Refugee Industry Holds Three Day Lobbying Campaign, Wants 95,000 Refugees for FY2021

09/04/202009/09/2020 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) just completed a three-day grassroots lobbying campaign to pressure members of Congress into supporting a refugee admissions ceiling of 95,000 refugees*** who would begin arriving in the US in a few short weeks—the 2021 fiscal year begins October 1.

Of course it isn’t Congress that makes that decision it is the Executive branch as stated by law in the Refugee Act of 1980. Their campaign, that ran from Tuesday through Thursday this week, was designed for several reasons.

They want Senators and members of Congress to pressure the administration, they want the media to pay attention to an issue that has almost completely disappeared from the news, and they want to give their groupies and grassroots around the country something to do on an issue that they think makes the President look bad before November.

You can see their “toolkit” (they love toolkits) complete with talking points and contact information for representatives in Washington.

Here is their sample script because I guess they assume their people aren’t smart enough to figure out what to say:

Sample Script: “I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and I urge you to hold the administration accountable to resettling refugees. The administration is required by law to consult with Congress by September 30th before deciding the refugee admissions goal for Fiscal Year 2021. In the last three years, the administration has cut refugee resettlement by more than 80%, from the historic average goal of 95,000 to just 18,000 – an all-time low. Our country can – and should – safely resettle more refugees and reunite more families. Refugees have contributed greatly to America in ordinary times, and have continued to show up for their new communities during the COVID-19 crisis, with many on the frontlines, including 176,000 serving as healthcare workers and 175,000 working in the food supply chain. Please do everything in your power to see that the administration meaningfully consults with Congress and builds back refugee admissions to the historic norm of 95,000. My community welcomes refugees, and I urge you to reflect the best of our nation by supporting refugee resettlement.”

In addition to contacting one’s own rep, they want their folks to contact the following members and Senators:

Sen. Graham (R-SC), Chair, Senate Judiciary Committee: 202-224-5972 / @LindseyGrahamSC
Sen. Cornyn (R-TX), Chair, Senate Immigration Subcommittee: 202-224-2934 / @JohnCornyn
Sen. Feinstein (D-CA), Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee: 202-224-3841 / @SenFeinstein
Senator Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member, Senate Immigration Subcommittee: 202-224-2152 / @SenatorDurbin
Rep. Nadler (NY-10), Chair, House Judiciary Committee: 202-225-5635 / @RepJerryNadler
Rep. Lofgren (CA-19), Chair, House Immigration Subcommittee: 202-225-3072 / @RepZoeLofgren
Rep. Jordan (OH-04), Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee: (202) 225-2676 / @Jim_Jordan
Rep. Buck (CO-04), Ranking Member, House Immigration Subcommittee: 202-225-4676 / @RepKenBuck

Read it all here.

And, see my extensive file on the Refugee Council USA, the Washington DC lobbying arm of the refugee industry. Hmmmm! At one point Islamic Relief USA had been removed from their membership roster, but I see it is back.

Don’t miss my post from Wednesday about the campaign to get local elected officials on board to support huge numbers of refugees for your towns and cities.

***Joe Biden says he is going to go big and change whatever Trump proposes to 125,000 for FY2021 if he is elected President. Truth be told, there isn’t enough capacity within the contractor industry to support that number, heck they can’t adequately resettle 95,000 now either.

DC Open Borders Group Explains What is in COVID-19 Recovery Stimulus for Refugees/Immigrants

04/04/2020 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor: I’m not planning on posting anything today because I must try to answer some of your many e-mails and comments.

However, I just came across this information from the Refugee Council USA (the lobbying arm of the refugee industry) that explains in great detail (and with links) how trillions will be distributed and how immigrants and refugees can get their piece of the pie.

See it here.

See my extensive archive on RCUSA by clicking here.

Trump has not yet signed refugee determination, therefore zero refugees being admitted to the US right now

10/04/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“Whatever that number is, it will absolutely be driven principally by the capacity of my agency and the law enforcement, security, and vetting practices.”

(Francis Cissna, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS))

Granted we are only 4 days into the month of October so things could change tomorrow or the next day, but so far zero refugees have been placed since the new fiscal year began on Monday (October 1).

Here we hear from Voice of America and a distressed resettlement lobbyist about the disappointment in the refugee industry.

Trump Administration Misses Refugee Admissions Deadline

The Trump administration has missed the end-of-fiscal-year deadline to set the maximum number of refugees that will be allowed in the United States in the next 12 months.

Mary Giovagnoli1 — An “extraordinarily disappointed” Mary Giovagnoli of the Refugee Council USA, the lobbying arm for the refugee contractors.

“Consultations and the subsequent Presidential Determination (PD) normally take place by Oct. 1. However, on some occasions, the consultations and subsequent PD have been completed later,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement to VOA. “We do not expect this will have any operational impact on the Refugee Admissions Program.”

The agency declined a request from VOA to provide a timeline for the consultations.

