So why am I mentioning the obvious—that the Lutheran Social Services Center for New Americans in Sioux Falls is a federal “contractor?” Because we have heard over and over again in angry tones that the contractors are not contractors using your money, your tax dollars, to do work for their clients (all the while pretending to be private ‘religious’ charities).
Into the weeds we go (but this is important!)…. Tim Jurgens, Director of LSS in South Dakota: “We are a contracted provider on behalf of the federal government.”
Not that long ago Asst. Secretary of State Anne Richard went to South Carolina and said critics must stop using the word “contractor” in reference to the agencies resettling refugees across 48 states (no refugees are resettled in Wyoming and Montana, yet).
But, here, in a gushy announcement of a ‘feel good’ propaganda event in Sioux Falls, refugee sub-contractor Lutheran Social Service of SD (sub-contractor to federal contractor Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Servicein Baltimore, MD) says they are, wait for it, a “contracted provider on behalf of the federal government.” (That is a federal contractor ‘for those in Rio Linda!’)
From KSFY (ABC):
The 21st annual ‘Taste of Cultures’ event benefiting Lutheran Social Services, Saturday, will help to celebrate cultural diversity and raise funds helping newcomers re-settle. [What! No poor, elderly or homeless Americans left in South Dakota for the good Lutherans to help?—ed]
While the event is sold out, the awareness of a diverse community is key as hundreds of refugees continue to make Sioux Falls their home.
The Lutheran Social Services Center for New Americans is the only agency of its kind in the area.
“We are a contracted provider on behalf of the federal government. We provide initial resettlement for refugees that the president allows in each year. We resettle up to 420 each year.What we do is provide immediate assistance upon their arrival,” Program Director Tim Jurgens said. “The refugee resettlement program is an early self-sufficiency model. The expectation upon us is to have individuals employed within six months.” [Yeh, good luck with that self-sufficiency lie!—ed]
By the way, the contractors (colonizing your towns and cities) really prefer to call themselves VOLAGs, that is short for Voluntary Agencies (see all nine here), but that is such a misnomer as most are largely federally funded. $296 million went to LIRS alone since Obama took office.
Even as Anne Richard objects, you have my (and Tim’s!) permission to call federal refugee contractors—contractors!
This is a subject we have talked about many times on these pages and it appears here again in a short story about the Obama Syrian refugee resettlement plan at Breitbart. I’ve been fascinated with the Somali Muslim colonization of Greeley, CO for years. So when I saw that a county commissioner there recently complained about the refugee program, I was reminded of this post I wrote almost two years ago: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/04/21/if-sayyid-qutb-could-see-greeley-now/
Warner Todd Huston begins:
President Barack Obama has been quietly pushing new plans to bring thousands of additional Syrian refugees into the country, despite the concerns of state and county officials and the outrages committed by welfare-dependent migrants in Europe.
But, before I get to the important part, we posted the chart mentioned here last night (perhaps Breitbart is the original source of the chart?) about which cities received refugees in FY2015.
Huston says this:
A chart made earlier this year with information culled from the Refugee Processing Center, an agency of the U.S. Department of State, shows where Syrian refugees have already been placed in the U.S.
That is not accurate. It is a listing of all resettled refugees from all countries for FY2015. Syrians were only a tiny fraction.
Now this is the part of the Breitbart story that caught my eye!
A Greeley, CO county commissioner says they are not informed of arriving refugees! However, federal law says local governments must be consulted! Yet, this is one of the most common complaints we hear—local elected officials and citizens generally are completely left out of the information loop. Why? Because the contractors know that if they were completely open about what they are doing, people would object!
A lack of communication on the placement of migrants also exists. In Greeley, Colorado, Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway recently noted, “Many times we don’t even know that relocation is taking place until it’s going on.”
Visit this handy listand see that it is Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains (formerly ‘of Colorado’) that is resettling refugees in Greeley. I must say that the Lutherans are turning out to be among the most egregiously secretive of the federal contractors when it comes to being open and honest with local communities.
