Tag: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

Tent Foundation makes refugee hiring guide available to corporations

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In November of last year, information came to us from a confidential source about Chobani Yogurt CEO Hamdi Ulukaya’s personal foundation, The Tent Foundation, contracting with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (one of nine federally funded resettlement agencies) to produce a guide for businesses to help them find refugee labor.

Here is just a bit of the background I gave about LIRS contract with Tent in a post almost a year ago:

For new readers, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) is one of nine federal contractors*** hired and funded (on a per refugee-head basis) by the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in HHS to place refugees in towns where citizens have no say in the matter and are generally kept in the dark about the process and plans for their communities.

Linda hartke 2
Linda Hartke’s sudden departure from LIRS has never been explained.

LIRS, approximately 96% funded by taxpayer dollars, is at the moment in a tight spot due to internal turmoil.

We have also recently reported on two other LIRS side ‘deals’ with global corporations— the meatpackers JBS Swift and Tyson Foods.

Now we hear that Ulukaya’s personal foundation, The Tent Foundation, has hired LIRS to write “a 15-page resource toolkit for employers laying out why they should hire refugees.”

According to a signed contract seen by RRW, the finished product was to be delivered to The Tent Foundation by the end of October.

Go to that post and see what an excited Linda Hartke said about their new funding source.

Screenshot (1478)
LIRS hiring guide for the Tent Foundation is here:          https://www.tent.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Tent_Guidebook_FINAL.pdf

Hartke has since been removed as CEO of LIRS, a full explanation about her departure was never forthcoming.

In light of all the internal turmoil going on at LIRS over the last year, I had wondered if The Tent Foundation ever got its guide.

But, sure enough, here it is!

It is a useful guide for not only businesses looking for refugee labor, but serious students of the US Refugee Admissions Program will find it full of information that could come in handy.

Although, Tent works in Europe, the guide is entirely devoted to finding and hiring refugee workers in the US.

I especially found useful the ‘Where to find refugees’ table that begins on page 17.

Below is just a small portion of the table that goes on for two additional full pages.

See which cities are the top ‘welcoming’ cities in America from 2007 to 2016 (mostly Obama years):

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There are a total of 136 locations on the list.  Apparently towns and cities receiving less than 100 are not included.     https://www.tent.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Tent_Guidebook_FINAL.pdf

 

In addition to less tangible benefits like feel-good bragging rights (corporate virtue signalling!) there are some economic reasons (besides wage issues) to bank an economic gain from hiring refugees.

Here is one!  A tax break!

Remember I mentioned that there was a tax break for businesses being touted as a way to encourage companies to hire people on welfare (here yesterday).  I see that on page 14, here at the Tent/LIRS hiring guide, the break is further explained.

Readers may not know that although most legal immigrants to America are not permitted to tap into welfare for several years, refugees are exempt from that prohibition and are able to almost immediately, with the help and guidance of their federally-assigned resettlement contractor (ie LIRS), sign up for myriad social service programs.

Here is what the guide advises….

Screenshot (1480)

 

Go here to read the whole guide.

 

***Below are the nine federal refugee resettlement contractors.

Faithful readers are probably sick of seeing this list almost every day, but a friend once told me that people need to see something seven times before it completely sinks in, so it seems to me that 70, or even 700 isn’t too much!

And, besides I have new readers every day.

The present US Refugee Admissions Program will never be reformed if the system of paying the contractors by the head stays in place and the contractors are permitted to act as Leftwing political agitation groups, community organizers and lobbyists largely paid on our dime!  

And, to add insult to injury they pretend it is all about ‘humanitarianism.’

The number in parenthesis is the percentage of their income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees into your towns and cities and get them signed up for their services (aka welfare)!  And, get them registered to vote eventually!

In most cases (LIRS for instance!), the percentage of their income paid by taxpayers is so high one could hardly call them private groups any longer. They are virtually quasi-government agencies.

From my most recent accounting, here.  However, please see that Nayla Rush at the Center for Immigration Studies has done an update of their income, as has James Simpson at the Capital Research Center!

#Welcome75K refugees campaign off to a slow start

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

What is that you ask? 

It’s a Twitter hashtag campaign launched by something called ‘We are all America’ to pressure the President into succumbing to refugee industry demands for a ceiling of 75,000 refugees for your towns and cities in FY19 (which begins in a little over 5 weeks).

