As I have been reporting, September is the month when the President normally sends a “determination” to the Hill (for consultation only) in which he reports what the refugee admissions ceiling will be in the upcoming fiscal year which begins October 1. However, he is not required by law to agree to admit any refugees.
There are rumors that President Trump will simply not send anything to Congress effectively signaling a suspension of the program.
Editor: BTW, regular readers of RRW might be interested in seeing two posts at Frauds and Crooks that could easily have been posted here because they are refugee related. See hereand here.
Below we havenews from ABCabout a letter to Pompeo from mostly a bunch of people you (or I) have never even heard of who participated in changing America by changing the people for decades.
Trump admin urged to accept refugees amid concerns it will indefinitely delay admissions
A group of prominent former U.S. officials is joining state and local governments, U.S. lawmakers, religious leaders and resettlement agencies in urging the Trump administration to increase refugee admissions in fiscal year 2021 amid historic need around the world.
The administration is supposed to consult with Congress and make a decision by the end of the fiscal year, in one week. But there is growing concern that President Donald Trump will decide to zero out refugee admissions, delay them indefinitely, or reduce the admissions cap even further.
[….]
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on Trump’s cap and “the internal discussions or the timeline related to its development,” but told ABC News it was ultimately the president’s decision.
Reutersreported earlier this month that the administration is considering postponing or further cutting admissions.
Seven former U.S. officials who ran the refugee admissions program under both Republican and Democrat administrations urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeoto express alarm at such a suspension and call for a “substantial increase” in admissions.
Do we believe for a second that this letter will hold any sway with the President?
Here is the nothingburger letterand the signatories (Purcell and Dewey are reportedly Republicans):
The Honorable Frank Loy
Former Director of the Bureau of Refugee Programs (1980–1981) Former Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs
James N. Purcell, Jr.
Former Director of the Bureau of Refugee Programs (1982–1986) Former Director General of the International Organization for Migration
The Honorable Phyllis Oakley
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration (1994–1997) Former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research
The Honorable Arthur Dewey
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration (2002–2005) Former United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees
Samuel Witten
Former Acting Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration (2007–2009) Former Deputy Legal Adviser for the U.S. Department of State
The Honorable Eric Schwartz
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration (2009–2011) Former NSC Senior Director for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs
The Honorable Anne C. Richard
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration (2012–2017) Former Director of the Secretary’s Office of Resources, Plans, and Policy, Department of State
I told youhere earlier this month about the long knives being out to destroy the nomination of Ken Isaacs a Veep at Samaritan’s Purse to head the IOM.
President Trump has nominated Isaacs to head the International Organization for Migration which not very long ago was another NGO receiving millions of US taxpayer dollars to do the foreign end of refugee processing in to the US (among other things). Now they have been officially folded in to the UN.
Of course, I would like to see the IOM squeezed financially, but at minimum the President should not be bullied by this pair (with the Washington Post!). Knife number one: CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper
In my earlier post I said the President should not back down to the long knives lead by Eric Schwartz and CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper. Here is newswith the latest on the controversy, hat tip: Richard at Blue Ridge Forum.
A bipartisan group of leading human-rights activists, including a Pulitzer-prize-winning New York Times columnist, has jumped to the defense of President Trump’s choice to lead the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), which uses its $1 billion annual budget to promote worldwide cooperation on refugee and trafficking issues.
Trump nominated Ken Isaacs, vice president of the Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, in January to head the 169-member organization, which holds elections to name a leader but typically defers to United States’ choice to run the organization.
Knife number two: Eric Schwartz, a hard Left one-worlder who ran the refugee program in the early years of the Obama Admin, and is a George SOROS protege.
Isaacs, who served in the Bush administration as the director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development, has spent 30 years organizing large-scale emergency relief programs in some of the most dangerous and desperate places in the world, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Darfur, Iraq, Liberia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Rwanda.
The day the White House announced his nomination, Isaacs was in Bangladesh administering diphtheria treatment to Muslim-majority Rohingya refugees.
Now, two weeks later, lifetime colleagues and allies in the humanitarian community are furiously trying to save his nomination after an Obama State Department official and a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations accused Isaacs of tweeting anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant statements.
In a Washington Post article, the pair of critics took issue with a number of Isaacs’ views, including the belief that the Koran instructs its followers to engage in violent jihad, that Middle East Christians should be given first priority when applying to the U.S. government for refugee status, and that President Obama’s policy of accepting large numbers of Syrian refugees was “foolish and delusional” because some of them could become “security risks” if allowed in the United States.
After the article, Isaacs apologized for his “careless” social media posts and vowed to lead the IOM with “the highest standards of humanity, human dignity, and equality,” if chosen.
The paper later editorialized against the nomination, arguing Isaacs’s views were “venomous,” demonstrated “bigotry,” and that his leadership in the post would be “an embarrassment to the United States.”
Continue reading here.
Dear Donald, don’t let the Washington Post (Bezos), CAIR and Schwartz win this one!
The IOM is the International Organization for Migration.
Until not too long ago it was a non-profit group just like the other federal resettlement contractors that depended mostly on taxpayer funding (like they do) and was (still is) involved with processing refugees in to the US (and elsewhere). It is now an agency of the United Nationsand you might see evidence of them (their bags visible in airports worldwide) as they shepherd migrants around the globe.
