Tag: Texas

Alabama files suit to rein-in refugee program, but…..

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….some legal observers say that Alabama’s (and Texas before it) legal arguments are off track.
There are two excellent articles this morning that go into detail about what Alabama alleges in its lawsuit and what a better alternative legal attack might be.
First we have Michael Patrick Leahy writing at Breitbart (click here) and Leo Hohmann here at World Net Daily, both must have given Richard Thompson (at the Thomas More Law Center) a busy afternoon fielding questions!
Truth be told, my head hurts on these legal points and so I’m leaving it to you, my dear readers, to sort through these articles. I’m going to say a bit more at my other blog, American Resistance 2016!
Here are the opening paragraphs of Hohmann’s article at WND:

Richard-Thompson
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel, Thomas More Law Center. https://www.thomasmore.org/about/president-chief-counsel-1/

Alabama has become the second state to sue the federal government alleging that it has failed to “consult” with state officials while secretly placing foreign refugees into communities.

The suit claims the Obama administration has violated the terms of the Refugee Act of 1980, which says the federal government “shall consult regularly” with states before placing refugees.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Robert Bentley told the Associated Press the lawsuit was filed Thursday, following a similar suit by Texas a month ago.

But an expert on the 1980 law governing refugee resettlement told WND that neither suit stands a chance of stopping the flow of refugees into Texas or Alabama.

Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said his organization is not involved in either the Texas or the Alabama cases because he believes there is a stronger case to be made on the grounds of the 10th Amendment.

“They filed a suit on the grounds that the feds have failed to consult with the state on the location of refugees in the state, and failure to consult is a term that has no real definition to it. Texas has filed a similar suit that thus far has not gone anywhere,” Thompson said. “Thomas More Law Center’s position is that there is a constitutional claim and that claim is based on the 10th Amendment.”

Continue reading here.
Go here to our post a month ago about how the search is on for one brave governor!

Texas sues Obama Administration and a resettlement contractor

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update December 5th:  Texas already backed down, here.
On Monday we reported that Texas was planning to sue the federal government and the International Rescue Committee, now they have done it.

hillary and miliband
The state of Texas is suing the International Rescue Committee headed by Brit David Miliband bff Hillary! Hillary: ‘Well, if you saw him it would be a BIG crush.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260660/Move-Miliband-Hillary-Clinton-special-relationship-new-man.html#ixzz3tGGETI4Z

Everyone wants to know if states have any rights under the federal Refugee Act of 1980, but since, as far as we know, no governors have even tried to test their rights, we can’t answer that.
We need more lawsuits like this one from other governors exploring different legal angles.
The consultation process required by the original Act is an important angle.
From The Hill:

Texas on Wednesday sued the Obama administration and an organization that resettles refugees over plans to bring six Syrian refugees to the state later this week.

In a filing, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission accused the two of violating federal law with its plans to bring the family to Dallas on Friday.

The state asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to block the resettlement and to order the defendants to “comply with their statutory and contractual duties to the state.”

Instead of working with the state to resettle refugees, as the law declares, the federal government and the International Rescue Committee “have left Texas uninformed about refugees that could well pose a security risk to Texans and without any say in the process of resettling these refugees,” the state said in its lawsuit. Texas on Wednesday sued the Obama administration and an organization that resettles refugees over plans to bring six Syrian refugees to the state later this week.

[….]

In its lawsuit, Texas points to the 1980 Refugee Act, which claims that the federal government must “consult regularly” with state and local governments about refugee resettlement plans before the refugees are placed within a state.

For more on Texas, visit our growing archive here.  See our David Miliband file by clicking here.

Action Alert:  Call your members of the House and Senate at 202-224-3121 and ask them to vigorously oppose the Refugee Resettlement funding contained in the Omnibus Spending Bill that will be voted on by 12-11-15! Please call by this Friday, Dec. 4th.

Texas governor threatens lawsuit against resettlement contractor over Syrians

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Abbott vs. Miliband!

The threat is directed at the International Rescue Committee*** headed by the former British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. The lawsuit would pit Abbott against Miliband who came to the US in 2013 to head up the largest (financially) of the nine US resettlement contractors.
From the Houston Chronicle:

Texas Governor-elect Greg Abbott addresses media during a news conference, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, at the Capitol in Austin, Texas. Abbott is the first new Texas governor in 14 years — and he did it in a landslide. He crushed Democrat Wendy Davis by one of the biggest margins in any of three dozen gubernatorial races across the U.S., carrying nearly 60 percent of the vote by early Wednesday as Texas underwent its biggest political shake-up in decades. (AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner) AUSTIN CHRONICLE OUT, COMMUNITY IMPACT OUT; INTERNET AND TV MUST CREDIT PHOTOGRAPHER AND STATESMAN.COM; MAGS OUT
Texas Governor Greg Abbott

AUSTIN – Texas officials are escalating their opposition to Syrian refugees with a new order aimed specifically at resettlement groups that have indicated they will accept people fleeing the war-torn country: change your mind or risk getting sued by the state.

