"Advocacy" is code for Lobbying as Lutheran federal refugee contractor advertises for DC office

10/29/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have told you about this on previous occasions over the years, but it bears repeating! The nine major federal resettlement contracting agencies, that like to call themselves VOLAGs (Voluntary agencies! Ha! Ha!), have lobbyists in Washington to not only protect their flow of federal dollars, but to promote their Open Borders agenda.
And, that means not just “advocating” for more refugees, but all of the contractors have worked on past initiatives by Congress for so-called ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform.’

lirs-building — This is where LIRS is headquartered and a few years ago I got this description from their website: The Lutheran Center (LIRS headquarters) is a six-story structure constructed in 1999 on property owned by Baltimore’s historic Christ Lutheran Church. The building is located near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in the historic Federal Hill neighborhood, a charming area rich with history and an eclectic array of eateries and shopping venues. (Congress gives them your money to keep the whole thing going!)

Wouldn’t you think that agencies like the Lutherans here would not want the country flooded with illegals-made-legal while they were charged with finding work for their tens of thousands of legal refugees?
I don’t want to wander back into the weeds of the Gang of Eight bill that passed the Senate, but the refugee contractors were in the thick of it (lobbying for its passage) because if it had become law, they would have gotten more paid “clients” that they would help get signed up for welfare, job training, medicaid, etc.
I meant to make this quick and I will. Check out Gates of Vienna (GoV) blog here (hat tip: Richard at Blue Ridge Forum) discussing the job announcement for a DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY.
That is ‘fancy-schmancy’ language which simply means—-LOBBYIST.
O.K. fine, they can have a lobbyist too, but the big question is this—-are you paying for their lobbyist???
Their advertisement says this:

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) is a national faith-based organization with a 77-year history, a budget of approximately $58 million per year, and over 100 headquarters staff.

BTW, that headquarters is in a very nice building at the posh Inner Harbor in Baltimore.
And GoV wonders how much of the $58 million is your money. I can answer that because I just analyzed LIRS finances last month, here.
From the most recent available Form 990 (2014) we learned this:

Total revenue for that year was $59,862,898

Total federal grants were $55,341,275

And, they also received from your money $1,817,755 for a loan service fee.

95% of their income comes from you—-the taxpayer!
Without the money that CONGRESS appropriates to them they would dry up and blow away!
DEFUND!!!
The only power you have right now to try to slow the juggernaut is if you can persuade your Representatives in Washington (your Congressman and US Senators) to DEFUND the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program on the FY2017 Budget that Congress must pass by December 9th.
We have no taxpayer-funded lobbyists working for us. In fact there is NO lobbyist working exclusively on our side—the side that wants to slow the flow—of the refugee issue.
Frankly, if you don’t even try to do this then you can keep complaining (in comments to me and on social media) about the program until America is gone!

Why do you think LIRS needs a Director of ADVOCACY in Washington DC? Because they get it—they know that Congress holds the purse strings! Your money is their lifeblood!

Endnote: for all of you having problems with a Lutheran resettlement contractor in your state, this Baltimore-headquartered Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is their mothership!

100 refugees approved for Northwest Arkansas

10/19/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Arkansas, like West Virginia and Montana, has received very few refugees over the years, but all that will change with the Dept. of State’s (DOS) approval of a new resettlement agency that will ‘welcome’ 100 refugees beginning next month.
All of the new sites*** are needed because Obama has ‘determined’ that the US will admit a huge increase (to 110,000) in the number of refugees admitted to your towns and cities in FY2017.

donald-j-trump-2016-with-flag — The Obama Administration is moving fast to get as many new refugee sites open as possible before January in case Donald Trump is elected.

