It is my duty to report on this bill being championed by Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) and Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, but sorry I can’t get too excited about it. And, although he is apparently a co-sponsor, why isn’t Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (bff Open borders Marco) leading this effort? Hmmm…..
Here is the press release from the House Judiciary Committee announcing the mark-up of a bill that will likely go nowhere. I could be wrong, but at this late stage in the legislative calendar and with an election coming up in November, call me a cynic!
Does the Committee want to make sure that the earlier Babin bill (which would temporarily halt the program altogether) is squashed?
Are they trying to calm down citizens in their districts who are clamoring for governors (mostly Republican governors) to do something? In other words, is this a pat on your heads with a ‘don’t worry, go about your business, we will take care of you?’
And, let me ask you, do we really want this particular pro-donor class (big business establishment/Chamber of Commerce) Republican leadership making the determination about how many refugees are admitted anymore than say a Trump White House? Do you trust Rep. Paul Ryan and Senator Mitch (bring’em to Kentucky) McConnell to set levels?
By offering fig leaves, are they attempting to save the whole program which in my view (after 8 years of following this) needs to be completely trashed!
And, does this bill do anything to disrupt the flow of billions of taxpayer dollars to unaccountable ‘religious’ non-profits who really call the shots on who is resettled where in America? Someone correct me, does it do anything to give them all the heave-ho?
Again, sorry to sound so cynical. I am open to someone convincing me that this is going to do anything (other than attempt to quiet the angry masses).
Oops! There is one thing it does for sure. It causes the Open borders left and the Refugee Contractors (organized by their lobbying arm, Refugee Council USA) to go to their grassroots and fire them up once again, see here. I enjoy seeing them aggravated, but does stirring them up in this critical election year with a bill going nowhere really help us?
Go here to see the press release (thanks to all who sent it!).
That said, by all means though follow the lead of groups like NumbersUSA pushing for you to contact your members of Congress. You do want them to know that the issue is one that motivates and angers you!
Tag: refugee resettlement program
Congress must press Obama Administration on Syrian refugee admission proposal; hold hearings
Update: It appears the last time either Judiciary Committee held required hearings on the annual refugee consultation was in 1999 (here). If anyone can find a more recent hearing record, please send it. Why haven’t they been doing their jobs?
We’ve been aware for several years that the Administration each September must consult with the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on the President’s refugee resettlement plan for the upcoming year which must lay out how many refugees we will take, from where they will come, and why this is in our national interest.
(Last year’s Presidential Determination is here and an accompanying report can be found here.)
Reports I’ve received over the years are that the Committees responsible for “consulting” don’t change anything the President requests. I could be wrong, but at least in the 8 years I’ve followed the Refugee Admissions Program, the consultation and the required delivery of a lengthy report amounted to no more than State Department reps dropping off the report with committee staff. (I want to be corrected if there has been much more than that over the last decade!).
On Wednesday, Sec. of State John Kerry and Asst. Secretary of State Anne Richard made a trip to the Hill to meet with Senators Grassley and Sessions (others?) where they discussed the 10,000 (some reports say 5,000) Syrians for FY2016 proposal.
They are calling that meeting a “consultation.” Were Members of the House Judiciary Committee present as the law requires?
Opening the floodgates?
This is what the Office of Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley said after the meeting with Kerry. It appears that Kerry left the door open for a much larger number of Syrians than the 10,000 being mentioned by the Administration so far.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley made the following statement after a meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry and Anne Richard, Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration. The consultation regarding the number of refugees that the United States will admit into the country is required by law. In the event of an “emergency refugee situation” the administration may admit an additional number of refugees, but only after additional consultation with Congress.
“Secretary Kerry initially said that the Obama administration is seeking a reasonable increase in refugees allowed into the United States in the upcoming fiscal year. But when pressed, the administration indicated that they were considering opening the floodgates and using emergency authority to go above what they proposed to Congress in today’s consultation. The administration also has not ruled out potentially paroling thousands of Syrians into the United States.
Where is the hearing?
Below is a section of the Refugee Act of 1980 which lays out the process which should be happening right now regarding the “consultation” and subsequent final determination.
Calling any lawyers out there to help decipher it! But, as I see it, both House and Senate Judiciary Committees are required to hold hearings!
((It can be confusing because the text intermingles two processes. One is for the annual determination (where we are right now in mid-September) and the other is for an emergency situation that might come up during the year.))
This is the statute:
STATUTE-94-Pg102
Here are the sections I’ve selected for your consideration. I doubt most of this ever happens!
