Tag: Eskinder Negash

Office of Refugee Resettlement planning ‘RefugeeCorps’ to employ refugees at contractor offices

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The new RefugeeCorps will be patterned after AmeriCorps and and in partnership with AmeriCorps’ parent government agency.

It makes me laugh, they are very clever—very good at working all the angles!

Eskinder Negash is the outgoing Director of ORR. I wonder if they have picked his replacement yet, does anyone know?

The former refugees will be working for the refugee agencies (the federal contractors!) that operate in 180 plus cities across America.  So, rather than the resettlement agencies using some of their government money to employ people they will be getting access to another pot of government money to hire refugees who can’t find work otherwise.

So tell me why we don’t just open federal refugee offices in those 180 cities and quit this charade where non-profits pretend to be non-governmental (charitable!) agencies.

They still spend our tax dollars, but as non-profits they are unaccountable to those of us paying their freight!

This is more news from the ORR outgoing Director Eskinder Negash’s annual review.  We posted previous information from that document—58,000 unaccompanied minors entered the US in 2014 and were distributed to 124 locations around the country.

Here is the information on the RefugeeCorps (emphasis is mine):

ORR is pleased to announce the establishment of a new partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)—the agency that supports the AmeriCorps program, the RefugeeCorps. An entirely new initiative, this program places former refugees in positions at resettlement agencies to work directly with new arrivals. The goal is to improve the self-sufficiency and well-being of refugee populations and promote successful local integration.

Programs will focus on three key areas:

Economic Opportunity: improved economic well-being and security; improved access to financial literacy-focused services; safe, affordable housing; and, improved employability;

Education: improved educational outcomes for economically disadvantaged children; improved school readiness and educational outcomes for children; and, post-secondary education, and

Healthy Futures: improved access to primary and preventative health care; increased physical activity; and, improved nutrition in youth and reduction in childhood obesity.

This new RefugeeCorps will begin in late Summer/Fall 2015 with nine agencies, with a plan to expand the program to every refugee resettlement site in the U.S. over the next few years. Participating RefugeeCorps members receive the same benefits as a traditional AmeriCorps member, including a stipend, post-service educational benefit, health insurance and other benefits. ORR will provide the funding for this program to national voluntary agencies through the Preferred Communities grant.

Yippee! Money! Money! Money!

Office of Refugee Resettlement’s ‘Year in Review’ is very informative; UACs numbered 58,000 in 2014.

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

UAC= Unaccompanied Alien Children

ORR Director Eskinder Negash has penned his last ‘Year in Review’ at the federal agency’s website.

Negash, a former refugee, came to the federal job from his previous employment as a federal ‘non-profit’ contractor. I’m guessing he will be replaced with yet another contractor moving from grant recipient to becoming the giver of federal grants and contracts. Photo: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/07/top-obama-official-defends-open-borders-tells-conference-jesus-was-a-refugee/

According to Ryan Lovelace writing at National Review Online, Negash resigned his job on the eve of a Congressional hearing on the placement of Unaccompanied Alien Children in the wake of the border surge this past summer.

Here is how Negash’s letter introducing the ‘Year in Review’ begins.  [This will be the first of several posts on the review that I plan to write, starting with this one about the “children.”–ed]

Dear colleagues and friends,

In FY2014, the United States welcomed refugees from 67 countries across the globe, and for the second year in a row, the highest admissions were from refugees from Iraq and Burma, accounting for more than 56,000 (81%) of all arrivals. Iraqi refugees continued to suffer from secondary displacement—and in some cases, tertiary displacement—as the civil war in Syria rages on.

For the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), two thousand fourteen was a historic year, with a mass influx of unaccompanied children from Central America that totaled close to 58,000 children by year’s end—more than twice the number received in FY2013, and nearly the sum of the previous five years combined.

