That is how you have to read his opposition to Trump’s latest effort to keep us safe and reform how refugees (coming from terrorist hotbeds) enter the US.
This is rich! In March Senators Cardin and Klobuchar (D-MN) called for more government transparency and emphasized the importance of OPEN government! Gee sounds exactly like what we want and what those Minnesota citizens were asking for in St. Cloud. http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Ben+Cardin/Senate+Democrats+Call+Increased+Gov+t+Transparency/aRv5FV3Pyi3
Here, in yet one more whinny article (believe me there are dozens!) where the contractors and others in the refugee industry are wailing about Trump’s latest effort to bring the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program under some reasonable control, Cardin throws his two cents into the debate.
Even members of Congress weighed in strongly. Cardin — a vocal opponent of much of Trump’s foreign policy — released a scathing statement Thursday on what he called Trump’s “odious” effort to “completely disrupt and dismantle the U.S. refugee resettlement program piece by piece.”
In particular, he accused the new restrictions of being an “unreasonable ban that largely affects Muslims” and “more evidence of the Trump administration’s indifference and lack of humanity towards thousands of vulnerable refugees.”
Cardin has a lot of Muslim constituents in Maryland—rich ones—building new mosques. Of course he is pandering!
The Trump Administration should know by now that they can’t keep stuff like this quiet because they have permitted the blabbermouths in the deep state to run wild.
“White House chief of staff John Kelly reportedly told other members of the Trump administration that if it were up to him the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. would be between zero and one,” say leakers in the Trump White House or State Department. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/357250-kelly-said-he-wants-to-admit-between-zero-and-one-refugees-into-the
Hereis the latest from The Atlantic. I don’t really want to put an inordinate amount of emphasis on this screening for terrorists activity because I don’t think it is our greatest threat from out-of-control immigration/refugee resettlement.
Our greatest problem (IMHO) is the enormous social and cultural upheaval from large numbers of migrants (of any sort) entering the US who will not assimilate and don’t have any respect for our laws and our Constitution as designed. And, on top of that, we, the taxpayers, pay for it all!
If Islamic terrorism is our greatest concern, how are we going to screen-out the 2-year-olds who enter the country and grow up two decades later (under the influence of the local mosque) to become Jihadists?
(Yes, the Boston bombers were refugees because they were, under the law, a category of refugee—successful asylum seekers. And, yes, Somalis who have tried to kill Americans came as little children, as refugees!).
Let me ask this: If this security screening issue gets ironed out, does it mean our gates will be opened wide to allow uncontrolled migration from across the globe?
Honestly, I’m getting weary of being dragged down the screening rabbit hole…
….but, since I’m sure you want to know what the latest Trump Administration screening project entails, here is some news about it (albeit with a Leftist slant):
The Trump administration issued an order Tuesday that resumed the resettlement of refuges in the United States, but said the applications of citizens from 11 “higher-risk” countries would be considered on a case-by-case basis during a new 90-day review period. The administration has so far declined to name the countries officially and publicly but two officials—one from the administration and the other from an advocacy group—separately confirmed that the countries were Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.All of those countries—except North Korea and South Sudan—are predominantly Muslim.
Six countries on the list—Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and North Korea—were not a surprise: They were also on the latest version of the administration’s travel ban that was announced last month and is currently blocked by the courts. But that travel ban also included the citizens of Chad and Venezuela. Tuesday’s refugee list, on the other hand, included the citizens of Iraq, Mali, Sudan, South Sudan, and Egypt. The restrictions imposed last month were an outright ban on travelers—but not refugees—from those countries. Tuesday’s announcement does not constitute a ban. Rather, it is a list of 11 countries whose citizens will be subject to additional security screening if they apply for refugee status in the U.S.
[….]
Schwartz is more than President of Refugees International. He is a Hard Left Soros protege who ran the State Department refugee program in the early years of the Obama Administration.
The 11 nations on Tuesday’s list made up a significant proportion of refugees accepted by the U.S. in the last fiscal year, which ended September 30. Of the 53,716 refugees accepted by the U.S. in that time, 23,357 were from the 11 listed countries (about 43 percent), according to data maintained by the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center. The breakdown of the number of refugees accepted from each of the 11 countries in the last fiscal year is as follows: Egypt, 9; Iran, 2,577; Iraq, 6,886; Libya, 3; Mali, 6; North Korea, 12; Somalia, 6,130; South Sudan, 176; Sudan, 980; Syria, 6,557; and Yemen, 21. [I’m grateful that someone took the time to do the numbers—ed]
[….]
“This is remarkable. The administration has had more than six months to review this policy under the March EO [executive order on travel], and they’ve come back in October to re-impose what will largely be seen as another unreasonable ban that primarily affects Muslims,” said Eric Schwartz, the president of Refugees International, a group that advocates for refugees. Although the move announced Tuesday is not a ban, refugee advocates say it is tantamount to one because of the additional security requirements that are often time-consuming.
