Feds will close 74 refugee offices during the course of this year

04/15/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We knew this was happening, but this article at The Indypendent has some useful nuggets of information on the internal turmoil involving the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program which began in 1980 as a supposed public-private partnership, but has evolved in to an almost entirely publicly (taxpayer) funded industry.
I’m guessing that the average uninformed reader of this story is scratching his or her head and asking, how can the federal government ask non-profits to close their doors?
It is because the ‘non-profits’ are really fake charities and they can’t survive without the continuous infusion of federal dollars.
Here are a few nuggets from the story:

The Trump Administration is Dismantling the Refugee Resettlement System

April 1 marked the halfway point in the federal government’s fiscal year and, so far, the United States has only admitted 10,548 refugees, placing it on track to fall far short of its already record low admission ceiling of 45,000 individuals. Resettlement workers and refugee advocates say that this is further evidence of the Trump administration’s deliberate efforts to sabotage the refugee resettlement system now and for years to come.

shelley callahan — “The program is being torn down from the top!”

“The program is being torn down from the top,” says Dr. Shelly Callahan, executive director of the Mohawk Valley Resource Center in Utica, which works to resettle refugees.

[….]

The U.S. government works with nine private nonprofit organizations***, known as voluntary agencies, to assign refugees to host communities around the United States.

Voluntary agencies receive $2,125 in federal funding for each refugee they resettle and administer networks of local offices that provide services directly to the refugees. All of the approximately 320 local offices provide new arrivals with housing and social services including language training, job-search assistance, school-enrollment assistance and help integrating into the community during their first months in the United States. [They can never bring themselves to say they are signing them up for welfare, medical care and food stamps!—ed]

In practice, virtually all resettlement offices also provide a variety of services to other immigrant, minority, and vulnerable communities alongside refugees, and assist refugees beyond the first months of resettlement. [Yes, we know they are providing taxpayer-funded services to illegal migrants too!—ed] They rely on private donations for these programs. [No they don’t! Only small amounts!—ed]

[….]

erol-kekic — Erol Kekic of Church World Service says they are trying to find a more sustainable model. Does that mean trying to raise private money now that the easy federal money, doled out on a refugee per head basis, is drying up?

In December, the State Department informed the voluntary agencies of its intention to close all local affiliate offices [aka subcontractors.—ed] that are not projected to receive at least 100 refugees in fiscal year 2018. According to a plan drawn up by the voluntary agencies and obtained by Reuters, some 74 offices are expected to be closed this year.

Eleven new offices that were in the planning phase at the time will not be opening, although some of them may still be able to operate as sub-offices dependent on other offices for cases and funding.

“We’re trying to look into what would be the best make up of our network and how do we change what currently exists into something more sustainable that can still meet its moral and legal commitments,” says Erol Kekic, executive director of Church World Service, one of the national voluntary agencies. Church World Service has closed 17 offices this fiscal year, bringing its total to just 19.

[….]

The layoffs and closures being engineered by the Trump administration will impact the refugee resettlement system for years to come.

More here.
The article references a cool Reuters interactive graph showing how many offices are closing in each state. See the whole thing here. This is just a portion of a screen shot.
Here is where the original list of over 300 subcontractors is archived, but it looks like the list has not been updated for over a year.

Screenshot (378) — Partial screenshot. See full image here: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/USA-IMMIGRATION-REFUGEES/010060WC1Q2/index.html

*** I post the contractor list almost every day because I want new readers to know exactly who is responsible for driving the US Refugee Admissions Program (in addition to the UN!). We are hearing reports that all nine might not survive the year.
The number in parenthesis is the percentage of the nine VOLAGs’ income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees, line them up with (low paying) jobs in food production and cleaning hotel rooms, and get them signed up for their services (welfare)! From most recent accounting, here.

Brookings has questions about refugee policy for Secretary of State nominee Pompeo

04/12/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is really a kind of ‘nothing-burger’ article from a policy wonk at the Brooking’s Institution attempting to influence the Far Left Dems to ask questions about refugees when Trump’s new pick to head the US State Department, Mike Pompeo, goes before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today.

Pompeo and Trump — Trump: Mike Pompeo and I are on the same wavelength! https://www.today.com/video/trump-mike-pompeo-and-i-are-on-the-same-wavelength-1184613443805?v=b

Here is a bit of it. We can definitely agree with Jessica Brandt‘s opener—the Trump Administration needs to staff-up at DOS. But, they must assure people loyal to the President and his policies are in those appointed jobs!