In fact it was this same agency that had hoped to open a new office in Casper, Wyoming whose leaders complained that the word got out to the public there prematurely before they could get their propaganda machine in place. See post here almost two years ago. Note to Commissioner Conway!
You have a right to something the contractors call an “R &P Abstract.” We have written about this important planning document on many previous occasions. So call up the Greeley office of Lutheran Family Servicesand demand the abstract for FY 2016.
It will tell you how many refugees they plan to drop off in Weld County this year and will list all the welfare/medical/educational goodies you have available in your community for the “new Americans.”
For new readers we have written extensively on Greeley, Somalis and meatpacking. Click here for years of background posts. The Lutherans have been supplying local meatpackers with cheap immigrant laborers for years.
Is there a ‘Pocket of Resistance’ forming in Greeley? I would like to know!
It is Sunday morning and if you are a Lutheran you need to have a talk with your pastor—ask what is being done in the name of your faith in Washington. LIRS lobbyist (right) Brittney Nystrom with unidentified man delivering demand for MORE SYRIAN REFUGEES at White House meeting. Recently Nystrom said LIRS wants 100,000 Syrians admitted in the next year here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2015/10/21/lutheran-lobbyist-says-100000-syrians-is-a-responsible-number-for-fy2016/ Here we learn that Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) helped put on a two day lobbying initiative in Washington. Did they do it on your dime?
Before you read on, have a look at the most recently available Form 990 for LIRS. They took in $48,392,082 in gifts and grants and $46,414,735 (p.9) was from GOVERNMENT GRANTS (TAXPAYER DOLLARS!)—that is 96% funded by you. They have at least six employees in the six-figure salary range! See LIRS ritzy Inner Harbor of Baltimore headquarters, here. Hereis the news from Washington: Syrian refugee champion advocate: Representative David Cicilline (D-RI) spoke to the Lutheran lobbying contingent.
On October 26–27, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) brought together over 30 Lutheran bishops, pastors, service partners, and leaders for the annual Lutheran Immigration Leadership Summit (LILS). This event draws leaders who commit themselves and their communities to the mission of welcoming migrants and refugees. This year, LILS focused on welcoming refugees in the midst of the global refugee crisis.
Advocacy Training Day
LILS kicked off with a day of in-depth advocacy training led by noteworthy experts and advocates. LIRS staff prepared participants to call on Congress and the Administration to champion positive refugee resettlement legislation, protect families by rejecting the practice of family detention, and invest in robust resources for refugees. The day drew to a close with a dinner reception that included remarks from Robert Carey, Director for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, who praised and inspired LILS participants for their dedicated work. [By the way, Carey came to his government job from a VPs perch at another federal refugee contractor, International Rescue Committee. They keep it (the flow of your money) all in the family!—ed]
….and delivered petitions from thousands of Lutherans asking for the resettlement of more Syrian refugees.
More hereif you can stand it!
No where is it reported that they make all those millions of dollars from resettling refugees where they are paid by the head (by the US State Department) to do it.
Nor is it mentioned that 97% of the Syrians resettled in the US so far are Sunni Muslims. We are not saving the Syrian Christians because the UNHCR is picking our refugees and he told an audience in Washington recently (we were there) that Syrian Christians are not being persecuted and are not in need of protection (I kid you not!).
***Update*** If Christian Syrians aren’t being persecuted why are hundreds of them in Jordan being taken care of by one priest, here. Therefore….LIRS is lobbying for Syrian Muslims to be resettled in your towns. Go here to see where LIRS works. Is your city one of their targets?
More on Nystrom and the “cash leeches”hereby Rick Wells.
…..State Department representative says it isn’t possible.
But, get this! We learn that the United Nations has 22,000 Syrians picked out for us already!