“SEC. 207. (a)(1) Except as provided in subsection Q)), the number of
refugees who may be admitted under this section in fiscal year 1980,
1981, or 1982, may not exceed fifty thousand unless the President
determines, before the beginning of the fiscal year and after appropriate
consultation (as defined in subsection (e)), that admission of a
specific number of refugees in excess of such number is justified by
humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.
“(2) Except as provided in subsection (b), the number of refugees
who may be admitted under this section in any fiscal year after fiscal
year 1982 shall be such number as the President determines, before
the beginning of the fiscal year and after appropriate consultation, is
justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national
interest.
“(3) Admissions under this subsection shall be allocated among
refugees of special humanitarian concern to the United States in
accordance with a determination made by the President after appropriate
consultation.
[….]
“(d)(1) Before the start of each fiscal year the President shall report
to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives
and of the Senate regarding the foreseeable number of refugees who
will be in need of resettlement during the fiscal year and the
anticipated allocation of refugee admissions during the fiscal year.
The President shall provide for periodic discussions between designated
representatives of the President and members of such committees
regarding changes in the worldwide refugee situation, the
progress of refugee admissions, and the possible need for adjustments
in the allocation of admissions among refugees.
“(2) As soon as possible after representatives of the President
initiate appropriate consultation with respect to the number of
refugee admissions under subsection (a) or with respect to the
admission of refugees in response to an emergency refugee situation
under subsection (b), the (Committees on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives and of the Senate shall cause to have printed in the
Congressional Record the substance of such consultation.
“(3)(A) After the President initiates appropriate consultation prior
to making a determination under subsection (a), a hearing to review
the proposed determination shall be held unless public disclosure of
the details of the proposal would jeopardize the lives or safety of individuals.
[….]
“(e) For purposes of this section, the term ‘appropriate consultation*
means, with respect to the admission of refugees and allocation
of refugee admissions, discussions in person by designated
Cabinet-level representatives of the President with members of the
Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and of the House of
Representatives to review the refugee situation or emergency refugee
situation, to project the extent of possible participation of the United
States therein, to discuss the reasons for believing that the proposed
admission of refugees is justified by humanitarian concerns or grave
humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest, and
to provide such members with the following information:
“(1) A description of the nature of the refugee situation.
“(2) A description of the number and allocation of the refugees
to be admitted and an analysis of conditions within the countries
from which they came.
“(3) A description of the proposed plans for their movement
and resettlement and the estimated cost of their movement and
resettlement.
“(4) An analysis of the anticipated social, economic, and
demographic impact of their admission to the United States.
“(5) A description of the extent to which other countries will
admit and assist in the resettlement of such refugees.
“(6) An analysis of the impact of the participation of the United
States in the resettlement of such refugees on the foreign policy
interests of the United States.
“(7) Such additional information as may be appropriate or
requested by such members.
To the extent possible, information described in this subsection shall
be provided at least two weeks in advance of discussions in person by
designated representatives of the President with such members.
Where is the report? Was it delivered two weeks ago?
What you can do!
Contact members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees (listed here) and tell them to hold PUBLIC hearings on the President’s plan!
It would be preferable to hold field hearings around the country in some of the largest resettlement locations in the country so that citizens who will be most affected by large numbers of Middle Eastern and African refugees could be heard. If those hearings hold up the official beginning of the resettlement year—October 1—so be it!
Note to Presidential candidates, this may be the most important issue America ever faces!
Who makes the decisions on refugee resettlement in America? UN is at the top of the pyramid
This is the third in a series of primers of sorts for the media on the present Refugee Admissions Program. The first two are here and here.
(I’m doing this series so that I don’t have to give lengthy explanations to reporters! Looking for a quote, below are the offices you should call!)
I wish I knew how to make one of the those flow chart things, but since I don’t, here is a list of who is responsible for which refugees are resettled in the US and ultimately where they are resettled.
At the top of the pyramid is the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The present UNHCR is Antonio Guterres the former Socialist President of Portugal.
Then next is the President of the United States who sends a determination letter to Congress each September which contains a ceiling for the number of refugees to be admitted in the upcoming fiscal year (fiscal years begin on October 1 of the preceding year, thus we are nearly 5 months into FY2015). The President also sets ceilings for various regions of the world.
The ceiling for FY2015 is now at 70,000.
Supposedly Congress can change what the President wants, but as far as I know no one on the House or Senate Judiciary Committees ever says boo! about any of it.
BTW, the determination letter is prepared in the US State Department after what amounts to phony hearings where they say they want public comment on the “size and scope” of the program for the upcoming fiscal year, but they really only listen to their contractors (see contractors below).
In the House of Representatives, the present chairmen of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security (of the House Judiciary Committee) is Rep. Trey Gowdy.
