They anticipate the immediate arrival of the promised 125,000 refugees to America. But, heck I am thinking that they don’t even need more immigrant voters when they can just make up any needed votes by distributing millions of ballots in key cities!
I’ll report as the refugee contractors come in with expressions of joy over the media’s pronouncement of a Biden/Harris victory.
See yesterday’s post–Over 27,000 from Muslim ban countries in the pipeline for immediate resettlement.
After a tense nationwide wait since Election Day, HIAS congratulates President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Mark Hetfield CEO of HIAS
“The election of Joseph Biden marks a return to (American) values, an acknowledgement that refugees and immigrants have always been a benefit, not a burden to our great country,” HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield said in a special video message.
“HIAS looks forward to building back better the U.S. refugee resettlement program in partnership with the U.S. government, and to restoring America’s rightful place in the world as a leader for people seeking asylum and for human rights,” Hetfield continued, “but we also do need to acknowledge that the closeness of this election and the incredible level of support that both candidates received, demonstrates that America remains a highly polarized and divided country.”
Biden has a proven track record of standing for refugees, Hetfield said in a written statement. As a Senator, Biden co-sponsored The Refugee Act of 1980, which codified the U.S. refugee resettlement program and asylum system.
Biden also has made a number of promises to undo some of the anti-immigration policies of the Trump administration.
“Mr. Biden has pledged to return to normal and resettle 125,000 refugees a year in our country; to end the harmful Remain in Mexico policy that has stranded thousands of people at our Southern border; and to reunite the 545 children still separated from their parents as a result of the current administration’s practice of taking children — including babies and toddlers — from their asylum-seeking parents,” Hetfield said in the statement.
I have ahuge archive on HIAS as they were a leading US taxpayer-funded ‘non-profit’ working tirelessly from before Trump won the White House to defeat him.
With 70 million Americans now on record to oppose Biden/Harris and their plans to open American borders, no doubt HIAS will have a harder time placing refugees in certain US towns and cities (assuming Biden and Harris are actually legally certified).
The Open Borders Lobby with its lawyers is not happy with Trump’s “extreme vetting” and with the help of Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollenare prepping their friends in the media and in Congress for the day when they expect Harris/Biden will fling open America’s gates to tens of thousands of new refugees from countries like Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Biden has already signaled that 125,000 is not out of the question beginning in January 2021. Any enhanced security screening would necessarily have to be discarded to facilitate numbers like that.
This report was made possible by the efforts of many people outside of IRAP, particularly our clients and co-counsel in JFS [Jewish Family Service of Seattle] v. Trump and Doe v. Wolf. In litigating JFS v. Trump, we worked with the National Immigration Law Center, HIAS, Perkins Coie LLP, and pro bono attorneys Lauren Aguiar, Mollie M. Kornreich, and Abigail Sheehan Davis.
In addition, we are grateful to the office of Senator Chris Van Hollen for his advocacy on behalf of refugees and for sharing the reports to Congress on refugee admissions and vetting that informed this report.
It really doesn’t matter what the report says, this is about setting the tone for the anticipated return of mass migration to make up for what they will call the ‘lost Trump years.’
The Jewish News Syndicatefinds that many Jews are wondering where HIAS (formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) is going with its policies and programs now that very few Jews arrive in America as refugees.
For readers who want to know more about who is changing America by changing the people, have a look at this story entitled:
With HIAS changing longtime focus, supporters question some of its priorities
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, better known as HIAS, was for the better part of a century responsible for helping settle generations of Jewish refugees in their new homes in the United States. From 1881 through the release of Jews from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the organization worked not only to resettle the new arrivals, but was involved in assisting them legally as well. Yet in a way, HIAS was a product of its own success and the success of the American Jewish community, whose activism helped bring most Jews over who wanted or needed to leave other countries.
Mark Hetfield, President and CEO of HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that resettles refugees as one of nine federal contractors, led an anti-Trump rally in New York in 2017. The event was the first of many rallies HIAS organized or participated in working against the President. They have also been the lead plaintiffs in lawsuits attempting to stop the Trump Administration’s immigration reform efforts.
Today, nearly all of the refugees HIAS resettles on an average each year are non-Jews—many of them Muslims from Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia and other Middle Eastern countries.
[….]
As an organization with deep Jewish roots, HIAS’s new mission and purpose are being questioned by some observers, especially during a time of global uncertainty and rising anti-Semitism.
In 1975, the U.S. State Department asked HIAS to expand its portfolio and assist in resettling 3,600 Vietnamese refugees after the end of the Vietnam War and nearly two decades of US involvement in Southeast Asia.
In 2014, HIAS dropped the word “Hebrew” from its name and was simply called HIAS. At the same time, HIAS announced relocation of its headquarters from New York City to suburban Maryland.