This influx of children expanded the overall population served by ORR and its partners to approximately 185,000 new arrivals in Fiscal Year 2014, comprised of refugees and asylees, Special Immigrant Visa holders, Cuban/Haitian Entrants and Parolees, victims of Human Trafficking, and Unaccompanied Children (UC).  [See Negash’s previous ‘Year in Review’ and note that we are up 40,000 or so “served” by ORR—ed]

From the more detailed report for 2014 (emphasis is mine):

Unaccompanied Children

In FY2014, the unanticipated rate and referral numbers of Unaccompanied Children (UC) surpassed program planning, physical capacity and staffing, and stretched funding authorization at an historic rate for the United States. In total, ORR placed 57,496 children in 124 facilities across 15 states. In May and June alone, ORR received 19,628 children for placement, representing 34% of the annual total for FY2014.

During the height of the summer influx, ORR coordinated with the Department of Defense (DoD) to utilize three DoD installations (Fort Sill in OK, Port Hueneme Naval Base in Ventura, CA, and Joint Base San Antonio (Lackland) in San Antonio, TX). ORR and its partners worked tirelessly throughout the summer influx, addressing emergent medical issues and implementing protocols to prevent backlogs in placements, to ensure that the children received appropriate medical screening and care. Faced with unprecedented numbers of children arriving at DHS border patrol stations faster than space could be found in the network to accommodate them, the team worked tirelessly and creatively around the clock to clear the backlogs at over-crowded border patrol stations, and move the children quickly and safely into appropriate shelter beds. ORR is grateful for the assistance of HHS, DHS, and the White House, and most importantly, to the Department of Defense which was instrumental in helping ORR attend to the critical protection needs of the children, by providing temporary shelter on the three bases.

In simple numbers,

~two-thirds of children referred to ORR in FY2014 were male

~21% were 12 years of age or younger [79% are teens—ed]

~96% of all referrals came from three countries: Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala

~Overall bed capacity increased by more than 70%

Looking ahead to FY2015, it is difficult to project how many children may arrive, but ORR staff and partners are working diligently to create surge capacity and medical plans; continue streamlining program policies and procedures; reform post-release and home study services; ensure adequate staffing and oversight, and remain flexible to accommodate seasonal patterns of referrals that are subject to change at any time.

Look for future posts on the ‘Review.’

Go here for all of our posts going back several years on ‘unaccompanied minors.’  By the way, first they were ‘unaccompanied minors,’ then ‘unaccompanied alien minors,’ then they became ‘unaccompanied alien children,’ and finally now ‘unaccompanied children’ as the political correctness police dropped the word “alien.”   They are decidedly NOT refugees which is what Obama and the contractors are working really hard to make you believe.

Director of the Office or Refugee Resettlement Resigns

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a story we missed earlier this month, but Chris Coen at Friends of Refugees blog spotted the news and reported on it here. (Hat tip: Joanne)

Eskinder Negash resigns.

Eskinder Negash, who has served as the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement for the last six years, tendered his resignation on December 9th, see it here, calling himself not a “political man.”  Of course the implication is that the job is a meat-grinder.

Check out Coen’s critical commentary of the Director’s time in his leadership role.

We don’t know what was going on behind the scenes that would push Negash out without having a plan for his future (as he indicates in his letter), but my big problem with his position there is that he himself was a federal contractor at the supposedly charitable US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), now on the federal payroll for 99% of its funds, before he came to the ORR.  By the way, the present head honcho at USCRI (Negash’s former boss) was also Bill Clinton’s Director of the ORR!

His partner over at the US State Department, Anne Richard, is also a former contractor.  And, I will bet that Negash is replaced by yet another high ranking executive from one of the nine federal contractors.***

The incestuous nature of the relationship between grantor and grantee must be investigated by Congress!  You can be sure the present system does not bode well for the US taxpayer being assured that waste, fraud and abuse is being monitored closely.  Heck, if there was an effort to seriously watch the contractors, the federal manager (Richard or Negash) would never get a job on the outside in the refugee industry again.

*** These are the nine VOLAGs (contractors) which monopolize the refugee resettlement program.  Let’s see which one sends a top level staffer to replace Negash!

