“What’s going on? We thought this was going to be a new time for a new era for resettlement. Why are these cases getting canceled?”
(Natalie El-Deiry, International Rescue Committee, describing what refugees are saying.)
My headline could have been a headline in the era of (that mean guy) Donald Trump, but believe it or not that is big news in the Biden/Harris era where the team running the country had already told Congress they want 62,500 refugees flown in by September 30th.
Where are the angry protests against Biden?
(Please know that this 62,500 would be in addition to the tens, possibly hundreds of thousands, who will overrun our southern border this year all claiming that they too are refugees.)
Yes the contractors*** are squawking as their “clients” are turned back at airports across several continents, but funny that there are no angry demonstrations against the man, their man, they helped install in the White House.
There are other stories with headlines blaming the mess on policies leftover from Trump!
Hundreds Of Refugees’ Flights Canceled Due To Biden Red Tape
Nearly 300 refugees who had been approved and booked to arrive in the United States last week to begin a new chapter in their lives had their flights canceled at the last minute, according to several resettlement agencies.
With the help of the State Department, resettlement agencies across the country had begun to process and book hundreds of refugees to enter the U.S. in March after the Biden administration announced it would be raising the refugee cap.
Natalie El-Deiry works for the International Rescue Committee overseeing their Utah and Montana offices. The IRC is paid by you to resettle ‘legit refugee’ “clients,” yet they also support the illegal aliens’ run on the border. Go figure!
The decision was applauded as a crucial first step in rebuilding the refugee system after it was dealt a series of blows by then–President Donald Trump, who spent years demonizing refugees and decimatingthe resettlement programs.
But nearly a month after announcing the refugee increases and notifying Congress, President Joe Biden has yet to formally sign off on the higher cap.
Without Biden’s signature, refugee admissions are still restricted by Trump’s record-low 15,000 cap for fiscal year 2021 and his decision to exclude refugees from Muslim-majority countries like Syria and Somalia. The delay has forced a slew of canceled tickets and left hundreds of refugees in limbo and resettlement agencies scrambling.
The State Department has canceled flights for at least 264 refugees this month and more cancellations are expected, according to resettlement agencies.
[….]
After Biden was elected president, Wilondja [refugee star of this story] began to feel hopeful again. The new administration launched an effort to overhaul the immigration system, including raising the refugee cap to 125,000 for the next fiscal year (which starts Oct. 1, 2021) and allowing an additional 62,500 refugees to be admitted this fiscal year.
To understand how high a number 62,500 is (to be accomplished in less than seven months), here are the high and low years for refugee admissionsafter the George HW Bush era where he admitted hundreds of thousands over his four years in office.
Clinton’s high year (numbers rounded) was 119,000, and low (for a whole year) was 69,000.
Bush: High year was 69,000, and low was 27,000.
Obama: High year was 85,000, and low was 56,000.
Trump: High year was 54,000 (because part of that fiscal year Obama was still in office), and low was 12,000.
So you can see that if Chairman Joe pulls this off (62,500 by September 30th and 125,000 next year) he would far exceed the numbers that Obama admitted through the US Refugee Admissions Program, and in the midst of the pandemic no less!
***For New Readersthese are the nine federal refugee contractors who worked to put Biden and Harris in the White House, are lobbying for millions of illegal aliens to be transformed into legal voting citizens, and they have succeeded in getting the new administration to promise to raise the ceiling for refugee admissions to 125,000 for next year FY2022—that is the highest it has been in 29 years.
The 62,500 number is for the remainder of FY21. FY21 ends in less than 7 months. And, again, these numbers are in addition to those fake asylum seekers coming across our borders.
They are largely paid by you, the taxpayer, for their work of changing America by changing the people, and in so doing, are putting struggling Americans last!
Resettled refugees haven’t been doing so well as the Chinese Virus continues to wreck the US economy, but nevermind, Biden has promised 125,000 more impoverished third worlders for Americans to take care of in the coming year.
Every time you see a sob story like this one in the mainstream media you should be firing off a letter to the editor and asking:
Has [city or state, fill in the blank!] run out of poor, jobless, homeless, hungry Americans?
Even it you know the letter won’t be published you are educating the editor!
Recognizing that Americans are hurting and should be taken care of first, President Trumpfurther reduced the number of needy people the country could manage in 2021, but Biden/Harris are putting Americans LAST as they promise the largest influx of refugees America has seen in many decades and far in excess of those Obama admitted.
(And, with his past actions, Arizona’s Republican Governor Ducey has signaled his agreement with Biden!)
Tucson agencies support of refugees challenging during pandemic
Since many recently-arrived refugees work in hard-hit industries such as hospitality, food service and transportation, they are among those greatly impacted by the pandemic, officials say
President-elect Joe Biden has said he will increase that cap to 125,000. Arizona resettlement agencies expect that cap to climb over time, allowing them to readjust and prepare for more arrivals in the future.
