Tag: Refugee Resettlement

Big day in Nashville tomorrow; open-borders cabal furious; beat war drums

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As we reported earlier, tomorrow is the first meeting of a special committee of the Tennessee legislature to begin to address the state’s rights under the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution.  In terms everyone understands, the first order of business is to address the problem of the federal government and its private contractor (Catholic Charities in this case) dumping the cost of taking care of refugees on the backs of the taxpayers of Tennessee.

Avi Poster: Diversity of cultures (Somalis and Kurds) make Tennessee beautiful.

Now the Open Borders activists in the city of Nashville are coming out of the woodwork to try to drum-up opposition and rally their troops to battle for tomorrow’s first meeting of the committee.    Below is Avi Poster, a Chicago transplant and community organizer, with an action alert to his followers.

We first came across Poster in 2009 when RRW went to Nashville for a weekend conference on Islam and Poster’s sidekick, Tom Negri, who managed the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel broke the contract with the organizing group fearing violence, or so Negri said.  A few days after the conference was successfully held in a “welcoming” hotel (with no violence, I might add!), Negri and Poster held a press conference in support of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” here in the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel.

Avi Poster to his network about tomorrow:

 I hope this message finds you all well. I’ll be brief…

This Wednesday, state representatives will hold a public hearing on refugee resettlement in Tennessee. The hearing was organized by the same handful of anti-immigrant/anti-Muslim/anti-refugee state legislators we so often hear from during the legislative session (Rep. Joe Carr and Re. Judd Matheny to name a few). Their goal is to spread misinformation about the costs of refugee resettlement with the end goal of ending all refugee resettlement in Tennessee. The event is titled “Federal Cost Shifting of Refugee Resettlement.”

Last legislative session, some anti-refugee leaders introduced HB1326/SB1325, which would have required the Tennessee Office of Refugees and any refugee resettlement organization that receives federal funding to reimburse the state for the “cost” of refugees. It was mean-spirited and clearly an attack on refugee communities, and it went nowhere. The bill was sent to “summer study” to die, but has found new life in this public hearing which is lop-sided with anti-refugee advocates.

Helping people get back on their feet after they’ve escaped war or famine is one thing that makes our country, and this state, great. The refugees that have moved to Tennessee, from Kurdistan, Somalia, and elsewhere, are fully contributing members of our community – owning businesses, showing leadership in our neighborhoods, and adding to the diversity of cultures that makes Tennessee beautiful.

We need to fill the room on Wednesday and make our voice heard. Attacking people who are fleeing hard times is pretty low – we need to show these legislators we won’t stand for it. [Community organizers, like Poster, are one-trick ponies!  Demanding financial accountability is code for xenophobia, don’t you know!–ed]

Can you be there?

This Wednesday, August 21st at 9:00am. Room 16 Legislative Plaza. We are meeting outside security at 8:15am.
If you are able to go, email Eben Cathey at eben@tnimmigrant.org or call him at 615-775-1069.

Thanks,
Avi (and Eben)

Wish I could be there as Tennessee takes the lead in demanding accountability from the federal government.  Please let your friends know what Tennessee is doing!

See our category on Nashville, here, with 55 previous posts about the “cultural diversity” Catholic Charities and the US State Department have brought to Tennessee (on your dime!).

Why is Catholic Charities calling the shots on the demographic make-up of Nashville?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Why?  Because the US State Department assigned the supposed non-profit that role after a foolish Governor gave it up.   Writer and Nashville resident Don Barnett tells us more about this stunning loss of state’s right in his opinion piece at The Tennessean today (posted below in its entirety).

Old graphic, but you get the point! Nashville (the home of country music) has more refugees than 29 other US states.

Be sure to have a look at my post in February, here, also about Nashville and how it’s all about turning ‘red’ states ‘blue.’

Barnett (emphasis mine):

At what level of taxpayer support for an entity do we stop calling that entity a “non-government organization” or a “religious nonprofit”?

Revenue in 2011 for Migration and Refugee Services, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) refugee contracting arm, was more than $72 million, about 98 percent of which came from the taxpayer in the form of government grants or federal contracts. Would it surprise anyone to find it subject to the same incentives and laws of behavior that have driven federal contractors since the birth of the republic?

USCCB’s main source of contracts and grants comes from refugee resettlement. The U.S. resettles nearly three times the refugees as the rest of the industrialized world combined, and the USCCB wants that number increased.