ORR Annual Report to Congress for 2012 is available

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Washington revolving door! Eskinder Negash (left) Director of ORR pictured with Lavinia Limon (second from right), Clinton Director of ORR and Negash’s former boss at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a private federal resettlement contractor. Photo: http://www.kontrolmag.com/wyclef-plays-wtongue-to-raise-awareness-about-refugees-immigrants/dsc8260-xl-2/

I don’t know when they published it, but it now appears that the Office of Refugee Resettlement is trying to catch up on those legally required annual reports.

At one point, ORR was behind for three years making the reports virtually useless for anyone examining the program (if only Congress would examine this program!).

By law, the reports to Congress are to be filed by the end of January of the following fiscal year.  So, that would mean that the report for FY 2013 should have already been made available by having been filed in January or February of this year.  (See our post about the fact that the reports were always on time until the Clinton years when Lavinia Limon was in charge of ORR, here).

Last night when I wanted to check out how many Somalis we have admitted in recent years, I came across the Annual Report for 2012 submitted by ORR Director, Eskinder Negash.   We had mentioned the availability of FY2011, here in March.

I don’t know the exact publication dates of any of the reports after the Limon years because they are not dated as far as I can tell.  By not publishing a date, no one knows exactly when it went to Congress.

These reports are a treasure-trove of information, and by the way, for all of you doing research on the ‘Unaccompanied Alien Children’ problem, there is a lot in there.   In fiscal year 2012, the ORR was already panicking over the huge jump in illegal alien children coming under their care.

Click here for the report!

One of the first things I check is welfare usage by refugees (page 106) and get this —it is definitely up.  Food stamp usage has gone from 49% of refugees using food stamps in 2007 to 73% for 2012.  The refugee group using food stamps at the highest rate (89%) were Middle Easterners.

So, check it out!  There are hours of reading fun for you this Labor Day weekend!

ORR Year in Review for FY2013 has some handy stats

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Near the top of the list of our most-read posts almost every day is our Fact Sheet on Refugee Resettlement.  In addition to that fact sheet here is a handy report from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) that was published in December that I just came across while searching for something else.

ORR Director Negash: we served 143,000 “refugees” last year.

It is a year-end review for FY2013 and the cover letter is written by ORR Director Eskinder Negash, formerly a Vice President at the contractor US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).  His former boss at USCRI, President Lavinia Limon, was a former director of the ORR (did you get that! the ultimate revolving door between grantor and grantee!).

Here are some numbers one should get firmly planted in one’s mind (that applies to me as well!) when people ask you how many refugees are there.   Here is what Negash says the ORR “serves:”

….with the United States welcoming refugees from 65 countries across the globe this past year. The highest number of overseas arrivals represented a slight switch from those of the past few years, with nearly 19,500 Iraqi refugee admissions and 16,300 Burmese refugees accounting for more than half of all refugee arrivals. They were followed by Bhutanese (9,100), Somali (7,600) and Cuban refugees (4,200), with Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia rounding out rest of the top ten admissions groups in FY2013.

The overall population served by ORR and its partners, however, grew to a projected 143,000 new arrivals in Fiscal Year 2013, including almost 72,000 refugees and Special Immigrant Visa holders, an estimated 46,000 asylees and Cuban/Haitian Entrants and Parolees; more than 500 Victims of Trafficking, and nearly 25,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC).

And yippee, in the very next paragraph he says they are almost all on a path to citizenship and VOTING!  Those unaccompanied kids as well!

The numbers only tell part of the story: most of the 143,000 people ORR served last year are on a path to U.S. citizenship that began the day they arrived. Former refugees, asylees, and UAC are making positive changes in communities across the country—and will continue to do so throughout their lives—opening businesses, buying homes and raising families, and voting (and running!) in local elections.

I often say that we take 70,000 refugees a year on average, but I think we need to follow Negash’s lead and start using a number twice that—143,000 a year arriving in the US and in need of “services” you, the taxpayers, are providing.

Posted in our ‘where to find information’ category.