Washington revolving door! Eskinder Negash (left) Director of ORR pictured with Lavinia Limon (second from right), Clinton Director of ORR and Negash’s former boss at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a private federal resettlement contractor. Photo: http://www.kontrolmag.com/wyclef-plays-wtongue-to-raise-awareness-about-refugees-immigrants/dsc8260-xl-2/
I don’t know when they published it, but it now appears that the Office of Refugee Resettlement is trying to catch up on those legally required annual reports.
At one point, ORR was behind for three years making the reports virtually useless for anyone examining the program (if only Congress would examine this program!).
By law, the reports to Congress are to be filed by the end of January of the following fiscal year. So, that would mean that the report for FY 2013 should have already been made available by having been filed in January or February of this year. (See our post about the fact that the reports were always on time until the Clinton years when Lavinia Limon was in charge of ORR,here).
Last night when I wanted to check out how many Somalis we have admitted in recent years, I came across the Annual Report for 2012 submitted by ORR Director, Eskinder Negash. We had mentioned the availability of FY2011, here in March.
I don’t know the exact publication dates of any of the reports after the Limon years because they are not dated as far as I can tell. By not publishing a date, no one knows exactly when it went to Congress.
These reports are a treasure-trove of information, and by the way, for all of you doing research on the ‘Unaccompanied Alien Children’ problem, there is a lot in there. In fiscal year 2012, the ORR was already panicking over the huge jump in illegal alien children coming under their care.
One of the first things I check is welfare usage by refugees (page 106) and get this —it is definitely up. Food stamp usage has gone from 49% of refugees using food stamps in 2007 to 73% for 2012. The refugee group using food stamps at the highest rate (89%) were Middle Easterners.
So, check it out! There are hours of reading fun for you this Labor Day weekend!
When a child who is not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian is apprehended by immigration authorities, the child is transferred to the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Federal law requires that ORR feed, shelter, and provide medical care for unaccompanied children until it is able to release them to safe settings with sponsors (usually family members), while they await immigration proceedings. These sponsors live in many states.
Sponsors are adults who are suitable to provide for the child’s physical and mental well-being and have not engaged in any activity that would indicate a potential risk to the child. All sponsors must pass a background check. The sponsor must agree to ensure the child’s presence at all future immigration proceedings. They also must agree to ensure the minor reports to ICE for removal from the United States if an immigration judge issues a removal order or voluntary departure order.
They say they have placed 37,477 from January 1-July 31, 2014. Any counties that received more than 50 “children” is listed (click hereto see if your county will face school system overload). It is too bad they didn’t list all counties because yours might have received 48 or 49, a number which could still cause a significant impact on a county school budget.
No word about how many children were placed in group-home settings run by resettlement contractors. But, as we learned just a few days ago, it sure looks like the numbers of children in need may have been fabricated.
The top ten states (with illegal alien children numbering over 1,000). Interesting because it seems to mirror what we already know about immigrant-overloaded states. The only big surprise for me was Louisiana. Click herefor all of the states.
Texas 5,280
New York 4,244
California 3,909
Florida 3,809
Virginia 2,856
Maryland 2,804
New Jersey 1,877
North Carolina 1,429
Georgia 1,412
Louisiana 1,275
You gotta laugh! Vermont, which was begging for some of the Central American teens, got a whole three (3) of them!
All of our posts on ‘unaccompanied minors’ are here.
On Sunday, we reported that the town of Dover, New Hampshire and a couple of other towns in the area were being targeted for a new resettlement site for impoverished third-worlders presumably because nearby Manchester is overloaded and has become a “pocket of resistance.”
Now here comes news (that frankly doesn’t surprise me) because the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in HHS) and their contractors usually operate with greater secrecy and public meetings to answer questions and assess the mood of citizens in a target town are rare.
We have maintained since we first began writing this blog in 2007 that citizens of a community tapped for a new resettlement site are entitled to be informed through public meetings and discussions with elected officials of all the details involved with “welcoming” a large number of impoverished people to their community. The federal government doesn’t operate in the sunshine (as has become painfully obvious to most Americans following the border surge).
DOVER — A state group that helps facilitate the resettlement of international refugees has canceled a meeting with the City Council.
Representatives of the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success, based in Manchester, were scheduled to meet with the City Council on Aug. 13.
