Congress questions Syrian refugee resettlement plan; Obama Administration appears to be back-peddling

02/03/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Wow! I missed this story while I was away. It is from Newsweek last Thursday entitled: ‘U.S. Congress Questions Plan to Admit Syrian Refugees.’

Less than two months ago, Asst. Sec. of State for PRM, Anne Richard, said that the US would be bringing in 10,000 Syrians THIS year, so what gives? The UN is going to be very very unhappy to hear the latest news! https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/12/23/asst-secretary-of-state-anne-richard-we-have-1000-1500-syrian-referrals-coming-in-a-month/

This is very big news because I haven’t heard a peep out of Congress on Muslim Somalis or Iraqis in more than five years, and so wonder why the Syrian Muslims are now drawing fire. I think we may have turned a corner! Was Paris the final straw?

The other amazing news in here is that the Administration is vigorously back-peddling from a promise made recently by the US State Department to admit 9,000-10,000 Syrians THIS FISCAL YEAR (we are already 4 months into FY2015 which began on Oct. 1, 2014).

We followed closely the beating George Bush took from reporters shilling for the ‘humanitarian industrial complex’ back in 2007 and into 2008 when the Bush Administration was nervous about security issues involving Iraqi refugees and now find it amusing that no one is beating on Obama about his Administration’s (fortunate-for-us!) foot-dragging on Syrians.

From Newsweek (hat tip: Joanne):

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican-led House Committee on Homeland Security is challenging an Obama administration plan to admit Syrian refugees to the United States, saying it could allow potential terrorists to sneak into the country.

In a letter sent to the White House, Michael McCaul, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee and Peter King and Candice Miller, who chair subcommittees, said the administration’s plan “raises serious national security concerns.”

The letter, dated Wednesday, said the United States lacks the resources to fully investigate the backgrounds of refugees from Syria, a base for Islamic State militants, before they are admitted to the country.

Anne Richard, an Assistant Secretary of State, said on Dec. 9 that the United States resettled nearly 70,000 refugees from nearly 70 countries in 2013 and that the administration’s refugee plans would lead to “resettling Syrians as well.”

Richard said the United States was already reviewing around 9,000 Syrian refugee cases referred by a United Nations agency and was receiving “roughly a thousand new ones each month.”

I would not trust this next paragraph. This could very well be a head-fake:

A State Department official said that the United States was likely to admit 1,000-2,000 Syrian refugees this government fiscal year and a few thousand more in Fiscal Year 2016. The official said that Syrian refugees applying for admission to the United States will “undergo additional screening specific to this population.”

LOL! We can be sure they are screening Muslims because there would be no reason to fear, and to vigorously screen, the Christian Syrians.

Remember folks! The contractor cabal (led by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) is asking for 15,000 Syrians each year for five years!

Refugee contractor Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society re-brands, drops the “Hebrew” ….

12/27/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

.…and moves its headquarters closer to Washington so as to be closer to the federal money it depends on for survival. It will also boost its advocacy role with Congress and federal agencies.

Hetfield: The word “Hebrew” is so outdated, like using the word “colored” to refer to African Americans.

They will go by the name HIAS, Inc instead of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society which is probably better anyway since they have so many Muslims to resettle (who probably got skittish when they heard the word “Hebrew”). One of nine major federal refugee contractors***, HIAS wants the US to resettle 75,000 Syrians (who will be mostly Muslims) over the next five years.

From Washington Jewish Week (hat tip: Michelle). Emphasis is mine:

The announcement last week that HIAS, the century-old Jewish immigrant and refugee aid organization, will relocate its headquarters from New York City to Silver Spring is just another sign that the Jewish organizational universe is changing.

Once known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the agency has responded to the end of Jewish refugee immigration into the port of New York by refocusing on refugee advocacy Washington, D.C.

In doing so, HIAS is joining an exodus of religion-based immigrant agencies, said Mark Hetfield, HIAS president and CEO.