Texas health commissioner Chris Traylor issued the first lawsuit threat over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in a letter to the Dallas branch of the International Rescue Committee, which said earlier this month that it supports accepting Syrian refugees.

miliband bananas
Miliband bff Soros, Clinton and Samantha Power takes lucrative job as head of the IRC. Photo and story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2299583/David-Miliband-quits-Britain-280-000-U-S-charity-job-earning-DOUBLE-brother-Ed-gets-Labour-leader.html

“We have been unable to achieve cooperation with your agency,” Traylor wrote in the letter, which was released to the Houston Chronicle late Sunday, adding that, “Failure by your organization to cooperate with the State of Texas as required by federal law may result in the termination of your contract with the state and other legal action.”

Similar letters are expected to be sent to any refugee resettlement group that takes a similar position against Gov. Greg Abbott.

Go to the Houston Chronicle for more and to see the letter.  Alas, it isn’t just Syrian Muslims going to Texas, but the state has been a target for the resettlement of large numbers of Somali and Iraqi Muslims as well.

Eight of nine major resettlement contractors operating in Texas:

Abbott may have to sue eight of the nine federal resettlement contractors (this is from Part II of my Texas trilogy of posts).  These are the nine federal resettlement contractors:

Please go to this list of subcontractors everywhere and scroll down to Texas.
Texas is the number one resettlement state in the nation! And, never forget, Democrats and the No borders agitators are working day and night to turn Red states Blue—Texas is their number one target!
Recognizing how lucrative the ‘welcoming’ Texas turf is (contractors are paid by the head to resettle refugees), eight of the nine contractors have set up shop somewhere in Texas.  The only one with no office there yet is the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society!
For more on Texas, go here to our three part series from earlier this summer.
And for much more on David Miliband and his friends in high places, click here.   Hillary adores him!
***From this post:

International Rescue Committee (secular)
(From 2012 Form 990)

Total revenue: $456,122,865
Govt. grants and contracts (including travel loan income): $332,271,151
Percent taxpayer funded: 73%
Top salary: $485,321  (this is the salary of the former CEO, but we assume Miliband is pulling down similar numbers).

Action Alert:  Call your members of the House and Senate at 202-224-3121 and ask them to vigorously oppose the Refugee Resettlement funding contained in the Omnibus Spending Bill that will be voted on by 12-11-15! Please call by this Friday, Dec. 4th.

In Texas, Leftist community organizers target governor over Syrian refugee stance

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As you know by now, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has supported the call made by scores of other governors to halt Syrian resettlement to the state.

Texas is the holy grail for the No Borders activists (they want to turn it BLUE) and as such has been the number one state in the nation for several years to receive third world refugees.

(For background see especially our three part Texas series of posts from earlier this year, click here and follow links to parts II and III).

Caterine at governors mansion
Look for Leftwing community organizers like (bull horn) Joe Caterine behind protests like this one. It doesn’t look like “hundreds.” Photo: http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Joe+Caterine/Activists+Protest+Against+Texas+Gov+Greg+Abbott/as49AI-2wqv

It is no surprise that community organizers are whipping up the Syrian issue and protesting the governor as they did this weekend in Austin.  The governor has also been criticized by these same activists for TX role in the DAPA lawsuit.
Calling ‘Pockets of Resistance!’
Maybe folks in Texas ‘pockets of resistance’ need to show their support for the governor in some significant and coordinated way. (Maybe already in the works?)
See this news at The Texas Tribune and note that Catholic Charities of Dallas is thumbing its nose at the governor, and says it will resettle them in Texas anyway!  (Don’t forget that CC is paid by the head to resettle these mostly Sunni Muslim refugees in TX!).

A few hundred demonstrators, carrying placards and chanting slogans, rallied outside the Texas Governor’s Mansion Sunday to protest Gov. Greg Abbott’s attempts to block refugees fleeing civil war in Syria from settling in Texas.

Under the watchful eye of dozens of police, the protesters gathered to criticize what they described as xenophobic and misinformed policies aimed at the war refugees.

[….]

Abbott said last week that Texas would not accept Syrian refugees into the state, and he ordered the Texas Health & Human Services Commission’s Refugee Resettlement program to quit participating in the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Texas.

[….]

Leaders of the protest said refugees admitted into the United States undergo a rigorous vetting process and will come to the Lone Star State despite Abbott’s order, because the federal government has the final say even if states attempt to cut off financial support that would help them.

