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi washed up on the shores of Turkey in 2015, her office, which processed 84,995 refugee claims last year, has been caught in political crossfire. [Notice how the propagandists have to get that poor baby in the story!—ed]

Richard says she’s been challenged constantly about how her office does its job, from members of Congress and everyday Americans…. [Glad to know this!—ed]

[….]

“I get these letters saying ‘Oh, you’re naïve, terrorists are going to use this program to infiltrate the United States,’” Richard said. “I don’t think I’m naïve. I’m looking at facts. The debate in the United States centers on this question of whether or not people should be afraid of refugees. I think not.”

The problem for Richard and her allies is that the next President of the United States, who will effectively run her office when she leaves on January 20, disagrees with that conclusion. [Anne Richard is an Obama appointee, so Trump will be choosing her replacement.—ed]

[….]

Inside and outside of the State Department, those who handle work around refugee resettlement are worried about the future of their work in the Trump administration. [And, the future of their paychecks!—ed] Many are working to share positive refugee stories with hopes of changing the hearts and minds of skeptics. While questions loom, the work continues—a little over 25,000 refugees have already been admitted to the U.S. since the beginning of the fiscal year—but on day one of the Trump administration things could change significantly.

What hardened the public against the refugee program was indeed the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Paris. We noticed a huge jump in readership at RRW at that time.
Rhodan continues….

brenda-crime-poster — I know you can’t see it clearly, but wanted readers to know that Brenda in Charleston, WV has created this homemade poster of US refugees who have been arrested/convicted of Islamic terrorism or other heinous crimes. She plans to use it at meetings where the refugee advocates are promoting the meme that refugees are pure as the driven snow.

After a slight shift in opinion in the wake of Kurdi’s death, the majority of the public hardened on refugees after the terror attacks in San Bernardino and Paris. In September 2015, the Pew Research Center recorded that about 51% of Americans supported the government’s decision accept more refugees in response to the European migrant crisis. Two months later, a Bloomberg poll found 53% of Americans wanted the U.S. to stop accepting refugees altogether.

[….]

Around that time, the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, which houses the refugee admissions program and funds and manages the nine Resettlement Support Centers around world that prepare refugee applications, started playing defense.

When Senators Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and President Jimmy Carter created the Refugee Admissions Program in 1980 they gave the President inordinate amounts of power to determine who comes and how many. Now, as refugee skeptic Donald Trump arrives in Washington it could come back to bite them. (Both Bushs were soft on refugees).

In October, President Obama set a new goal of resettling 110,000 refugees in 2017—a number that president-elect Trump can decide to either reduce or ignore. The goal functions as a ceiling that the country can’t go over, and Trump can change it once he is president without an act of Congress.

At this point reporter Rhodan quotes from two representatives of refugee contracting agencies without mentioning that many jobs are at stake now at these quasi-government agencies since both of these organizations receive millions of taxpayer dollars to place refugees in your towns and cities. After discussing the International Rescue Committee, here is what she reports that Church World Service is doing.
What is so galling to me is that CWS is likely using funds you, as taxpayers, give them to organize lobbying efforts, marches on Washington and media propaganda campaigns. They use your money to work against you!
The Time article continues…..

Church World Service is working on sharing refugees’ and volunteers’ stories through a digital campaign called #GreaterAs1. They’ve also been encourage partners across the country to reach out to local and national officials to share refugee success stories and comment on the impact of their work. The group also plans to have refugee presence at both the confirmation hearing of Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama as well as a women’s march planned for after the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump. [So they are going to parade refugee pawns in to Senator Sessions’ hearing to be Attorney General? Once again, thanks to reporter Rhodan for this information.—ed]

As Richard’s appointment comes to an end, she’s still working to get the word out about refugees. After a young Somali refugee carried out a knife attack at Ohio State University, she penned a letter to the editor to USA Today. “The biggest issue that I’ve tried to get across is that refugees are not terrorists,” she said. “They are the victims of terrorists, and victims of war, victims of persecution.”

There is more, click here to read the rest of the biased Time story.
Remember, even as Ms. Richard packs up and leaves, there are career bureaucrats who will carry-on until Trump puts someone in there to rein them in!
Endnote: You might want to see yesterday’s post about Rochester, NY where we learned that the State Department is not only countering negative news, but pushing resettlement agencies to the brink with a huge number of mostly Muslim refugees they are bringing in as they come up against the clock—Inauguration day January 20th.

