Now the Department of Health and Human Services has announced his replacement (at least for now) and has chosen Ken Tota already holding a position in ORR to step into the job.
In keeping with the modus operandi in the refugee resettlement industry, Tota (see his bio) came to his federal job from one of the contractors.
Before entering civil service, Ken was the Cuban Haitian Program Coordinator for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Washington, DC and Miami, FL.
He had also worked on the ‘Unaccompanied minors’ program at ORR.
These people just move shamelessly through the revolving door between government granting/contracting agency and private NGO contractor (some have moved back and forth several times!). There really should be a law to make this practice completely illegal!
Here is the recent announcement of Tota’s appointment:
Dear colleagues:
As you may know, Eskinder Negash stepped down from his position as Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the end of January.
ORR Deputy Director Ken Tota will be Acting Director for ORR until a new Director is appointed.
In addition, Carl Rubenstein is stepping in as Acting Director for the Division of Refugee Assistance (DRA), following Mitiku Ashebir’s recent retirement.
ORR would also like to announce a new ORR Chief of Staff, Kate Wolff who will be working in the Office of the Director focusing on response planning and interdepartmental communications strategies. Kate brings five years of experience working at the Department, most recently as Special Assistant to Secretary Sebelius.
You may find a full directory of ORR Staff posted on our website, or call us at (202) 401-9246.
Isn’t this just amazing! Only a few short months ago Obama and his gang of thieves were poor-mouthing to Congress and the media about how the ‘Unaccompanied alien children’ streaming across our southern border were going to cause the refugee program to suffer (contractors might even have to lay off employees!) and as a consequence they wanted Congress to grant them billions! Here is just one post of several we wrote—moaning in Minnesota.
Refugee eats first carrot! I guess carrot-tasting classes will be back up and running in Washington state now. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/08/09/carrot-tasting-classes-for-refugees-cut-due-to-unaccompanied-minors-taking-all-the-federal-cash/
And, isn’t it just amazing that as soon as Obama put off the amnesty debate until after the November election, the ‘childrens’ pipeline has magically stopped flowing. I hope one day we will get the whole truth about who opened the spigot in the first place!
MIAMI — Groups that provide refugee services across the United States expressed relief Thursday after the federal government announced the release of $71.5 million it had reprogrammed in June to deal with the thousands of unaccompanied minors who crossed the border this year.
The Department of Health and Human Services told the states on Thursday that the money would be released because the flow of migrants had fallen.
Health and Human Services Spokesman Kenneth Wolfe said the funds were released on Sept. 15, adding there were no immediate plans to withhold funds in 2015. Originally HHS had said in June that more than $90 million would be withheld as the agency dealt with a crisis involving minors streaming over the border from Mexico. Unaccompanied children who migrate to the United States also fall under the auspices of the federal refugee office.
That number was slightly reduced later to $71.5 million, but groups across the country still scrambled to scale back programs such as English language classes, job counseling and tutoring.
“Today’s announcement ensures refugees who live in Florida will get the services they need to become self-sufficient and thrive in their new communities,” said Hiram Ruiz, who heads up Florida’s refugee services.
The funds are distributed to all 50 states with the bulk of the money going to Florida, California, Texas, New York, Michigan and Minnesota.*
All of our coverage of ‘unaccompanied minors’ ishere.
* The top ten states receiving refugees in 2014 (so far) are here. Minnesota is not in the top ten.
That is one of the interesting facts we are learning while reading through ORR’s Key Indicators for Fiscal Year 2015. We have been telling you about it (see here and here).
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has recently been compiling statistics on such things as employment opportunities and whether your state has generous social service benefits and healthcare to help refugees get the very best care they can get.
I found the ‘Access to Health Care’ on page 18 of the Statistical Abstract enlightening.
By the way, if yours is one of 26 states expanding Medicaid, yours will be a more “welcoming” location than the 19 (stingy) states which have not.
Access to Health Care
Access to health care and health insurance is an important consideration in refugee placement and resettlement decisions. Depending on their circumstances, refugees may be eligible for different types of health insurance, including Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA), employer-based plans, and private insurance available through the Health Insurance Marketplace. However, many refugees are uninsured. In fact, one third of refugees from ORR’s Annual Survey in 2011 lacked medical of any kind throughout the preceding year. In addition, the availability of “safety net” health services varies by state.
Initial placement decisions can have a long-term impact on refugees’ health outcomes;
For example:
* Treatment for chronic Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C can last up to one year. People with these conditions who are resettled in a state where RMA is the only health insurance option will be less likely to start or complete treatment.
* Refugees with HIV will require specialized care; the availability of long-term health
insurance and the robustness of local Ryan White programs (especially, waiting periods to
access anti-HIV medications) should be considered when making placement decisions
regarding people with HIV.
You really should check out the report, you will learn a lot about how generous (or not) your state is and how well refugees are doing finding jobs and keeping them.
And, how is your TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families)? There is a very detailed state-by-state list of how much refugees get and what the rules are in your state.
Oh, and we learned one more thing! ORR is using your tax dollars for “gaining socio-political support for the refugee program.”
For new readers, we have an extensive ‘health issues’ category, click here. You may be surprised to learn that in addition to HIV and Hepatitis, we take refugees with TB, venereal diseases and parasites as well.
Center for Immigration Fellow, Don Barnett, predicted (in 2004!) the “crisis” we are now seeing before our eyes as tens of thousands of illegal alien minors (mostly male teenagers) are flooding our border and are being treated as asylum seekers and refugees.
