Tough mayor of Manchester, NH running for governor

06/09/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update: I’m reading one story after another tonight about the controversy in Rutland, VT about resettling Syrians there. Why don’t Rutland’s elected officials pick up the phone and call the Mayor of Manchester and ask him what his experience has been with refugee overload and the fact that once in the program there is no getting out. Heck, the two cities are about 120 miles apart, not the other side of the country from each other!
We have a zillion posts here at RRW about refugee overloaded Manchester, NH over the years. Many of the posts chronicle the efforts of its longtime mayor Ted Gatsas who tried to slow the flow to the city when the immigrant pressure on ‘services’ was getting too great. (No slowdown any time soon as we learned here the other day.)

It was a battle, but the lobbyists for the refugee industry went to work not wanting to set any precedent that would allow a mayor to call the shots on how many are resettled by the FEDERAL government in one of their targeted cities.

Now we see the mayor is running for governor and he isn’t silent about the refugee problems the country is facing.

From WMUR.com:

MANCHESTER, N.H. —Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas said Tuesday that if he is elected New Hampshire’s next governor, he will use every means possible to halt Syrian refugees from resettling in New Hampshire until he is satisfied that the security of the state is guaranteed.

Gatsas, who has long fought for what he calls “transparency and accountability” in the refugee resettlement process, said he was concerned that Gov. Maggie Hassan, when questioned by reporters on Monday, did not say specifically whether she still believes there should be a pause in refugees from Syria entering the state.

Last November, following the terrorist attacks in Paris, Hassan became the only Democratic governor in the nation to call for a temporary ban on refugees until the federal vetting process “is as strong as possible to ensure the safety of the American people.”

She said on Monday that communication has improved between federal agencies and the states on refugees, and she said she will continue to issue calls to “make sure that we continue to get as much information as possible from the feds about people coming into our state.”

But, asked several times by reporters, Hassan did not say if her position has changed since November or is the same.

[….]

Gatsas said, “As governor, I will formally ask the State Department to suspend Syrian refugee resettlement in New Hampshire and explore every option available to stop it until all security concerns are addressed.”

Mayor Gatsas tried to get a moratorium on the resettlement of large numbers of new refugees.

By the way, one of the tricks you need to understand about the promoters of colonizing cities with immigrants is that once they get the family seed units started, they then clamor for the immigrants’ family members to be permitted to follow them to that location. If you raise an objection (due to the economy, or crime, or cultural upheaval going on) you are painted as a heartless xenophobe for not wanting families to be reunited. Don’t back down!
Here is what Gatsas tried to do:

While the federal government has authority over resettlements regardless of the objections of states, governors can try to block funding for nongovernmental agencies involved in the resettlement process in an attempt to make the process difficult.

That is what Gatsas tried to do as Manchester’s mayor in 2011.

He said Tuesday that as mayor, he “repeatedly asked for more transparency when it comes to the refugee resettlement process and asked for a temporary moratorium so Manchester could sufficiently meet the needs of our current refugee population.”

In 2011, Gatsas asked the state’s Executive Council to vote against contracts to provide funding to nonprofit groups who work with refugees in the state. That request came after the federal government refused his request for a two-year moratorium on new refugee settlements in Manchester.

Don’t expect anyone in the Bush family orbit—like Sununu—to question any federal immigration program!

But the council refused Gatsas’ request and unanimously voted to approve the contracts. Gatsas noted on Tuesday that one of his current competitors for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Chris Sununu, was among those who voted in favor of the contracts.

Continue reading here.

2016 is it readers!

If there is going to be any reform of (or a complete halt to) the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program the groundwork must be laid now! The November election will determine the future of America!
If you live in NH, and are concerned about how mass migration is changing your towns and cities, you should be doing all you can to back Ted Gatsas. And, you should be out at every campaign event you can find and hammer all of the candidates on this issue. The time has never been better. They are getting nervous like I have never seen in my nearly 9 years of following this program!

No break for NH as feds approve just short of 500 new refugees for the state

06/06/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have a huge archive on the problems in Manchester, NH with refugee overload and the mayor’s efforts there to get the flow under control, please click here for dozens of posts on the city whose school system struggles with over 80 languages spoken within its student body.

Barbara Seebert — Barbara Seebart (left) made the announcement for the state of NH. Here we are told NH usually only gets about 200 refugees (huh?) a year and likely no Syrians. https://www.nhbar.org/publications/display-news-issue.asp?id=8085

The numbers for the new fiscal year (to begin on September 30th) were published here on Saturday. Manchester, Concord and Nashua will be ‘welcoming’ a total of about 500 refugees selected by the UN and the US State Department.
Citizens concerned in those three cities should be demanding that your elected officials get a copy of the R & P Abstract (a planning document)*** that the resettlement contractors working in the state have produced.
The document (usually kept secret) should be made public, but I’ll bet the agencies have never even mentioned that document to the mayors and councils in the three cities.

