South Carolina governor wants no refugees from six countries named in Trump travel ‘ban’

08/30/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So what!

The feds will do what they want to do as most Republican governors have figured out already. And, since Trump’s State Department is still being run by the pro-more-refugees bureaucrats, does anyone really think they will give a ‘rats rear end’ about the wishes of a governor from a former (gasp!) Confederate state.

trump-mcmaster — Now, if Governor McMaster picked up the phone and called the Prez about his concerns about refugees then that would really be something to brag about (and might even accomplish something)!

And, one more thing (or maybe two!)… I wish these state pols would learn more about the program. First, we don’t take refugees from Yemen (maybe a tiny handful over the years) and most Iranians coming are Christians. Then consider the countries of great concern for sending potential troublemakers—Afghanistan, Iraq and Burma—which are not among the six!

I just told you yesterday that we are increasingly bringing devout Muslim Rohingya people from Burma, and they could go to SC rather than a Christian Iranian family!

Most of these governors get snookered (by DOS bureaucrats) because they get some low level staffers to do the research and frankly they couldn’t possibly understand or imagine the tricks the feds and the contractors will pull.

On the plus side, I guess I can say that the governor’s statement at least sends a media message.

Also, new readers should know that your state prepares ‘plans’ for how your state will handle refugees and you can contact your state coordinator (find them here, but contact list is 2 years old) and ask for your state’s plan. Don’t expect anything more than a mealy-mouthed bureaucratic document, but you might find a bombshell, so do it.

From the Post and Courier (hat tip: Joanne):

COLUMBIA — Gov. Henry McMaster has requested the federal government no longer resettle refugees in South Carolina from the six countries targeted by President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

rohingya-boat-feature-720x547 — Rohingya Muslim ‘refugees’ could be placed in SC instead of Iranian Christians.

The request comes in an annual plan each state submits to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in the Department of Health and Human Services laying out how the refugee programs are administered in the state. [By the way, ORR doesn’t choose the refugees, the UN does with the Dept.of State and DHS—ed]

Citing concerns with the vetting process for refugees from areas the Trump administration has identified as terrorism hotbeds, the fiscal year 2018 request from South Carolina’s Department of Social Services asks the federal government to block refugees from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from being directed to the Palmetto State.

[….]

McMaster first publicized the request in a speech Monday night in Anderson at U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan’s annual Faith & Freedom BBQ fundraiser.

He explained that governors cannot stop the State Department from resettling refugees but said “we can voice our opinion on what we would like to do and not like to do.”

“We’ve got nothing against refugees,” McMaster said. “They’re facing all sorts of turmoil and problems.”

But pointing to the ongoing threat of “terrorists in the world,” the governor went on to tell the crowd ….

Continue here.

The crowd (the Republican voters!) will think the gov is protecting them and instead the feds will send them those Afghanis, Iraqis and Burmese Rohingya (probably snickering as they do it!) which cannot be thoroughly screened any more than Somalis or Syrians can.

If SC Governor McMaster really wanted to do something useful he should tell Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham and Nikki Haley to suspend the entire US Refugee Program for FY18!

South Carolina Lutheran agency cutting staff; will bigwigs in Baltimore see pay cuts?

02/28/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum! One more story about a federal resettlement subcontractor having to fire staff because this entire UN/US Refugee Admissions Program was so ill-conceived in the first place and because these supposed ‘religious’ charities became fat and happy on taxpayer dollars rather than raising private money for their “good works.”

lirs-building — The Lutheran Center (LIRS headquarters) is a six-story structure constructed in 1999 on property owned by Baltimore’s historic Christ Lutheran Church. The building is located near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in the historic Federal Hill neighborhood, a charming area rich with history and an eclectic array of eateries and shopping venues. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/07/08/lutherans-may-be-operating-centers-for-unaccompanied-minors-in-your-state/

Here is the news from Charleston, South Carolina’s Post and Courier.
BTW, did you see the news about a town hall somewhere being opened with prayer and the Libs in the audience started shouting: “separation of church and state!” Well, where are they with the resettlement contractors? Where is the ACLU and its lawsuits claiming there should be a separation of church and state?
I digress, here is the news from South Carolina:

Refugee resettlement agency Lutheran Services Carolinas expects to layoff and reassign staff in the wake of President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order dramatically reducing the number of refugees who can enter the United States.

Federal courts have halted Trump’s order suspending the U.S. refugee admissions program. But the courts did not touch a provision of the order that slashed the cap on refugees from 110,000 to 50,000 this fiscal year. As of January 31, just under 40,000 refugees have been admitted to the U.S., including 28 in Charleston. [For the umpteenth time, there was no slashing in half! That 110,000 (ceiling!) was Obama’s last wish, nothing more! Average has been around 65,000 since 9/11.—ed]

Agencies such as Lutheran Services Carolinas, which resettles refugees in Charleston, Columbia and Raleigh, rely on federal money tied to each refugee they help resettle.

Yes! As I have been saying, it’s a kind of ponzi scheme built on ever-increasing numbers of refugees (paying clients!) being admitted to the US.
Post and Courier continues…..

