Longtime readers know that Anne Richard(originally a Vice President at the International Rescue Committee (IRC), one of the nine federal contractors*** that monopolize all refugee resettlement in America), was Barack Obama’s Assistant Secretary of State for Population Refugees and Migration. (Trump, btw, never chose anyone to fill that spot).
For inquisitive readers, we have an extensive Anne Richard archive, here.
Yesterday she penned an informative pieceat Georgetown University’s Berkeley Center where she describes how she is energized by all of her gal pals working to advance refugee resettlement in US towns and cities.
By the way, since Richard references the women leaders in her piece, I wondered where are all the men in her industry who are making the big bucks as CEOs of the ‘non-profit’ contractors? Weren’t they at the confab she describes?
Refugee Experts Express Hope for Refugee Resettlement in America
Anne Richard
As the moderator of a panel on “The Future of U.S. Refugee Resettlement Policy” at the “Current Challenges in Refugee Policy” conference, I asked a stellar lineup of experts the sad question:
Is there a future for Refugee Resettlement in America?
They and I knew that the number of refugees being resettled in this country has dropped drastically under the Trump administration.
[….]
Jen Smyers “Where prayer meets politics”
Jen Smyers, director of policy and advocacy for the immigration and refugee program with Church World Service, pointed out that 18,000 is an historic low point for the program and pronounced the Trump policy “shameful,”noting: “this is being done in the worst displacement crisis that the world has ever seen….There are more than 70 million people who are displaced across the globe, including more than 25 million refugees.” [And, so why is this our problem?—ed]
Jenny Yang, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, reported, “Last month in October it was the first month in over 30 years that we didn’t receive a single refugee, which is a startling statistic.”
All of us recognized that deep cuts in the numbers of refugees would translate into resettlement offices being forced to shut down across America. These closures would mean letting staff go, reducing services to refugees already here, cutting long-term relationships with schools, employers and landlords—and would be exceedingly hard to reverse.
[….]
I figured the panelists were, like me, utterly demoralized. So, I was taken aback when each panelist in turn talked about the energy now being devoted to defending the program and fighting back against efforts to kill it.
Smyers mentioned a three-pronged approach, based on (1) rebuilding bipartisan support in Congress, (2) organizing at the local level so that refugees can share their stories with Congressional district offices, and state and local officials, and (3) escalating tactics, such as a recent protest and coordinated act of civil disobedience at the U.S. Capitol,which included the arrests of 18 leaders including Amnesty International USA Executive Director Margaret Huang and yours truly.
Jen mentioned the Bipartisan Congressional Refugee Caucus in the House of Representatives and multiple letters signed by both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate as evidence that the White House did not speak for all elected officials. [I’ll have a follow-up post on the Congressional Refugee Caucus—ed]
[….]
Jenny Yang explained the work World Relief is doing with evangelical churches in many communities across the United States. Over 1,400 local volunteers that have signed up as Good Neighbor Teams that are “walking alongside” these refugees that are coming in, and helping them transition into their communities. In 2017, more than 9,000 evangelical pastors signed on to a World Relief petition supporting refugees. World Relief later issued a letter showing evangelicals in every state in the country support refugees and immigrants.
[….]
Ash: Refugee Admissions Program benefits businesses.
Nazanin Ash, vice president for public policy and advocacy at the International Rescue Committee and a visiting policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, shared how over 100 pieces of anti-refugee state legislation have been defeated.
I have no idea what she is talking about — where were 100 pieces of anti-refugee state bills defeated?
Ash went on to describe growing numbers of advocates. “Alongside traditional community organizations and faith groups…,” she said, “what’s been wonderful to see are strong and emerging partnerships with business, strong and emerging partnerships with the national security sector.
Because big global corporations are on the hunt for cheap labor, your community will be changed forever! Likewise, since some of our military leadership is demanding we hand out more tickets to America to Afghans, Iraqis and soon Syrians, we are expected to stay silent as our rural towns and small cities are transformed (big cities are gone already!).
These new sectors that…declare their support and talk about how the refugee admissions program benefits business, makes America stronger, promotes our values, and serves our humanitarian leadership goals, and our strategic interests. She went on to describe a network across the country in red, blue, and purple states which is now approaching 250,000 people.
The states where she sees the largest constituencies of advocates include Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Idaho.
[….]
“I really do have a lot of hope,” said Ash, “and that’s in no small part due to the panel I’m sharing here with this group of really extraordinary women, and their really extraordinary organizations and communities and constituencies that they represent, and the way in which this community has come together and has joined forces with broader advocacy groups, human rights, immigration, business, military, a growing constituency of grass tops [WTH?—ed] and grassroots, who have been given the opportunity in this oppositional environment to plant their flag for refugees and for humanitarian leadership, and they really are.”
