That is nothing new. Leahy has been a longtime advocate of the US Refugee Admissions Program, but what interested me was his remark that local communities needed more money to support refugees, and references Rutland.
But, wait, Rutland mayor Christopher Louras was just in upstate New Yorktelling those citizens that refugees revitalize and bring economic prosperity where they are resettled. Which is it? Frelick of Human Rights Watch: the backlash against this program now is unprecedented!
Or, is it possible that the only economic benefits a town or city will see is the federal welfare dollars that would come in to the community with the refugees?
Here is the news about Leahy at Vermont Digger:
RUTLAND — Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is calling on the United States to strengthen its commitment to refugee resettlement on the eve of a congressional hearing on the Obama administration’s pledge to take in 110,000 refugees next year, an increase of 25,000 from fiscal 2016.
At the same time Leahy said additional resources need to be allocated to communities that receive refugees. His remarks come as the State Department weighs whether Syrian refugees will be placed in Rutland.
“As we have seen in Vermont for decades,” Leahy said in a statement Tuesday, “refugees can enrich and revitalize our cities and towns, but they also need our help, especially at first.”
When you get discouraged about how this program is so entrenched and impervious to reform, take note of what Human Rights Watch’s honcho says here. Things are changing!
Bill Frelick, director of the Refugee Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, called the recent backlash against refugee resettlement unprecedented. Frelick, who has worked in the field for more than 30 years, said that historically refugee resettlement has been an issue on which both political parties have agreed. That came to an end in November after the terrorist attacks in Paris, when more than 30 U.S. governors signed a letter saying their states would not admit Syrian refugees.
It is probably the same old bill he has been trying to get passed for years. I didn’t bother looking at it. The point I want to make here is this—the Open Borders Left never gives up! There is no way this bill will go anywhere this year in the waning months of an election year, but this sort of thing is done because they constantly push and they constantly gin up their grassroots by doing ‘show’ bills like this. Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy one of the most important Senators pushing for MORE and MORE refugees to be admitted to the US. Editor: By the way, I am traveling as I mentioned here. I am really hoping to continue posting from the road, however, at least this hotel in this city has a lousy internet connection (I’ll probably lose this connection 5 times before I finish this post)!
Here is a bit of information from Human Rights First about the bill introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California:
New York City—Human Rights First urges members of Congress to support the Refugee Protection Act of 2016, a bill that reaffirms the United States’ commitment to refugees and strengthens legal safeguards for those seeking protection from persecution and violence. The organization applauds Senator Leahy and Representative Lofgren for their leadership on this bill and for their commitment to the America’s legacy as a haven for refugees.
[….]
The bill would improve the efficiency, fairness and effectiveness of the U.S. asylum and resettlement processes, and strengthen protection for refugees. U.S. global leadership on the protection of refugees is crucial, as demonstrated by President Obama’s decision to host a world Leaders’ Summit on Refugees on September 20, and the U.S. asylum and resettlement systems should be a model for other countries.The Refugee Protection Act of 2016 fixes many of the areas in which U.S. laws and policies are not living up to the standards the United States has set for itself and, by extension, the bar it sets for the rest of the world.
Then this is my favorite in a list of things the bill would do, revealing I believe the Achilles heel of the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program—refugees are not finding jobs and economically helping communities, but are in fact a drain wherever they are placed. This is probably a provision to send more of your $$$ to the resettlement contractors to distribute to the refugees (I didn’t bother to look it up!):
Safeguards newly arrived refugees from slipping into poverty and supports local communities.
Continue reading here for more of what Human Rights First has to say. HIAS’ Melanie Nezer is telling her people to write to Congress now.
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society(one of the nine major federal refugee contractors) is telling its members to write to their representatives in Washington and say this (they gotta keep their members believing that they are working for them in Washington):
I write to urge you to cosponsor the Refugee Protection Act (HR 5851/S 3241).
This legislation would provide critical protections for refugees and asylum seekers in the United States. It would ensure due process for refugees and asylum seekers, simplify asylum procedures, keep more refugee families together, protect refugee children, and modernize our refugee resettlement program.
The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is a critical tool for achieving our humanitarian goals, promoting our economic interests, and enhancing our national security. Refugees selected for resettlement to the U.S. have been thoroughly vetted by our national security agencies and arrive in the U.S. wanting the same things we all want — peace, safety, and opportunities for themselves and their children.
As a nation with a long legacy of welcoming refugees, it is critical that we have the best procedures and tools for helping the world’s most vulnerable victims of violence. Resettlement — to the U.S. or anywhere else — is often the last resort for refugees who may never be able to return to their home countries or have any access to a productive future in the country to which they first fled.
As your constituent, I urge you to use your voice to stand up for refugees by co-sponsoring the Refugee Protection Act and opposing any legislation that would undermine our Jewish and American values of welcoming the stranger and protecting refugees.
Of course I’m telling you all this with a chuckle, but if Hillary is elected, this won’t be a laughing matter. Bills like this could get through to her desk! And, again, that is because they (the Open Borders Left) never gives up, they agitate and they agitate, day after day and year after year! Note to angry Rutland residents:If you want to stop the madness help get rid of your old man in the Senate and help us all!
