Tag: Syrian refugees

Allentown, PA a "first tier" city to get mostly Muslim Syrian refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Meeting tomorrow in Allentown!

Update October 16th:  Local Tea Party showed up and asked questions, here.
Sorry I have to repeat over and over again that the vast majority of the Syrians the US is admitting to the country are Muslims (97%) because many people simply assume we (and these supposedly Christian charities) are helping the truly persecuted Christians.

toomeyofficialportrait
Pennsylvania citizens should contact Senator Toomey’s office today and voice your concerns. PA is in the top ten states receiving Syrian refugees. Toomey is supposedly for limited government! http://www.toomey.senate.gov/?p=about_senator

See our previous mentions of Allentown where the Mayor signed a letter with 17 other mayors begging Obama for MORE Syrians (100,000 Syrians!).
And, here, where we learned that Syrians have already begun arriving in Allentown (and Pennsylvania generally).
From The Morning Call:

With at least 130 refugees expected to arrive in the Lehigh Valley in the next 12 months, local congregations, organizations and volunteers are wondering how they can help.

Lutheran Children and Family Services, which oversees an Allentown refugee resettlement program, will hold an informational meeting from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to address how individuals, churches and businesses can assist.

The meeting will take place at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 1993 Hanover Ave., Allentown.

[….]

Janet Panning, program director of Lutheran Children and Family Services, anticipates the Allentown resettlement program will take in 130 refugees this fiscal year, 50 to 80 of whom will be from Syria.

[….]

Wednesday’s session will include representatives from Muslim, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist and Catholic faiths and a representative from the office of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.

[….]

The Allentown agency, which helps about 100 refugees each year, has been identified as a “first tier” agency, meaning it will be among the first tapped to help relocate the first wave of Syrian refugees, Panning has said.

[….]

Those wishing to attend Wednesday’s event can email Panning at janetp@lcfsinpa.org.

There is more, continue reading here.
If you are from Pennsylvania and cannot make this meeting, you should contact Senator Toomey’s office today and make sure he knows what your feelings are on the matter.  Also, find out who the staff person is who will be attending and make sure he/she knows how you feel.
For new readers!
Be sure to see what Senator Sessions learned here about security screening refugees and see here what the FBI Director said just last week—they cannot be screened.  Be sure Toomey’s staff people know about those two important Senate hearings.
See also my previous post from Florida where a doctor reminds us of the mental health needs of Syrians—ask Toomey who pays for mental health treatment?
And, go here, and start to gather important information on what is happening where you live.

Florida: Syrian community leader says the state will get 1,000-2,000 Syrians this year; need mental health care

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

He is guessing on the numbers and basing it on the fact that Florida is one of the top states receiving mostly Muslim Syrians so far. We listed the Top Ten states here.  And, we listed all the cities receiving Syrians (so far) here.

Dr+Doured+Daghistani
Dr. Doured Daghistani says the Syrians will “beef up” the diversity of South Florida.

This is from WLRN (Miami) (I sure hope there are a lot of mental health dollars available in Florida!):

According to the State Department, the six states that have housed the most Syrian refugees so far are Texas, California, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona and Florida.

Dr. Doured Daghistani, a pediatric oncologist and board member of the Syrian American Council of South Florida, says the culture shock endured by Syrian refugees arriving here is unlike any other immigrant experience.

“They’re coming with a big psycho-social burden on them,” said Daghistani.

[….]

Last month, President Obama said his administration is preparing to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming budget year. Daghistani said he expects 10-20% of the refugees to relocate to Florida and at least 10% to South Florida.

Recent polls show a majority of Americans are opposed to Obama’s plan, with most believing it poses a threat to national security.

[….]

“I think bringing the Syrian refugees here will help the humanitarian issues and will beef up the diversity of South Florida,” Daghistani said.

Syrian American Council of South Florida facebook page is here.

What you can do!

I urge all of you in Florida to visit my post yesterday and contact your state’s resettlement agencies.  You will be asking for a schedule of upcoming “quarterly consultations” and the “FY2016 Abstract” for your city.  Report to me what you find out!

Meeting tomorrow in Orlando

Although not Southern Florida, a reader yesterday told me about a meeting TOMORROW in Orlando.  If you are in the area please attend!