And, of course, they hide their desire to change America by changing the people behind their supposed humanitarian do-gooderism and do it with your tax dollars!
***For new readers these (below) are the nine federally-funded refugee contractors that monopolize all refugee placement in America. For decades they have decided in secrecy where to place refugees and they don’t want to lose that power because even as they pontificate about their religious convictions and humanitarian zeal, they are Leftwing political groups working to change America by changing the people and using your money to do it!
I’ve been sounding like a broken record when I continue to report that we are taking tens of thousands of DR Congolese refugees (housed in camps like this one) at the behest of the United Nations.
Nakivale’s camp sign, where corruption is alleged, is meaningful. Hijra is the Islamic doctrine of migration and although they don’t say it, it means spreading Islam via immigration.
In fact, the DR Congolese make up the largest number of refugees being admitted to the US right now, during the Trump administration, even as Congolese elsewhere in Africa are going home. See here.
In case you are wondering, most Congolese are not Muslims, but a small number being admitted to the US are.
The Uganda camp sounded familiar to me, so I went to my archives to see if I had written about Nakivale and sure enough I had, in 2010, when we were taking thousands of Somalis from that camp.
Here is what I reported nearly ten years ago in a post entitled:
Are you sitting down! UN sending 6000 more Somalis to US this year
The Obama administration agreed to take that number from Nakivale camp in Uganda because the Somalis could not get along with the other refugees in the camp.
An article that has now been removed quoted a source who said this:
Explaining the reason of resettling Somalis to the US, Katura said Somali refugees have failed to integrate with other refugee groups living in Nakivale and with the local communities because of their unique language and culture. [This is insane, they can’t get along with other African people but they are going to jump into the mythical American melting pot and come out as just good old regular Americans!—ed]
Later, in 2017, we learned that some of the Nakivale Somalis went to Minnesota thanks to Catholic Charities, here.
Earlier this year we heard about the allegations of fraud and corruption in the UN system in Africa, here, and this news is a continuation of a supposed effort by the UN to find out exactly how alleged corruption is occurring.
UN Refugee Agency Reopens Corruption Investigation
Refugee Sources Report Retaliation After Speaking Out
The United Nations is investigating allegations of corruption among employees at a Ugandan refugee camp following a 100Reporters investigation, but victims say they face retaliation for testifying and that the UN is not protecting them.
In a story published in partnership with NBC News and Journalists for Transparency, refugees at the Nakivale settlement in southwest Uganda said employees and contractors working for the UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, as well as local police and employees of the Ugandan government’s Office of the Prime Minister and police, were demanding bribes for everything from access to essential services, including medical referrals, to resettlement in Europe or the U.S.
The reporting came as part of a broader investigation this spring, in which dozens of refugees in East Africa accused UNHCR staff and contractors of exploiting refugees and whitewashing corruption charges.
Refugees interviewed said they felt they had nowhere to turn when they witnessed corruption, as they had to rely on the UNHCR, whose mandate is to protect them, for food, medicine and safety.
A UNHCR spokesperson denied the allegations of wrongdoing at the time the stories were published. But staff are now carrying out interviews with refugee witnesses at the Nakivale refugee settlement and elsewhere.
Continue reading because there is a question about whether the UN is looking for fraud and corruption, or trying to find out how allegations of fraud reached the mainstream media’s ears!
Maddening isn’t it!
First we took thousands of Somalis from this camp and now we are taking thousands more Congolese just because the UN wants us to take them off their hands.
Endnote:Just had a quick look at the data at the Refugee Processing Centerand see that we processed a whopping 2,697 refugees into the US from Uganda in the last fiscal year. See here. (Don’t look at the colored map it is messed up, look at the chart and scroll down to Uganda.)
In only one year did he set a CAP (CEILING) in excess of 100,000 and he set that in September 2016 during the waning months of his Presidency—either anticipating that Hillary was coming in to ‘welcome’ that many, or in the case of a Trump win, he was setting Trump up to look mean and unwelcoming.
Obama could have set a 100,000+ CAP in any of the previous years, why didn’t he?
Note also that Obama didn’t admit near his ceilings in several years of his time in office.
Whatever deception Obama (his State Department!) was trying to pull, please keep this chart handy because when the new numbers are recorded at the end of this month, that 2009 year will drop from the chart.
Note the ‘Ceiling’ column vs. the ‘to the US’ column which is the number that actually were admitted.
If you see a news report in a local paper about how Obama admitted 100,000 refugees a year, be sure to tell the reporter/editor to get their facts straight!
Yes, and they will win even more as their population grows largely through legal immigration.
One might wonder, as I did here in 2007why if refugees and Muslim migrants of all stripes were eager to assimilate did they need to place their people (representing their religion) into local, state and federal government?
And, just imagine, I asked then, if we would blatantly say—we want Catholics, Jews, other Christians as our leaders—wouldn’t all hell break loose in the media?