In a letter addressed to City officials, including City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. and Mayor Karen Weston, the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success said it is premature to discuss resettlement in Dover and the Tri-City region.
Emma Tobin, Associate Director ORIS http://www.linkedin.com/pub/emma-tobin/31/20a/35b
“I would like to assure you that ORIS has no intention of moving forward with refugee resettlement in the tri-city area unless we have significant support from the communities,” wrote Emma Tobin, associate director for the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success. “Further, our initial meeting with you was meant to be the beginning of a very slow process; refugee resettlement in the tri-city area was never meant to happen overnight, or in a vacuum.”
ORIS is one of several agencies that help identify communities suited for refugee resettlement under the U.S. State Department’s Reception and Placement program. The program provides assistance for refugees to settle in the United States, including assistance with living expenses during a refugee’s first few months in the community. The Reception and Placement program is limited to the first three months after arrival; however, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement works with states and other nongovernmental organizations to provide longer-term cash and medical assistance, as well as language, employment, and social services.
ORIS indicated it would consider meeting with Dover officials and the community in the future.
Don’t hold your breath!
This does not mean that the towns have dodged a bullet. What the contractor and its federal handlers will likely do is bring more refugees into Manchester and then quietly, without public discussion, move them in 3-6 months to surrounding towns. They will tell critics—this is America and people can move to wherever they want and there isn’t anything you can do about it!
One fundamental fact about how the US Refugee Resettlement Program is structured that people need to understand is this—-contractors are paid by the head to resettle refugees, then they get all sorts of other federal grants to “support” them—like teach them English, grow gardens, and how to have healthy marriages (not kidding!)—so THERE IS NO INCENTIVE TO STOP THE FLOW ONCE IT STARTS (the “non-profit” organization has salaries and overhead bills to pay)!
One last thing! On their grants to teach English: If this is an important federal government goal, then there is no reason I can see why the feds couldn’t give grants directly to local community colleges for special ESL classes for immigrants. Why does a quasi-government ‘non-profit’ group need to set up entire new programs for teaching English? I would really like someone in the refugee placement industry to tell me why local colleges couldn’t do those English classes.
Obama brings the Sanctuary Movement to full flower!
Thanks to reader Susan for sending us this list of how many of the illegal alien children have already been placed in your state in 2014 alone!
Former Catholic nun Darlene Nicgorski seeing her ‘work’ continued by Barack Obama. http://blogs.libraries.claremont.edu/sc/2012/07/darlene-nicgorski-papers.html
Once the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) receives a child from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we have the responsibility to continuously seek placement options in the child’s best interest. This typically involves releasing children to sponsors. Sponsors are adults who can suitably provide for the child’s physical and mental well-being and have not engaged in any activity that would indicate a potential risk to the child.
We try to place the child with a parent, and if that is not possible, with a relative, and if that is not possible, with a family friend.
Here (below) are the top ten states where the “children” have been sent to join “sponsors.” These are not the “children” being housed in bulk in various places around the US. Those were identified here.
Are your school districts ready?
Darlene Nicgorski’s legacy—the Sanctuary Movement is alive and well (legal and paid for by you!).
I suspect these numbers reflect the population of Central Americans in certain states. For example, Maryland has a huge number of Salvadorans (and other Central Americans) who got here through the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980’s. Additionally, Maryland has the well-established illegal alien advocacy and support group—Casa de Maryland—which grew out of the Sanctuary Movement*** and is now getting government grants to help support the illegals (including the “children”) arriving in the state.
Texas: 4,280
New York: 3,347
Florida: 3,181
California: 3,150
Virginia: 2,234
Maryland: 2,205
New Jersey: 1,504
North Carolina: 1,191
Georgia: 1,154
Louisiana: 1,071
*** I encourage you to read one of several posts (and follow links) at RRW about the roots of the Central American invasion of the US that the Left calls the Sanctuary Movement. Chicago Catholics (Saul Alinsky got his start among them) were at the heart of the movement and today Obama is finishing their work— work that began when he was a pothead college student, not interested in much other than getting high.
Remember! The Left (Progressives, Socialists, Communists) never rest….
Here is one paragraph from my August 2011 post.