The Obama DOS is on a crash program now to get as many placed in your towns as they can by Inauguration Day in January (in case Trump is elected) and place as many in the pipeline as they can making it more difficult for a new administration to put the breaks on.
There is only one entity that could slow the flow and they can do it next month and that is Congress (if there is a will)! Congress (not Obama!) has the ultimate power to DEFUND the large increase in the number of refugees coming in. These contractors, like this new one in Northwest Arkansas have virtually zero money of their own!
The story, here, and below demonstrates how impotent Arkansas’s governor is to do anything to stop the migration to the state.
From KATV Little Rock:

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS (TALK BUSINESS & POLITICS) — The questions surrounding refugees from the Middle East and other parts of the world will soon come to Arkansas as Canopy Northwest Arkansas works to bring 100 or more refugees from around the world to the region.

emily-linn — Emily Linn is the executive director of Canopy. She says Arkansas has great jobs in poultry plants (yippee!). How much is this resettlement being driven behind the scenes by BIG MEAT? LOL! BIG CHICKEN in this case! http://www.canopynwa.org/about/

[….]

In response to news publicity about the global refugee crisis, concerned residents in Northwest Arkansas (NWA) began meeting in January and formed Canopy Northwest Arkansas, a 501(c)3 non-profit with the mission of settling refugees in NWA.

“We consulted with refugee agencies operating nationally and we learned that there’s a need for new communities to open up to refugees. So we started looking into what it might look like for refugees to come to NWA and what we found is that our community has an incredible capacity to welcome refugees and help them really thrive here,” said Emily Linn, director of Canopy Northwest Arkansas.

Linn cited the growing economy in NWA as a reason refugees would do well.

Here comes the poultry industry! Surely, the Chamber of Commerce is not far behind. (I always wonder if they tell the incoming refugees that they are going to a meat or poultry plant town).

“We have great jobs for folks who don’t even speak English, for example, in the manufacturing or poultry processing industry or agriculture. We also have great jobs and we have a need for people to come and work in very high skilled jobs,” she said. “For instance, we have a brand new hospital opening up in Springdale, Arkansas Children’s and the Washington Regional Hospital is growing and expanding, and there’s a need for very highly educated individuals as well, and so we have this wide variety of employment options.”

I keep seeing this nonsense about skilled labor in the refugee flow. It is bogus. If there are doctors and engineers etc. in the flow they must become re certified in the US which is a long and expensive process. The closest any refugee doctor will get to a hospital is scrubbing the floors at night.
Canopy is a subcontractor of LIRS (see my previous post this morning, here).

Canopy Northwest Arkansas partners with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), one of nine national resettlement agencies that contract with the State Department to run the refugee resettlement program. LIRS is the agency that will assign refugees to Canopy after the refugees go through an extensive screening process, sometimes lasting more than two years.

Continue reading here. I see no evidence, at least in this story, that there is any pocket of resistance in Northwest Arkansas.
***Here are some of the new sites we have learned about in recent weeks being set up to accommodate, among other ethnic groups, a large number of Syrian Sunni Muslims. We heard that there are 47 of these new target sites:
Asheville, NC
Rutland, VT
Reno, NV
Ithaca, NY
Missoula, MT
Aberdeen, SD
Charleston, WV
Fayetteville, AR
Blacksburg, VA
Pittsfield, MA
Northhampton, MA
Flint, MI
Bloomington, IN
Traverse City, MI
Watertown, NY (maybe)
I just created a new ‘tag’ and I should have done it a long time ago, will try to keep it up going forward—New resettlement sites. For new readers, here is the old list of sites. Apparently the feds are not updating the list because they likely don’t want you to know where all of the new offices are located. Secrecy is the watchword of refugee resettlement in America!

Mormon church is getting on the refugee resettlement bandwagon

10/19/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

But, they aren’t a resettlement contractor (yet!).

mormon-church — Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. We have money to give to refugees.

