I’ve got to hand it to the New York Times, they sure can do some great graphic work! Look at this fantastic map (which doesn’t reproduce well, so check it out by clicking here).
[NYT has updated this map!–ed]
Those blue circles represent where Syrian refugees have been resettled so far (since 2012) and the states whose governors are now saying NO, are in yellow. Go to the original map because the cities are on it as well.
And here is how the NYT story begins. They have nailed it in the second sentence. Is this a state’s rights issue—do governors have any say in the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program? That is what we have wanted to know for the last eight years!
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris, at least eight governors have said they oppose the entry of Syrian refugees into their states.Whether they have the authority to block them is not clear.
Continue reading here. ***Update*** Florida Governor Rick Scott joins the chorus, here. ***Update #2*** Now there are 16 governors total, here. ***Update #3*** Now Tennessee, here, a real shocker since Haslam has been a hardliner in support of more refugees for Tennessee. ***Update #4*** Herecomes Idaho! Christie is in too! ***Update Nov. 17***CNN says 27 (with map).
I’ve been out all day but have had a chance to listen to talk radio inbetween other things (there is life away from the computer!) and some of the numbers I’m hearing talked about are just crazy—the craziest number I heard was Trump saying Obama wanted 250,000 Syrians in the US in the next year or so. Now, perhaps deep down Obama would like nothing better, but he hasn’t said that yet!
Please consider that although this issue is extremely important, it is also important to be factual in our criticism.
And, just a reminder this has been going on for 35 YEARS through Republican and Democrat administrations. It didn’t start last month or the month before that!
By the way, if you seriously want to know what Obama is looking for this year, read his State Department’s PROPOSED REFUGEE ADMISSIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2016 REPORT TO THE CONGRESS, by clicking here.
He is vastly underestimating the $1.2 billion price tag, but presumably Congress will be wrangling with him over that (Senator Lindsey Graham and Patrick Leahy want toadd ONE billion to get more Syrians in here!)
Just a brief overview of where the numbers I’m hearing come from (in addition to the 65,000 the Jihad Caucus asked for and we reported on in the above June 2015 Youtube clip):
~70,000 is the number of refugees the Obama Administration has been proposing for resettlement in recent years, and they have been coming close to that (that is for refugees from all over the world). ~85,000 is the number of refugees he has proposed for FY2016 (from all countries). He said he would propose 100,000 for FY2017 which would be his last opportunity to set the ceiling, but he can’t and won’t do that until September 2016. ~10,000 of the 85,000 is earmarked for Syrians for FY 2016. 10,000 are not being sent to Louisiana.
We have brought around 2,000 Syrians since the civil war began (but I will next be rechecking that number)
~65,000 Syriansis a number that was initially proposed by thefederal resettlement contractors (aka volags) earlier this year (and that was after an earlier proposal to bring in 15,000 for each of five years, which we reported here in 2014). They wanted the 65,000 relocated here before Obama leaves office. ~65,000 Syrians is also the number 14 Democrat Senators*** (we called them the ‘Jihad Caucus’) proposed bringing in before Obama leaves office. ~100,000 Syrians is now the number being proposed by the refugee resettlement contractors. They want them here before Obama leaves office. ~250,000 Syrians is what Pres. candidate Trump says Obama wants. ***Update*** a reader sends this, it is Hannity who was talking about 250,000 first. See how Hannity gets to that number, here.
If anyone wants links for any of the numbers I’ve mentioned, please ask, because I don’t have the energy to put them all in here.
*** These are the 14 members of the Senate Jihad Caucus who last May (at the behest of the resettlement contractors) sent a letter to Obama indicating that 65,000 Syrians was a good number:
Dick Durban (D-IL)
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Al Franken (D-MN)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Christopher Coons (D-DE) LOL! Delaware hasn’t taken a refugee in a couple of years!
Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Edward Markey (D-MA)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Mazie Hirono (D-HI) LOL! Last I looked Hawaii took a whole 7 refugees last year!
I hope that helps clear up some confusion. Let me know if more numbers are being bandied about so we can run those down too!
….and a third, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, wants answers from the federal government. I had hoped to spend a lot of time this morning writing about the Governors, but unfortunately I have other duties today (of all days) that will keep me from posting all of the breaking news that is coming to us in the wake of the Paris massacre. But, LOL!, there are so many people writing about refugees now that I can soon retire!
Here (below) is the NYT on the governors (we told you about Michigan yesterday,here). What is so important about this news is that we are going to learn whether the governors have ANY POWER AT ALL TO SAY “NO” because we have long been told that they don’t by the federal refugee industry and its contractors.
