TheRefugee Council USA (RCUSA)is a consortium of Open Borders groups and includes the nine federal refugee contractors that the US State Department hires to place refugees in your towns and cities.
RCUSA is reporting that we have almost reached the 30,000 refugee ceiling set by the President last year.
Right now as we near the first day of Fiscal Year 2020—October first—they have been busy lobbying whoever will listen to pressure the President into admitting 95,000 refugees in the coming year.
If you are interested in learning more about RCUSA, click herefor my huge archive (I’ve been writing about them for at least 10 years!). One fun fact is that Church World Service is the bank for managing their finances.
(I figure the federally funded ‘non-profits’ created RCUSA to keep their hands clean on the issue of lobbying!)
Earlier this month RCUSApublished an interactive map showing who is supporting more refugee resettlement including churches, politicians, interfaith groups and businesses.
Here is a screenshot but you will have to go to RCUSA to see the interactive function!
One of those businesses in Michigan is Western Michigan Beef (no surprise!).
Again, go to RCUSA to see the interactive map, expand it for your state and see who is telling the President to admit tens of thousands of additional refugees beginning in less than two weeks.
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.
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 postwhere 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!
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
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?
*** 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.
RCUSA=Refugee Council USA. That is the consortium of Leftwing Open Borders groups, led by the nine refugee contractors, headquartered in Washington DC.
It is not a surprise that they are ramping up their political agitation in August when Congress is in recess and as the September deadline approaches for the President to consult with Congress about his “Determination” for how many refugees could be ‘welcomed’ to America in FY19 which begins on October 1, 2018.
Here is a screenshot of a portion of thepage at their website giving their troops marching orders for August….
Their paying client numbers are very low right now and could hit an all-time low if this trend continues.
I started this post simply wanting to let readers know what the normal sequence is in a given year as the feds move toward the next fiscal year, but then I noticed the press release from the Refugee Council USA-–the lobbying arm of the refugee industry.
I wanted to get the jump on them as we approach the 6-month mark in the refugee admission year of FY18 by telling you what the time table for their action will be. (Fiscal years begin on October 1 and extend to September 30th, so April first marks the 6 month mark.) So, I’ll do that, then tell you about the press release. Ms. Giovagnoli is now the director of the Refugee Council USA the lobbying arm of the refugee industry and on the left is Eleanor Acer of Human Rights First at an earlier event.
And, I said here yesterday, admission numbers are way below where they would normally be at this time of year (that isn’t to say they won’t rebound in the second half of the year because some of that depends on how much cash Congress put in the recent gigantic omnibus). Abstract prep
At about this time in a normal year, the subcontractors are busy as beavers in hundreds of US towns and cities putting together their ‘Abstracts’in secrecy. That is the plan for your community with how many refugees your local agency desires. Scoping meeting sham
In a normal year the US State Department holds a scoping meeting in about May to basically see how many refugees the contractors want in the upcoming year and where they might come from. (The State Dept. did not hold such a meeting last year that we know of, and I’m betting the newbies in there don’t even know about it.) Ostensibly the scoping meeting is to gauge your views too, but in a number of years where we participated and many of you, my readers, sent in comments, it was pretty clear that the State Department did not want to hear about objections to the program. If anyone is interested in what we said, there are dozens and dozens of posts filed here about what happened in 2012-2016 with those “scoping meetings.” (See category drop-down for State Department Testimony.) It would be nice (and fair!) if the State Department reinstated scoping meetings and made them available to all Americans. Heck, it would be great if they went on the road and held hearings! Presidential determination for coming year
The Abstract prep and the scoping meetings were (are) lead-ups to August when the President’s people supposedly meet with Congressional committees in the House and Senate to discuss the coming year. There are supposed to be Congressional hearings (before the submission of the ceiling) at this point, but that never happens.
The President then sends a ‘determination’ letter (and report) to Congress for the new fiscal year which begins October 1. The President decides what the CEILING will be for the coming fiscal year—how many refugees and from where. This is a CEILING, A CAP, and is not a goal although the contractors want it to be a goal or target.
I told you yesterdayabout the myriad stories in the media about “plummeting” numbers.
