Tag: HIAS

Refugee contractors launch August recess campaign; minimum 75,000 refugees for FY18

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
From the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society website: https://www.hias.org/support-presidential-determination-least-75000-refugees

 

In mid-September the Trump Administration will be sending its ‘Presidential determination’ to the Hill.

The determination will set the CEILING for the number of refugees the President would like to see admitted to the US and sets priorities for what regions of the world will be the source of those refugees.

It also tells Congress how much money the Administration needs to get that job done.

Obama’s average admissions for 8 years was 69,683. Do they really think that Donald Trump will ask for 75,000?

For the umpteenth time, the number is a ceiling that is rarely reached.

The contractors*** are telling their followers that the magic number for FY18 is 75,000.  They must be taking a new tack because at this time last year they were asking Obama for 200,000.  I suspect they know the situation is bad for their budgets and they need more than 50,000 (paying refugee clients) to stay afloat.

By the way, Trump reset the ceiling for FY17 to 50,000.

And, as  of this morning (according to Wrapsnet) Trump is at 50,672.  This is the first time in the history of the program that the ceiling has been surpassed.

For the eight years of the Obama Administration the average number of admissions was 69,683 (see here). The average would have been much lower if it weren’t for his last year, an outlier, of nearly 85,000.

So, if Trump goes to 75,000 for FY18, which begins October 1, he will be proposing to bring in more refugees than Obama’s average.

Ginning up their base!

Just one portion of the “members” page at the RCUSA. http://www.rcusa.org/members/

In an August recess toolkit prepared by the Refugee Council USA (the lobbying arm of the refugee industry), here is what they are telling their activists (and using your tax dollars for their community organizing!):

Trump’s attacks on refugees, immigrants, and their families are morally detestable, discriminatory, and violate our sacred honor to protect the most vulnerable among us. Right now, we need Congress to urge the administration to resettle at least 75,000 refugees next year and protect DACA. Congress must also robustly fund refugee assistance overseas and the U.S. refugee resettlement program, at minimum at last year’s levels, and reduce funding for mass immigration detention, deportation, and border militarization.

One of the most active of the activist groups is the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) which has instructions to its supporters on what to say to Washington Representatives and Senators.

Scratching your head about why Jews would import their enemy? Learn about “Stalinist Jews” where “ideology over reality” rules. Watch starting at minute 46 in this new documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmhfRi5j8aA

They know that the Republican Congress can be manipulated easily by public opinion on this issue because the establishment GOP fears being labeled racist AND many R’s are beholden to the Chamber of Commerce, big business and global corporations looking for more consumers and a ready supply of cheap labor.

***The Federal contractors/middlemen/employment agencies/propagandists/lobbyists/community organizers? paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities are below.  Under the nine major contractors are hundreds of subcontractors.

The contractors income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, but they also receive myriad grants to service their “New Americans.”

If you are a good-hearted soul and think refugee resettlement is all about humanitarianism, think again! Big businesses depend on the free flow of cheap (some call it slave) labor.

The only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove these contractors/Leftwing activists from the process.

Hetfield of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society thinks Hawaiian judge just opened floodgates

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  By the end of the day we are now over the President’s ceiling by 194, and I think it would only be fair if HIAS set up an office in Hawaii and resettle all of those over the ceiling in that state! After all, Hawaii isn’t getting its fair share—only 3 so far in FY17.
I really don’t mean to turn RRW in to HIAS Watch***, but it is Mark Hetfield, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society’s well paid CEO who is setting himself up as the leading spokesman for the refugee industry.
Here (below) is his statement on the decision by the Hawaiian rogue judge.

Hetfield gets an award: https://www.hias.org/blog/adl-hebrew-union-college-honor-hias-work-behalf-refugees

If the Trump administration allows one judge in Hawaii to prevail, after deciding all by himself, what a “bona fide relationship” is, we might as well call it quits and go to the beach (for life!).

There is no legal standard because the Supreme Court literally made it up on the fly!

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society:

SILVER SPRING, Md.—On Thursday, July 13, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson issued an important ruling in Hawaii halting the implementation of portions of the Trump administration’s executive order banning refugees and travelers from six Muslim-majority countries.

As a result of this ruling, refugees with assurances from U.S.-based resettlement agencies are now officially considered to have “bona fide” relationships with a U.S. entity, as defined by the Supreme Court. The Trump administration had previously interpreted the Supreme Court order to mean that refugees with such ties would not be permitted entry on that basis alone.

In his decision, Judge Watson wrote that “an assurance from a United States resettlement agency, in fact, meets each of the Supreme Court’s touchstones,” and that “bona fide does not get any more bona fide than that.”

Additionally, the Court expanded the administration’s overly narrow interpretation of which close family ties would qualify to be exempted from the refugee ban, which had originally excluded even grandparents and grandchildren.

HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield said, “This is a common-sense ruling which correctly interprets what the Supreme Court explicitly wrote. Critically, thousands of refugees escaping precarious and dangerous situations should now have the chance to find the safety promised to them in this country.”

More here.