If you are in one of these three states (Alabama, Michigan and Louisiana), you need to shore-up your governor now, because I suspect they are going to get hounded by the No Borders agitators and the refugee contractors (and so-called ‘church’ people) working there. Even if no Syrians have been admitted, or only a small number, you must make your voice heard now!
From the New York Times:
The governors of Alabama and Michigan said on Sunday they would not allow refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria to be resettled in their states, citing the attacks on Paris.
Alabama Governor Bentley: American citizens’ security comes first.
“As your governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way,” Gov. Robert J. Bentley of Alabama, a Republican, said in a statement.
In Michigan, which has a sizable Arab-American population, Gov. Rick Snyder, also a Republican, said his state would not accept Syrian refugees, and he urged the State Department to review its procedures.
Syrians have already settled in Michigan, with one agency relocating about 200 of them in the past year, The Detroit Free-Press reported.
“Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration,” Mr. Snyder said in a statement. “But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents.”
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has asked White House officials for information on how many Syrian refugees have relocated to his state, The Associated Press reported. Governor Jindal, a Republican, said he sought the information “in hopes that the night of horror in Paris is not duplicated here.”
I wish I had more time to talk to you about Alabama and Louisiana as so-called ‘Wilson-Fish’ states (learn what that means here) because in those states (there are 12 of them), the state government has been cut out of the refugee resettlement decision-making process altogether with the program administered from Washington through a non-profit group. I’m not saying governors in other states have much (or any control), but in these 12 states, the state and local taxpayers are completely unprotected.
If Jindal and Bentley really want to do something they need to begin to understand the system in their states, and stop it!
We are going to see now if governors have any say at all!
Drudge is reporting the news late this afternoon….
Snyder: Security comes first….
Will the dominoes begin to fall? Will other Governors demand a halt to Obama’s misguided plan to bring in 10,000 Syrians that the FBI says cannot be vetted?
And, funny coincidence I just a few minutes ago got off a radio interview in Michigan, but neither the host nor I had yet heard this incredible news. For our long time readers, this is a huge turnaround because the Republican Governor Snyder had earlier this year saidhe would like to resettle 50,000 Syrians in the state to “revitalize” dying Detroit, here.
Forty eight hours after Paris,here is the news —-a complete about-face by the Governor:
LANSING — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says he is suspending efforts to bring Syrian refugees to Michigan in light of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday.
“Given the terrible situation in Paris, I’ve directed that we put on hold our efforts to accept new refugees until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security completes a full review of security clearances and procedures,” Snyder said in a statement released by his office on Sunday.
“Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration,” the statement said. “But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents.”
Huge test of states rights!
Now, we will be watching to see if this Governor (or any other of the fifty governors) have any power to halt the resettlement (by the federal government) of refugees in their states.
Breaking news and lead on Drudge just now: Two of the terrorists are refugees who came through Greece, here. The Guardianis reporting the news with a caveat. Chuckles reverberated through the auditorium at Georgetown University Law School on October 29 when UNHCR Guterres explained in detail why it would be ridiculous for a terrorist to infiltrate the migrant flow to Europe…. yuk! yuk! yuk!
The holder of a Syrian passport found near the body of one of the gunmen who died in Friday night’s attacks in Paris passed though Greece in October, a Greek minister told Reuters.
“The holder of the passport passed through the island of Leros on 3 October 2015, where he was identified according to EU rules,” said Nikos Toscas, Greece’s deputy minister in charge of policing.
A Greek police source told Reuters that European countries had been asked to check the passport holder to see if they had been registered.
The Guardian goes on to throw in some weasel words about how they aren’t sure yet that the dead man with the passport was the same man who crossed into Greece only a little over a month ago.
Is Antonio Guterres still laughing?
We told you here five days ago (when we learned of another refugee terrorist) that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees sent titters through the mostly young/naive audience at Georgetown Law school when he answered a questions from Jim Simpson and mocked anyone who fears just that—that terrorists would infiltrate the refugee flow to Europe (and America). ***Correction***It wasn’t in response to one of Jim’s many good questions of the day, but actually at the end of Guterres prepared remarks in which he mocks the idea of terrorists coming in as refugees. Go here to the video of the speech. Go to about the 23:34 mark and listen to about 25:35 and hear him joke about the notion of terrorists in the refugee stream (you cannot hear the audience chuckling as I did sitting there).
We were there and heard it all!
Remember readers it is Guterres and his agency at the UN choosing our Syrian refugees and they have 20,000 picked out for us.
For all of our ‘Invasion of Europe’ posts, click here.
Is Germany next? Sweden? The UK?
Angry? Go here to see what you can do.