“I hope they at least have the decency to be transparent about what they are doing, and name the nationalities affected,” Schwartz said. “It is a cynical and tragic manipulation of administrative process, and conflicts with U.S. values and interests.”
I was more interested in the portion of the new EO that calls for the Justice Departmentto evaluate the whole Refugee Program over the next 180 days.
And, gee, maybe the Administration will take its job more seriously than that bunch running the House of Representatives. See yesterday’s House hearing.
“When you put in additional security checks you can basically halt the system.”
Bob Carey
When I say “rumored” in my headline, it is because there are bureaucrat blabbermouths obviously reporting to former Obama Administration officials who are then taking the news to the likes of Reuters, here.
We learn that the bureaucrat(s) can’t speak on the record, but….
We have Bob Carey speaking on the record, former director of Obama’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. Not mentioned here is the fact that he was also (and may be again) a senior Vice President of the International Rescue Committee (the revolving door between contractor and government is alive and well!) one of nine major federal resettlement contractors.***
From Dutch citizen(?) Hans Van de Weerd‘s facebook page. He wears two hats. In addition to his job at the IRC, he is Chairman of the DC lobbying arm of the refugee industry that recently joined CAIR in their protest of the Trump Admin. See his bio here: http://www.rcusa.org/staff/
Then we have Hans Van de Weerd weighing in who works for the IRC now.
So bureaucrats blab to Bob and Bob gets Hans to talk to Reuters.
But, frankly Trump is at fault for still not placing his own people in the State Department and DHS thus letting the blabbermouths run free. Here is yet another storyon that subject which I don’t have time to write about today.
Back to Reuters and the latest round of leaks and wailing from the refugee industry (in and out of government) about what could happen this week as the 120-day refugee ‘moratorium’ ends.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Trump’s administration has drafted a plan to pause a program that allows family members join refugees already settled in the United States until they can undergo increased security checks, two sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.
The measure is one of several being considered for refugees, the sources said.
The administration also may expand the use of intensive security checks by multiple federal agencies, called “security advisory opinions” (SAO) to apply to women from countries designated as high-risk by the U.S. government. Currently there are usually only mandatory SAOs, as they are called, for men from those countries, the sources said.
The administration is also considering expanding the categories of refugees required to be fingerprinted, the sources said.
The proposals, if implemented, could significantly slow down refugee admissionsand leave refugees who thought they were headed to the United States in perilous situations abroad, say refugee advocates and former officials.
[….]
A 120-day temporary ban on refugees, put in place to study current procedures, expires on Oct. 24.
The sources, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the plans before they are announced, said the new measures could be announced at the end of the temporary ban.
[….]
“Reports on the type of vetting measures being considered for our refugee resettlement program are disturbing,” said Hans Van de Weerd, the Vice President of U.S. Programs at the International Rescue Committee. [I previously did some research on ol’ Hans here and he earlier was reporting he was a Dutch citizen. Seems that little nugget is missing from his bio now.—-ed]
[….]
“When you put in additional security checks you can basically halt the system,” said Robert Carey, the former director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
“Every check is only good for a finite period of time and they expire and the whole process has to start all over again,” he said, adding that the level of scrutiny is higher for refugees than most any other visa applicant to the United States.
If every one of the thousands of you who read this post took 2 minutes to write to the White House and tell the President to tighten security screening for all refugees, you might actually succeed in hitting a nerve at the White House.
Update! I did not find that link above to work! Try here.
***For new readers, these are the nine federal refugee contractors that monopolize all refugee resettlement in the US. Go hereand see my latest financial report on all of them. The more refugees admitted to the US, the more funding they get from you!
The IRC is the largest financially (the Catholic Bishops place the largest number of refugees in your towns) and pays out some whopping big salaries. David Miliband, CEO of the IRC, is not a US citizen and he is raking in annually just short of $600,000 partially supplied by you—US taxpayers! Doing well by doing good! And, changing America to boot!
I’ve been telling you about the march that was planned for yesterday, and held yesterday, against the Trump Administration most recently here.
I just did a quick check and found this amateur videoof the event in DC. The march is clearly being led by the Council on American Islamic Relations as their banner went first while a woman chanted (to the sounds of one of those drums the Commies use in marches):
“No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here”
I’m sure there are better quality photos, but here (below) is a quick screen shot from the video.
By Washington standards (I’ve been to many rallies there including to protest against the international Communists) and this was not much of a showing.
To continue acquiring political power, CAIR desperately needs a steady supply of New Americans—Muslim refugees—entering the US.