According to figures provided by Seebart, the predominant countries of origin for the projected new arrivals for both Ascentria Community Services (formerly Lutheran Social Services) and the International Institute of New Hampshire (IINH) are Bhutan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Iraq. The proposed resettlement sites are Manchester, Concord and Nashua. [You will get Syrian Muslims in NH!—ed]

The International Institute of New Hampshire’s proposed caseload is for 225 individuals – 170 individuals or 25-35 families in Manchester, and 55 individuals or 10-15 families in Nashua.

Ascentria Community Service’s proposed caseload is 270 individuals: 135 individuals or 30-35 families in Concord, and 135 individuals or 30-35 families in Nashua.

When that photo was taken in 2015, someone got it wrong. NH didn’t take 200 refugees in fiscal year 2015, but 446 according to the US State Department’s own data.
Checking that data just now I see that Manchester got 120 refugees from 9 different countries in FY2015, so for FY 2017 they will be upping that number by 50. (Since we are still in about the middle of FY2016 I didn’t bother checking this year).
*** See Reno, Nevada’s R & P Abstract here to get an idea of what information this document contains. Reno’s primary resettlement contractor, USCRI, is the same one operating through its subcontractor, the International Institute of NH, in New Hampshire.

Concord (NH) Monitor: “Communities have little say about the amount of refugees they receive”

04/01/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I repeat! Communities have little say about the amount of refugees they receive….

Update April 2nd: I’m told that Drudge posted this Concord Monitor story yesterday which says to me that the whole refugee issue and its impact on communities is starting to be noticed at a national level!

That is the headline of a piece that ran on Sunday in Concord, NH which is starting to feel the pain of increasing numbers of refugees being deposited there by the former Lutheran Social Service of New England (renamed Ascentria Care Alliance, why did they dump the word “Lutheran?”) and the US State Department.

For years the city of Manchester, NH has been swamped with refugees (over 80 languages in the school system) and the Mayor has tried to get the flow slowed. The flow has only been slowed slightly as the contractor’s focus has shifted to neighboring cities in New Hampshire, like Concord!

So, anyone just getting started with your own “welcoming” refugee resettlement program (Spartanburg!) pay attention!

From the Concord Monitor:

The federal resettlement program began 35 years ago, and today includes some 190 sites across the country.

In New Hampshire, four cities – Nashua, Manchester, Laconia and Concord – take in refugees, but the numbers are not evenly distributed. Nationally, nearly 70,000 refugees immigrated to the U.S. in the last fiscal year; 373 of those came to New Hampshire, and 189 of those came to Concord.

The city of Concord has minimal say, and minimal official responsibilities, over refugee resettlement. [Local elected officials will bear the brunt of public ire when the availability of subsidized housing declines, the schools are overloaded and the health department is swamped!—ed]

State and resettlement officials will typically share the information they receive about resettlement projections with local officials. [That is not always the case!—ed]

Concord, in turn, has an opportunity to provide some input on those projections. But as decisions are being made about how many new refugees will resettle here, there’s rarely a discussion – with Concord officials, at least – about the current status of the local economy and what kind of resources are available, according to City Manager Tom Aspell.

Below, when they say “states can comment,” they don’t mean elected state officials, they mean the state refugee coordinator who is ideologically in tune with the US State Department and the federal contractors working in the state and will not likely stand up to the contractors on behalf of an overloaded town or city!

The national refugee resettlement program runs as a partnership between the federal government and nine private resettlement agencies. Ascentria Care Alliance, which oversees resettlement in Concord, is a subsidiary of three of those private agencies.

Each year, the State Department announces resettlement projections for the coming fiscal year. States can then comment on those, raising concerns or requesting changes.

Barbara Seebart, New Hampshire’s refugee coordinator, said she regularly meets with school officials, health care workers, social service providers, state partners, volunteers, ESL teachers and local resettlement agencies to gather feedback.

She gathers feedback, big deal, does she ever stop the flow to New Hampshire?

Readers concerned about your state should make a point of contacting your state coordinator.

I suggest you be polite, uncritical, and find out as much as you can from the coordinators about what is going on in your state. BTW, the state coordinator knows how many new refugees are destined for your state and where they will be coming from.

Click here for the list of state coordinators! And, go here, for the list of sub-contractors working to seed your towns with third worlders!

Manchester, NH still trying to get relief from refugee burden on the city

03/11/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Pay attention Spartanburg, SC.

For years the federal resettlement contractor and the US State Department have ignored the Mayor’s pleas that the city can’t handle more impoverished third-worlders.

The Mayor of Manchester, NH has been battling the federal government and a refugee contractor for years in an attempt to slow the flow on the refugee-overloaded city. See our extensive Manchester archive by clicking here (be sure to see Manchester in trouble for no Dinka interpreter!).

I first heard that the feds called Manchester a “pocket of resistance” at the same meeting I heard about the immigrants as seedlings being planted in your community’s soil.