Orlando Area Refugee Task Force Meeting

Event Type:

Public Meeting

Date/Time:

Wednesday, October 14, 2015 – 10:00 to 12:00

Location:

Florida Department of Transportation
133 S. Semoran Blvd
Orlando Florida 32807
United States

The purpose of this meeting is to increase awareness of the refugee populations, share best practices, spot trends in refugee populations, build collaborations between agencies, help create good communication among service providers, get informed about upcoming community events, and discuss refugee program service needs and possible solutions to meeting those needs.

I’ve been told that the Florida Dept of Children and Families has other PUBLIC meetings on refugees as well, so Floridians need to find out how to be notified of upcoming opportunities around the state.

Trump doubles down on Syrian refugee "Trojan Horse" comments

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here we have the New York Post reporting on 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump (on the Sunday shows) reemphasizing his contention that the Syrian refugee stream to Europe and America could bring ISIS terrorists in with it.

donald serious
Donald Trump: “What she [Merkel] has done to Germany is insane.”
Trump also said he carries a gun from time to time.
Just a reminder, the Syrian stream to America is well underway, 97% are Syrian Muslims.
From the New York Post:

WASHINGTON — It’s “insane” that Chancellor Angela Merkel is allowing so many male Syrian refugees into Germany, Donald Trump said Sunday.

“I’ve been watching this migration. And I see the people. I mean, they’re men, they’re mostly men, and they’re strong men,” Trump said on “Face the Nation.” “What I won’t do is take in 200,000 Syrians who could be ISIS.”

“These are physically young, strong men. They look like prime-time soldiers. Now, it’s probably not true. But where are the women?” the GOP frontrunner wondered.

Merkel has welcomed the flood of mostly Syrian and Afghan refugees with compassion saying it’s her “damned duty” to help those running for their lives. An estimated 800,000 newcomers will arrive in Germany by the year’s end.

“What she’s done in Germany is insane. It’s insane. They’re having all sorts of attacks.”

The Gulf States “who have nothing but money” and others should find a big swath of land in Syria and create a safe zone to harbor families, Trump suggested. The US could help economically, but should limit taking in Syrian refugees because they could be terrorists.

See all of our posts on the ‘Invasion of Europe’ by clicking here.  And, see what Merkel is doing to Germany, here (“unparalleled historical mistake”).
Update:  Merkel not backing down on original decision to invite Syrian refugees to Germany, here.

US Conference of Catholic Bishops want 100,000 Syrians admitted to US this year….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….invoke Pope Francis’s name in their appeal.   Does the Pope have this huge number (100,000 mostly Muslim Syrians) in mind for America?

Archbishop Kurtz
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Kentucky is the President of the USCCB and is advocating for 100,000 Syrian, mostly Muslim, refugees to be placed in your parishes!

We know that the Bishops are pushing for this outrageous number already, but many good Catholics may not.   A Catholic reader directed my attention to the Bishops’ website, here.
Our reader, Mark, says he received an e-mail with a link to this site, which among other things, urges faithful Catholics to write a letter to Obama to try and persuade him to admit 100,000 Syrians PLUS another 100,000 refugees in one year. 
The Bishops surely are not telling local priests and parishioners that they are raking in millions of dollars of cold hard cash from federal taxpayers for refugee resettlement activities.  And, they aren’t telling them that they are NOT advocating to save the persecuted Christians of Syria through this program.
From the USCCB:

The political and humanitarian crisis in Syria is a serious concern for the Catholic Church and the bishops of the United States. In the past five years, at least four million Syrians have fled their country as a consequence of the civil war and the rise of ISIS. Most have fled to surrounding countries, especially Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, and many others have moved on to Europe with the hope of finding a place of peace and safety. Pope Francis and the Catholic bishops have called on the U.S. government and the international community to provide support to both Syrian refugees fleeing violence and to countries that have been at the forefront of this humanitarian effort. These recommendations include:

*Providing 100,000 annual resettlement slots for the most vulnerable refugees fleeing the Syria conflict.

*Designating an additional 100,000 refugees to be resettled in the U.S. from other countries.

See the Archbishop’s statement here.
The USCCB needs to admit loud and clear to every Catholic in America how much money they get from the taxpayers for their “Migration Fund!”