“All of us started in the Ellis Island days when almost all immigrants came through New York and all migration organizations and refugee organizations were based in New York,” he said. “Then, over the 1990s, that gradually started to change, and now five of the nine refugee organizations [sanctioned by the U.S. State Department] are already based in the Baltimore-Washington area.”

Those organizations include: Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service (LIRS), World Relief (Evangelical), U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, Church World Service (mainline Protestant), Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM), and the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

In the Jewish community, HIAS’ shift is part of a growing trend of organizations shedding old identities when their original missions have been filled. That often includes streamlining names to avoid referring to those outdated missions. Most people already commonly refer to the Anti-Defamation League as the ADL, and years ago, the American Jewish Committee rebranded itself as the AJC, not to be confused with the American Jewish Congress.

Hetfield said that one of the motivations for the upcoming move was a belief that HIAS could have a greater impact by being closer to Congress, the State Department and other federal agencies where immigration and refugee policy is made.

Although HIAS already has a small advocacy contingent in Washington, bringing the leadership, experts and program staff to the area is intended to better assist this advocacy wing shape immigration and refugee policy, he said.

According to Charity Navigator, which gives HIAS its highest rating for transparency and accountability, 65.3 percent of the agency’s annual budget of $25 million comes from government grants – from the State Department, the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. [When we started RRW 7 years ago, no mention was ever made of the amount of federal money these contractors lived off of by any mainstream publication—wow!—ed]

[….]

HIAS’ expansion and rebranding included making the group’s acronym its official name. Hetfield said the word “Hebrew” is exclusionary and outdated, much as the word “colored” is to refer to African Americans.

There is much more, read it all. And, reader Michelle sent other related links that you can see as comments to this post.

We have many posts on the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, click here to learn more.

Who is next? Will the US Conference of Catholic Bishops become the USCCB? Will Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services become LIRS? Or, how about Church World Service, just CWS, so as to keep their Muslim “clients” mollified? And, to assure those government grants keep coming (so they can continue to lobby with your money and no one will raise the issue of separation of church and state)?

***For those readers arriving here for the first time, these are the nine major federal resettlement contractors which are in control of refugee resettlement in America:

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society at it again: this time lobbying for lawyers for the “children”

11/09/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) is one of nine major federal refugee resettlement contractors (aka lobbyists) which live off of your tax dollars.***

Mark Hetfield is the CEO of HIAS. http://www.hias.org/leadership/mark-hetfield

They have been busy, busy, busy lobbying for everything from amnesty (S. 744, Gang of Eight bill), to more Syrian (mostly Muslim) refugees for America, for an expansion of the refugee program and now for more bucks for the Unaccompanied Alien Children.

This is from their latest Action alert:

When Congress returns to Washington next week it must vote to fund the government for the current fiscal year. Decisions will be made about funding immigration judges and lawyers, detention facilities, and whether or not to keep important protections in place for children seeking asylum.

Join us in urging Congress to ensure that children and others who are running for their lives are given a fair chance to seek asylum in the United States.

And, for the convenience of their supporters they even provide language for their appeal. Note they are pushing for the “children” to be granted asylum (they would then be “refugees” and get all the goodies available to them as full-blown refugees).

Subject line:

Central American Children Must Be Allowed to Seek Asylum

Text:

I support fair and humane treatment of Central American migrants who have sought refuge in the United States. Rampant violence–much of it aimed at women and children–has led thousands of people to flee Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador in the past two years. Most of the unaccompanied children arriving in the U.S. have fled violence, sexual abuse, forced gang recruitment, and other forms of exploitation and should be eligible for asylum or other relief in the U.S.

As a global humanitarian leader, the United States must respect the rights of those who seek asylum. However, under U.S. law, asylum seekers–including children–are not eligible for court appointed lawyers. This means that many children must navigate the complex immigration system alone and must represent themselves in court, and many are jailed while doing so.

