Late in September the word went outthat for the new fiscal year (2020) which began on October first, the CEILING on refugee admissions for the year would be 18,000 (not the zero I wanted!), and that arrivals would be delayed for three weeks.
The three weeks end on Monday, the 21st, but now comes word that more refugee flights have been cancelled and the new arrivals are expected to begin trickling in after the 28th of the month.
We also learn that the President has yet to sign-off on the 18,000!
Needless to say the refugee contractors*** are not happy.
Here is CNN where we learn a little bit more about the closed door meeting on the Hill this past Tuesday between Sec. of State Pompeo and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
More refugee flights to the US are being canceled
Flights for refugees who have been approved to come to the United States continue to be canceled, in some cases for the second time, CNN has learned.
Last month, CNN reported that travel for refugees who were told they could come to the US was postponed, due to a moratorium on travel that extended through October 21, raising concerns among refugee resettlement agencies.
The moratorium will now run until October 28, with arrivals expected to resume on October 29, according to a State Department spokesperson.
Senator Lindsey Graham appealed to Pompeo to bring in the already approved refugees—what thousands? Graham has been a long-time proponent of the refugee program.
[….]
The Trump administration has proposed capping the number of refugees allowed into the US at 18,000, a historic low. In a meeting this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the US admit refugees who are travel ready, in addition to the 18,000, according to a congressional aide who attended the meeting.
Graham appeared concerned about the situation in Syria, the aide said.
The proposed 18,000 refugee cap, coupled with the situation in Syria and postponed travel has fueled concerns.
“There were cases that were re-booked in September for October 8 and then re-booked for October 22 and now trying to rebook for October 29. You’re basically inserting about a month and a half of when someone was expected to travel and when they are,” said Jen Smyers, director of policy and advocacy for the immigration and refugee program at Church World Service, one of the nine resettlement agencies.
More than 200 refugees were expected to travel to the US next week, according to a source familiar. Their flights have been canceled.
[….]
“We will work with our implementing partners to plan for a resumption of refugee arrivals on or after October 29,” a State Department spokesperson said, adding: “This will include rescheduling travel for those affected by the extension of the refugee arrivals pause. By law, no refugees may be admitted this fiscal year until the President determines the number that may be admitted. When the Presidential Determination is issued, we will begin admitting refugees in accordance with its provisions.”
The President has not yet signed off on the 18,000!
The canceling and re-booking of refugee flights suggests that there may be a delay in the President signing off on the 18,000-person refugee cap.
See my post from Thursday about the Hill meeting with Pompeo, here.
It is not too late! You can still weigh in bycontacting the White House. You can be sure that thousands of open borders activists are pressuring the White House any way they can.
***For new readers these are the nine federal refugee contractors that not only place refugees in towns across the country, but lobby Congress and organize publicity against this President all while sucking down millions of your tax dollars! Cut them loose from the federal teat!
It is not unprecedented to reduce refugee numbers dramatically, we did it following 9/11! By Inauguration Day 2017 we will already be at 35,000 for the fiscal year!
Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated on the 20th of January as our 45th President. Many of you worked very hard to make it happen. He said he will stop the flow of Syrian (majority Muslim) refugees to your towns and cities and at minimum we expect him to do that!
But, reducing the numbers is not enough, he must demand the repeal of the Refugee Act of 1980. The system as constructed is rotten to the core and I no longer believe it can be reformed.
This isn’t just an ideological battle between ‘do-gooders’ on the Left and ‘haters’ in the conservative grassroots, but a third player is the Chamber of Commerce which will fight tooth and nail to buck Trump. They want the cheap immigrant labor! Tom Donohue, friend of Paul Ryan, here: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/12/chris-wallace-establishment-business-groups-ready-to-primary-conservatives-if-they-dont-play-ball-with-paul-ryan/
A simple reduction in numbers, that has been suggested by somein the immigration control movement, is not adequate. If it is deemed in the national interest to resettle third worlders in America going forward, an entirely new program must be constructed by Congress.
In my view, there are three issues that must be addressed in a White House and Congressional review and they are: 1) National security concerns, 2) the VOLAG system where non-profits are paid by the head (out of the US Treasury) to resettle refugees chosen by the UN, 3) lack of transparency (the outrageous secrecy by VOLAGs and the feds involved in choosing target towns). There may be others I can’t think of at the moment.
So as we knew, and as a Newsweek article yesterday confirmed, on January 21st, Donald Trump can turn off the spigot of refugees flowing in to the US and tell Congress if they want a refugee program to get to work and come up with a new one!
He can hold the hammer over their heads by turning off the flow!