Lutheran Services Carolinas is an affiliate of Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine national organizations*** working on behalf of the federal government to help resettle refugees. Linda Hartke, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, estimates between 70 and 80 positions so far have been cut at partner agencies across the country.

“We and all of the resettlement networks are looking at reductions of staff,” Hartke said. “There’s not funding to pay for staff if refugees aren’t arriving. There’s some work that needs to be continued, but if the arrivals are dropping by more than 50 percent, it’s not good stewardship of resources to try to maintain staff infrastructure.”

***Update*** Hartke to receive Maryland business award, here.

Now, let’s have a little look at LIRS financial situation….

Why does no mainstream media ever bother doing this?
First, see one of their pages at USA Spending. From 2008-2016 they received $358,862,898 of your money from the US Treasury.

screenshot-374 — I’ve screenshot only 5 of 164 “transactions” here at USA Spending: https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?k=Lutheran%20Immigration%20and%20Refugee%20Service

This (below) is a page from the most recent Form 990 that I could find. Do you see that the federally-funded portion of their total revenue that year ($59,862,898) included $55,341,275 in federal grants and that loan servicing fee ($1,817,755) is likely the travel loan collection fee they receive from collecting money from refugees for their airfare (that was all your money too).
Thus 95% of their income comes from you—the American taxpayer!
Look at that paltry little bit of money they raised privately!

screenshot-376 — http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/132/574/2014-132574854-0bc6c937-9.pdf

Will any of the bigwigs in Baltimore see a pay cut or is Ms. Hartke preserving their resources at the top?
Is that good stewardship? I find it uncomfortable to report people’s salaries, and if this was a real non-profit group or a private business instead of a quasi-government agency, it would be none of our business what they pay their staff.
However, it isn’t a real non-profit group and since we pay the vast majority of their salaries, you should know what you pay them.
For comparison, go here to see what members of Congress make ($174,000 on average). Speaker of the House Paul Ryan makes less ($223,500) than Ms. Hartke! (You are paying for both of them!)

screenshot-375 — http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/132/574/2014-132574854-0bc6c937-9.pdf

So how many of you are crying for the contractors now?
For our complete archive on LIRS, click here.
***These are the nine federal refugee contractors:

Active TB showing up more often in US refugee population

01/05/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You probably got this news the other day at Drudge, but I am posting this and another article about Tuberculosis by Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart to keep our ‘Health Issues’ category up to date. If you’ve never scrolled through it, we have cataloged 321 posts in the last 9 years on the topic of refugee/immigrant health problems. Some of our very first posts in the category were about costly Tuberculosis treatment for refugees in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

symptoms_of_tb — TB Symptoms don’t usually show up in the first year of infection. https://www.physio-pedia.com/File:Symptoms_of_TB.png

Here is Leahy three days ago. BTW the refugee industry is quick to tell you that immigrants with latent TB are permitted entry to the US, but pay attention because these are refugees with active TB.

Between 2012 and 2015, 1,565 refugees were diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) in the United States, according to annual reports published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The CDC data, which has been public but obscure until now, shows that the number of refugees diagnosed with active TB in recent years is more than three times greater than previously reported by any media outlet.

The number of refugees diagnosed with TB in the United States has increased every year since 2012, the first year the CDC began publishing data on foreign-born cases of the disease by category, when 358 were diagnosed. In 2013, 396 refugees were diagnosed with TB. The following year, 2014, 402 refugees were diagnosed with TB, and in 2015, the number of refugees diagnosed with TB rose again to 409. Data for 2016 has not yet been reported.

Continue reading here.
And, then yesterday, Leahy, who has become an expert on the Tuberculosis problem growing in America, reported that a middle school student in South Carolina has been diagnosed with active TB. School officials are working hard to keep the story tamped down. I wondered, when I read this, if parents at the school were told to keep their mouths shut about the status of the student—is he/she foreign born? Is he or she a refugee?
Breitbart:

A student at Castle Heights Middle School in Rock Hill, South Carolina was diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) in December.

Officials with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and Rock Hill Schools, part of the York County Public School System, are not disclosing the patient’s country of origin.

“We can’t provide any more information about the individual that was confirmed with the case of tuberculosis,” a spokesperson for the South Carolina DHEC tells Breitbart News.

“We are in the middle of our contact investigations,” the spokesperson adds.

LOL! Leahy’s reputation must be spreading!

“Your reporting on Breitbart.com implies that you will attempt to use this data to indicate the confirmed case of TB is from a foreign-born student connected in some way to the influx of refugees into the United States over the past few years,” Rock Hills Schools spokesperson Frost adds.

“The identity of the student is and will remain private as we are bound by federal law (FERPA) to not release medical or educational information about students. As such, we cannot confirm or provide the birth location of the student involved in this case,” he notes.

