If you are a new reader and are wondering what hearing, go here and here for more.
For those of you in ‘Pockets of Resistance’, you need to get a look at the Washington bureaucrats responsible for changing your communities!
And, as I have said previously, this is a rare opportunity because as far as I can tell there has been no oversight hearing of this program since before 911!
While looking for something else, I came across this articlefrom Der Spiegelfrom August in which it is made very clear that Angela Merkel’s welcome to the migrants is all about the cheap and abundant labor German industrialists need. (This was written before the invasion crisis began in earnest and there was still a certain glow to the notion of inviting ‘refugees’ to Germany).
As we highlighted in a story from Twin Falls, Idaho—just follow the money!
See Angela Merkel’s prospective workers arriving via Hungary (be prepared to be sick!) Hat tip: John
German Companies see Refugees as Opportunities!
The German economy is dependent on immigration, both from Europe as well as people entering the country due to asylum rights in Germany. With the German population shrinking, businesses are unable to fill many jobs, and specialized workers are increasingly rare. This trend will only be exacerbated in the coming years. It’s a development that jeopardizes the country’s future prosperity.
[….]
A smaller workforce translates into fewer people paying into the pension fund and health insurance systems, fewer people consuming and producing goods, and fewer people paying taxes to pay for expenses like schools and road construction. Fewer people also translates into a reduced potential for growth and less affluence.
[….]
The skilled trades have already started recruiting refugees and migrants. When Christoph Karmann is not sitting in his office in downtown Munich, he is visiting vocational schools, where he encounters young migrants with many questions. What can I do, they ask? What opportunities will I have? How does the vocational training system work in Germany?
As one of two so-called training canvassers with the Chamber of Commerce and Industryfor Munich and Upper Bavaria, Karmann places refugees and migrants in companies with training programs. Bavarian skilled manual labor enterprises are urgently in need of trainees and workers. This spring, the chamber of trade wrote to 7,000 businesses in Upper Bavaria to ask whether they would hire a refugee. In response, it received offers for 1,200 internship and traineeship positions.
There is much more, read it all. Obviously Germany is willing to trade its cultural and religious future for cold hard cash! What good is “future prosperity” if Germany becomes New Syria!
See our complete archive on the ‘Invasion of Europe’ by clicking here. All of our posts on Mama Merkel’s mess are here.
The Senate hearing is today, see here.
And, next week the House of Representatives (full Judiciary Committee) will hold a hearing as well. As soon as we learn who the witnesses will be, we will let you know.
We have been telling you for weeks that the House and Senate Judiciary Committees are required to hold hearings on the Presidential Determinationfor the upcoming year, but as far as I can tell, no hearing has been held since 911. I think this year they could hardly shirk their duty because the public is up-in-arms over the plan to bring in thousands of not-properly-screened Syrians. Here is the entire press release, yesterday:
HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS AND ITS IMPACT ON NATIONAL SECURITY OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PLANS TO RESETTLE 10,000 SYRIAN REFUGEES OVER THE COMING YEAR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 30, 2015 CONTACT: Kathryn Rexrode or Jessica Collins, (202) 225-3951
Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 10:30 a.m., the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to examine the Syrian refugee crisis and its impact on the security of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. President Obama has set the overall refugee ceiling at 85,000 for Fiscal Year 2016 and announced that the Administration will admit 10,000 Syrian refugees over the coming year.
Trey Gowdy is chairman of the Immigration and Border Control Subcommittee and represents Spartanburg, SC, a hotbed of opposition to refugee resettlement. We have maintained that he could be doing more to take a leadership role on the issue that we feel is the most important one this country faces since its founding. How many immigrants are we going to admit, and from where will they come, will determine America’s future. It would be nice to solve the Benghazi riddle, but it won’t make or break America—immigration very well could! BTW, Is Gowdy staying or leaving? See rumors here: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/255432-gowdys-office-denies-retirement
Below are statements from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) on this hearing. Witnesses for the hearing will be announced in the coming days.
Chairman Goodlatte: “While the United States already has the most generous refugee policies in the world, we must ensure that those seeking refuge in the United States do not pose national security threats to our nation. Recently, President Obama announced his intention to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States over the coming year. Because the Obama Administration has failed to address the rise of ISIS in Syria and the region, a humanitarian crisis has erupted. I am deeply concerned about the rise of ISIS, its threat to our national security, and the humanitarian crisis it has created.
“Next week, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the national security and public safety implications of our nation’s refugee program, including the Obama Administration’s plan to resettle thousands of Syrian refugees. As we examine the Administration’s plan and the overall refugee program, it’s important to remember that most refugees prefer to go back to their home countries and live in peace. The best way to stem this refugee crisis is to promote peace in the region and support humanitarian operations in affected countries and not try to bring more and more people to the United States.”