Yet, no one seems to care if CAIR says we are electing our people, Muslims, everywhere we can!
I’m referring to a post I wrote in the summer of 2007 where a US Imam, Yahya Hendi, went to Saudi Arabia to brag about how they planned to elect Muslims to political office throughout America. It is worth a read now.
ISIS might be taking the fire jihad route, but their co-religionists at CAIR etc. are changing America by changing the people.
Here is theelection news that has CAIR celebrating (hat tip: Cathy):
CAIR, Jetpac, MPower Change: 26 American Muslim Candidates Win in Nov. 5 Elections for Total of 34 Muslims Elected in 2019
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, and Jetpac, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing American Muslim representation in politics and the media, and MPower Change, one of the largest Muslim-led social and racial justice organizations in the United States, today reported 26 American Muslim electoral victories nationwide in yesterday’s off-year election.
[NOTE: These results are preliminary and subject to change.]
Throughout 2019, CAIR, Jetpac and MPower Change have identified at least 34 Muslim candidates who won elections in local and statewide races across the country. More than 80 Muslims ran for office this year at the local and state level.
“These electoral victories clearly indicate that American Muslims are stepping up and showing their commitment to public service,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad ***.
“We congratulate these Muslim trailblazers who are creating a more inclusive democracy for everyone.”
“American Muslims are running for office in large numbers because more of us are realizing that we have a unique perspective that will help fix massive inequities in healthcare, education, and the criminal legal system,” said Jetpac Executive Director Mohammed Missouri.
“We’re also aware that staying on the sidelines while anti-Muslim bigotry runs rampant will increase the threat to our community. A truly representative Democracy will help us get out of this dark era as a stronger society.”
“What do Muslim Americans do during a time of heightened Islamophobia under a xenophobic administration? We run for office and win,” said MPower Change’s Executive Director Linda Sarsour .
“Muslim Americans are engaging in the democratic process in unprecedented ways and we can’t wait to continue this wave in 2020 to save our democracy.”
***Nihad Awad joined forces with refugee contractor Church World Serviceon the steps of the US Capitol here recentlywhere they demanded more refugee resettlement to Anytown, USA because what do they need the most to change America—more of their people!
Sorry Trumpsters but I gotta call it the way I see it—Trump was foolish to agree to Obama’s “dumb” deal (to move up to 1,250 illegal aliens that Australia had sent to detention camps and refused to admit to their mainland) to America as legitimate refugees.
Refugees receive all sorts of welfare goodies and their hands are held through the process of signing them up for those benefits by a resettlement contractor. Then they are free to roam anywhere in America.
Seventeen more single young men (likely all Muslims)—Pakistanis and Rohingya—just left for Yourtown, USA.
Meet your new neighbors!
Manus Island detainees! 17 more are coming to a town near you! But, the State Department will not reveal where they are located, and eventually they will lose track of them!
Why were they in detention on offshore islands in the first place?
About five years ago, the Australian government had a brilliant idea of how to deter illegal boat migration to their country. They made it a policy that anyone trying to break in illegally by boat would be sent to detention and never allowed access to the mainland.
The deterrent worked (too bad the Europeans were too foolish to follow the Aussie lead!) and they have severely limited the number of illegal border jumpers.
However great for them, it stinks for us since the Trump Administration is now bringing those illegals to America and we (citizens!) are not being told where they are being placed.
Here is news on the latest shipment, bringing the number we have ‘welcomed’ to 361!
Seventeen single men being held on Manus Island have flown to the United States under a refugee resettlement deal with Australia.
The 11 Pakistanis and six Rohingyans*** flew out of Port Moresby on Tuesday after almost five years in immigration detention.
Since the US won’t take Somalis, Iraqis and Syrians from the island detention camps, Refugee Action Coalition’s Ian Rintoul, calls the transport to the US a failure.
Their departure takes to 147 the number of refugees who have departed Papua New Guinea to start new lives in America.
Another 214 refugees have been taken from Nauru.
The US has promised to accept up to 1250 people under the refugee deal, but advocates are concerned there are still about 600 detainees being held on Manus Island and another 800 on Nauru.
Advocates are also concerned US officials will not accept Iranians, Somali, Sudanese, Iraqi or Syrian refugees for resettlement because of President Donald Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban” on immigration.
When we bring Muslim Pakistanis, Afghans, and Rohingya, it is not a “Muslim ban.”
Just great isn’t it! More single men who have been held in all male detention for 5 years are now free in America!
Go here for a lengthy archive on the dumb Obama deal.
***I have a whole category here at RRW called Rohingya Reports. I have over 200 posts there and have followed the Burma/Bangladesh Rohingya situation for ten years. Early on when we brought Rohingya to America, the US State Department said we were bringing only women and children. I wondered when the men would follow—now it seems hubbies are on the way!