The good Catholic nun and her friends took it upon themselves to break the law and get them across the border. I would recommend that readers with an interest in this topic read, ‘God and Caesar at the Rio Grande’ by Hillary Cunningham for more on the Religious Left and Liberation theology and how they justified breaking the law and planting the seeds of unrest we have in many American cities with the huge illegal alien population today.
Our now very extensive archive on the ‘unaccompanied minors’ invasion is here.
Editor: Every day since we posted the first action alert from Tennessee citizen activistswho want to make sure the ‘unaccompanied minors’ now surging across the Texas border don’t end up in Tennessee, it has been our Top Post every day (see right hand sidebar for Top Posts).
This is a follow-up alert for Tennesseans which readers in other states might use as a model. Tell your elected officials wherever you live—no illegal alien drops in your state!
And, tell them to suspend all other refugee resettlement in FY2014 and FY2015 until the border crisis is resolved.
2nd ALERT Re: Border Surge and Tennessee – New Information
Refugee resettlement contractors say don’t give their money to the children. They want the money for their businesses! These contractors are paid to bring refugees to Tennessee.
This year Congress increased funding for refugee resettlement contractor business to $1.489 billion, an increase from last year’s $1.12 billion but still short the additional $1.6 billion that refugee contractors demanded.
Federal refugee contractors like the TN Office for Refugees (TOR) operating in Tennessee, are complaining that the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) may use some of the contractors’ money to help the children crossing the border. TOR says that if their money is reduced they won’t be able to help the refugees they have brought to Tennessee. To date, there has been no suggestion by TOR that they would reduce the number of people they plan to bring to the State.
The federal contractors have been directed by their leadership to lobby Congress for more money, which in part is why Pres. Obama’s original request of $2 billion in emergency spending for the border is now $3.7 billion. If Congress approves this request, the illegals will get to stay andTOR will get all its money. Why shouldn’t the contractors get to save their cake and eat it too?
A high percentage of minors are trying to reunite with family members living in the U.S. who may not be here legally. In 2013, President Obama directed immigration agents to try not to deport illegal immigrant parents in the U.S. who have minor children. The refugee contractors are paid to unite the minors with anyone claiming kinship regardless of whether that person is in the country legally.
Once these minors are released, they must attend public school. In Tennessee, K-12 education and all services including breakfast and lunch programs, must be provided. Under certain circumstances, TennCare must pay for their emergency medical care. Will Tennessee schools also have to ban the American flag to avoid offending non-citizens?
Eventually, the illegal minors are supposed to appear for an immigration hearing. Of the $3.7 billion Obama has requested, approximately $15 million would pay lawyers to represent the minors at their hearings. The ACLU has already sued to make sure the minors have lawyers, citing a report that says that immigrants with lawyers are five times more likely to win their cases than those who represent themselves.
On July 12th, Rep. Marsha Blackburn visited the Ft. Sill relocation facility in Oklahoma where approximately 1,100 illegal minors are housed. Is she considering a recommendation for TN?
Pals yuk it up on Inauguration Day 2013: Harry Reid, Lamar Alexander, Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama. http://abcnews.go.com/meta/search/imageDetail?format=plain&source=http://abcnews.go.com/images/US/ap_inauguration_ip_002_130121
Tennessee’s political establishment including Gov. Haslam, Lt. Gov Ron Ramsey and Speaker Beth Harwell and Tennessee’s Republicans in D.C. except Rep. DeJarlais, signed on as co-chairs of Lamar Alexander’s reelection campaign.
They agreed to help Lamar after he voted for amnesty.
Contact the D.C. politicians and tell them that if they plan to help the minors, then:
• TOR and other federal contractors must accept a reduction in federal money and suspend further FY2014 resettlement in Tennessee.
• Federal contractors must suspend all other FY2015 refugee resettlement until the border surge issues are resolved. Every year the U.S. resettles approximately 140,000 refugees and asylees; estimates of border crossers will well exceed these totals.
Sen. Bob Corker – 202-224-3344, http://www.corker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme
Sen. Lamar Alexander – (202) 224-4944, http://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Email
Rep. Phil Roe – (202) 225-6356, http://roe.house.gov/contact/
Contact Gov. Haslam, Lt. Gov. Ramsey and Speaker Harwell and tell them that any plan to assist the federal government with the border surge must be approved in a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly:
Gov. Bill Haslam – (615) 741-2001, bill.haslam@tn.gov