Watchdog.org had to use public information request laws to try to get the information, but the effort by the Health Dept. to not answer the request is revealing and perhaps worse than just biting the bullet and supplying the information!
The public everywhere is sick of the secrecy surrounding the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program and this is one more reason why!
The buck stops with Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy who has been one of the chief architects and ardent supporters of the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program for decades in Washington.
By the way, we have known for years that refugees were permitted entry into the US with latent TB. In fact in our early months writing this blog in 2007, we were stunned to learn about how the large number of TB cases among refugees in Fort Wayne, Indiana were swamping the Allen County Health Dept. However, we, like you, are shocked now to learn that refugees with ACTIVE TB are being permitted entry and quietly treated with your tax dollars. Hereis the latest on the Tuberculosis controversy in Vermont (hat tip: Joanne):
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Epidemiologists at the Vermont Department of Health are concealing the number of refugees with contagious active tuberculosis nearly a month after Watchdog reported that more than one-third of Vermont’s resettled refugees test positive for TB.
Earlier this month, Watchdog revealed that 35 percent of Vermont’s incoming refugees in the past four years tested positive for tuberculosis. How many of those cases are contagious and symptomatic, however, remains a secret, as state epidemiologists and top officials at the Health Department have spent weeks blocking efforts to obtain the data.
Refugees brought to the United States take TB tests as part of comprehensive health screening. For refugees resettled in Vermont, the Department of Health’s Refugee Health Program monitors test results and treats patients who have active TB disease. Unlike latent tuberculosis infection, active TB disease is contagious, symptomatic and even deadly.
According to documents obtained through a public records request, the evasions began May 27, when Watchdog contacted the Health Department to learn how many refugees tested positive for TB in recent years.The inquiry sparked private meetings among state epidemiologists, public health nurses and office staff, who proceeded to conceal the number of contagious active TB disease cases brought to Vermont through the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program.
Continue reading here to see the degree to which these health officials charged (presumably) with keeping all Vermonters safe and healthy are attempting to hide data on active TB in the state.
What Watchdog.org has done here is a model for what you should be doing where you live, not just on the subject of refugee health, but also investigate who is pushing resettlement and why among your elected officials (Twin Falls!) and expose them! Find out who is benefiting FINANCIALLY in your town or city!
See our ‘health issues’ category by clicking here. We have hundreds of posts there on issues of immigrant and refugee health (including the refugee mental health treatment you pay for).
I don’t have the time to do this post justice this morning, but since the news about a restaurant in Vermont taking down a sign with the word “bacon” on it after a Muslim customer deemed it offensive is all over the web, and because some have linked a post we wrotehere in 2009, I need to at least say a few words.
So what did they expect? When Winooski “welcomed” the US State Department and its contractors in several years ago to resettle Muslim refugees in their town, this day would come.
Senator Patrick Leahy as he appeared when he first arrived in Washington in 1975 has been pushing for more immigration for America for nearly four decades. So, with a leader like this, Vermont deserves to “welcome” many more than it has already.
Here is a story at USA Today and one at American Thinker where you can learn more about the controversy.
Send all refugees to Vermont! Find the “tipping point!”
That is what we have been promoting here at RRW—send all of the refugees to “welcoming” Vermont. First, their leadership wants them (and the ‘unaccompanied alien children’ too).
Senator Patrick Leahy was a primary pusher for “amnesty” (Gang of Eight Senate bill) and he has been the Senate champion for the federal contractors looking for more refugees to be admitted to the US. Additionally, Vermonters say they love diversity, so it is a perfect testing ground.
And, then most importantly (besides saving your state!), by sending all of the refugees to Vermont for a few years we would find out very quickly what the “tipping point” will be for America especially as it relates to the importation of Muslim refugees.
See all of our posts on Vermont, here. But, please be sure to see these two recent posts, here and here.
I’m really warming to the idea of a grassroots/media campaign to send more refugees to Vermont including those ‘unaccompanied alien minors’ surging at our border.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy as he rolled into Washington in 1975. Come on Pat! It’s time to open the borders of “welcoming” Vermont to the “children!” Photo: http://bigstory.ap.org/photo/patrick-leahy-12
I just checked the statistics for this fiscal year and Vermont has “welcomed” a paltry 228 refugees while 50,988 were resettled around the country.
Vermont! It is time to put up or shut up.
In response to my post yesterday on the Vermont “refugee” group sending illegal aliens across the border into Canada reader, ‘sodiumpen’ said this:
Interesting that the VI&AA shuffled the illegal immigrants, etc. out of Vermont into Canada. Guess they didn’t want to keep them in-state?!
Just think of all the ski area hotels, motels, ski lodges, etc. that are seasonally vacant. I’m sure they’d make great accommodations for all those illegal alien children – especially the older teens!
Another good reason to funnel more unaccompanied minors and illegals into Vermont is the state plans on beginning a single payer health plan in 2017:
I’m sure all those liberal residents of Vermont will be glad to foot the healthcare bill for all of their new, incoming residents (instead of the non-Vermonters) – along with happily enabling & fulfilling the other liberal dreams of unfettered illegal immigration/open borders/amnesty.