Subcommittee Chairman Gowdy: “America has a proud history of providing refuge for those who have been persecuted for their beliefs or otherwise face imminent harm. But we also have a duty to ensure the necessary background checks can be done to stop terrorists from exploiting Americans’ generosity and ruthlessly taking more innocent lives.
“The Administration has not provided certainty to Congress that they have a plan to prevent ISIS from infiltrating our country through the refugee program. Instead, the President’s idea of consultation is to decide to accept thousands of new refugees with or without congressional support. This displacement has occurred because of this Administration’s feckless foreign policy. Many of those displaced want a safe, secure homeland in or near the Middle East and that should be the priority. We look forward to examining our refugee program at this upcoming hearing.”
This hearing will take place in 2141 Rayburn House Office Building and will be webcast live at http://judiciary.house.gov/.Camera crews wishing to cover must be congressionally-credentialed and RSVP with the House Radio-TV Gallery at (202) 225-5214.
That is not exactly the title of this excellent article at, of all places, theHuffington Post, but it’s my version of it! I’m actually blown away that Pew Charitable Trust’s Stateline news service has really dug into how the Refugee Admissions Program works. It confirms some things we knew, but that I had not seen so clearly revealed in print before.
Although it does skew toward advocating more resettlement to America (what else from a very far left foundation), someone did a lot of work. All of you in ‘Pockets of Resistance’ must read this whole article!
By the way, decades ago I knew something about the environmental hard left and property rights, and at that time Pew infamously began a propaganda campaign called the ‘Greening of the Churches.’ It was a strategy they knew that they needed in order to advance the cause of environmental fascism—they had to infiltrate the churches with the green (global warming etc.) message so good churchgoing people would carry their message. I digress, but that is my first encounter with Pew. So, I’m a bit surprised at how useful this article will be to you! Allentown, PA is going to get slammed with (mostly Muslim) Syrians thanks to welcoming message from Mayor Ed Pawlowski who admits to the Pew reporter that he has little say in how many get resettled in his city. Here is Pawlowski with guess who.
The article, besides some very useful information on how the program works, basically gives us the road map for slowing the flow—if the federal government does not have enough money appropriated for refugee resettlement (aka colonization), they can’t bring in large numbers of refugees for your town and state to care for. Only problem (and it is a big one!) is that our do-nothing House of Representatives is too chicken to use their power of the purse.
From the Huffington Post(emphasis is mine):
The U.S. plans to increase the number of refugees it takes from 70,000 to 100,000 over the next two years. New York, Los Angeles and 16 other cities have urged President Barack Obama to accept even more refugees from Syria.
But is the country—along with the aid groups that help in resettlement and local communities that receive refugees—ready for an increase in arrivals? And where will the new arrivals go?
The increase could strain America’s sprawling refugee admissions program, a partnership between the federal government, international organizations like the United Nations, nine national nonprofits and their hundreds of local affiliates.
Cities and states may need to spend more money on social services for refugees, particularly if Congress doesn’t approve additional federal funding for resettlement.
Parceling out tens of thousands of refugees to U.S. communities takes advance planning. Each week, representatives of the nine nonprofit groups meet in the Rosslyn, Virginia, offices of the Refugee Processing Center, a State Department contractor. Some groups attend via conference call.
Staffers sit around a table and review a thick packet of refugee case files. The files contain the addresses of any family members the refugee wants to join in the U.S., medical information and other personal data. The nine staffers then talk through the cases and match each refugee (or refugee family) with a city and a local nonprofit that can help them adjust to new lives in America.
[….]
To decide how many refugees to send to, say, Allentown, Pennsylvania, each year, the State Department considers how many people local nonprofits say they can resettle there. Philadelphia-based Lutheran Children and Family Service (LCFS) settled between 100 and 200 refugees in Allentown, Lancaster and Philadelphia this year; Allentown’s allotment included 39 Syrians.
Pay attention Wyoming! Governor Mead has been misinformed. He says that the refugees won’t cost the taxpayers of Wyoming anything! See his preposterous statement here back in July.*** This Pew article (below) tells us why he is wrong and is thus misleading Wyomingites.
Every state except Wyoming has a partnership with the federal government and local nonprofits to provide aid to refugees (and Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, a Republican, has supported starting such a resettlement program).
[….]
Although cities and states have the opportunity to weigh in on the resettlement process, they don’t have much control over how many refugees are settled where. “We really don’t have any say, to be honest with you,” said Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, a Democrat.
[….]
The big national nonprofits that select and resettle refugees have called for the U.S. to help even more people: 200,000 refugees in fiscal 2016, including 100,000 from Syria.
[….]