Most notable among criticisms is that several HIAS partners have been linked to organizations with ties to terrorism, including Islamic Relief USA and the Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), whose leadership recently called Jews “the grandchildren of monkeys and pigs” and referred to the terrorist group Hamas “the purest resistance movement in modern history.”
[….]
There’s a crucial difference between past Jewish refugees and current Muslims, argues Richard Landes, a retired Boston University history professor now living in Jerusalem. “Jews came into the country determined to contribute to America—to be American—but the Muslims arriving now don’t always feel that way. We like to think if we are nice enough to our enemies they will stop hating us, but our history has shown that the incapacity to see malevolent intent in others is itself very dangerous to Jews.”
Here is the first news I am seeing about where the Trump administration is on the decision to admit refugees for FY2021 which begins on October first.
I’ve been telling you in a series of posts (tagged FY2021) about the pressure the Leftist Open Borders agitators are putting on the White House to set a ceiling of 95,000 refugees for next year—a number way above anything the Obama administration ever admitted.
Trump administration considers postponing refugee admissions -U.S. official
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials are weighing whether to postpone or further cut refugee admissions in the coming year amid legal fights over President Donald Trump’s refugee policy and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official said.
The possible postponement – one of several options under discussion – would mean some or all refugee admissions could be frozen until a legal challenge to a 2019 Trump order on refugees is resolved “with some greater degree of finality,” the official told Reuters.
It is not clear when that lawsuit may be resolved, especially if the case goes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, a process that could take months or even longer.
The president typically sets yearly refugee levels around the beginning of each fiscal year and the Trump administration has not yet announced its plans for fiscal 2021, which begins on Oct. 1.
The refugee cap was cut to 18,000 this year, the lowest level since the modern-day program began in 1980. So far, roughly half that many refugees have been let in as increased vetting and the coronavirus pandemic have slowed arrivals.
The senior official said that even if 2021 admissions are not delayed, next year’s cap could be cut below current levels.
“The arc of this administration’s refugee policy is going to continue,” said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing deliberations.
Trump and his top officials have said refugees could pose threats to national security and that resettlement should take place closer to countries of origin. The administration also contends that refugee resettlement can be costly for local communities, although refugee backers reject those arguments.
The possible moves remain under discussion and no final decision has been reached, the official stressed.
[….]
In addition to greatly reducing refugee admissions to the United States, Trump also issued an executive order in September 2019 that required state and local elected officials to consent to receive refugees, saying it would better ensure refugees were sent to areas with adequate resources to receive them.
Three of nine federal refugee contractors successfully sued to stop the Trump order to give state and local governments a say in refugee resettlement. They have been deciding for four decades where to place refugees and they want to continue to have that power.
Below, partially federally-funded HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) CEO Mark Hetfield holds a press conference.
In January, a Maryland-based U.S. district judge blocked the order from taking effect, prompting Trump administration officials to consider a possible “deferral” of refugee admissions until the court case is resolved, the senior official said.
The case is now on appeal, so the administration has a very good reason to postpone making any decision about numbers.
The Refugee Act of 1980 leaves the discretion up to the President and there is no requirement in the law that says we must admit any refugees!
More here. See the discussion about how Biden wants 125,000 refugees this coming year, but that Trump has successfully severed the pipeline into America which refugee promoters say will take months (years!) to rebuild.
And, you can be sure that right now the “interfaith community” is getting in gear for what they anticipate will be a great blue wave in November and they will all be back in business when Biden/Harris fling open our borders to the third world beginning in January.
Of course you are probably reading this and thinking: don’t we need to get our people back to work and get through the Chinese virus panic before you hit the Hill with your strategic lobbying for more refugees and for more payola!
No! While you are distracted they are busy as they always are working all the angles to get more fundingand influence more members of Congress to see things their way.
If a member is Catholic—send in the Catholics! Jewish? Send in HIAS. If the Muslims want an entree? The Catholics and the Jews will help make that possible.
This article at Devexdescribes the basics of well-organized lobbying efforts in Washington that you, average citizens, can NEVER match.
These are all well-funded organizations with high paid staff working 40-hour work weeks, 52 weeks a year to influence Congress, and they hope very soon to get back into the White House.
(emphasis is mine)
‘We can be very strategic’: How faith-based NGOs advocate on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON — Many NGOs dedicate time to advocacy (aka lobbying) on Capitol Hill to garner support for development and humanitarian policies and funding, but faith-based organizations work together to bring a different perspective to these lobbying efforts.
“We, at one level, are doing what everybody’s doing, which is trying to understand to the greatest extent we can what drives a particular member.And that is as varied as the membership in the House and Senate,” said Bill O’Keefe, executive vice president for mission, mobilization, and advocacy (aka lobbying) at Catholic Relief Services.***
“We do look at what is the religious background of this member, and is there a particular appeal that we can authentically make that would make a difference in this case?”