Continue reading here. Leahy has much more including many links to related information.
I’ve said it more than once, and will keep saying it: If Islamic terrorism doesn’t frighten you, this (sending your kids to school were Tuberculosis could be found) should!
And, would someone who works for a refugee agency tell us if volunteers are trained to spot symptoms in the refugees they are helping and are given any instructions on how to keep themselves safe?

Refugee advocates think Trump can't change Obama's 110,000 refugee goal for this year

01/03/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have no time to say much about this sob story in South Carolina’s The State newspaper about Muslim refugees resettled in the Carolinas (mostly in North Carolina) because I have to dash to jury duty again today. But, I can’t not mention this little blip from Jason Lee. We wrote about him on many occasions when he was chosen to work for a refugee contractor, World Relief, in Spartanburg, SC in 2015.

trump-and-sessions — Trump Test! Trump here with Senator Jeff Sessions his Attorney General nominee, can and must pause the Refugee Admissions Program. He can do it on day one, but I give him 4 weeks (I’m being generous)—until February 16th to do it! Sessions knows what can and should be done!

That was a resettlement plan that resulted in a heated controversy. Spartanburg is also in Rep. Trey Gowdy’s district and despite efforts by the Immigration Subcommittee chairman (Gowdy!) to question the choice of Spartanburg as a new resettlement site (he wrote a letter to Sec. of State Kerry), it went ahead as planned.
Jason Lee is wrong. Congress does not approve the level of resettlement for the coming year (it is not an act of Congress).
The President of the United States proposes the level in September preceding the fiscal year and sends his determination to Congress for “consultation,” but there is no legal requirement for Congress to agree to whatever number the President has chosen. Of course, if they give the President money to admit a certain number of refugees through the Appropriations process, then that is tantamount agreement to the numbers.
That said, Donald Trump can and should, because he has the power to do it, limit the number set by Obama on day one of his Presidency. He can halt immigration from certain regions of the world, or pause the refugee program altogether. In fact, he would not be the first to pause the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program. In 2002, the program was almost ground to a halt as fear grew in the wake of the 9/11 attack.

jason-lee — Jason Lee’s wishful thinking?

Here is what Lee told The State:

Congress has approved admitting 110,000 refugees in fiscal 2017.

It will be difficult for President Trump to cut that number, said Jason Lee, former director of the refugee assistance group World Relief Spartanburg. [As you know, World Relief is one of nine major federal refugee resettlement contractors, paid by the head to place refugees in your towns—ed]

“A number of questions won’t be answered until President Trump takes office,” Lee said. “(But) he’s already backed off not allowing Muslim immigrants into the country.”

Read it all here.
See our archive on Spartanburg by clicking here. (I warn you there are many posts there!)
It is through the Spartanburg controversy that I formed my opinion of SC Governor Nikki Haley (Trump’s nominee to be Ambassador to the UN).

SC Governor Nikki Haley should not be Secretary of State

11/17/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As you have figured out by now, I am a one issue voter. What we do about immigration/refugees is all that matters for the future of this country, so I’m judging Donald Trump’s choices for high office based on that issue alone.
Needless to say I was shocked and disappointed to see that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was headed to New York today for consideration for the job of Secretary of State. See Townhall here.

haley-and-graham — If Trump puts Nikki Haley at the top of the US State Department it will give Senator Lindsey (Open Borders) Graham a direct pipeline. Refugee resettlement will not be stopped, slowed or even reformed in that case.

First, correct me if I’m wrong, but does she have any foreign policy experience? I sure hope Trump isn’t looking to ethnicity and gender to balance his cabinet. If so, put her at the head of the Labor Department or something like that.
A couple of years ago when the refugee resettlement industry turned its eyes to South Carolina, a state which has not received very many refugees over the years, Haley didn’t do anything to slow its arrival.
See our huge archive on Spartanburg by clicking here. And, go here for everything we have said about Haley.
See here for my discussion of why NC is a purple state and SC is still (for now) a conservative red state.
Warmonger Senator Lindsey Graham would have his ally in a very high place. (See Graham on bringing in Syrians, here).

Readers will remember that Haley and SC Rep. Trey Gowdy*** were early supporters of Senator Marco (Gang of Eight) Rubio and that Graham (Gang of Eight) endorsed Jeb Bush. If Gov. Haley runs the US State Department she will be in charge of immigrant visa programs and refugee admissions to the US, and in the case of refugees, choosing where they go. It will be her budget that pays refugee resettlement contractors for the initial resettlement. Senator Lindsey Graham will never let her restrict the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program.
I urge my South Carolina readers to weigh-in and tell me if I am wrong about Haley. Has she done anything to indicate concern about massive numbers of refugees especially from countries that hate us entering the US?
***By the way, Gowdy is chairman of the House subcommittee responsible for the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program and has done nothing to begin to examine the RAP with an eye to reforming it. He didn’t even hold the legally required hearing, as Senator Sessions did in his Senate subcommittee, on Obama’s determination to bring 110,000 refugees to the US in FY2017. So for all of my friends who think that Gowdy is God’s gift to America, think again!
Rumor has it that Lindsey Graham plays a large role in keeping Gowdy quiet on immigration issues.