Don Barnett: Time for refugee program to come out of the shadows! http://trib.com/opinion/columns/barnett-time-to-bring-refugee-program-out-of-the-shadows/article_b3e35008-b3e1-5552-b0cc-7b72b6ccec5d.html?comment_form=true
There is so much news this morning on the “invasion of America” that I almost don’t know where to begin. So we will start at the beginning—in 2004 during the Bush Administration!
Barnett wondered at the time: Is the U.S. government an active participant in human smuggling operations?
Hereis Barnett in a backgrounder for the Center for Immigration Studies:
When the old Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was reorganized as part of the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it lost one of its immigration enforcement functions.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is now in charge of custody, identification, and release policy for “unaccompanied minors” caught trying to cross the border or caught in the interior.
ORR likes to remind its contractors that their mission is no longer “just about refugees.” The federal agency is a social services agency which dispenses grant money and manages benefits and services for a range of entitled immigrants that now extends well beyond those who come over on the U.S. refugee program. Its clients are eligible for all forms of welfare, but, as well, there is grant money from virtually every program the federal government has ever created (including funds from the tobacco settlement and the president’s “marriage initiative”), to be managed for successful asylum seekers, “Cuban/Haitian entrants,” and holders of “Trafficking” and “Battered Women” visas—all of whom need merely get themselves to U.S. shores with the correct label to qualify for ORR care.
Read it all, it is everything you need to know about the origin of this tragedy for America. It took frankly an evil Administration (using children for their political gain) to bring us to this place ten years later.
Editors note: First, to those readers who have sent me your State Department testimony, I promise to get more posted, but between life on the farm and the pressing issue involving the illegal alien “children,” I am swamped!
I’m also annoyed at the mainstream media that seems incapable of digging more deeply into the invasion crisis on the border and acting like the “children” just showed up one day. This is an organized invasion that I firmly believe is driven directly from a treasonous White House.
And, whether they actually helped spread the word to Central Americans to get here NOW or not, the federal refugee contractorswill soon be rolling in dough (your dough) to care for the invaders. (See my earlier post this morning, criminals or refugees?).
Last June I attended a meeting in Lancaster PA where ORR officials announced there would be a dramatic increase in “unaccompanied children” this year—how did they know that a year ago?
Update June 16th: Questions arise about whether the alien kids are being treated better than American kids in foster care, here.
This (below) is directly from the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement description of the “Unaccompanied Alien Children” program. Incidentally it used to be referred to as “Unaccompanied minors” but the word “children” probably sounded more warm and fuzzy to them and was added at some point!
The “children” are mostly boys older than 14 years old!
This is where your $2 billion will go (if passed by Congress):
Following the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) mission, which is founded on the belief that new arriving populations have inherent capabilities when given opportunities, ORR/ Division of Children Services/Unaccompanied Alien Children program provides unaccompanied alien children (UAC) with a safe and appropriate environment as well as client-focused highest quality of care to maximize the UAC’s opportunities for success both while in care, and upon discharge from the program to sponsors in the U.S. or return to home country, to assist them in becoming integrated members of our global society.
Overview:
On March 1, 2003, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Section 462, transferred responsibilities for the care and placement of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) from the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Since then, ORR has cared for more than 92,000 UAC, incorporating child welfare values as well as the principles and provisions established by the Flores Agreement in 1997, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its reauthorization acts, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005 and 2008.
Unaccompanied alien children (UAC) apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immigration officials, are transferred to the care and custody of ORR. ORR makes and implements placement decisions in the best interests of the UAC to ensure placement in the least restrictive setting possible while in federal custody. ORR takes into consideration the unique nature of each UAC’s situation and incorporates child welfare principles when making placement, clinical, case management, and release decisions that are in the best interest of the child. View the infographic about the UAC process.
Facts about UAC
The dramatic increase came when Obama gave amnesty to the “Dreamers” in 2012.
Their youth, their separation from a protective environment or person, and the hazardous journey they embark make UAC especially vulnerable to becoming victims of human trafficking, exploitation, and abuse. UAC have multiple, inter-related reasons for undertaking the difficult journey of traveling to the United States. UAC leave their home countries to rejoin family already in the United States, to escape abusive family relationships in their home country, or to find work to support their families in the home country.
General Statistics about UAC
*An unaccompanied alien child is a child who has no lawful immigration status in the United States; has not attained 18 years of age; and, with respect to whom, there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States, or no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care and physical custody.
See 6 U.S.C. § 279(g)(2)
Reasons why these minors have come to the United States include, but are not limited to, the following:
*To escape violence, abuse or persecution in their home countries
*To find family members already residing in the United States
*To seek work to support themselves; their family, or their own children
*Were brought into the United States by human trafficking rings
The majority of UAC are cared for through a network of state licensed ORR-funded care providers, most of which are located close to areas where immigration officials apprehend large numbers of aliens. These care provider facilities are state licensed and must meet ORR requirements to ensure a high level of quality of care. They provide a continuum of care for children, including foster care, group homes, shelter, staff secure, secure, and residential treatment centers. The care providers operate under cooperative agreements and contracts, and provide children with classroom education, health care, socialization/recreation, vocational training, mental health services, family reunification, access to legal services, and case management.
Addendum: if you think this is a problem for the border states only, wait for it! HHS is scouting your town now for suitable buildings in which to house the kids!