By the way, the Left loves to do this, and they have the money to do it!  That is, create campaigns to make it look like their views are in the majority and thus they have all the power. Don’t be fooled.

I will grant that, although the hashtag campaign began only about a week ago, you would think they would have more retweets considering the supposedly vast number of supporters refugee advocates claim to have.

This tweet below has only garnered 4 retweets since the 15th.

 

we are all america tweet

 

 

Here is a screenshot of the key organizers of ‘We are all America.’

I’ve checked off three federally funded refugee contractors, but remember that the Refugee Council USA represents all nine*** as its lobbying office in Washington.

 

steering committee

What you can do….

Besides using the hashtag #Welcome75K if you are on Twitter

Sign up for today’s webinar hosted by resettlement contractor Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. 

See what they are telling their political activists to do!

 

raise the ceiling
LIRS is 96-97% funded by you, the taxpayer, and if the President doesn’t raise the refugee admissions ceiling this year they will be in SERIOUS financial jeopardy! They have a lot to lose!

 

 

*** These (below) are the nine federal resettlement contractors/advocates which are largely paid for their ‘humanitarian’ work by you, the US taxpayer.

They have every right to organize and speak out against the President, my problem is that they are surely using taxpayer dollars for their advocacy.

As the numbers of incoming refugees decline so too does their income (they are paid by the refugee head!).

Another low year, perhaps lower than this year’s 20,000 plus year, could completely blow to smithereens the budget of one or more of these federal contractors which are demanding a cap of 75,000.  (LOL! The nine have colluded so they all are asking for 75,000!)

The number in parenthesis is the percentage of their income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees into your towns and cities and get them signed up for their services (aka welfare)! 

From my most recent accounting, here.  However, please see that Nayla Rush at the Center for Immigration Studies has done an update of their income!

 

EU trying (in vain?) to get new agreement on migrant redistribution in Europe; fear increase in populism

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“If we don’t get a deal by the summer we will lose credibility vis-à-vis public opinion and we cannot afford that because it would fuel support for populist and extremist parties across the country.”

(Unnamed diplomat from a frontline country)

 
Politico Europe is reporting that the European Union is working to get in place (by June) a new plan to redistribute migrants from frontline countries, but those frontline countries are not happy.

Invasion of Europe news….

Of course no where is it mentioned that they must first stop the boats arriving from North Africa (European equivalent of BUILD THE WALL)!
 
Continue reading “EU trying (in vain?) to get new agreement on migrant redistribution in Europe; fear increase in populism” →

Lutherans hire "transition" expert to get LIRS back on track

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Earlier this month Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service announced a transition CEO (you could call him a fixer) in the wake of the sudden departure of former CEO Linda Hartke.
Can he save the organization?

Linda Hartke
Linda Hartke resigned amid internal turmoil.

Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart reports the story here:

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), one of the nine voluntary agencies (VOLAGs)*** who, until the current fiscal year, have collectively been paid more than $1 billion annually by the federal government to resettle refugees, has named an interim CEO after the previous CEO, Linda Hartke, resigned abruptly in February.

Hartke’s resignation came after the completion of an internal investigation first reported by Breitbart News.

VOLAGs receive almost all of their funding from the federal government, with revenues tied directly to the number of refugees resettled. Refugee admissions have plummeted under the Trump administration, driving VOLAG revenues down dramatically – placing the ability of several to continue operating in question.

 

[….]

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Pat Nichols is interim CEO hired to straighten out LIRS.   http://patnicholstransitions.com/what-i-do/

“(LIRS) is excited to announce the appointment of Pat Nichols as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, effective Thursday, April 5, 2018.”

[….]

According to his website, Nichols founded Transition Leadership International, LLC “[i]n 1996, after leading two civic sector organizations through major transitions.”

[….]

Neither Rinehart (LIRS board chairman) nor Nichols made any mention of the investigation that prompted his predecessor’s departure.

Critics say that money flowed so freely to the VOLAGs under the Obama administration that many lacked sufficient financial controls.

With the reduction of revenue associated with the decline of refugee admissions under the Trump administration, operational weaknesses that were previously unnoticed, have now come to the forefront in many VOLAGs.

Read it all for more details and to follow links.

Nichols has his work cut out for him because LIRS business model depended almost completely on federal funding—97% of what they operate on is taxpayer-supplied money last time we checked.

For my ever-expanding archive on Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, click here.
 
