Lawrence Bartlett, State Department refugee chieftain sidelined?

01/10/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The federal refugee contractors, that altogether receive over a half a billion a year of your money to place refugees in your towns and cities, must be using reporters at Reuters to get their messages out to the public.

Screenshot (1242) — I laughed when I saw that Reuters used a shot from when Bartlett headlined the Heritage Foundation ‘educational’ panel discussion on the US Refugee program last September. I had planned to do the same thing (use a shot from the panel discussion). When Heritage held this event, with inside the beltway types, I knew they had no clue about what was really happening with refugees in your towns and cities. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/09/14/is-the-heritage-foundation-selling-you-out-on-unus-refugee-admissions-policy/

Here we have news that Lawrence Bartlett, some of you have seen his advocacy for more refugees (and antipathy to local citizens) first hand, has been sidelined at the US State Department. Later in the Reuters story he says, not so fast!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. official who has been a defender of refugees has been sidelined within the State Department in what some advocates and former officials fear is part of the Trump administration’s goal of limiting refugee resettlement in the United States.

Lawrence Bartlett, head of refugee admissions at the State Department’s Population, Refugees and Migration bureau, is now on a temporary assignment at another office, a State Department spokeswoman said.

Bartlett’s future leadership of the refugee office has been in doubt for months. He is now a temporary senior adviser at the State Department office that handles requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Sending a civil servant of his experience and rank to that office is unusual, according to current and former U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A current official described such a re-assignment as a form of internal exile like being sent “to Siberia.”

Really! Is that why the State Department has an abysmal record and reputation for not answering FOIA requests? Either they do nothing there or they work really hard to figure out what not to tell you. When they do tell you, it is YEARS later! Is that why it is like Siberia?
Bartlett says he has “NOT been permanently reassigned.”

Yeganeh Torbati — The Reuters go-to gal for Hans? https://twitter.com/yjtorbati

Bartlett did not respond to a range of questions about his new role, but did say he has not been told the assignment is permanent.

“I can assure you that I have NOT been permanently reassigned from my position with the refugee program,” Bartlett wrote in an e-mail to Reuters.

Refugee advocates say Bartlett was a strong and effective advocate for the resettlement program inside the Trump administration.

I found this little nugget (below) interesting. Here we learn that the State Department Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration bureaucrats chit-chat via e-mail regularly with their contractors. Hey! what about us! We pay for all this, why can’t we see those e-mails.
Gee maybe we could FOIA them!

Since approximately November, Bartlett has not been included on communications between the State Department and outside refugee agencies that he normally would have been, one person involved in refugee resettlement said.

Keep reading here.
Reuters quotes Hans (again). So is Hans Van de Weerd the conduit for getting anti-Trump messages out of the DOS and Homeland Security and to Reuters?
See my complete Lawrence Bartlett archive here. Prior to being assigned to the FOIA office, Bartlett was in Puerto Rico for a month, here.

Arabic remains top language spoken by refugees entering US in last ten years

01/05/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Somali comes in 3rd place!
Every few years or so I post this page from the Refugee Processing Center (Wrapsnet) and readers find it of interest.
It should be of great interest to elected officials, school officials, health/hospital administrators, and the criminal justice system (any agency getting federal money!) in ‘welcoming’ communities because those agencies are required to provide translation services thanks to a Clinton-era Executive Order that is still in place.
In fact the translation services are an increasingly big cost for state and local taxpayers. And, the refugee contractors make money on the side providing interpreters—sweet deal!
You can see that the percentage of Arabic speakers jumped from Bush’s last year (’08) to Obama’s last full year (’16).

Screenshot (1236)

I have a category entitled ‘Where to find information’ and another called ‘Refugee statistics‘ that new readers might find useful. This post is filed in both categories.

Per (refugee) head payment to contractors took huge jump during Obama's tenure

01/03/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’m sure readers get sick of hearing me talk about the per head payment the US State Department pays the so-called VOLAGs (aka resettlement agencies, aka contractors)*** to place refugees into your towns and cities, but it is important because that is why you hear the contractors wailing now about the Trump Administration’s refugee slowdown.