“They’re coming no matter what,” said Joe Caterine, head of the Syrian People Solidarity Group, one of the organizers of Sunday’s protest. “If we’re not helping them find a place to live and find a job they’re going to be a burden on the government.”

One group helping with resettlements in North Texas, Catholic Charities of Dallas, announced after Abbott’s declaration on Monday that it would no longer accept Syrian refugees. But on Wednesday the group reversed course and announced that it would continue helping them find homes in Texas despite Abbott’s order, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Continue reading here.

Joseph Caterine
Caterine at Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-caterine-1528793b

Don’t forget!  These protesters are demonstrating for Sunni Muslim Syrians, not all Syrians! 

There are only a tiny number of Christian Syrians in the stream (chosen by the UNHCR) and headed to America, and virtually no Shiite Muslims are in the group.  98% Sunni Muslim!

I think you should keep pointing that out—these are protests FOR ONLY SUNNI MUSLIMS! There may be some Texans who are rightly worried for the Christians in Syria and they need to know that Christians are only a tiny fraction of those getting in to the US.

Who is the leader of the Syrian People Solidarity Group?

Know the opposition!  See more on Joe Caterine, here (with Solidarity Circuit’s Inter-Act) and here (he works for, or did work for, North Texas Area United Way).  More here.
Facebook page for Syrian People Solidarity Group is here.   It really should be renamed—Syrian Sunni Muslim Solidarity Group!
See our huge archive on Texas by clicking here.

Federal refugee contractors: Houston is "the perfect destination for refugees!"

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is your typical warm and fuzzy story about refugees ‘melting’ into America.
In fact it is one of those stories that drives me to tell you about the welfare moochers, murderers, rapists and terrorists in the refugee stream—you know to give balance to the news!
I’m skipping all the heartwarming information about one refugee’s successful resettlement in Houston, described as in the top four places in the world for refugee resettlement, to get to the bit of information I found revealing.
The US State Department does not choose which towns and cities will ‘welcome’ new resettlement seed communities—the nine federal non-governmental contractors*** do!  

Lawrence Bartlett
Bartlett is Asst. Sec. of State Anne Richard’s right hand man. Are the contractors leading the State Department by the nose?

We knew they played a huge role, but who knew they were calling the shots.  That means that no elected official at any level of government is deciding the future of your community—a bunch of left-leaning non-profit groups are in charge!
Here is what Larry Bartlett, director of refugee admissions at the US State Department, told the Houston Chronicle:

A trend stands out in Harris County refugee data. The vast majority of Houston’s refugees came from warm climates: Cuba, Iraq, Congo and Somalia. But the resettlement agencies don’t place people based on a preference for a hot, steamy climate.

“We don’t consider climate a major driver,” said Larry Bartlett, director of refugee admissions at the State Department, which oversees the resettlement process.

But assigning refugees to cities in the United States does not fall to the State Department. Those decisions are made by a consortium of nine national nongovernmental organizations.

There ought to be a law!

Then this:  more than half of the refugee flow to your town or city is from family reunification!

I mentioned that here in a post about Twin Falls, Idaho. So that means once your town has become an established seed community there is virtually no stopping it as the contractors are immediately filing applications for the extended family to come on in!
The Houston Chronicle story continued:

In a 2012 press briefing, Bartlett said that the refugee resettlement process prioritizes family reunification. He explained in a recent telephone interview that refugees indicate on their application whether they have a relative or friend in the United States. It does not help their chances, but it can help decide their resettlement location.

“Over half of our refugees are joining family members or other U.S. ties,” Bartlett said. This statistic likely applies in Houston; many refugees are placed here to join family or friends already living in this cosmopolitan melting pot.

Ultimately, the nine national organizations propose a number for each city each year, he said. Houston welcomes more refugees than any other American city because its nonprofit sector has the capacity to assist them.

The organizations consult with local refugee services agencies and elected officials to decide that number. Houston has a significant resettlement infrastructure: six of the nine national organizations operate in Houston, where they partner with five local refugee services agencies. “It’s a very successful site,” Bartlett said.

From my own experience I know that “consultation” with local elected officials is often not much more than a few minutes of briefing where the contractor tells the local elected government that they have no choice in the matter.

If there were any Members of Congress (besides Texas Rep. Brian Babin) or Senators with a backbone willing to begin at least amending the Refugee Act of 1980, one important fix would be to strip the CONTRACTORS of their power to target towns and cities for colonization!  It is outrageous—no one elected them!

Sign the petition, demand a local role in the process!  It might not be a perfect solution, but at least you have a shot at choosing through the election process officials you can trust.  There are 1,358 signatures on the petition to date representing all 50 states!
Texas is the number one resettlement state in the nation, please see our Texas archive, here.
*** For new readers, these are the nine federal refugee resettlement contractors which control all of the resettlement of third worlders to your towns and cities!