According to a recent report from the Washington think tank Migration Policy Institute (MPI), publicly funded private resettlement agencies, USCCB being the largest of nine, “meet with state and local agencies on a quarterly basis regarding the opportunities and services available to refugees in local communities and the ability of these communities to accommodate new arrivals. They also consult with the state refugee coordinator on placement plans for each local site. … If a state opposes the plan, the State Department will not approve it.”

A July 2012 GAO report was a little more real world than the MPI report stating that “Most resettlement agencies … consult with some public entities such as state refugee coordinators; however, most public entities such as public schools and health departments generally said that agencies notified them of the number of refugees expected to arrive in the coming year, but did not consult them regarding the number of refugees they could serve…”

Both reports assume a state government role in the resettlement process. The state refugee coordinator evaluates the plans of the private contractors, representing the interests of the taxpayer in the process. That’s the way it is supposed to work, in theory.

In Tennessee, however, the state refugee coordinator is an employee of Catholic Charities, an affiliate of USCCB. Resettlement of the U.N.-selected refugees is Tennessee Catholic Charities’ largest mission and largest revenue item by far.

In 2008, Gov. Phil Bredesen thought he was streamlining the process and saving money by outsourcing the state coordinator function to the contractor. Instead, he gave up the opportunity for the state to have any input in a process that affects the state and set up a textbook illustration of a conflict of interest.

The annual cost of the program to Tennesseans went up immediately after the state handed over the position of state refugee coordinator. Today, Metro Nashville alone resettles more refugees than each of 29 states in the U.S.

A bill introduced in the 2013 Tennessee legislature had the modest goal of requiring Catholic Charities to keep an accounting of the numbers of refugees it places into programs that carry a cost to the state taxpayer. TennCare, for instance, is about 30 percent funded by the state and most refugees are placed in TennCare upon arrival.

Opposition to the bill was led by none other than the state refugee coordinator, whose motto seems to be “the less the public knows about this, the better.” The bill was deferred for “summer study” where bills often die. In this case, however, it may well come up again.

Hopefully, the 2014 legislature will act to require the contractor to record at least a portion of the costs it is running up on the taxpayers’ tab. A reasonable next step is for Tennessee to reclaim the function of the state refugee coordinator. This office should be representing the taxpayer, not the interests of a private contractor.

Note to citizens elsewhere—-you should at minimum be demanding to know what refugees are costing your state for healthcare, food stamps, Section 8 housing, education and other social services.

Nashville is so significant that we have an entire category (53 previous posts!) devoted to the city and the problems there with refugee resettlement, click here.   Be sure to see some of the recent posts on how Nashville’s open borders advocates  are taking their Nashville game plan to other cities.

Report from North Carolina gives us inside look at refugee resettlement there

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars!

North Carolina is one of the country’s leading refugee resettlement states (and one of its leading illegal alien-populated states), here.

Also, in 2010, refugee contractors were criticized and shut-down by the State Department for poor handling of the large refugee load being placed there.  Here is the third of three posts in which we chronicled the problems there.

Today’s post is about Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency a subcontractor of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.  I’m guessing CRRA picked up more of the refugee load in NC after the Lutherans got the boot over in the Triad region of the state.  However, this interview gives us a little idea of how the program is operating there now (after a long introduction to help set the mood for readers).

From WFAE-Charlotte and reporter Briana Duggan (No debate about refugees! Really?):

Reporter Duggan: bipartisan support for refugees

There’s a lot of debate surrounding immigration, but there is one kind of immigration that receives bipartisan support– that of refugees. More than 2,000 refugees resettled in North Carolina last year. We often hear about what refugees have to leave behind – war and persecution – but what is waiting for refugees when they get here?

I don’t know why a radio reporter is interviewing another reporter and not the resettlement agency itself, but here is the exchange I found interesting (emphasis is mine):

Briana Duggan joined Morning Edition Host Marshall Terry to talk more about refugee resettlement.

TERRY: Briana, we just met a family of refugees the moment they arrived. What are the next steps for refugees after they land?

DUGGAN: Well, a resettlement caseworker – like Rebecca in the story – signs them up for social services. So that’s food stamps, whatever cash or medical assistance they’re eligible for, enroll any children in school. [This made me laugh, remember Rand Paul said their job was to bring’em in and sign them up for welfare and took a lot of criticism for saying it, here—ed]

And then, there’s finding a job – with help from refugee resettlement agencies. There are two in Charlotte, and they told me it takes refugees around here about three to four months to find a job.  [“Later, many refugees will find physical work, often at a poultry plant or greenhouse “(Duggan earlier in the article)—those meat packers again!—ed]

TERRY: And you said refugees get welcome money from the federal government.  What does that pay for?