As you consider the bill to fund the government for the current fiscal year, I urge you to ensure that there is sufficient funding for immigration courts to process cases efficiently and for lawyers to represent all children seeking asylum. I urge you to fund alternatives to detention rather than facilities that will jail those who seek safety in the United States. Finally, I urge you to keep in place important existing legal protections for children seeking asylum.

Throughout our history, America has been defined by our generosity toward those who seek a safe haven from violence, oppression, and persecution. I urge you to show leadership in ensuring that children and others who are running for their lives are given a fair chance to seek safe haven in the United States.

***Check out HIAS, Inc.’s Form 990 (the most recent one available). They had a total revenue of $25 million and $15 million came from you as government grants (in rounded numbers). Hetfield made $186,000 that year, but out-going President Gideon Aronoff was pulling down a salary in excess of $300,000 for a partial year. Maybe Aronoff could take a few of the ‘persecuted’ children into his home?

See our complete archive on ‘Unaccompanied minors’ by clicking here.

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society launches petition drive to increase this year’s refugee quota from 70,000-100,000

10/29/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We want 75,000 Syrians admitted to US in next five years.

Citing the crisis in Syria and Iraq, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, one of nine major federal contractors has launched a drive to petition the Obama Administration to increase the Fiscal Year 2015 admissions to the US.

Always keep in mind that the contractors are paid by the head to resettle refugees to your towns and cities.

See a previous post this morning for what all this is costing you.

Readers will remember it was Nezer who earlier this year said we should take 75,000 Syrians over 5 years.

Although she says they are trying to save Christians and religious minorities, interested readers should call them and ask how many Muslims they resettled in recent years and ask what percentage of the Syrians in the pipeline for America right now are Muslims.

From an e-mail alert this morning:

Dear Friend,

The conflict in Syria has forced more than 3 million people from their homes. In Iraq, the Islamic State has engaged in an ethnic cleansing campaign against Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities. Those who have fled will likely never be able to return home.

Yet, despite ongoing persecution and conflicts creating more and more refugees, the United States has not increased the quota of people we will resettle in the coming year.

Sign our petition! It is imperative that the annual US refugee quota be increased from 70,000 to 100,000.

Raising the resettlement ceiling will not put an end to the violence sweeping Syria and Iraq. But it will allow us to save more of the most vulnerable refugees of this unimaginable suffering. It will support the countries hosting them. And it will uphold our nation’s promise to support religious freedom and provide safe haven to those who are persecuted.

Stand with us and urge President Obama to uphold our nation’s promise to support religious freedom and offer safe haven to those who are persecuted for their faith and beliefs.

Sincerely,
Melanie

Melanie Nezer
Vice President, Policy and Advocacy

American Jews beat up on Israel for not allowing African migrants to stay

09/30/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

African protesters at US Embassy in Tel Aviv in January demanding to be allowed to stay in Israel. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/01/07/waiting-for-the-unhcr-to-blast-saudi-arabia-as-they-did-israel-yesterday/

Whew!

This article in the Jewish Times featuring Jewish leaders in Maryland leading a campaign against Israel on the issue of asylum for tens of thousands of African migrants who got into Israel illegally is just too much. I’ll let you read it yourself.

We have covered the issue extensively in our category ‘Israel and refugees.’

The gist of it is that tens of thousands of African migrants that many believe are in Israel as economic migrants (not legitimate refugees) are seeking asylum claiming they will be persecuted if returned to Africa.

The issue has split the country down the usual lines—Leftists want the Africans to be allowed to stay and accuse Israel of being “unwelcoming” and those on the Right believe that Israel will ultimately die if allowed to be overrun by the third world.

BTW, Israel is paying some of the illegal migrants to return to Africa.

Here is the whole story (albeit slanted toward the American Left) from the Jewish Times.

You should know that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, one of the nine major US refugee resettlement contractors is also bashing Israel on the issue.