And, also yesterday, the lobbying arm of the refugee industry—Refugee Council USAsent out a press releaseto whack the Trump Administration and beg for this year’s 45,000.
Right now, for new readers, the CEILING is 45,000, but at the present rate of entry we will get no where near that (thus the press blast yesterday from RCUSA).
Washington, D.C. – Midway through Fiscal Year 2018, the Trump administration has admitted only a quarter of the 45,000 refugees it pledged to take in, making it highly unlikely that the United States will meets its anticipated admissions goal. Instead, the administration appears to be on track to admit roughly 22,000 refugees, far below any admissions number since the modern refugee program began in 1980. Today, Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) gathered experts to discuss the immediate and long-term implications of this failure.
More here. Mary, Eleanor and others participated. Mike Pompeo at the State Department is still a wildcard! Get ready for the big FY19 push to start at any time
Although they are still in panic-mode and pushing for the 45,000, this is about the time of year the yammering begins for next year’s numbers. The contractors shoot really high.
Watch them ask for 100,000 or more (to make up for lost time and lost revenue for them).
Last year, because of Trump’s campaign promises they were pushing for a paltry 75,000. What will it be this year? We will be watching! The Refugee Council USA has an Activist Toolkit that you might benefit from seeing. Click here. It might give you some ideas!
I sure hope that none of this is being paid for with our tax dollars! Congress are you paying attention?
And lastly, I got a chuckle seeing this sample letter (from the toolkit) that refugees are encouraged to send to newspapers:
We reported here on January 1 that the Trump refugee numbers, at the present rate of arrival, would come in at half of the CEILING of 45,000 set for FY18.
By the way, George Bush had two years that saw refugee admissions in the 20,000 range.
Trump will set a record if he comes in below George W. Bush’s two lowest yearsof 27,070 (2002) and 28,117 (2003).
(Yesterday, Michael Leahy atBreitbartposted a more detailed look at the numbers so far.) Hans Van de Weerd of the two hats (IRC and RCUSA) is the go-to-guy for media comments these days. As you know RCUSA is the lobbying arm of the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program. My question: is Hans still a Dutch citizen? Bio here: http://www.phocuswrightconference.com/Whos-Coming/Speakers/2016/Hans-Van-de-Weerd Here Reuters reportson the retirement of Barbara Strack (hat tip: Joanne):
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One of the top U.S. government officials working on refugee issues announced her impending retirement on Tuesday, and refugee advocates expressed concern about the fate of the country’s resettlement program which faces mounting pressure from the Trump administration.
Barbara Strack, a career official and chief of the Refugee Affairs Division at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, did not specify when she will leave her post, but USCIS spokesman R. Carter Langston said it would be in January.
[….]
“It’s something I’ve been planning towards for a long time, and it’s not driven by policy considerations,” Strack said. “I will deeply miss the colleagues and friendships that I‘m leaving behind, and the important mission of refugee resettlement. It’s been a privilege to be part of this community for the last 12 years, working to make the U.S. refugee resettlement program robust and secure.”
Advocates expressed concern at the timing of Strack’s retirement, saying it could further hamper U.S. refugee admissions. It was unclear immediately who would replace her.
[….]
The Refugee Affairs Division, which Strack oversees, includes dozens of officers charged with interviewing refugees abroad for resettlement in the United States.
[….]
Advocates for resettlement and some U.S. officials have expressed alarm at what they see as a slowdown in trips abroad known as circuit rides, in which USCIS officers interview refugees.
“The number of circuit rides has gone down drastically with currently only a few planned,” said Hans Van de Weerd, chair of Refugee Council USA***, a coalition of non-governmental groups working on refugee issues. “Many more will need to be scheduled soon to resettle 45,000 refugees and we don’t have any information about whether they will.”
More from Reuters here.
*** See myrecent post on RCUSAthe lobbying shop for the nine federal contractors which receive the vast majority of their funding from the US taxpayer. With the reduction in paying clients (aka refugees) entering the US, their budgets are taking huge hits. Go hereand see IRC salaries, spokesman Hans does not make the top tier.