I previously told you about the Mormon donation to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, here. And, now here is more news (a puff piece) about contributions to the other eight contractors featuring Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. I can only assume the Mormon church has run out of poor Americans to help as they are moving on to helping what is becoming a massive flow of needy Muslims from the Middle East and Africa entering the US.
When I read this story at Utah’s Deseret News, my first thought was to wonder if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was actually ultimately angling to become a resettlement contractor in order to receive lucrative government grants.
The nine contractors*** working for the federal government have a monopoly on the program at the moment. Are the Mormons attempting to buy good will?
In order to break in to the club, to become a contractor, an organization must prove it has experience with the program. Is that what is happening here as we learn that the Mormons are being trained by LIRS in this case?
For new readers, the contractors are paid by the head to resettle the refugees and representatives of the nine meet in DC weekly to divvy-up the refugee cases coming in (they bid for bodies as one of our most astute observers quips). Do the Mormons want in?
Deseret News:

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A flash flood of Mormon volunteers was a spring surprise for Lutherans who run refugee resettlement organizations in 25 U.S. states.

Motivated by statements of church leaders encouraging them to help refugees, the influx of Mormons prompted resettlement centers of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services to add volunteer training sessions in places like South Carolina, Colorado and Arizona.

linda-hartke-3 — LIRS CEO Hartke is chomping at the bit about this new batch of money coming in. LIRS is 95% funded by you—the taxpayer! https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/09/03/lutheran-immigration-and-refugee-service-is-95-funded-by-taxpayers/

On Tuesday, the budding relationship expanded again, as LIRS leaders visited Salt Lake City and received a check for $130,000 from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS Church also pledged an additional $520,000 in commodities such as food and mattresses. [I would really like to understand this mattress thing because there were mattresses involved somehow in the resettlement that happened in my MD county back in 2007!—ed]

“We’ve been chomping at the bit on building this relationship, which is evolving on two levels,” said Linda Hartke, president and CEO of LIRS. “On the local level, we’re seeing greater interest and more volunteers coming forward.

[….]

Tuesday’s donation was part of $5 million in cash and commodities the LDS Church has pledged to the nine U.S. refugee resettlement agencies, which operate over 300 affiliates helping newly arrived refugees settle into local communities.

In August, the church gave $2 million to the two resettlement agencies that work in Utah — $1.25 million to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services and $750,000 to the International Rescue Committee.

On Monday, church officials will travel to the East Coast to give $2.35 million to the remaining six resettlement agencies.

Continue reading here.
If you are a Mormon and not thrilled with importing more unvetted Muslims from Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Burma (Esar Met!), you might want to start speaking up at church.
These are the nine members of the federal resettlement contractor club. If the Mormons are trying to break in, I’m going to love reporting on the battle.

Is Watertown, NY next on the list of towns to be seeded with third worlders?

10/13/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

People ask me all the time: How do I find out if my town is targeted?
Frankly there is no list put out by the federal government and its paid resettlement contractors. They are very secretive about the selection process. We heard recently that there are 47 new sites and we have only so far identified those listed below.***

But, this article from Watertown, NY is a prime example of how you get a hint that something is up!
Usually a local newspaper writes a puffy piece like this one about how great it would be for Watertown to revitalize neighborhoods by bringing in impoverished people from mostly the Middle East and Africa. (You can tell by the comments that many local folks are having none of it.)
Honestly I am getting weary of repeating things over and over again. So I recommend that you see our archive on Utica (by clicking here) and learn about all the problems it has had over the last many years.
And, then see our ‘Ten Things you need to know if welcoming refugees to your town’ here.
This story from the Watertown Daily Times pretty well lays out how your town becomes a resettlement site (do-gooder works with elected official and then they bring in the supposed ‘religious’ charities, and federal resettlement contractor who all work together, secretively, to get the approval of the US Dept. of State).
If you don’t want this in Watertown, folks there need to get organized against it ASAP!

WATERTOWN — West Division Street resident Douglas J. Anderson wanted to do something about the city’s blighted neighborhoods, abandoned homes and so-called “zombie properties.”

During a recent visit to Utica, he came across the good work that the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees [subcontractor of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, here—ed] was doing, he said, after helping to organize a presentation at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

[….]

shelly-callahan-mvrcr — Shelly Calllahan of the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees in Utica says everything is hunky-dory there! NOT!