[….]
CRS aims to meet with every member of Congress regardless of the member’s religious affiliation, O’Keefe said. The organization’s work to eliminate causes of poverty and injustice is rooted in principles of Catholic social teaching, a tradition that bolsters the NGO’s reputation and allows it to work well with members on both sides of the aisle, he said.
[….]
CRS works closely with other faith-based organizations — both those that are part of what O’Keefe calls “Team Catholic,” as well as those of other faiths — on the Hill to coordinate advocacy (aka lobbying) efforts for certain bills or funding requests.
The NGOs determine what type of appeal may be most effective with particular members who may have seats on relevant committees or from whom they want support.
“If there is an office where the elected official is a strong Catholic, it wouldn’t necessarily make sense for HIAS to take the lead on that meeting,” said Naomi Steinberg, vice president of policy and advocacy (aka lobbying) at refugee resettlement organization HIAS.
“Every single day we are in partnership with other faith organizations and we work in coalition on a lot of different issues. What we find is that we are all heading in the same direction and certainly we sometimes might have different strategies, but through the coalition, we really do speak with one voice.
The value of us coming from different faith traditions is that we can be very strategic.”
HIAS began as an agency that resettled Jewish refugees in the U.S. Now, it is one of nine refugee resettlement agencies in the country that works with people of all faiths as well as with refugees abroad — issues Steinberg said have become unfortunately partisan during the Trump administration.
Her team works to develop relationships with congressional offices even when they are not pushing for a particular policy or funding so that when there is a tougher issue on which they seek support, they have existing contacts to tap.
I was a lobbyist decades ago and I can assure you that this is where they spend a lot of their time building their influence. They make friends with staff members and spend time with them, often outside of regular work hours, so that naturally when the lobbyist needs something, they can get a phone call returned or even get an entree to the member on short notice.
Devex continues….
HIAS also ties this advocacy (aka lobbying) closely with its grassroots efforts on refugee issues, which includes urging Jewish communities across the country to contact their members of Congress to express their support for more funding and higher refugee resettlement caps.
[….]
“One of the messages we share with our grassroots advocacy network … is you should never assume that even if your elected official has been on the right side of these refugee issues, that they know how important this is to you, to their constituency,” Steinberg said.
“Keep those calls coming, keep those emails coming. Because we want them to know that people in their district vote partially based on these issues.” [Other than NumbersUSA and FAIR, with limited staff and financing, I don’t know any other organizations doing this on the immigration restriction side of the debate.—ed]
Politics can also impact inroads faith-based organizations are able to make on Capitol Hill. Jihad Saleh Williams, senior advocacy (aka lobbying) and government affairs advisor at Islamic Relief USA, said his organization can have difficulty getting a response from Republican offices who are nervous to meet with a Muslim organization with which they may not be familiar.
As a former congressional aide, Williams said he understands the instinct of Hill staffers to protect their boss at all costs, and that IR USA must understand “discreetness” required for some of its meetings.
[….]
Williams said he often begins outreach with congressional offices by discussing IR USA’s domestic work in order to build relationships.
Many offices incorrectly believe that the organization only works in the Middle East, he said, or only deals with civil liberties and counterterrorism issues. By educating members about work to promote food security and health access — particularly during COVID-19 — in the U.S., Williams said he can gain an entry point to promote the value of international development and humanitarian work as well.
NGOs use interfaith coalitions to work together to counter such misconceptions about particular groups, positioning faith-based organizations as a united block that support the same issues, regardless of religious affiliation, to strengthen their power on the Hill.
[….]
“I really have tried to work hard over time, particularly with Islamic Relief and with other minority religious groups in the United States, to make sure … when people think of the faith community, they don’t just think of the Christian community,” O’Keefe said.
“We partner a lot with Islamic Relief and consider them brothers and sisters in this development and humanitarian world.”
***I just had a look at the most recent Form 990 for Catholic Reliefand learned that in 2018 they had an income stream of over $936 Million and of that $453,988,287 (nearly a half a billion!) came from you, the US taxpayer!
No wonder they are busy lobbying on the Hill.
Here is the salaries page from that Form 990. Sean Callahan sure is doing well by doing good!
Personal anecdote: About 20 years ago I had a reason for wanting to help a Catholic convent in Danang, VN. The sisters there are devout Catholics who had spent a couple of decades in the rice fields when the Communists took over the country. By the year 2000, the government had lightened up on them and they were back running an orphanage and a school for young children, but they needed financial help.
In my naivete I called Catholic Relief to see if they could help that convent and was told “That isn’t what we do!”
Now I have a better understanding of what they do—big fat salaries, lobbying efforts to garner more funding, and efforts to bring more Muslims into the US is what they do! Nuns in Vietnam who love America can go pound sand.