In the Senate, the present chairman of the Senate Immigration and the National Interest Subcommittee (of the Senate Judiciary Committee) is Senator Jeff Sessions.
Both the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees are involved too.
Under the President there are three cabinet level agencies intimately involved in Refugee Resettlement:
US State Department where the Asst. Secretary of State for Population Refugees and Migration is Anne C. Richard. Under Ms. Richard are Lawrence Bartlett (in charge of bringing refugees in) and Barbara Day (in charge of working with contractors to distribute them around the country).
The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for screening refugees. At the USCIS, Barbara Strack is the chief of the Refugee Affairs Division.
And, finally in the Department of Health and Human Services the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which basically acts as the distributor of money to refugees and contractors, the new director is Ken Tota.
I should mention that there are State Refugee Coordinators which have varying amounts of power depending on which type of Refugee program is being carried out by the contractors. Here is a directory of those contacts.
Then ostensibly under all those layers are the nine major resettlement contractors, but LOL! it is often said that they are in fact running the show! They call themselves VOLAGs (short for Voluntary Agencies but they are paid mostly from the US Treasury). There are 350 subcontractors under the nine biggies who are resettling refugees in your towns and cities.
The nine major contractors:
- Church World Service (CWS)
- Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC)
- Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM)
- Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
- International Rescue Committee (IRC)
- US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)
- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS)
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
- World Relief Corporation (WR)
For reporters focusing on your own cities or states, here is a link for a directory of subcontractors in almost every state in the nation. Do you see the abbreviation in the left hand corner of each listing? That is the abbreviation for which of the nine biggies that subcontractor is affiliated with.
Here is a map of the US showing where those subcontractors are located.
Comment worth noting: Let’s have a Repatriation Fund to send unhappy refugees home
In response to our post earlier about the unhappy Bhutanese refugees in America, commenter CW suggested we establish a fund to repatriate them.
It is a brilliant idea! The Bhutanese are not the first who came to America with ideas about how wonderful life would be here only to become disillusioned. It must be an awful shock for these quiet (mostly Hindu) people who have been born and raised in camps to be dropped off in rough American cities, expected to work at the most menial jobs, maneuver through the welfare system, and learn how to avoid the thugs they are often settled alongside.
This idea was one I thought about when a lot of Iraqis who came here a few years ago were so unhappy. I advised some to contact the Iraqi embassy in Washington to see if the embassy could finance their way home.
Here is CW’s tongue-in-cheek comment that is actually a really good idea for reforming the Refugee Resettlement Program:
Gives me an idea! How about we apply to the State Dep’t for grant to establish Repatriation Services? Sort of like a revolving door: Catholic Charities brings them in, and Repatriation Services escorts them out! RS also could take all those poor illegals who “were brought here through no fault of their own” and repatriate them, too!
How about it, Comrade?!?!
For those of you who say this would be expensive, I say, no it wouldn’t! It would be cheaper to provide a plane ticket and maybe a little start-up money then to provide years of social services (including the mental health services the unhappy Bhutanese are requiring).
By the way, the Bhutanese are really Nepali people, so we might work a little deal with Nepal (a little foreign aid perhaps) to take them there. (I wonder what we are paying the countries who are taking the Guantanamo prisoners—a bundle I bet!).
Do you know that right now, the refugees who are flown here are loaned the airfare money and must begin paying it back almost immediately. The contractors do the dunning letters and the collecting and get to keep a cut for themselves. Thus it is almost impossible for an unhappy refugee to ever gather the necessary money to buy their own ticket home.
Come on Congress, how about a Repatriation Fund and a little start-up money!
For more Comments Worth Noting, go here.
Office of Refugee Resettlement maps help you research your state, learn who is responsible
I just came across this very useful map for FY2013-2014 at the Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS) to help you research what is happening with the Refugee Resettlement program in your state.
When you go to the site and click on your state, all of the federal money flowing there is available as well as a list of locations where refugees are resettled with names and contact information for those doing the resettlement.
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for you to learn about the program where you live. I know it’s an overused expression, but knowledge is power. And, that is why we started this blog in the first place to help you gain that knowledge.
Click here for ORR’s interactive state map! (When you look at the map, you might want to go here for information on what a Wilson-Fish state is).
ORR Regional Offices
In 2013, ORR Director Eskinder Negash, announced the creation of Regional refugee resettlement offices to coordinate state offices. At that time there were regional refugee offices located within five of the ten Administration for Children and Family (ACF) offices.
ORR will open up to five regional offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and San Francisco (and potentially additional regional locations).
Click here to see the ten ACF regions and regional headquarters.