See here, over $80 million in one recent year. This is NOT Christian charity!

And, one more thing, we are hearing rumors that various Catholic Charities are gearing up in parishes across the country to increase their refugee load to your town or city this year.  More later….

Republican Governor Snyder welcomes Syrians to Michigan; Arab activists want more welfare

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We’ve written about Gov. Snyder and his plan to re-populate Detroit with 50,000(!) Syrians, but where does he expect 50,000 (or even 5,000) to work, or will they just bring federal welfare dollars to the city?
Here is the latest from the The Detroit News (hat tip: Joanne).  Emphasis is mine.

Haifa Fakhouri
Does Ms. Fakhouri understand that the vast majority of the Syrians she is advocating (for Michigan) will be Muslims?

Michigan, already home to one of the largest communities of Syrian immigrants in the nation, can expect even more in the coming months as lawmakers warm up to the idea of welcoming more people from the war-torn country.

[….]

The prospect of accepting the migrants has support in Michigan, where about 4,000 refugees were resettled last year, with more than half of those from Iraq, according to data from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health & Human Services.

“Gov. Snyder believes Michigan should be a welcoming state,” said Dave Murray, spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder. “We are open to working with the federal government to see if there is a role that Michigan can play with this issue.”

It’s unclear how many Syrian refugees could end up living in Michigan. Resettlement inside the U.S. is influenced by several factors, including whether the refugee has relatives living in the U.S. already, and the capacity of the resettlement agencies in local communities to handle individual or special casesand languages spoken.

“Each state also has the ability to comment on the capacity of the agencies and the communities in which they propose to place refugees,” said Danna Van Brandt, an adviser for the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration within the State Department.

Liar, liar pants on fire!

It is absolutely NOT true Ms. Van Brandt that each state has the ability to comment on the capacity for the communities to handle more refugees, as all of you working in ‘pockets of resistance’ can attest.  If they consult at all, they consult only with ‘friendlies’ like Gov. Snyder!

More welfare please!

The Detroit News continued with, get this, they want more welfare for Michigan refugees!  This when we already know ,thanks to the work of Senator Sessions’ office, that Middle Easterners (Muslims and Christians) are gobbling welfare at a higher rate than other refugees.

Activists in Metro Detroit’s Arab community are pushing for the federal government to offer more aid to refugees from the Middle East and Africa.

“We’ve seen refugees coming here from the Middle East for the last 36 years,” said Haifa Fakhouri, president, CEO and founder of the Arab American and Chaldean Council….

[….]

The Arab American and Chaldean council is helping refugees through programs run by the United Nations, Catholic Relief Services and through efforts by churches and mosques, Fakhouri said.

Someone please do an economic study to counter the idea that refugees bring boom times to dying cities!
Logic tells us that that is simply impossible.  Leave out the welfare dollars, the special loans for start-up refugee businesses, and money for HUD housing (coming from Washington, from taxpayers!) and then do the study!  Be sure to factor in the remittances leaving the US permanently as refugees send money “home.” 
Finally a clever reporter notices!
Every time you hear about how we have to help Europe out of its crisis remember that the vast majority of our Syrian refugees are chosen by the UN from UN camps, and here we see that 15,000 are in the pipeline from UN camps (previously we were told 17,000).  Whether it’s 15,000 or 17,000 that is still over the 10,000 Obama says we will take in FY2016 (which got underway on Oct. 1).
Does Ms. Fakhouri understand that 97% of the Syrians who came through the Refugee Admissions Program so far are Muslims!
The Detroit News:

The refugees from Syria would be people who are already in the pipeline and waiting to be let into the United States, not the thousands working their way through eastern Europe and landing in Greece. It was not immediately clear how admitting a larger number of Syrian refugees who are in the processing pipeline would help alleviate the crisis that European countries are grappling with.

About 15,000 Syrians are waiting for the clearance process to conclude, according to the State Department.

There is much more including a list of Michigan elected officials for and against the Governor’s wish to bring ’em in!  Continue reading here.
By the way, back in 2008, the US State Department slowed the flow to Michigan as the state was overwhelmed with welfare-gobbling refugees, so what changed their minds?