There is no possibility of ‘assimilation’ when the numbers of ‘new Americans’ are so high.

LOL! of course this article refers to ‘integration’ not ‘assimilation’ and it sure sounds like the reporter is already getting with the Obama word game by helping make the case that integration=availability of services (aka welfare).

From the Manchester Union Leader (emphasis is mine):

MANCHESTER – While many immigrants enter the U.S. with dreams for a brighter future, city officials say it’s their aim to help with services needed by new arrivals to achieve their goals.

“I think at last check we had something like 82 languages represented at Central High School,” said Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas. “I asked a few years ago for a waiver from the federal government to exempt immigrant and refugee children from testing. I’m still waiting on that one.”

The U.S. has accepted refugees since the early 1980s. New Hampshire welcomes between 250 and 550 legal immigrants each year. Most take up residence in communities along Interstate 93 from Nashua on up to Concord, with some showing up in Laconia.

Gatsas has had a frosty relationship with the International Institute of New England, headquartered in Boston, which has settled several thousand refugees in Manchester, more than it has in any other community in the state.

Cities and towns cannot block refugee resettlement, just as they are prohibited from restricting people of any race or ethnicity from moving into town. [Maybe they can’t block it, but any elected officials better darn well ask a lot of questions in advance!—ed]

Gatsas has charged in the past that the institute has been uncommunicative and unresponsive to his concerns, disregarding the struggles they are facing in the city.

According to Gatsas, the city has received between 60 and 70 refugees since October.

“We want to give them every opportunity to succeed here,” said Gatsas. “We try to provide services to help with that goal, and we ask the feds for something like a waiver for students from testing, and we’re still waiting. I guess they turn a deaf ear to something like that.”

If only every town knew what we know now! (See here for Ten Things your town should know!)

Contemplating “welcoming” refugees? Call Mayor Gatsas and ask his opinion. Here is a link to the Mayor’s office.

Obama Administration Office for Civil Rights pounces on Manchester, NH for not having Dinka interpreter

12/10/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Every “welcoming” community that is either in bed now with the federal refugee resettlement program or contemplating snuggling up, should pay close attention! Your state and local taxpayers are on the hook for interpreters every time an immigrant has a problem—in the school system, the health department and in the criminal justice system, most anywhere! Just yesterday we wrote about Yer and Zit or was it Zar and Yar in Denver who need a Burmese interpreter to face the court on possible homicide charges. Who do you think pays for that—you do (not Washington)!

Gatsas had previously ordered the Obama Dept. of Education Civil Rights Office to clear out for making inflammatory claims. I’m guessing they hold a grudge.

I do feel sorry for Manchester because whenever they first got into the refugee welcoming business they were either snookered or not told a thing about it until the refugees arrived. Mayor Gatsas, to his great credit, has tried to slow the flow to the over-loaded city, but it may be too late—they already have 81 languages spoken in the school district!

Here is the latest from the Union Leader (hat tip: Paul). No Dinka interpreter, sorry Manchester, that violent student is all yours!

MANCHESTER — District officials entered into an agreement with the federal Office for Civil Rights to return a student to school who had been slated for an expulsion hearing for assaulting another student.

The move has drawn strong criticism from at least two members of the school board’s Conduct Committee, which had voted unanimously to hold an expedited expulsion hearing for the student.

“The committee was blind-sided. This action does not support safety in our schools,” Ward 2 board member Debra Gagnon Langton, longtime chairman of the Conduct Committee, said at a Nov. 24 meeting. “I really think we need to vote on this. This is a violation of the public trust.”

Superintendent Debra Livingston replied that any discussion of the matter should take place in nonpublic session since it involved student privacy.

The complaint rests on the allegation that the district did not provide a Dinka interpreter to communicate to the student or his parents concerning his suspension.

Dinka is spoken by people from South Sudan.

[….]

As for the issue of language interpreters in the schools, Livingston said, “There are 81 languages spoken in the district. It’s very difficult to find someone who can translate all documents. What we’re trying to do is provide translation to as many students as possible.”

[….]

This isn’t the first time the district has drawn the attention of the OCR. Earlier this year, the civil rights agency entered an agreement with the district under which it would take concrete steps to boost the enrollment of black and Hispanic students in advanced high school courses. [Whether they deserve to be in those classes or not?—ed]

In August 2012, Mayor Ted Gatsas asked local representatives of the OCR to leave the City Hall chamber during a presentation in which they claimed that discrimination was a problem for minority students in the district. Gatsas accused the group of making unfounded and inflammatory claims.

We have a huge archive on Manchester, NH, click here to read the sad tale of an overloaded city trying to extricate itself from the feds and the entrenched contractors.

Remember that kerfuffle over the summer regarding nearby Dover, NH. That was about spreading some of Manchester’s overload to surrounding small towns and cities. Dover temporarily dodged a bullet when a public outcry erupted.

Where is Mark Steyn? Wouldn’t he have fun with the idea of a school district having to have a ‘Dinka man’ on call?