CAIR/Muslim Brotherhood surely has a right to march against the Trump Administration, but what is so shocking to me is that the Refugee Council USAendorsed the march.
The nine major federal contractors make up the core organizations of that lobbying arm of the refugee industry. Your tax dollars keep all nine organizations afloat, yet here they are marching with CAIR!
I haven’t mentioned the taxpayer-funded subsidiary industry beyond the resettlement contractors much lately, but a story from Rochester, NY reminds me to tell you about it again.
Ethnic self-help groups that you fund are just little ACORNs!
I call these ‘ethnic self-help organizations’ little ACORNS.
Do you remember the community organizers of ACORN where they ostensibly helped the poor get their services (aka welfare), but also made sure they were properly indoctrinated, registered to vote and were voting for the Dems.
If a problem cropped up, they were also the advocacy media arm for THEIR people!
Well, these ethnic non-profit groups, just for refugees (funded by you), are doing the same. The federal Office of Refugee Resettlementshells out about four million of your bucks every year for this.
I contend that this activity of the ORR actually fosters division, setting certain groups of people up as somehow special and separate. Why should any class of immigrant be given special attention and federal grants?
Notice for all theyakking about Trump switching out the word ‘integration’ and replacing it with ‘assimilation,’ the ORR hasn’t gotten the message.
From the Office of Refugee Resettlement website:
(Emphasis below is mine)
The Ethnic Community Self-Help program supports ethnic community-based organizations in providing refugee populations with critical services to assist them in becoming integratedmembers of American society.
General Background
Throughout the history of the United States, the involvement of refugees and their community-based organizations in resettlement has been critical to integration. Today, these organizations continue to enhance the provision and effectiveness of refugee services. For refugees, their active participation in resettlement is empowering and plays an important role in theintegration of the entire refugee community.
Program Description
The Ethnic Community Self-Help program provides assistance to refugee community-based organizations and other groups that:
[Check out this list! They are so good at making it all look and sound so benign!—-ed]
Address community building
Facilitate cultural adjustment and integration
Deliver mutually supportive functions
Information exchange
Civic participation
Resource enhancement
Orientation and support to new and established refugees
Public education to the larger community
Ethnic Community Self-Help programs connect newly arrived refugees to community resources.Ethnic Community Self-Help programs target all ORR populations, and all U.S.-based governmental and certified non-profit organizations are eligible to apply. [Community resources is code for welfare, but isn’t that the job of the contractors we pay millions to each year, for that very same work!—ed]
There is a list of grantees at the ORR website, but it is old. It is not the new list that includes the payola to a Rochester, NY ethnic community group. Why can’t these federal agencies keep websites up to date?
Rochester ETHNIC self-help group gets $200,000 crows Congresswoman! (Take that Donald!)
Here is the news from Rochester, NY where a former Somali group, now supposedly open to all refugees, has been awarded a $200,000 renewable grant to put former volunteers on a taxpayer funded salary!
Sticking it to ‘the man.’ I guess (nearly 90-year-old) Rep. Louise Slaughter’s message to Trump is that she and her fellow Dems can still get money out of taxpayers’ pockets to fund community organizing activities for refugees to be sure they become good voting Democrats.
The Rochester nonprofit agency Refugees Helping Refugees has received a $200,000 federal grant to support the various services it provides for newly arriving refugees, Rep. Louise Slaughter announced Monday.
The grant comes from the federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Refugees Helping Refugees was founded in 2002 as the Somali Community of Western New York, but since has expanded its reach to help all refugees, not just Somalis.
[Many of the specifically Somali ‘ethnic’ groups (and there are boatloads of them) have had to expand their base because it was becoming unseemly that taxpayer dollars were being directed at one very special group of refugees.—ed]
It offers English classes, job training, benefits assistance and activities for senior citizens, among other things.
The grant will allow the organization to pay salaries for several positions that, until now, had been handled on a volunteer basis, including a case manager and coordinators for its various programs, director Meredith Keller said.
The $200,000 grant is renewable for three years, meaning it could total $600,000. Until now, the agency’s annual budget has been about $150,000, Keller said.
[….]
In a statement, Slaughter, D-Fairport, used the funding announcement to get in a dig at President Donald Trump, who has pushed for policies to trim refugee arrivals and services.
“This federal award for Refugees Helping Refugees is a testament to the inclusive, important work happening right here in our community,” Slaughter said in the statement. “This funding will help further that critical mission at a time when the Trump administration continues to use travel bans and shortsighted policies to prevent refugees from finding safety in our country.”
I have a category, not used lately, called ‘Ethnic Community Based Organizations.’ That was the official name for them at the Office of Refugee Resettlement when I first started writing about them, but now they call them Ethnic Community self-help groups. This post is filed here.
You should look around where you live and see if you have a community organizing group where you live specifically for refugees.