Brittney Nystrom, chief lobbyist for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Since LIRS is almost 100% funded by US taxpayers, you are paying for most of her salary! Photo here: http://blog.lirs.org/brittney-nystrom/
By the way, one of the arguments Lutheran lobbyist Brittany Nystrom makes is that Lebanon has taken in tens of thousands of Syrians so far and so the much larger US should take in 100 million by comparison. It is a ludicrous comparison that they love to make. Remember that the Syrians going to Lebanon are there temporarily, in camps, and they will NOT become citizens of Lebanon.
Refugees who are resettled in America become permanent residents and citizens in a few short years—THEY WILL NEVER GO HOME EVEN IF THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR ENDED TOMORROW.
You need only look to the Somali resettlement (now three decades old!) we mentioned in our previous post to know that the flow, once begun, will never end. You know what the problem is with events like this? Reporters and others in the audience don’t know enough about refugee resettlement so they accept the propaganda that Ms. Nystrom is only too happy to promote.
Please also be assured that Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (97% funded by your tax dollars) is a sponsor of the big New York pow-wow we wrote about this morning (probably sponsoring with your $$$). The gathering is to get their marching orders for the 2016 Presidential election campaign.
Here is how the report from CNS News.com begins (emphasis is mine):
(CNSNews.com) – Of the world’s 16 million refugees, 4.1 million have emerged from the Syrian conflict alone, a United Nations refugee resettlement officer told a gathering at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington on Monday.
And as Europe deals with a refugee crisis of historic proportions, “We’d certainly like U.S. to do more,” said Larry Yunck.
For the fiscal year beginning in October, the United States has promised to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees. That number is “woefully inadequate,” Brittney Nystrom of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Center told the gathering.
Kelly Gauger representing the US State Department told the gathering that we simply don’t have enough money for 100,000 Syrians in one year, but Nystrom is quick to spread more propaganda—that refugees are self-sufficient in 8 months and are taxpaying members of society at that point. That is simply ludicrous (why would we be seeing stories like the one from Erie, PA yesterdayabout “impoverished” refugees then?).
Remember readers! The federal government defines self-sufficiency as being OFF OF CASH ASSISTANCE. Refugees can still get (and do get!) food stamps, subsidized housing, Medicaid, and education for the children paid for by you—the taxpayers—long after 8 months. CNS News continues:
She (Kelly Gauger) said it’s one thing for refugee advocates such as Nystrom to be calling for 100,000 Syrians to come here in FY 2016, but “we need significantly more money than we’re getting now, and I’m not sure that many of us have confidence that we’re going to get that money from this Congress.”
Nystrom said she didn’t want to leave the audience with the perception that refugees are “just sucking up resources.” [LOL! Of course not!—-ed]
“That’s not the case,” she said. “Most of the refugees that we help resettle become self-suffienct very, very quickly…
“And we know that communities are made richer who resettle refugees,” Nystrom added. “They gain in resources from refugees who open businesses, who contribute to the economy of their community — and the amount of time that refugees are eligible for public assistance is very limited.
“There’s an 8-month window where a refugee receives cash assistance. After that period of time, they’re expected to become completely self-sufficient. So there is an outlay of resources at the beginning of the resettlement process, but the country as a whole benefits from resettling refugees.”
Again, apparently those in audience like this one don’t know enough to ask about ALL OF THE OTHER SOCIAL SERVICES REFUGEES RECEIVE FOR YEARS AND YEARS, or, how much LIRS is paid (out of the federal treasury) to resettle refugees. Gauger reported that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has referred 22,000 Syrians to the US for resettlement. 97% of the Syrians admitted in FY2015 are Muslims from UN camps, so I guess we can conclude that the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is not concerned about saving Syrian Christians as a first priority.
This is an update of the post we wrote here the other day.Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern Pennsylvania held a public meeting to bring together churches in the Allentown area to prep them for the arrival of Syrian refugees. The Morning Callreported on what happened next, here.