***  I post the contractor list almost every day because I want new readers to know exactly who is responsible for driving the US Refugee Admissions Program (in addition to the UN!).  We are hearing reports that all nine might not survive the year. Is LIRS one that could fail?
The number in parenthesis is the percentage of the nine VOLAGs’ income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees, line them up with (low paying) jobs in food production and cleaning hotel rooms, and get them signed up for their services (welfare)!  From most recent accounting, here.

 
 

Trump's "secretive" policies for slowing refugee flow to US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is really a nothingburger story at a college newspaper, but I was drawn by the headline, and, since I hadn’t mentioned Colorado much lately, am posting it.
 

Colorado springs welcome
I will bet that none of these protesters for more refugees ever gave any serious monetary donations to the local program because they have come to expect their Christian ‘charity’ comes from the government.

 
Reporter ‘s  provocative title at The Catalyst is:

Trump’s Secretive Changes to the Process of Reviewing Refugees

The story then goes on to explain how the vetting process is being tightened and that the local Lutheran contractor’s office is shrinking.  It is the same sob story we are hearing from sea to shining sea.
And, I continue to contend that the whole Ponzi-scheme system of paying ‘religious’ charities like the Lutherans with federal dollars to place refugees on a per head basis is crashing and a major part of the blame (for staff reductions and refugees left in the lurch) rests with the agencies like this one in Colorado (a subcontractor of the ‘mothership’—Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services in turmoil at the moment) that never raised enough private money to tide them over in downturn times like this.

LOL! A good friend recently coined the phrase: “Live by the government, die by the government.”

So here is some of what reporter Aleryan says about Colorado Springs.
By the way, no mention anywhere about how the refugees were pouring in to Colorado to supply meatpackers with cheap labor (LIRS even has a contract with Brazilian-owned slaughterhouse—JBS—headquartered in Greeley!).

President Trump’s executive order to ban refugees from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from coming into the United States, known as “The Muslim Ban,” is what we often talk about and see on news regarding any refugee status or immigration policy. However, is the Muslim Ban what really affects the arrival of refugees in American cities such as Colorado Springs?

Laura Liibbe is the community programs coordinator at Lutheran Family Services, Colorado’s local organization that is responsible for refugee settlement, among other affairs. Liibbe studied international development and teaches English as a second language, which was what inspired her to get involved with the organization. Her work primarily entails connecting refugees to the resources they need in Colorado Springs. [Connecting to resources=signing them up for welfare—ed] She has been working with LFS for six years.

[….]

When the refugee ban was finally lifted, people believed that refugees could again enter the U.S.. However, Trump had already implemented secretive policies that were not at the forefront of the news, so refugees were still not granted access to the country.

The security processes that Trump altered made it impossible for some cases to be processed. The security screening process usually entails refugees providing medical documents, background checking, verification of their refugee status, and their employment history for 10 years. That process is already difficult for some refugees to fulfill, especially if they fled their country and do not have access to their official documents. This process was made more difficult by mandating a 15 or 20 year verification of employment and other documents.

Trump also took resources from refugee reviewing processes that were reallocated to U.S. asylum cases. Liibbe emphasized that this move was not necessarily bad, but she criticizes the shift of resources instead of investing in new and increased resources. The refugee reviewing process is now significantly slower due to the loss of financial support and expertise. Each year, the President chooses a number of refugees to accept. This year, Trump’s administration decided on 45,000, but due to the slowed nature of the process, only 18,000 are expected to be approved and able to enter this year.

[….]

Liibbe emphasized that the city of Colorado Springs has the resources, the capacity, and the capabilities to receive refugees. In the past, they have settled 150 refugees a year with ease. Now, Liibbe insists that we will see a major decrease in that number. This decrease will deeply affect the LFS partnerships because their government funding is dependent on how many refugees they settle.

Can you say Ponzi-scheme!  For regular readers this per refugee head payment business is old news, but believe me, ten years ago when I began writing about the program, no media ever mentioned that critical fact!
Come on Congress, time to get off your butts and either dump or reform the Refugee Act of 1980!
Endnote to Ms. Aleryan:  You might be interested in writing about the contracts LIRS has with meatpackers especially since this agency—Lutheran Family Services, Rocky Mountains—helped secure the contracts.  Humanitarianism is not the primary driving force behind the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program!  Big business and the Chamber of Commerce is! (Dems get voters of course!)