Protesters eager for more refugees demonstrate against President Trump
I know, I know, you are probably getting sick of hearing from me on the issue of the upcoming Presidential Determinationon the number of refugees to be admitted to the US in Fiscal Year 2019 which begins on October first—less than 2 months from now.
But, I must keep talking about it because the Open Borders Left and especially the nine federal refugee resettlement contractors are lobbying day and night to pressure the Prez into going back to the levels they enjoyed during the Obama presidency.
I’m sorry I can’t seem to break away from this topic today—65,000!mostly Muslim Syrians (or more) may be on the way to the US—and all sorts are piling on the bandwagon in support of this insanity! We just told you about Martin O’Malley and now here is a Presbyterian pastor from St. Louis explaining how the city is ruled by an Arab-American dynasty and so it is the perfect place to send 60,000 Syrians now! Pastor Greg Johnson we are told lives alone with his two pet cats (Leela the Toyger and Sox), so surely he could take at least two or three Syrian families into his home. http://www.memorialpca.org/staff.html
I wondered if he was mistakenly thinking that the US State Department is saving Syrian Christians when they aren’t. But, you will see it is the Muslims he is welcoming to town!
From Pastor Greg Johnson at Nextstl:
Send them to St. Louis.
We can take at least 60,000.
Our mayor, Francis G. Slay, is an Arab American. His grandfather Joseph R. Slay was born in Ottoman Greater Syria, in an area now part of Lebanon….. [Based on wikipedia information,Slay is a Christian Syrian. I wonder does he really want 60,000 Syrian Sunni Muslims in St. Louis—ed]
[….]
That’s an Arab American dynasty ruling St. Louis.
We were doing diversity before the coasts decided it was cool.
And we have a history of welcoming Moslems, too. Twenty years ago, tiny little St. Louis City — the core of a much larger metro area — took in around 60,000 Bosnian refugees. Like the Syrians, they were fleeing civil war and sectarian violence. Like the Syrians, most were Moslems. Like the Syrians, many could speak no English. Like the Syrians, they were an entrepreneurial people, hard working, often educated. Like the Syrians, they wanted a new start. With support from amazing institutions like the International Institute,*** 60,000 Bosnians made their way to St. Louis.
And we love them.
You’ve probably seen all the hoopla about Icelanders saying they will take 16,000 Syrians into their homes. I do hope to see that happen and I sure hope the Icelandic government calls their bluff and demands that all the volunteers pay for the entire resettlement—the refugees’ food, clothing, medical, schooling etc.—without dipping into taxpayer funded programs. I expect to see St. Louis Pastor Greg Johnson do the same.
***We have written about the International Institute and Bosnians, here. It is a subcontractor of USCRI (Lavinia Limon) and it wants to make St. Louis the fastest growing immigrant community in America by 2020.
Local developer Joel Testa, whose company recently opened an apartment building catering to the homeless and veterans, hopes to serve another population in Akron’s North Hill: refugees.
Testa is proposing a 50-unit townhouse development that would be built across from Summa St. Thomas Hospital, which has been providing primary health care since the hospital’s emergency room closed, including to the refugees in the area.
Akron Councilman Hurley apparently approves—says refugees won’t have to walk far (for their medical care?). Photo: http://www.akroncitycouncil.org/Find_your_Councilperson/entry/James_Hurley/
[….]
Councilman Jim Hurley, who represents Ward 2 that includes North Hill, said the location of the housing is ideal to cater to the refugees in the area, many who walk wherever they need to go.
“They would not have to walk far,” he said.
Testa said the development will be aimed at low-to moderate-income people, with the aim of partnering with local agencies that can help acclimate them to the community so they “earn enough so that they have to move out.” He said the rent for the townhouses would range from $590 to $775 a month.
The developer wants to tap into the International Institute’s ‘resources’ which is also mostly money from taxpayers (I presume they would pay rent to use the community space for classes etc.):
Testa said he also is seeking support for the project from the International Institute, which is located in North Hill and provides many services to refugees. The institute’s board will vote on his request this month.
“Our goal is to have the International Institute provide classes and training out of our community space,” Testa said.
Very long-time readers may remember that Akron’s International Institute got into some trouble way back in 2008 for placing refugees in slum apartments (a common practice, btw, and one of the first things we noticed where I live in 2007). Here is our poston the slum apartment issue in Akron.
See the International Institute of Akron’s most recent Form 990. On page 9 we learn that they took in $2.5 million (I am rounding the numbers) in that most recent year. $1.7 million is from government grants, another almost $500,000 was income from translation services and immigrant counseling (probably paid by other government agencies to the II). What is that, roughly 88% funded with tax dollars? On page 10 we learned that they paid out more than a $1 million in salaries/benefits/payroll etc.
So if Akron doesn’t have enough housing for all of its poor people and refugees, maybe a plan could be to reduce the number of refugees being resettled there? Just saying!
*** For all of our new readers, here are the nine big federal refugee contractors:
To further that goal they recently purchased a closed Catholic School (bye-bye Catholics) and are converting one room into a Muslim prayer room!
Readers, the International Institute of St. Louis is a subcontractor of one of the big nine*** federal refugee contractors—US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). USCRI is 99% funded with taxpayer dollars. More on the International Institute’s finances after this news.
Anna Crosslin, president and CEO of the Institute: Formerly we had no place for all of our clients to pray! Where is the ACLU? http://www.iismo.org/aboutus.html
More cultural clashes coming to Missouri? Have we so quickly forgotten the recent Bosnian murder? African Americans don’t take kindly to refugees, who are getting a lot of government help, moving in to their communities!