A Lutheran group that settles refugees in the Lehigh Valley got more than it bargained for at a meeting Wednesday when members of the Lehigh Valley Tea Party and other groups questioned whether some of those refugees might be terrorists.
Lutheran Children and Family Service, which oversees the refugee settlement program in the area, held an informational meeting at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Allentown on how churches and others can help in light of the Syrian refugee crisis.
Janet Panning, program director of Lutheran Children and Family Service, told the approximately 70 people in attendance that the agency expects to resettle about 120-130 refugees in the next year, including about 50-60 Syrians in 15 families.
[….]
Representatives of about 25 churches attended to find out how they would help. But when Panning and others on her panel started taking questions, it became clear that others in the audience were more concerned with whether the Muslim refugees might be terrorists, might try to impose strict Islamic law and customs on the United States and become burdens to society.
I am not going to get into the weeds of the misinformation spouted by Ms. Panning and others. Read the whole thing and be sure to see the comments.
Two things!
Remember two things (no matter how maligned you might be at a meeting like this one): First, you are paying for this whole resettlement business and have a right to know what they are doing with your money and to your town, and secondly, the FBI has testified to Congressthat the Syrian refugees cannot be thoroughly screened to assure terrorists won’t get in!
You have every right to be there and to question those promoting the colonization of your community and using your money to do it!
Luanne Fisher is the Lutheran CEO/President with the huge salary (below). Here she is as part of Lutheran Liberty. I think real Lutherans should be looking into this tangled web of groups using the name of your faith while milking taxpayers. http://www.libertylutheran.org/executive-team Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern Pennsylvania is rolling in YOUR bucks!
They are from Philadelphia where refugee overload means diversity is not such a beautiful thing and thus they need to be spreading their refugees out to surrounding towns and cities—Allentown is about 50 miles from Philadelphia. More here.
Some parts of their website are password protected (what are they hiding there?).
If you think this ‘church’ group is passing the plate on Sunday mornings to pay for all of this, forget it. By the way, they are a subcontractor of major federal contractor Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, here.
We had a look at the most recent Form 990 available for Ms. Panning’s organization and here is some of what we learned (p.9):
Gross receipts that year were: $14,273,796
Government grants: $13,506,480 (federal and state taxpayer dollars!)
So that comes to 95% funded by taxpayers! This is not a private non-profit group, this is essentially a quasi-government agency!
It gets worse!
They spent $8,889,752 of your money on salaries, benefits, pensions, payroll taxes and management!
Now, have a look at the salaries for this NON-PROFIT GROUP! (p. 7) Ahhhh! Doing well by doing good!
CEO: $411,357 (in compensation and related benefits)
Senior VP: $269,734
Another Senior VP: $205,456
VP of Community Services: $153,837
So, when Ms. Panning is trying to tell an audience that they aren’t paid much, that all they get is $925 per refugee from the State Department, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she doesn’t know herself how many millions come from taxpayers or how huge the salaries are of her senior leadership. Next time, how about sending CEO Luanne Fisher*** out to field the questions!
From The Morning Call:
The State Department, which works with Lutheran Children and Family Service on resettlement, provides $925 per refugee to help with the effort. The rest is up to the Lutheran Service group and churches that partner with the organization.
By the way, you need to know that when groups like this one seek volunteer help and donated junk, they get to count both the time and the donations as ‘cash’ so they can tell the federal government they have a little skin in the game.
Read the whole Morning Callupdate here.
Another Lutheran doing well by doing good is Jodi Harpstead, here at Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. How many more of them are out there sucking from the government teat?
p.s. If you have made contact with your Pennsylvania US Senators’ offices, please send them this post! Afterthought: Dr. Fisher makes twice what your US Senator makes, here.
*** Ms. Fisher was the CEO at the time of the filing of the 2012 Form 990 we were able to access and we can only assume she is still the CEO as of this writing. It is the staff portion of their website that is password protected.