LIRS welcome cover — Why is the “welcome” the responsibility of the beleaguered US taxpayer?

Of course these agencies are on the Leftwing of the political spectrum and want to see diversity (and Democrat voters) planted in your towns. They have bought into the UN’s borderless world agenda, and some (maybe more than we know) work directly with global corporations to supply refugee labor, but because they can’t survive without government funding, they are hysterical now.
Thanks to collegue Jim, here is a document from ten years ago, produced by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (the one experiencing financial accounting questions) claiming that the $850 per head payment they received at the time (half went to the refugees and half was for overhead) was not sufficient and they wanted a per head raise to $1,500.

Public-Private partnership, my foot!

They actually made the claim repeatedly in their report that the PUBLIC-PRIVATE partnership was too heavily skewed in the direction of private funding responsibility and that the feds weren’t putting up their share.
That claim led me to a Form 990 for 2009 (I couldn’t find 2008) to see if they were indeed putting in more money than the feds. The answer is NO!
In fact only 3% of their revenue from gifts, grants and loan collection fees was private funding. The remainder was GOVERNMENT funding of some sort.
Here is a screenshot of that portion of their Form 990 for 2009:

Screenshot (124) — Obviously government grants are taxpayer dollars as is the loan service fees.

That fact, that 97% of LIRS income that year was supplied by the US taxpayer, completely nullifies the argument they make in their 2008 18-page analysis: The Real Cost of Welcome where they say they are supplying the greater amount in the public-private partnership.
The purpose of the study was to ‘encourage’ an even larger share of the burden for the taxpayer.

Screenshot (125) — In 2008 they complained that $850 per refugee was inadequate and that they were putting in an unfair share of the public-private arrangement.

I thought you might like to see what ‘services’ they provide for refugees (that you pay for). Remember that they only take care of the refugees they place for 90 days.

Much of this could be done with volunteer help and donations. Isn’t this after all supposed to be a charitable humanitarian endeavor?

When did it happen that religious good works were to be paid for by the government?

Screenshot (126) — You can readily see why a refugee designation is the most desirable LEGAL immigration category one could want. American taxpayers give out a lot of goodies, plus the refugees get caseworkers to hold their hands through the welfare bureaucracy!

Conclusion: We want $1,500 per head!

Screenshot (128)_LI

I can report that they got their wish and more! The present rate (climbed steadily over the Obama years) is now $2,125!

$1,125 is to be spent on the refugee and the contractor pockets $1000 for ‘administrative’ expenses. (And the contractor decides how to spend the refugee’s share!).
And, let me be clear, this (State Department payment) is not the only money the contractors receive from the US Treasury, they receive literally millions more through other agencies and grants/contracts particularly from the Office of Refugee Resettlement in HHS.
***These are the nine federal contractors who pass money through to hundreds of subcontractors operating around the country.
Broken record alert!
It is my contention that the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program will never be reformed until these Leftwing community organizers are removed from the federal dole. You get the list twice today (earlier post here)!

Michigan: Do we see a new trick by the US State Department to keep information from citizens?

11/27/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

For new readers, and for seasoned activists too, we have been telling you for several years to obtain your R & P Abstracts for your city.

The R & P Abstract (Reception and Placement Abstract) is prepared by your local resettlement agencies each year in advance of the new fiscal year which begins October 1 (we are now in FY18) which outlines a kind of wishlist for the number of refugees your city has the ‘capacity’ to absorb, from where they will come, and what amenities your community has to offer.

Those amenities include housing, jobs, medical care, schools, etc.

To see examples of these important planning documents, see here about Reno, Nevada, and here about St. Cloud, MN.

The Abstract is prepared by a local non-profit group refugee office and then goes up the chain to one of nine major federal resettlement contractors*** who present them to the US State Department in order for the DOS to prepare the President’s Annual Determination and for the contractor to get its federal bucks (on a per refugee head basis).