Mr. Anderson told Councilwoman Teresa R. Macaluso about the center. She agreed to visit the center in June and was impressed with what she saw. If it could happen in Utica, why not here, she thought.

The city would not be involved in establishing the center, she said, adding it would take religious organizations and non-profit organizations to get it off the ground. It also would take community and business leaders to join the efforts, Ms. Callahan said.

A handful of clergy and community leaders who attended the meeting mostly listened to information about the federally funded program. [No! it is not completely funded by the feds, this will cost local taxpayers a bundle, especially in the school system budget—ed]

[….]

With the threat of terrorism in the world today, Brownville resident Bruce E. Bennett expressed concerns about young men from other countries living here.

“I see a lot of potential problems,” he said afterward. “Look what has happened in Europe.”

But Councilwoman Macaluso believes that Watertown is a welcoming community, noting that it has accepted people from all over the country to come here and serve at Fort Drum.

More here.
***These are new or expanding resettlement sites (in addition to those listed here):
Asheville, NC
Rutland, VT
Reno, NV
Ithaca, NY
Missoula, MT
Aberdeen, SD
Charleston, WV
Fayetteville, AR
Blacksburg, VA
Pittsfield, MA
Northhampton, MA
Flint, MI
Bloomington, IN
Traverse City, MI

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is 95% funded by taxpayers

09/03/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It has been awhile since I had a look at Form 990s for the nine federal resettlement contractors, so I thought over this weekend I would re-examine their financials especially because I want you all to focus on the fact that it is the Republicans in Congress who have the power to slow the flow of refugees by cutting the funding for certain groups masquerading as Christian and Jewish ‘religious’ NGOs.

Lynda Hartke — LIRS CEO Hartke rakes in nearly a quarter of a million bucks a year (doing well by doing good!).

For all the new readers arriving here, there are nine faux non-profit groups which monopolize refugee resettlement in America. They are US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Episcopal Migration Ministries, World Relief (Evangelicals), Church World Service, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Ethiopian Community Development Council, International Rescue Committee and the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
Under the nine majors are 350 or so subcontractors.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

I’m taking them one by one and going to their most recent available Form 990. This Form 990 for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is for 2014 and was submitted to the IRS in August 2015. (BTW, there are some state Lutheran agencies that are larger than the national organization).
So from page 9 (reproduced below) we learn that:

Total revenue for that year was $59,862,898

Total federal grants were $55,341,275

And, they also received from your money $1,817,755 for a loan service fee.

This $1.8 million is from collecting air fare loans from refugees plane fare to America. The original plane tickets were bought (with your money) by another federal contractor (IOM) and the refugee is supposed to reimburse the American taxpayer. The contractor, here LIRS, is the dunning agency and they get to keep a cut for themselves of everything they wring out of the refugees.
If you go to page 8 of their Form 990 you can see the salaries of the head honchos. Linda Hartke, the CEO made $236,386 which includes income from related activities. There are a total of 6 employees pulling down 6-figure salaries. And, you should know that last I heard they had 2 lobbyists in Washington to assure their (your!) funds keep flowing their way.
Here is page 9:

Screenshot (10)

Note the income from ‘higher training fees’ that could be taxpayer reimbursement as well, but I don’t know that for sure.

So I am giving them the benefit of the doubt when I conclude that they are 95% funded by you—-the taxpayers of America! It could be higher.

Remember! They are not passing the plate on Sunday to pay for their supposed Christian charity!
Go here to see if you have a subcontractor of LIRS at work where you live.
For more details on their federal grants go to USASpending.gov and type in Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and see their hundreds of millions in grants and contracts over the last 8 years or so.

The buck stops with the Republican Congress!

Tell your representatives in Washington starting now, starting on Tuesday morning! to withhold funding for the US Refugee Admissions Program for fiscal year 2017 which begins in 4 weeks—on October 1, 2016! Let these supposed non-profit groups raise private money for their charitable pet projects!