Rep. Keith Ellison was the ‘draw’ at NY anti-Trump rally sponsored by HIAS.

Remember readers, this is all about their “compensation,” about money (taxpayer money!) for each refugee they place in your towns.  It is about their office overhead, their staff salaries, their travel budgets, and their ability to put on anti-Trump rallies like this one.
***This gives me an idea.  Readers are always asking me what they can do. Here is something: Start a “watch” for each of the nine contractors. Pick your favorite from the list below and write your own blog! If I can do it, so can you!
If you decide to choose HIAS we have a huge archive on them here (a good place to start!).
Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizers paid 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.

US shuts the door on refugees, wails 'Think Progress'

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..and it is confirmed by their go-to commenter—Mark Hetfield of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society— who says of Trump’s ceiling that it is “lower than it’s been in history.”
But, what he doesn’t say is that even at 50,086 (the number this morning), that is not the lowest ADMISSIONS number in the history of the program as we pointed out here (and will show you below).
Here is Think Progress (John Podesta):

“We’ve reached a low point in U.S. history today with the Trump administration setting and enforcing a refugee admission ceiling which is lower than it’s been in history,” HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield told ThinkProgress in a phone interview Wednesday.

I just told you two days ago (something Think Progress will never tell you), that groups like HIAS are quasi-government agencies paying CEO salaries at major corporation levels. Hetfield makes $358,718 (doing well by doing good!) annually. Only one of the nine CEOs makes more, and that is David Miliband of the IRC ($591,846). https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/07/11/updating-financial-data-on-refugee-contractors-big-bucks-for-humanitarian-work/

HIAS, a nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian assistance and aid to refugees, has long helped refugees resettle in the United States. Hetfield was immensely displeased that at least one HIAS client, who was approved as a refugee, will be unable to come in despite having a grandmother in the country. Others will also see their flight reservations cancelled.

[….]

“We’re at least grateful the Supreme Court prevented Trump from fully implementing his mean spirited executive order and that refugees will [with] ties to US will continue to be admitted,” Hetfield said. “It’s an embarrassment for our country to be taking in so few refugees when the needs are so great.”

Think Progress goes on to perpetuate a massive misunderstanding claiming that countries like Turkey (Lebanon and Jordan) take in more refugees than does the rich (mean-spirited) US.

Those countries do not take refugees permanently (another thing that Think Progress will never tell its readers!)

Those countries would never let large numbers of other ethnic groups (Iraqis, Syrians, Somalis, Pakistanis, Palestinians etc.) become PERMANENT VOTING CITIZENS.  In our refugee program (the largest in the world even at 50,000) we do, and so….

….we are the number one country in the world admitting refugees for life!

Let’s look at historically low admissions levels (see charts here).

There were 4 years when we admitted fewer than Trump’s 50,086:

FY02: 27,070

FY03: 28,117

FY06: 41,279

FY07: 48,281

And, since the SCOTUS is allowing refugees with “bona fide” relationships to enter above Trump’s 50,000 ceiling, here are some other years that might easily be surpassed before September 30th (the end of FY17):

FY87: 58,863

FY04: 52,858

FY05: 53,813

And these next two are THE Man’s (Obama’s years):

FY11: 56,424

FY12: 58,238

I’m guessing that Trump will, in the end, be admitting in the low 60,000s, close to the average for the last ten years.   The big question is—what will he propose for FY18???

Costa Rica: Are US taxpayers supporting HIAS office?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“What we’re doing here is unprecedented in the current system.”

(Kathya Araya)

 

HIAS dropped the word Hebrew from its name a few years back.

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, one of nine federal refugee contracting agencies (largely funded by you), has a new office in Costa Rica (opened in February of this year!).
Normally I wouldn’t have noticed this item on their website but because Costa Rica is somehow part of that Australian “dumb deal” it piqued my interest.
Here and here are news items on HIAS’s website about the new office.
And, here is one of several posts of mine on the Australia deal where we will take up to 1,250 illegal alien boat people (mostly from Muslim countries) that Australia is holding in detention centers, and ‘refugees’ in Costa Rica will be shipped to Australia in exchange.
I’ll ask again, what do we get in this deal because illegal migrants and asylum seekers in Costa Rica are not our problem—or are they now that HIAS is there processing people?
Most of those in Costa Rica are economic migrants and others (some running from crime) who are really not persecuted people legitimately in need of refugee protection.
It sure looks to me like our US Department of State is getting out of control!
Is HIAS paying for this “legal” office with private charitable donations? Or, is this ‘program’ one more little gift the Obama Administration left for you—the US taxpayer! And, if Costa Rica’s immigration issues are of concern to the US government, why do we need middlemen NGOs there who are not accountable to taxpaying voters?
Here is my archive on the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
Since Trump/Tillerson have not yet chosen anyone to rein-in the bureaucrats at the DOS, I’m starting to wonder if the contractors, like HIAS, are running the show there!