You saw those bags in this photo (below) of the Australian rejected ‘refugees’ as they were leaving detention on their way to Anytown, USA. (BTW, some reports said that the IOM bought the detainees some really nice clothes and shoes.)
IOM bags! Story here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2018/01/23/australian-rejected-refugees-on-the-way-to-us-this-week/
Trump nominee for U.N. migration post called Muslims violent, Christians top priority
(I didn’t know that the US gets to nominate the chairman, but I guess that makes sense because we supply the IOM with most of its money!)
Emphasis below is mine: Ken Isaacs (right) with Franklin Graham before Samaritan’s Purse relief flight to Ecuador in 2016
The Trump administration’s nominee to coordinate billions of dollars in assistance to migrants around the world has suggested in social-media posts that Islam is an inherently violent religion and has said Christians in some cases should receive preferential treatment when resettling from hostile areas.
In tweets, social media posts and radio appearances reviewed by The Washington Post, Ken Isaacs, a vice president of the Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, made disparaging remarks about Muslims and denied climate change — a driving force behind migration, according to the agency the State Department has nominated him to lead.
In June, after a terrorist attack in London, Isaac reposted and commented on a CNN International story that quoted a Catholic bishop saying “This isn’t in the name of God, this isn’t what the Muslim faith asks people to do.”
Now (drum roll please) here is what Isaacs said that the Washington Post and critics of Isaacs say disqualifies him from this job!
The WaPo continues…..
Isaacs responded: “CNN, Bishop if you read the Quran you will know ‘this’ is exactly what the Muslim faith instructs the faithful to do.”
Isaacs was announced Thursday as the Trump administration’s pick to become director general of the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, or IOM.The 169-member organization has a nearly $1 billion annual operating budget and for decades has deferred to the United States, one of its top benefactors, to lead the organization.
So look who the WaPo quotes as the expert on the Isaacs choice. Eric Schwartz, a hard Left one-worlder who ran the refugee program in the early years of the Obama Admin, and is a George Soros protege.
Trump’s pick could be at risk of being the first U.S. nominee since the late 1960s to lose an election by the group’s voting members, according to several people involved in international relief coordination.
“I don’t know the nominee, but I’ve seen some of his statements and they reflect a troubling prejudice that is really incompatible with a position of leadership for the world’s most important international migration agency,” said Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International and a former assistant secretary of state under President Barack Obama.
“The person who leads this needs to be a symbol of the international community’s support for humanity. And that means that dark-skin people and Muslim people have the same inherent worth as any other people.”
We urge the President to not withdraw this nomination.
And, heck, if the IOM board votes him down, consider cutting IOM funding (after all, now that the number of refugees being admitted to the US is slowing, you won’t need their services so much!).
See my archive on Eric Schwartz here.
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.
Some of you asked me what I think of the idea floated by the Trump teamto move the US Refugee Admissions Program from the State Department to the Dept. of Homeland Security. This letter helped me decide!
If these are the supporters for keeping it at the DOS, then I vigorously support moving it! Obama Asst. Sec. of State for PRM does not want the USRAP moved out of the DOS.
The letter reported by the Washington Posthereyesterday was spearheaded by none other than Eric Schwartz(the Soros protege who is now heading Refugees International, see here). It is also signed by eight of the nine federal refugee contractors*** who have over the years established a cozy relationship with the bureaucrats at State. They are counted among the 58 “foreign policy experts.”
In fact there are 40 ‘experts’ and then 18 non-profit open borders activist groups.
Experts include Anne Richard(see our extensive archive here) and Ellen Sauerbrey (don’t miss this 2007 post!). Both are former Asst. Secretaries of State for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). Sauerbrey, from Maryland, ran the refugee program for several years under George W. Bush. Hereis the WaPoon the letter (hat tip: Joanne):
A group of prominent foreign policy experts on Monday called on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to keep the office responsible for managing refugee inflows a part of the State Department instead of moving it to the Department of Homeland Security.
Last month, a leaked memo showed the administration contemplating a relocation of the Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration. Such a change, says a letter signed by 58 former diplomats and national security advisers, would adversely shift the bureau’s focus from humanitarian and policy concerns to solely security issues.
Ellen Sauerbrey, Bush’s Asst. Sec. of State for PRM, helps make this a “bi-partisan” letter.
“We are convinced that the elimination of PRM’s assistance functions would have profound and negative implications for the Secretary of State’s capacity to influence policy issues of key concern to the United States,” the letter states. “It would also be ironic, as this is one of the bureaus at State that has enjoyed strong bipartisan support over many years.”
The signatories include former officials who served in Republican and Democratic administrations, as well executives from numerous religious and humanitarian organizations that work with newly arrived refugees.
[….]
Eric Schwartz, the president of Refugees International who helped organize the letter sent to Tillerson, said DHS plays an important role in security screening. But he said it does not focus on foreign policy considerations, such as support for host countries where refugees are awaiting admissions and encouraging other nations to take in more displaced people. [Why is it our job to nag other countries?—ed]
See the letter by clicking here. Your homework assignment for today is to write to Trumpand tell him you like the idea of breaking up the cozy cabal at the DOS by moving the US Refugee Admissions Program to the Dept.of Homeland Security! ***Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizerspaid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities. Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process.
Eight of the nine signed the letter to pressure Tillerson. Noticeably absent as a signatory is the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. I’ve noticed that lately they aren’t signing on to these overtly political letters. Maybe parishioners are getting to their priests! Keep it up!