Rochester, NY: Confirmation that the US State Department has packed the pipeline with refugees in advance of Trump

01/08/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is direct confirmation from a resettlement contractor in Rochester, NY that indeed the pipeline of refugees headed to America is packed to overflowing and that local resettlement agencies are struggling to cope with the numbers.
Of course this means that refugees will suffer as will local communities, governments/school systems that must adjust to rapid cultural and demographic change (in addition to shelling-out for taxpayer-funded expenses for schooling etc.).

trump-refugee-rejection — Not sure what the 10 different options are that Trump could choose, but we can think of one at least—pause the program on day one and force Congress to trash the present law or reform it.

On January 20th, Donald Trump could simply turn off the spigot, and if he does there will be howls of rage by contractors who say he is mean and hateful as he cuts off the flow of not only refugees, but the MONEY that comes with them from Washington!
This article at the Democrat and Chronicle (hat tip: Jim, LOL! Not the Jim quoted in the story!) tells us that the local resettlement contractor is in a tough spot because they can’t cope with the uncertainty.
They can’t go out and hire staff to take care of the huge, unexpected influx!

Nearly 1,200 people arrived in Rochester as refugees in 2016, a huge spike from 2015 that has put serious strain on the local agencies through which they pass.

The influx a 56 percent increase over last year’s total mirrors a nationwide increase and reflects Rochester’s role as a major center for refugees like Haidar Al-Hasooni, a 16-year-old from Iraq.

Like most newly arriving children, he attends the Rochester International Academy (RIA), which has nearly doubled its enrollment since the start of the school year. [For more on this part of the story, be sure to click here.—ed]

[….]

The increase in refugee arrivals coincides with President Barack Obama’s decision to raise the total national number from 70,000 to 85,000 for the 2015-16 fiscal year, which ended in September.

That includes Syrians, 80 of whom settled in Rochester in 2016. There were also significant increases in arrivals from Somalia (231, up from 103); Cuba (179, up from 119); Iraq (105, up from 54); and the Republic of the Congo (99, up from 39).

Rochester welcomed 756 refugees in 2015. This year, it was 1,176, and the pace has remained frenetic into the winter.

“This is usually a very slow time for us, but this year it’s the opposite because there are so many people in the pipeline,” said Jim Morris, associate vice president for family services at Catholic Family Center.

[….]

Even when refugee arrival trends are apparent, it is difficult for local agencies to plan very far in advance. Numbers can fluctuate in response to a variety of domestic and international factors, with the election of Donald Trump as president foremost at the moment.

“We’re not really built for the (current) level of arrivals,” Morris said. “We can get through a couple of months like this, but a sustained high level for seven or eight months makes it very difficult. … But we can’t really scale up, because it will likely go back down. The new administration could do one of 10 different options.”

More here.

Nearly 30,000 'refugees' admitted in last 15 months from two terror-exporting countries

01/05/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Those two countries are Syria and Somalia*** as the Obama Administration works overtime to pour as many refugees in to the US as they can before Donald Trump takes office on January 20th.
The numbers we have been reporting in recent weeks go way beyond anything we have seen in the last nearly ten years of writing this blog.

Photo by: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx 6/16/15 Donald Trump announces his Candidacy for President of The United States of America at Trump Tower. (NYC) — Trump transition needs to know that John Kerry’s State Department is cutting corners and knocking themselves out to get as many Muslim refugees placed in US towns and cities before January 20th as they can!

Questions are also beginning to arise about whether the refugee agencies (the non-profit resettlement contractors) can properly care for them due to those high numbers of arrivals. We have reports of refugees placed in hotels, delays in medical screening, and refugees without winter clothing, all are violations of US State Department regulations for contractors.
I promised some maps for someone, which sent me to Wrapsnet.org this morning.
These are maps (screenshots) for the placement and numbers of Syrians and Somalis for the last 15 months. That would include all of FY2016 and the first three months of FY2017 which ended on December 31, 2016. (The fiscal year for the placement of refugees runs from Oct. 1 of one year to Sept. 30th of the next year.)
Obama said at the beginning of FY16 that his State Department would admit 10,000 Syrians (98% Muslim) to the US that year. We are now (in the last 15 months) up to 16,153!
screenshot-114

screenshot-111 — No Syrians went to Hawaii or Alaska, and if you can’t read Florida the number is 847.

Virtually all Somali refugees are Muslims. You should know we pick them up all over the world and place them in your towns and cities. So Donald Trump’s administration needs to be careful and not say we will halt refugees coming from Somalia (for example), because few if any come from Somalia directly. (We do expect Trump to halt them!)
screenshot-116

screenshot-117 — Alaska received 36 Somalis, Hawaii 0, and that Florida number is 148. Again the map is for the last 15 months.