Nationally, Arizona is one of the highest states for resettlement, Prescott said. The IRC and Lutheran Social Services are among the organizations that provide a number of resources for newly arrived refugees, including job placement, enrolling children in school, finding and furnishing housing, and social services and community support.
[….]
Connie Phillips, CEO of Lutheran Social Services Southwest. https://socialwork.asu.edu/content/connie-phillips-eary
“When the pandemic first came last spring, it really threw our refugee clients into quite a crisis,” said Phillips of Lutheran Social Services. “Between the community and the staff’s ability to be innovative and to pivot, I think we were successful in providing for basic needs and responding to the immediate crisis.”
Since many recently arrived refugees work in hard-hit industries such as hospitality, food service and transportation, they are among those greatly impacted by the pandemic, Prescott said.
Refugees have lost their jobs, so have Americans!
More than 40% of the resettled refugees that Lutheran Social Services has assisted lost their jobs since the pandemic hit, Phillips said.
Arizona resettlement agencies addressed these issues by helping those who lost their jobs find new employment, as well as distributing food and supplies.
They also supplied refugees with information about economic relief programs for which they might qualify, such as rent and utility assistance through the city of Tucson.
Refugees’ living conditions mean they get more COVID says the IRC community engagement coordinator, and as the “most vulnerable people” need extra attention:
International Rescue Committee community engagement coordinator Stanford Prescott
The pandemic has revealed factors that contribute to greater positive rates among low-income communities, communities of color and immigrants — many of which apply to refugees. The nature of their work in essential industries coupled with living situations in which multiple generations reside in one home makes them more at risk, Prescott said.
To counter this, agencies have implemented measures to improve safety and testing in refugee communities.
Thanks to a grant from the Arizona Department of Health Services, the Pima County Health Department and the IRC have partnered to establish free local testing sites and ensure information about these sites is shared with the city’s refugees, Prescott said.
“This testing program is so important because if we can make sure that the most vulnerable people have access to testing, then we can keep those rates lower, which helps the community.”
What about poor vulnerable American kids?
Tucson schools have jumped in, providing essential equipment to refugee youth. Local resettlement agencies also work with families to help them navigate digital education.
And, just in case you think that Lutheran Social Services is being funded by the generosity of Christians passing the plate in church, see this page from a recentForm 990.
Taxpayers pay for approximately 85% of their annual income.
Less than $2 million of their $16.5 million revenue in 2018/19 came from private charity of some sort. Be sure to see page 10 (Form 990 filed in early 2020) and note that most of their income went to salaries, employee benefits and office overhead.
There is even a quarter of a million in travel expenses!
They are still working as Government grants and contracts provide salaries for open borders political activists.
Hint! Their plans do not involve taking care of poor Americans first!
You can ‘enjoy’ listening to the International Rescue Committee’s lackey as she explains what Biden should do to increase the number of refugees to be admitted to the UShere.
How the Biden Administration Can Reset America’s Approach to Refugees, Asylum Seekers and International Migration
The United States has a long history of supporting refugees and asylum seekers. Until the Trump administration took office, the United States was the single largest country for refugee resettlement in the world. In most years prior to 2017, about half of all refugees who were resettled to a developed country came to the United States.
[….]
With Trump leaving office, the incoming administration has an opportunity to reset America’s approach to refugees, asylum seekers and international migration more broadly.
Biden promises 125,000 in his first year, much higher than in any Obama year.
Ash at the Clinton Global Initiative
I could care less what Nazanin Ash, vice president for global policy and advocacy says, but the article triggered my interest in checking out salaries (something I haven’t done for awhile) at the ‘non-profit’ refugee promoting group which received over $440 MILLION from you, the taxpayer, in a recent year.
Poor Ms. Ash, she doesn’t even come in the top ten salaries for this behemoth working to change your American towns by changing the people.
They expect to be back in business now that Biden and the Dems have stolen the election, but they sure didn’t take any pay cuts during the lean (ha!ha!) Trump years.
Parents! Tell your kids to grow up to be charity workers!
Imagine how many poor people could be helped with that $1 million annual salary that moneybags Miliband is raking in! Not to mention the millions that others working for the International Rescue Committee are making.
See my extensive archive on David Miliband. When the brother to ‘Red Ed’ arrived from the UK in 2013 he started at a salary just over $400,000.
As American workers and the previous refugees they placed throughout the countryare struggling to make a living during the Chinese virus ‘crisis’ it is sickening to see how greedy these charity workers are.
As I have said many times, if these non-profits were raising their money privately, I wouldn’t care what they pay their top executives, but when they take even one dollar from hard working Americans it becomes our business.
Has America run out of poor people?
For new readers here (below) are the nine federal contractors just licking their chops as they prepare to go back to work bringing more poverty to America.
This is what I said to Neil Munro at Breitbart, and you should ask the same every chance you get.