DUGGAN: Yeah, so the welcome money is about a $1,000 per person. And it’s meant to cover the basics while refugees are looking for those jobs. So rent, utilities, deposits, a bit of food.  [The resettlement contractor actually gets $1850 per refugee with CRRA and HIAS taking their cuts—ed]

TERRY: A thousand dollars—for the three to four months it takes to get a job? That couldn’t cover rent alone.

DUGGAN: Right, but you have to remember that most refugees do arrive in families. So, for example- Khup Than Lun who was in my story – she came to the U.S. with a family of five, so that comes out to be $5,000. If they run out of money before they find a job, they’ll get welfare cash assistance. And it’s also important to note that many refugees come to Charlotte because they have family or close friends here. So they may live with their sponsors while they get on their feet.

TERRY: But what about those refugees that come alone?

DUGGAN: That is more complicated. It’s not all that common, but in that case, resettlement agencies have to dip into any donations or extra funds they may have. Agencies will sometimes group together single refugees from the same country to save on rent. But ultimately, it means that those single refugees will need to be quicker on their feet when they arrive to their new country.

Click here for our North Carolina archive.

Concord, NH: Former refugee sentenced to ten years in genocide case, then will be deported

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Can you believe it, she lied to get into the US as a refugee!  I’m just shocked!

This is the case (perhaps the end of the many cases) of Beatrice Munyenyezi a refugee from Rwanda resettled in NH who it turns out was involved in the Hutu slaughter of Tutsis in her native Rwanda.

Beatrice-Munyenyezi

Here are our previous reports on the case(s).  Although its not mentioned in today’s story, this was reported in the article I posted on in April 2012 (trial cost millions!):

Two witnesses testified she killed people, including a nun, shooting the nun herself after ordering her to be raped.

And here is the latest news on the sentencing from the Huffington Post (hat tip: Michael):

CONCORD, N.H. — A federal judge on Monday sentenced a New Hampshire woman to the maximum 10 years in prison for lying about her role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, saying the United States cannot be a haven for those who slaughter out of hatred and ignorance.

Rwanda native Beatrice Munyenyezi declined her right to address the court after U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe imposed her sentence.

Munyenyezi, 43, was convicted in February of entering the United States and securing citizenship by lying about her role as a commander of one of the notorious roadblocks where Tutsis were singled out for slaughter. She also denied affiliation with any political party, despite her husband’s leadership role in the extremist Hutu militia party.

“She was not a mere spectator,” McAuliffe said. “I find this defendant was actively involved, actively participated, in the mass killing of men, women and children simply because they were Tutsis.”

McAuliffe acknowledged she has led a crime-free and productive life since her arrival in New Hampshire in 1998 but said it was a life lived under false pretenses.  [Really!  Read on below!—ed]

[….]

McAuliffe said she effectively stole a citizenship slot away from a deserving refugee, possibly one who also had daughters and was a victim of violence and persecution. Munyenyezi took the oath of citizenship a decade ago in the very same courthouse where she was sentenced. McAuliffe stripped her of that citizenship when she was convicted.

Why should US taxpayers take care of her in prison for ten years if she is going to be deported—just deport her now!

Federal prosecutors had sought the maximum prison sentence, saying she’s as guilty as if she wielded the machete herself.

[….]

Once Munyenyezi serves her prison sentence, she could be deported to Rwanda – a fate her lawyers said would be tantamount to a death sentence.

She flat-out lied!

Prosecutors maintained that she was a liar who “gamed” the immigration system to fraudulently obtain the “golden ticket” of citizenship. She swore on immigration and naturalization forms that she persecuted no one, had no affiliation with any political party and even cast herself as a victim of the genocide by saying family members “disappeared.”

They didn’t disappear in the way you might think.

Munyenyezi’s husband, Arsene Shalom Ntahobali and his mother were convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes of violence and are serving life sentences.  [Presumably in Rwanda and not at US taxpayer expense!—ed]

[….]

Munyenyezi’s sister was convicted last summer in Boston on charges of fraudulently obtaining a visa to enter the United States by lying about her own Hutu political party affiliations.

The judge did say (above) that Munyenyezi  had a “productive life” in the US.  How productive?

Before long, she had a $13-an-hour job working for the city’s housing authority. Her children were enrolled in Catholic school and she attended college and earned an associate’s degree. She financed a comfortable lifestyle through mortgages, loans and credit cards – only to file for bankruptcy in 2008 and have about $400,000 in debt discharged.