And, if you missed it yesterday, many questions remain about one Somali admitted to the US in 2016 who was free to wander the streets of Aberdeen, SD and attempt to sexually assault a special-needs woman there. See our post yesterday, here.
***Thousands more Iraqi, Afghan, and Burmese Muslims have entered as well during these same 15 months, but we chose to focus only on Syria and Somalia for this report.

We need Kris Kobach in the Trump White House!

01/04/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If you have been looking around and wondering who might champion our causes in a Trump Administration and only seeing Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General and his former staffer Stephen Miller at Trump’s side in the White House, this appointment could go a long way to assuage your concerns!
From McClatchyDC:

WASHINGTON

Groups that want President-elect Donald Trump to make good on his campaign promise to rein in illegal immigration may have found a way to get a key ally into a pivotal job – while getting around a potentially reluctant Congress.

They are urging Trump to hire Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state and an immigration hardliner, for a newly created position – immigration czar – that would not need Senate confirmation.

“We have been pushing them,” said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a group that advocates for greater immigration enforcement. “The idea has been percolating in a number of places.”

The proposal would put one person in charge of an issue that impacts a dozen departments and agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, State, Justice, Labor, Housing and Health and Human Services.

Kobach, a member of Trump’s transition team who has met with the future president twice in recent weeks, had been considered for attorney general and homeland security secretary.

But Kobach could face confirmation problems. Republicans who have more moderate views on immigration would be unlikely to support him. They include Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, both of Arizona. [beware the open borders Republicans—ed]

“It’s designed to put Kris Kobach in a position of authority,” said Frank Sharry, the executive director of America’s Voice, an immigration advocacy group. “It’s widely recognized that Kris Kobach can’t be confirmed by the United States Senate.”

Kobach had advised Trump on immigration policy throughout the campaign and added Trump’s promise to build a wall along the Southern border to the Republican Party’s national platform.

More here.
Although with a mission narrower in scope, Obama designated Samantha Power (who would later become Ambassador to the UN) as his Iraqi refugee “czar” early in his administration—-so such appointments are not unprecedented.

Refugee advocates think Trump can't change Obama's 110,000 refugee goal for this year

01/03/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have no time to say much about this sob story in South Carolina’s The State newspaper about Muslim refugees resettled in the Carolinas (mostly in North Carolina) because I have to dash to jury duty again today. But, I can’t not mention this little blip from Jason Lee. We wrote about him on many occasions when he was chosen to work for a refugee contractor, World Relief, in Spartanburg, SC in 2015.

trump-and-sessions — Trump Test! Trump here with Senator Jeff Sessions his Attorney General nominee, can and must pause the Refugee Admissions Program. He can do it on day one, but I give him 4 weeks (I’m being generous)—until February 16th to do it! Sessions knows what can and should be done!

That was a resettlement plan that resulted in a heated controversy. Spartanburg is also in Rep. Trey Gowdy’s district and despite efforts by the Immigration Subcommittee chairman (Gowdy!) to question the choice of Spartanburg as a new resettlement site (he wrote a letter to Sec. of State Kerry), it went ahead as planned.
Jason Lee is wrong. Congress does not approve the level of resettlement for the coming year (it is not an act of Congress).
The President of the United States proposes the level in September preceding the fiscal year and sends his determination to Congress for “consultation,” but there is no legal requirement for Congress to agree to whatever number the President has chosen. Of course, if they give the President money to admit a certain number of refugees through the Appropriations process, then that is tantamount agreement to the numbers.
That said, Donald Trump can and should, because he has the power to do it, limit the number set by Obama on day one of his Presidency. He can halt immigration from certain regions of the world, or pause the refugee program altogether. In fact, he would not be the first to pause the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program. In 2002, the program was almost ground to a halt as fear grew in the wake of the 9/11 attack.

jason-lee — Jason Lee’s wishful thinking?

Here is what Lee told The State:

Congress has approved admitting 110,000 refugees in fiscal 2017.

It will be difficult for President Trump to cut that number, said Jason Lee, former director of the refugee assistance group World Relief Spartanburg. [As you know, World Relief is one of nine major federal refugee resettlement contractors, paid by the head to place refugees in your towns—ed]

“A number of questions won’t be answered until President Trump takes office,” Lee said. “(But) he’s already backed off not allowing Muslim immigrants into the country.”

Read it all here.
See our archive on Spartanburg by clicking here. (I warn you there are many posts there!)
It is through the Spartanburg controversy that I formed my opinion of SC Governor Nikki Haley (Trump’s nominee to be Ambassador to the UN).