There’s no sense trying to argue with [progresives] except to turn it back and say; ‘What about our own poor people? Why aren’t they interested in taking care of our poor Americans? Our homeless? Why are refugees and immigrants somehow cooler and more desirable to take care of than our own poor people? Have we run out of poor Americans to take care of?’ No, clearly, we have not run out of poor Americans.
These are the charities, including ‘religious’ charities that put migrants ahead of Americans!
Tomorrow is the previously stated date for refugees to begin arriving again in large numbers. They have been trickling in, probably a couple of hundred in the last two months since refugee travel was halted by the United Nations, but the US Refugee Program is largely shut down.
Special Immigrant Visas do continue to arrive from Afghanistan by the hundreds, but I’ll leave that discussion for another day.
Meanwhile the only news coming out of the mainstream media about refugees in America are sob stories about how they are struggling, out of work, fearful of being evicted, and trying to cope with COVID (like all of America!).
Some are working in essential services like meatpacking (Yogurt making?), others like those in the hospitality industry are out of work in large numbers.
Hereis one such story from Twin Falls, Idahowhere controversy over refugee resettlement has been muted after years of public protests about how the program was changing Idaho.
‘It’s like we’re living a half life’ — For refugees, COVID-19 impacts depend on where they live
The star of this story, a refugee from the DR Congo, says he is more worried about his brother in a refugee camp in Africa.
However, so far, the Chinese Virus has made no significant impact on refugee camps (although as I have reportedit isn’t for the media’s lack of interest, they expect catastrophe momentarily).
The article mostly discusses how challenging it is for refugees to live here in America these days (especially as many can’t speak English) and how the refugee agencies are short of funding and also cannot help refugees in person. (Why not? Where are their masks?)
They really aren’t short of funding as I pointed out here. The nine major contractors that send money down to subcontractors are getting nearly as much as they did during the Obama years (some are getting more!) when thousands upon thousands arrived every month!
The motherships must be holding on to the cash in order to pay salaries of their top execs. Besides, letting the low level staffers go makes for a better media story anyway!
Here is one little snip from this publication (these Idaho papers are prickly, they once sent me a letter telling me I couldn’t snip their stories).
Director Zeze Rwasama College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center in Twin Falls, Idaho. CSI is a subcontractor of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
The federal government pushed the date resettlements would restart from May 1 to May 15, but resettlement centers anticipate it will be pushed again.
“For that to happen involves the coordination of many government agencies to allow a refugee to travel,” Rwasama said.
“Many of those agencies are working with limited staff. I don’t see how we can receive refugees during this time.”
Coping with reduced budgets:
Now that refugee resettlement is halted in the wake of COVID-19, federal funding coming to resettlement programs will be drastically reduced…
Then there is an AP storycirculating mostly about Arizona Afghans you can read yourself entitled:
New refugees struggle to find footing in US during pandemic
Coping with reduced budgets! Not!
The College of Southern Idaho Refugee Program is a subcontractorof the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrantswhich is almost 100% funded by taxpayers. Its chief executive officer makes at least a quarter of a million a year in salary (last we checked) that YOU are paying.
Here is how they are doing financially from USA Spending….
The $90 million in the left hand corner is the amount of federal funding they have received in the last 12 months!
The International Rescue Committee, also mentioned in the Twin Falls sob story, has seen little change in its financial position from the Obama years. Its CEO, David Miliband, is pulling down a salary approaching a million dollars annually.
How about if they pony-up some of their federal funding to directly feed and house refugees they have distributed around America for years.
Why should taxpayers first pay for the resettlement and now pay for refugee care during the virus crisis?
$215 Million in the last twelve months!
This is no time to resume admitting more poverty to America!
There are some stories floating around that CEOs of some of America’s largest corporations are taking pay cuts to help keep more of their lower level workers on the job as the COVID-19 crisis continues. Here is one from Forbes published two days ago.
David Miliband President and CEO of the Manhattan-based ‘charity’ International Rescue Committee. Are they reducing salaries to help the refugees they brought to America?
At the same time we are learning that the refugee agencies continue to be shuttered (staff reduced) and refugees are struggling. See refugees struggling inBowling Green, KY and in Durham, NC.
So this morning I am wondering if ‘moneybags’ Miliband and other CEO’s of leading ‘charitable’ refugee agencies were giving up large salaries to help especially the refugees they have been dropping off across America for decades. And, to save some of their low level employees from getting the budget ax.
(If the Form 990 doesn’t open, visit Guidestar,here.)
If they and others of the nine refugee contractors have begun to reduce salaries of their top employees, let me know so I can report their humanitarian generosity toward the most vulnerable among us.
To be fair, David Miliband has the most outrageous salary of the ‘non-profit’ groups changing America by changing the people, but 6-digit salaries are the norm in the refugee industry.
As I have said on many previous occasions, salaries would be none of our business if the organization was not living almost entirely on taxpayer dollars.