But! He will have to battle the major corporations and the US Chamber of Commerce looking for a plentiful supply of CHEAP LABOR.
As much as some want to frame it this way—as a battle between two major forces of Democrat Left wing open borders ‘humanitarian’ activists on one side and Republican Right wing believers in tightly controlled immigration on the other, there is a third player with enormous power—BIG business and US Chamber of Commerce lobbyists always on the hunt for CHEAP (some say captive, compliant) LABOR!
Trump will have to battle Republican Congressional leaders who follow the lead of their industry friends!
That (above) is my main point, for those who want to wade into the numbers weeds, here is what I’ve been looking at this morning.
What do the numbers look like now?
Using data provided by the Refugee Processing Center, we have admitted 12,272 refugees of all stripes between the beginning of the 2017 fiscal year (October 1, 2016) and election day (November, 8, 2016). This rate (319 a day) is higher than anything we have seen in the last ten years (see chart in this post).
If that rate continues until Inauguration Day on January 20th, 2017, then we will have admitted over 35,000 refugees in just over 3 1/2 months, more than we brought in 2002 and 2003. Obama wants 110,000 for the entire fiscal year (319 a day would bring the total over 110,000). However, it is not unprecedented to dramatically reduce numbers. See here that in the two years following 9/11 we admitted less than 30,000 refugees for each year 2002 and 2003!
So where would the greatest impact be if the spigot were closed on January 21st? On the contractors of course. They will have to close some offices, not open new ones, reduce staff and overhead, and gee maybe even reduce the excessively large salaries their CEOs are getting. Of course they will scream bloody murder and say how mean Trump is by leaving refugees in the pipeline.
By the way, if you like to do research, check USASpending.gov in the coming weeks and see if the federal agencies—US State Department and Health and Human Services—are pouring excessively large amounts of grant money into the coffers of thenine major contractorsbefore Obama leaves office.
More numbers….
When I checked the data this morning, I see that the following numbers have been admitted from Muslim sending countries (from October 1 to November 8):
Iraq (1,635)
Somalia (1,684)
Syria (1,602)
Smaller numbers come from places like Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Keep an eye on Burma because originally we resettled mostly Christian Burmese, but Burmese Muslim (Rohingya) numbers are ticking up (269 since Oct. 1). One final note: The UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program is only one program of many LEGAL immigration programs admitting large numbers of Muslims and others from the third world. I previously wrote about the Diversity Visa Lottery which admits another 50,000 migrants to America via a lottery system each year because we need more diversity (!). I hardly see it mentioned, so I need to start writing about it again because we have the best chance ever now to review and possibly throw out programs which are detrimental to American workers and our communities.
The Republicans previously have tried to stop the Diversity Visa lottery (some call it the Green Card lottery) and I don’t know why they have shut up about it.
Update October 1: You can fax your testimony using the address below and send it to 202-224-9102. Update: This post has been updated, both in the post and here. Please follow the new instructions and as I said in my update—saving America isn’t going to be easy so take the time and write a formal letter! Tell the US Senate what you think about the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program by next Wednesday, October 5th. Senator Jeff Sessions wants to hear what you think about the plans for over 100,000 refugees proposed by Obama for resettlement in the US in 2017 (which begins tomorrow!).
I know you are very angry, however, while being forceful, be polite. Remember you are writing to Senator Sessions who has been the shining light in the Senate for years on the issue of immigration and jobs.
If you didn’t see the hearing this past Wednesday, watch it here to get inspiration. See Leo Hohmann’s good summary of what happened here.
For those of you in overloaded and stressed towns, or in towns where secrecy has surrounded an existing or planned program, report on what is happening where you live.
If you don’t have refugees (yet), don’t hesitate to say what you think. This program requires billions of your tax dollars! It would be a good idea to copy your letter to Sessions to your own US Senators and to your Representative in Congress. Be sure to reference the hearing on the President’s FY2017 Refugee Admissions Program and ask them in your cover note to them where they stand on this program. ***Update***Please take the time to write letters, in a letter format, I’ve been notified by the committee staff that they can’t simply post a couple of lines of e-mails. They have also asked that I remove the e-mail address I had originally published. You know how important this issue is to you, so spend a little time writing a formal letter! Address letters (testimony) to:
The Honorable Jeff Sessions
Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest
US Senate
Washington, DC 20510
You probably will have to snail-mail your testimony unless I can find a way to send it electronically (will update here if I can). Ask that your testimony/letter be included in the hearing record.
Get it there by October 5th!
P.S. Then take advantage of the fact that you testified to the US Senate and use it as a media opportunity for your local newspaper/websites/facebook etc.