The next time someone assures you that refugees are thoroughly screened before entering the US, don’t believe it!  And, ask them exactly why is it the responsibility of America to get involved in these civil wars in the first place by bringing some of the participants to your towns and cities!  Or, have we run out of destitute Americans who need help?

Photo: Beatrice walked free (temporarily) from the Court House in 2012. To her left is her sister who was convicted of immigration fraud. The woman ‘of the cloth’ in pink is not identified. Concord Monitor photo.

NH Mayor: Still too many refugees being placed in Manchester

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We’ve written dozens of posts over the last few years about Manchester, NH and its refugee overload.  For those of you struggling with overload in your cities and towns, Manchester’s plight is instructive.  Once the US State Department and their resettlement contractors get an ethnic seed community established, it’s almost impossible to stop the flow.

In the case of Manchester, the Mayor and council went so far as to get a bill introduced in the state legislature to give them some rights to call for a moratorium if the city became too overloaded.  It failed. And, interestingly, now even some refugees are saying there are too many in Manchester and THEY CAN’T FIND WORK.  (Someone please tell Grover Norquist and the Gang of Eight—Senator Kelly Ayotte too—that there are immigrants in need of work in New Hampshire!).

From AP at the Nashua Telegraph (Hat tip: Joanne, others):

While many Bhutanese have transitioned well to life in U.S. – and they are all better off than they were in refugee camps – many, especially those older than 40, are struggling, Niroula [refugee featured in this article] said.

“Bhutanese are facing lot of challenges, because they are jobless,” he said.

The refugees aren’t the only ones having trouble coping with the transition. The growing number of refugees could be jarring for one of the least diverse states in the country. In the past decade, the number of immigrants in New Hampshire has grown by 36 percent, outpacing national growth by 6 percent.

Refugees are still a fraction of the population in the state’s largest city. A task force estimates there are 3,500 in Manchester out of a total population of 110,000. State Department figures show that between 2000 and 2010, almost 2,500 refugees were resettled in the city, just over half New Hampshire’s total during that period.

A central fear is that because services for refugees are frontloaded to their arrival, those who don’t transition well immediately are falling through the cracks. That could become costly for the city.  [Unfunded mandate?—-ed]

Mayor Gatsas: the city needs a break!

 In November 2011, Mayor Ted Gatsas, a Republican then newly elected to his second term, drew national attention after asking the State Department to stop resettling refugees to Manchester. In a recent interview, he said he still believes the city could benefit from a break in their arrival.

“We’ve got refugees in this community that don’t know the language, don’t have a job, and what I’ve been saying is let us catch our breath. Let us get these people into working society, so they’re good examples of the city of Manchester,” he said. “You can’t do that by bringing 300 more refugees on top of that.”

Surprise (not!):  Resettlement contractors don’t communicate with community!

They [Bhutanese/Nepalese] are the most recent wave of refugees to land in New Hampshire. Several thousand African and Middle Eastern refugees – mostly Iraqi, Somali and Sudanese – were resettled there in the first part of the last decade and continue to arrive in much smaller numbers.

During the last session, Gatsas led a failed push pass a bill at the state level giving municipalities the authority to enact a one-year moratorium on new refugee resettlement. Among the issues he raised at the time was poor communication between the city and the resettlement agency, though he said that relationship has improved.

Look out Nashua!  This is standard operating procedure, when the contractors get blow-back and big problems develop in a community, they simply start new seed communities not far away.

To take some of the pressure off Manchester, close to 50 will be resettled in nearby Nashua.

Contractors are keeping an eye on that other pocket of resistance—Tennessee—where there has been some success in getting the state to re-exert its right to say NO to the federal government.

Saba Berhane, director of the refugee services division with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, said the mayor’s request is unusual and most resettlement communities welcome refugees, despite occasional challenges. But lawmakers in Tennessee passed legislation limiting resettlement, though a moratorium provision was stricken. Most recently, the legislature there killed a bill to that would have required refugee resettlement organizations to reimburse the state’s costs related to refugees.

Manchester is overloaded! Even the refugees get it!  Why don’t the contractors?

…Bishnu Dahal, 53, said using a translator that the number of refugees is making it hard to find a job and she wouldn’t mind seeing new refugees settle elsewhere. Several others agreed.

Endnote:  We previously wrote about resettlement contractor—Carolyn Benedict-Drew—quoted in this article, here in April.