[….]

Last month, the administration proposed a record-low refugee ceiling for the 2019 fiscal year of 30,000 refugees. By law, Congress must be consulted about the cap before a final number can be issued.

“We are extraordinarily disappointed that the administration has failed to honor the spirit and the letter of the law when it comes to consultations,” said Mary Giovagnoli. executive director of Refugee Council USA. “For two years in a row now, the administration has just failed to take it seriously.”

President Donald Trump has dramatically cut refugee arrivals to the United States since taking office.

[….]

Francis Cissna, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said at a conference Monday that new vetting measures have increased processing times for refugee admissions.

He added that the suggested ceiling of 30,000 for FY2019 takes into account the “operational realities” of those measures for “national security and public safety.”

“The number is not final yet. The president has not signed the proclamation. Whatever that number is, it will absolutely be driven principally by the capacity of my agency and the law enforcement, security, and vetting practices,” Cissna said.

More here.

Click here for my complete file on RCUSA (Refugee Council USA).

Lobbying arm of the refugee industry puts out statement, says they will work toward their 75,000 refugees despite Prez

09/18/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have no idea what they are talking about in the final paragraph of a statement put out yesterday by the Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) in response to the Secretary of State’s announcement that the CEILING (the top number that could be admitted to the US) will be 30,000 in FY19. See my post yesterday, here.

Update: I think I know why they are so cocky below, read my latest here.

rcusa with caption

Over the years we have written extensively about RCUSA, a consortium set up under the auspices of Church World Service, of the federal refugee contractors and other assorted ‘human rights’ groups to promote refugee admissions, organize demonstrations against this President, and to lobby Congress since technically the contractors are not permitted to use their federal dollars to lobby (see ORR letter below).

See my RCUSA file here, note that they joined CAIR to protest President Trump here.

And, don’t miss this post where I reported that RCUSA had hired the now disgraced and disbanded Podesta Group to lobby key Senators for more refugees.

I want to know if any of the over $100,000 that went to Tony Podesta and his pals was taxpayer money!

Here is RCUSA’s opening volley directed at the White House yesterday:

Today, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Administration’s intention to set the refugee admissions level for Fiscal Year 2019 at 30,000, the lowest number ever in the history of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Refugee Council USA, a coalition of resettlement agencies and other organizations that promote robust protections for refugees, asylees, and other vulnerable people in need of humanitarian assistance, is deeply disappointed in this retrenchment of U.S. leadership and deeply concerned about the impact of this decision on vulnerable refugees needing resettlement.

Mary Giovagnoli, RCUSA Executive Director, noted: “As a generous and compassionate country, the United States has a long, proud tradition of welcoming refugees. With today’s announcement, the United States is turning its back on thousands of vulnerable refugee families in harm’s way and abandoning its historic global leadership role in refugee protection and resettlement. The reduction in refugee admissions for Fiscal Year 2019 is part of a systematic effort by the Trump administration to tear down humanitarian programs long afforded bipartisan support that local communities built over decades. The deliberate step-by-painful-step decimation of the resettlement program not only harms vulnerable refugee families and the communities that are ready to welcome them, but also strains the resources and threatens the stability of smaller, poorer refugee host countries left to fill the void created by the withdrawal of U.S. leadership.

But hope is not lost.

We still have the desire, capacity, and resources to welcome at least 75,000 refugees to the United States in the coming year. And we will spend every waking moment looking for ways to do just that as part of restoring the strong American tradition of welcoming refugees.

So what does that mean? Sounds downright menacing!

Are they going to hire more expensive lobbyists to try to get Congress to reverse the President? Under the Refugee Act of 1980, the President has all the power to set the cap for the coming year and they know that.

Lobbying not permitted!

Just about this time last year, the new Director of ORR reminded contractors that they could not use taxpayer money for lobbying at any level of government. But, RCUSA helps them get around lobbying restrictions as the contractors donate money to RCUSA.

Does anyone ever check to see if it is our taxpayer dollars going to RCUSA?

Here is the reminder letter to the nine contractors*** and their subcontractors:

ORR lobbying reminder

*** The nine major contractors (VOLAGS), all members of RCUSA, that monopolize the US Refugee Admissions Program are these:

Church World Service (CWS)
Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) (secular)
Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) (DFMS is its other name)
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
International Rescue Committee (IRC) (secular)
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)
US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) (secular)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
World Relief Corporation (WR)

And, the word is that a continued steep decline in the number of paying clients (aka refugees) entering the US will cause one or more of the contractors to go belly-up. You can bet the surviving contractors won’t be complaining since the nine are in constant competition with each other for more bodies to place in your towns and cities. A few less contractors won’t cause the remaining larger ones to lose sleep!

See Jim Simpson’s fantastic accounting of the billions the contractors have received from the US Treasury in the last ten years, here.

#Welcome75K refugees campaign off to a slow start

08/21/2018 ~ 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!