Boo Hoo! Charitable organizations which resettle refugees forced to raise private funds

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You have probably seen them—bushels of stories about how the nine federal resettlement contractors are wailing and moaning as Trump cuts off their refugee/money flow—but I was surprised that the Wall Street Journal didn’t do a little better job of putting it all in perspective.
For new readers like Nancy, here are the nine federal resettlement contractors (aka Volags, short for Voluntary Agencies, Ha! Ha!) that make up the “refugee-resettlement industry:”

 
The WSJ does make it clear that these NON-Profit groups (six are ostensibly religious groups) are paid by the head to place refugees in your towns and get them signed up for their stuff.  For the first few years that I wrote this blog, mainstream media never mentioned that fact!  So, yes, their budgets will vary as they have become almost completely dependent on federal money for their salaries/benefits, office rental, travel, etc.
For them to be whining that they have to raise private money for their ‘religious’ charitable work as refugee numbers vary makes me want to scream. When the Refugee Act of 1980 became law it was supposed to be a public-private partnership, but as the years have passed, federal funding (and state and local funding!) has become a greater and greater share.

Before I give you the latest whine-fest from the WSJ, here is how the contractors got in to this pickle.  Obama set the CEILING for FY17 at 110,000 in his final months in office.  The WSJ tells us it was the highest ceiling since 1995. Thus the contractors were building their budgets on a pipe dream of more paying clients (aka refugees) than they have had for years and years.
That 110,000 was, by far, Obama’s highest ceiling as we have reported ad nuaseum and as you can see in this chart from the Refugee Processing Center and is being used dishonestly as the benchmark for measuring the Trump flow:
 

Note that the US DOS has gotten around to removing the 110,000 ceiling for FY2017. This chart last month still listed it. See last month here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/05/05/despicable-usa-today-says-refugee-numbers-plummet-under-trump-but-were-silent-when-obama-monthly-numbers-were-low/

 
Last night I wondered just how the first seven months of the fiscal year matched up (FY17 runs from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017).  At the end of April we are 7 complete months in to the fiscal year, and those wailing contractors have been paid handsomely for 7 months based on the fact that by April 30,2017 we had admitted more paying clients/refugees than any of the previous ten years.  Do the math using the chart above!
As of the end of April, the US admitted 42,414 refugees, the highest number in the first seven months of any of the years since before FY07.  In fact, Bush had the lowest first seven months in 2007—17,150, but even Saint Obama had only 26,181 in FY12 as of April 30th. He never had a year with this high number (by April 30th) in his time in office.

Now here are a few snips from the Wall Street Journal giving the contractors another opportunity to wail and moan!
Although, I have to laugh to see the phrase “refugee-resettlement industry” in the first line!

Even though President Donald Trump’s travel ban has been put on hold, his administration is already reshaping the refugee-resettlement industry.

The Trump administration has cut the rate of refugee arrivals in half in the first months of the year [this is so dishonest!—ed] and charity organizations that settle refugees are slashing their budgets in response.

Has Hetfield slashed his salary? https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/11/13/hebrew-immigrant-aid-society-lectures-trump-never-mentions-its-pecuniary-interest-in-refugees/

More than half of the nine agencies that are approved by the State Department to resettle refugees in the U.S. have already either laid off staff or frozen hiring. Some agencies have let hundreds of people go. Many are staging fundraising campaigns the help make up for lost federal funding, which is tied to new refugee arrivals but also supports programs for refugees already here.

“We’ve been asked by the State Department to cut our budget twice already,” said Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, a Jewish nonprofit that resettles refugees in the U.S. HIAS has instituted a hiring freeze. “You can’t manage a program like this.”

[….]

In the last fiscal year, the federal government allocated more than $554 million for refugee admissions, and 84,994 refugees were resettled. More than $227 million of that money was distributed to the nine resettlement agencies, most of them religiously affiliated, that help newcomers adjust to the U.S.

[….]

World Relief, one of the resettlement agencies, began adding case workers in the fall, expecting a huge influx of refugees. At the organization’s 25 offices, case workers shepherd refugees through all aspects of life in America. They pick them up at the airport; set up housing, complete with furniture and clothes; advise them on searching for jobs; and help enroll children in school.

Oopsy!  As Mark Krikorian pointed out on twitter last night the reporter left out one important duty of the contractor in that line above—they sign the refugee up for all forms of welfare and move on to the next client!

WSJ continues….

Resettlement agencies had been hoping 2017 would be a banner year. In September, before the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year, Mr. Obama announced he would raise the number of refugees allowed into the country to 110,000, the highest total since 1995. Many agencies began staffing up. [Sniffle—ed]

[….]

The nine resettlement agencies contract much of the work settling new refugees out to hundreds of local affiliates. These organizations are paid $2,075 for each refugee they resettle, the majority of which goes directly to refugee assistance. [No! About half goes to the contractor for salaries and overhead!—ed]

[….]

Many resettlement organizations have started fundraising campaigns to try to make up for lost revenue.

Pity! They actually have to go out to the public and look for private charitable dollars for their humanitarian good works.

You know what it means if they can’t find private money?  It means the public is generally not behind their efforts to import poverty and diversify American cities and towns with refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Read the whole article here and be sure to see that Mark Krikorian is quoted.