In the shuttered St. Elizabeth Academy just east of Tower Grove Park, the tiny room with the small window used to be a bathroom, but it will now serve as a prayer room for Muslims.
The room has been emptied, the only addition a bar along one wall to hang prayer rugs.
It’s one small, but important addition to what is being prepped as the new home for the International Institute of St. Louis, which has helped more than 20,000 refugees legally resettle into the area by offering English classes and assistance in finding housing and jobs.
At its current location on South Grand Boulevard, the Institute has no designated place for Muslims to pray.
“I’d walk out and see men near the elevator or stairwell, in a corner with a piece of cardboard down, praying,” said Anna Crosslin, president and CEO of the Institute, which has been in operation since 1919.
Adding the prayer room points to the ongoing challenges to serve refugees from more than 75 countries, coming to St. Louis with various customs, languages and beliefs. Since moving into its current facility in 1999, the Institute has more than doubled the number of people it serves, to about 7,500 a year.
“We feel we need to be above 12,000, and there is no way we can do that now,” Crosslin said.
The Institute also plans to enhance career development and job training opportunities. The efforts are part of the region’s goal to be the fastest-growing metropolitan area for immigrants by 2020.
[….]
When I arrived in September 1978, we served about 1,200 annually, primarily through our (English as a second language) classes,” Crosslin said. “There was no formal refugee resettlement program in Missouri — that happened in winter 1978-79.”
[….]
With immigration reform efforts nationwide and the St. Louis Mosaic Project initiative locally, Crosslin expects the number of clients served each year to reach 12,500 by November 2019, the Institute’s 100th anniversary.
If she is right, this will be an enormous jump in numbers for St. Louis. The whole state of Missouri “welcomed” just about 12,000 refugees since 2004. 2,564 of those were Somalis, btw. Most went to St. Louis and Kansas City, some were spread around the whole state.
So, if you are wondering where all their “refugee” clients will come from, these won’t all be refugees “served” by the Institute helping them find housing and get jobs—all of these contractors are getting geared-up to get federal bucks to “serve” the new Obama amnesty recipients.
There is much more, here at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
When you read the Institute’s about page, note that they brag about doing free job counseling and training. It isn’t free! Taxpayers pay for this special help for immigrants and refugees.
On page nine, we learn that the Institute that year (2012) took in about $5 million (rounded number) and $3.9 million came from government grants (78%). Interesting to see that they took in nearly a half a million for translation services. Remember I have been telling you all about the growing cost to “welcoming” communities for translation services for immigrants who run into any problems in schools, healthcare facilities, housing agencies and the criminal justice system. Costs of hiring translators falls on the local taxpayer and guess who is supplying the translators—looks like the same agency being paid to bring ’em in!
Crosslin herself isn’t a big dipper—she gets under $150,000 in compensation (nothing like the salaries of some of the biggies), but there is one line that interested me (I wish I had an accountant handy to explain!). They paid out $2.1 million in compensation to “disqualified persons.” (page 10, line 6). What is that?
Here is our complete archive on St. Louis, note the number of crimes either perpetrated by immigrants, or those (more often) perpetrated against refugees and immigrants.
*** For new readers, these are the big nine federal contractors. There are 350 subcontractors under them working in 180 cities in the US.
Senior VP says shutdown will sully our reputation around the world!
Not surprisingly the shutdown of the US government, that will soon be two weeks old, is causing havoc for contractors including those nine big federal refugee resettlement contractors who frankly could not survive without your tax dollars.
LeLaurin: We get most of our funding from the federal government!
Here is a new boo-hoo story, this time from Voice of America. Previously we heard a similar tale of woe (here) also from St. Louis.
As is the case with most formulaic refugee stories, it begins with a some sad refugees, but part way through we have a spokeswoman from the International Institute of St. Louis (a subcontractor of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants), giving us a frank recitation of their problem.
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI — The U.S. government shutdown has temporarily frozen resettlement of refugees in some parts of the United States. Dozens from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East who hoped to arrive in the Midwest state of Missouri in October are in limbo abroad. Family members anxiously awaiting their arrival fear the longer the shutdown goes on, the less likely they will reach their destination.
Read about the unhappy refugees, then here is Suzanne LeLaurin:
“This is not healthy for our country,” said Suzanne LeLaurin, senior vice president at the International Institute, the non-profit group providing the travel funds for Subba’s parents and 34 more refugees – from Iraq, Somalia, Cuba, Burma, and Eritrea.Now, all are in limbo. “It’s not healthy for our reputation around the world, and I think that all of us would wish that Republicans and Democrats alike would sit down and come to an agreement and get the government back in business.”
“We get most of our funding from the federal government, maybe 60 to 70 percent, mostly because of our refugee resettlement services,” said LeLaurin.
She said more is at stake than just resettlement. The support system that helps refugees once they arrive in the U.S. also depends on federal funds. Everything from rent, utilities, and food to staffing the International Institute is at risk as the shutdown continues.
I can’t resist checking these “non-profit” groups’ Form 990s which they file with the IRS. The most recent one available for the International Institute of St. Louis is here. When you go to page nine, note that they took in $4.3 million that year (rounded number) and a whopping $3.7 million came from “government grants.” In fact that is 86% from taxpayers! It is possible that all of their government grants are not federal; perhaps there is some state and local dollars in the mix which would maybemake LeLaurin’s estimate of 60-70% accurate.
And when she says staffing will be affected if the slowdown continues, you bet it will with over $2 million of their budget going to salaries and benefits!
At what point is an organization no longer a private non-profit and is instead a government agency subject to scrutiny by elected officials and citizens? That is what I would like to know!
For new readers, you might want to check our St. Louis archive and be ready to be shocked about all the problems there with refugee issues.