Tomorrow [today—-ed], former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, President Trump’s pick to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, will come before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The hearing is an opportunity for congressional leaders to question him on a broad range of consequential subjects. Resourcing the State Department should be first on the list. It is difficult, if not impossible, to craft and implement an effective set of strategies on any foreign policy issue without the personnel in place to do so.

brandtj_portrait — Jessica Brandt is “a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a David Rockefeller Fellow of the Trilateral Commission.”

But exploring Pompeo’s views on refugee policy should also be a high priority. That’s for three reasons.

First, Pompeo has a history of expressing deep distaste for refugee policies he views as lax. While in Congress, he cosponsored a bill calling for an immediate ban on the entry of all refugees, regardless of their country of origin. The measure would have gone farther than then-candidate Trump’s controversial proposal to bar Muslim immigration. Later that year, after returning home from a study tour focusing on the migration crisis in Europe, he argued in support of Trump’s instincts on these issues in the Wall Street Journal.

You can read the rest yourself by clicking here.
Then this closer made me laugh. These Leftists can’t help themselves. In an article at the venerable Brookings Institution, Ms. Brandt can’t resist the snark!

Pompeo’s answers to these questions could reveal a great deal about how he plans to approach a sensitive, consequential issue. I hope he plans to be more forward leaning than his predecessor. But given his record, I doubt it.

And, btw, what the heck is “forward leaning?” I think we know….

Australia "dumb" deal update: Aussie Libs want US to take families

04/11/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Let me say at the outset that the Australia deal struck by the Obama Administration in its waning months is dumber than dumb and Donald Trump should have followed his first instincts and cancelled the whole thing (as even the Australians suspected he would) and been done with it in February of 2017.
Here we see that Australian immigration official Peter Dutton is being blamed for not allowing an Afghan family (who attempted to break in to Australia illegally) that have been split between the mainland and offshore detention to apply to come to the US.

peter-dutton1 — Dutton’s call to rethink the 1951 UN Refugee Convention has to make the No Borders agitators crazy! Out to get him now for sure!*

Not one word in The Guardian story about whether the US has any say in this!

I believe the US State Department has already said that we aren’t taking extended families of the detainees (so far 220 of Australia’s rejects, mostly Muslim men, have been airlifted to Your Town, USA!).
For new readers, Australia had such an awful problem with boat people attempting to break in to their country that they made a new policy. Anyone breaking in would be detained in offshore detention facilities and would never be admitted to the mainland. That was about 5 years ago and they are sticking to the policy. However! Lefties in Australia have been beating up the government ever since, so they found a way to wiggle out—thanks to Obama—by sending those they won’t grant refugee status to to America!
The Guardian:

Dutton urged to allow refugee families in Australia to apply for US resettlement

Split up refugee families stuck in limbo because of Australian government policy could be reunited if Peter Dutton let them apply for US resettlement from Australia, the opposition has said.

The comment follows revelations by Guardian Australia that a family of four had been split between Nauru and Australia since 2014.

Leftwing “shadow minister” Shayne Neumann blames Dutton for not allowing sick Shiite Muslim family to reunite and apply for US resettlement. Hey! Neumann, why should the US take on Australia’s migration problems!

Australian Border Force has told the 27-year-old daughter on Nauru that they could be reunited but only if her mother and sister returned to the island. The mother is in Australia confined to a wheelchair and awaiting surgery, and doctors have said she cannot go back.

While the mother and one daughter are in Australia they cannot apply for resettlement in the US, offered under a deal struck between the Australian government and the Obama administration. More than 220 have been resettled, out of a promise of “up to 1,200”.

By the way, something must have slowed the flow to the US. Last report was over a month ago. Wonder what that is all about!

“Labor strongly supports the US refugee resettlement agreement and wants all eligible refugees – including those in Australia for medical treatment – to have the opportunity to apply for resettlement in the US,” the shadow minister for immigration, Shayne Neumann, said.

“The long-term issue of asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru in Australia could have been avoided entirely if Peter Dutton simply allowed eligible refugees in Australia the opportunity to apply to resettle in the United States.”