The federal government spends a lot of money processing refugees overseas and then helping them to resettle. The State Department spent over $3 billion to assist and process refugees overseas in fiscal 2015 (including through grants to the U.N.) and to settle refugees in the U.S. (through grants to the nine nonprofits). [$3 billion for the resettlement alone, not including welfare is much higher than we knew—-ed]
The $1,975 per refugee local nonprofits receive from the State Department covers 30 to 90 days of furnished housing, help buying food and clothing, and a case manager who can shepherd refugees through what can be bewildering first days in their new country, including tasks like applying for a Social Security card.
The Pew author fails to tell readers that upwards of half of that $1,975 goes to the resettlement contractor.
For all of you being told that the resettlement being decided for your town or state by NINE PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS (not elected by you) will cost local and state taxpayers nothing, read this!
Remember readers, this is Pew saying this, not RRW!
Federal aid doesn’t cover everything. “Refugees would never be able to resettle based on what’s available in the refugee resettlement pot of funding,” said Charles Shipman, state refugee coordinator for Arizona.
Private donations bolster the services local nonprofits provide [private donations are minimal and usually involve junk furniture and clothes contributions.—ed]. And states and local communities help pick up the tab, too, because refugees—who arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs—are immediately eligible for mainstream benefit programs like food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance for low-income families. States play a role in funding some of those programs.
When the refugee resettlement program began, in 1980, the federal government reimbursed states for providing cash assistance, Medicaid and supplemental Social Security benefits to refugees for their first three years in the country, said Ann Morse of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Now, the federal government only repays states for one service: providing eight months of cash and medical assistance to childless refugee couples or single adults, who don’t qualify for family-based benefits.
Read it all!
***Here are Wyoming REPUBLICAN Governor Matt Mead’s exact words back in July (click here).
The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees “pay 100 percent of the costs of refugee resettlement for many years. It’s not like we’re going to get stuck with an unfunded mandate,” he said…
I think they are mad at me—85,000 isn’t the 200,000 they wanted! Hereis the White House announcement (posted in full below).
(I’m still looking for the very detailed report, like this one for FY 2015, that is supposed to have been available weeks ago. If you see it let me know!)
One thing I would like to know, and you probably would too, is WHY ARE WE STILL BRINGING ANY ‘REFUGEES’ FROM CUBA? Human Rights First (first out of the box) criticizes Obama, here. The nerve of highly paid (by you, the US taxpayer) Brit David Miliband of the International Rescue Committee on Al Jazeera lecturing Europe and America to take more refugees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbAGZsJqYw International Rescue Committee next in line to criticize the O-man.
Presidential Determination — Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2016
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
SUBJECT: Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2016
In accordance with section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the “Act”) (8 U.S.C. 1157), and after appropriate consultations with the Congress, I hereby make the following determinations and authorize the following actions:
The admission of up to 85,000 refugees to the United States during Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest; provided that this number shall be understood as including persons admitted to the United States during FY 2016 with Federal refugee resettlement assistance under the Amerasian immigrant admissions program, as provided below.
The admissions numbers shall be allocated among refugees of special humanitarian concern to the United States in accordance with the following regional allocations; provided that the number of admissions allocated to the East Asia region shall include persons admitted to the United States during FY 2016 with Federal refugee resettlement assistance under section 584 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 1988, as contained in section 101(e) of Public Law 100-202 (Amerasian immigrants and their family members):
(Editor: I have added the 2015 numbers in red for comparison)
The 6,000 unallocated refugee numbers shall be allocated to regional ceilings, as needed. Upon providing notification to the Judiciary Committees of the Congress, you are hereby authorized to use unallocated admissions in regions where the need for additional admissions arises.
Additionally, upon notification to the Judiciary Committees of the Congress, you are further authorized to transfer unused admissions allocated to a particular region to one or more other regions, if there is a need for greater admissions for the region or regions to which the admissions are being transferred.
Consistent with section 2(b)(2) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962, I hereby determine that assistance to or on behalf of persons applying for admission to the United States as part of the overseas refugee admissions program will contribute to the foreign policy interests of the United States and designate such persons for this purpose. Consistent with section 101(a)(42) of the Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(42)), and after appropriate consultation with the Congress, I also specify that, for FY 2016, the following persons may, if otherwise qualified, be considered refugees for the purpose of admission to the United States within their countries of nationality or habitual residence:
Persons in Cuba
Persons in Eurasia and the Baltics
Persons in Iraq
Persons in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador
In exceptional circumstances, persons identified by a United States Embassy in any location
You are authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA
If you are wondering what that last bit is about, it is this: refugees by definition are supposed to have left the country of their persecution. We are not supposed to be plucking them from the place they claim to be persecuted, but over time this list has expanded (like everything else with this program!).
Don’t forget, the first hearing (since 9/11!) to address refugee resettlement in either the House or Senate will be tomorrow. Click here for more.