Nuts! No offense to Dutton, but the US gets some say in this!
More here.
Asylum shopping!
Follow links back and see that this family with its health issues (including mental health issues) would be a huge burden on US taxpayers! Legitimate refugees are to ask for asylum in the first safe country they enter, however, the whole system has been perverted and that is why the 1951 UN Refugee Convention should be trashed.
I have dozens of posts on the Australia “dumb” deal, click here to learn more.
*Don’t miss Dutton calls for reconsideration of outdated 1951 UN Refugee Convention, here.
Contact the White House! Tell the President to cut it off now. 220 is too many already!

Dear Mr. President, Invite the victorious Orban to the White House

04/09/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban won for Europe (although most countries don’t know it) an astounding election victory for Western Civilization.

Orban and Soros — If the President invited Orban to the White House it would strike a mighty blow against his own nemesis—George Soros!

If President Trump wanted to put icing on his recent immigration control cake, he should invite Orban to the White House and give him a lavish state dinner. Such a move would turn the whole world on its head!
Heck, use the occasion to kick start a discussion about dumping the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. (See here.)
There are many stories about Orban’s win, but Politico is a good choice to quote since they can’t control their animus (in supposed news reporting!) toward the man and what he stands for!

Orbán wins landslide to secure third straight term

BUDAPEST — Viktor Orbán’s right-wing Fidesz party won a landslide victory in Hungary’s general election on Sunday, setting the stage for the prime minister to pursue his nationalistic vision and fight more battles with Brussels.

The result gives Orbán a third consecutive term as prime minister and a strong platform from which to further rail against migrants and Muslims, stage crackdowns on NGOs and mount strong resistance to greater EU integration.

More clashes between Budapest and EU institutions, particularly the European Commission and European Parliament, look assured. Orbán opposed a Commission plan to distribute migrants around the bloc while the Parliament has voted to put Hungary on a path toward censure for backsliding on democratic standards.

The election result will also likely embolden far-right parties and populists across Europe inspired by Orbán.

Orbán, who built a fence on Hungary’s southern border during the 2015 migration crisis, constructed his election campaign around strong a strong nationalist and anti-migrant message. The U.N. human rights chief earlier this year branded him a racist.

It really came down to one issue—immigration. Are you listening Donald?

But a senior Fidesz official said the anti-migrant message was key. “It is simply the fear of migrants. Fidesz did a single-issue campaign and it was successful,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

More here.
See my previous posts on Hungary, here. My ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive is here.
Contact the White House! and tell the President to invite the victorious Orban to his home—the White House or Mar a Lago!

Australian Home Minister: Time to rethink 1951 UN Refugee Convention

04/08/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Whoa! Now that would shake up the No Borders International Left for sure!
Peter Dutton is talking about the 1951 Refugee Convention that is under the control of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Trump at UN 2 — Yes! Let’s push for an end to the UN Convention. Each country should make its own immigration policy!

He has a point!
Resettlement is not possible for the millions of migrants moving around the world, so why not create a better system to care for them where they are!
In fact, President Donald Trump told the United Nations this very thing on September 19, 2017 (see here).
But, the time is now and that means we should be on the offense and question the very underpinning of a system that is dangerously flawed, erodes national sovereignty, and is costly!
From The Guardian:

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, says “like-minded” countries [like the US!—ed] should come together to review the relevance of the 1951 United Nations refugee convention, arguing the document is outdated and does not account for the modern movement of people.

In a wide-ranging interview with Guardian Australia conducted on Tuesday, Dutton flagged a reluctance to allow the elderly family members of immigrants to come to Australia, and a desire to incentivise new arrivals to move to regional communities. He also reaffirmed the country’s commitment to a nondiscriminatory immigration policy.

Dutton said he agreed with statements made by the British prime minister, Theresa May, and others suggesting the UN convention relating to the status of refugees could be modernised “or at least an update of the way in which the convention works and what it provides for”.

He said countries’ efforts to resettle refugees were “token” given the numbers of displaced people, and argued offering support to refugee camps would be more effective than resettling a small portion of the refugee population.

Continue reading here. See that he backtracked on earlier remarks about saving white South Africans.
Contact the White House!

Tell the President to go on the offense and push for dumping the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

If nothing else, a debate on the issue would be extremely useful and might even force our do-nothing Congress to reevaluate the Refugee Act of 1980—a law that has over time allowed the UN to call the shots on who comes to the US as refugees.
See my Australia category by clicking here.