You will find the Abstract very informative, that is, if you can get it!

Keeping the Abstracts from the public is part of the secrecy game going on with the US Refugee Admissions Program!

If you call your local resettlement office (see list here) they will either tell you that you can’t have a recent Abstract (ask for FY18) or will pretend they don’t know what you are talking about.

Now to Michigan….

fbi-raid-dearborn — Everyone should visit Dearborn once in your life!

After running in to the roadblocks set up by the refugee contractors, the leaders at Secure Michigan have in the past gotten their Abstracts by doing a state public information act request (like the Freedom of Information Act at the federal level).

Not this year!

Incredibly the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees a state refugee coordinator, told Secure Michigan that quote:

“We do not have the resettlement agency proposals you are requesting. We no longer receive them.”

Just think about that, the Michigan DHHS is not able to see the plans that some non-profit contractors have with the federal government to place refugees in Michigan cities.

The state is not permitted to know what nationalities are coming, where refugees will likely work, what housing opportunities are available in various cities and so forth?

And, here is the takeaway for me: If the state doesn’t have the Abstracts, they can’t be obtained by you—taxpaying citizens—through public information act requests!

The MDHHS went on to say:

“The US Department of State chart is the only data we have regarding his request”

Here are the raw (anticipated) numbers for Michigan:

Screenshot (1187)_LI — At the present rate of entry, Michigan will be lucky to get 600-800 refugees this year. Resettlement contractors will be hurting for taxpayer dollars.

I just checked Wrapsnet and so far this fiscal year, just short of two months, Michigan has received a grand total of 96 refugees. If this pace continues, Michigan would be looking at 600-800 for the year.

If you would like to try to get your FY18 R & P Abstract, go here and find which offices are operating in your city (remember they can place refugees from 50-100 miles from this office).

Call those local offices and ask for the R & P Abstract for this year, FY18. If they refuse, then call your state refugee coordinator (list here) and ask that person. If the coordinator gives you a runaround then consider doing a freedom of information request using your state’s laws (you should be able to find templates for that request on line).

Don’t forget Congress!

And, to make your elected officials earn their keep. Contact your US Congressman’s office and ask him or her to get you the FY18 R & P Abstract for whichever resettlement offices are working where you live.

To have even more fun, call your local elected officials (mayor, council, etc) and ask them if they have the plans, the R & P Abstract, for your town or city. I’ll bet they don’t and I will bet that they have no clue what you are even talking about—dereliction of duty in my opinion!

By the way, not to hammer the point too hard (but I will!), the Heritage Foundation clearly has no clue about the resettlement process and the secrecy surrounding it as there is no mention of YOUR issue (the problems impacting you where you live) in their “reform” proposal that focuses on America looking good to foreign governments!

This post is filed in my ‘What you can do’ category, here.

***These are the nine federal refugee contractors (paid by you) making plans for your towns and cities. See that Michigan has six of the nine bidding for bodies from the US State Department.

Wholesale movement of Bhutanese refugees to US to end (so they say!)

11/19/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

But, the UN still has 8,500 more to go to completely clean out their camps in Nepal.

The other day I mentioned that the US under Obama committed to helping the UN clean out some of its African camps of the people from the DR Congo and I predicted the resettlement would go way beyond the 50,000 (over 5 years).

After all, the US State Department has a track record….

Sauerbrey with UN ceil — Bush Asst. Sec. of State for PRM, stunned the UN in the fall of 2006 with news that the US would lead in cleaning out the camps.

New readers may not know that in 2006, the Bush Administration said, oh sure, we will take 60,000 over 5 years of the displaced ‘Bhutanese’ (really people of Nepali origin) living in UN camps in Nepal.

Never mind that we had no strategic interest and no responsibility for the Bhutan/Nepal quarrel.

The mostly Hindu ‘Bhutanese’ ended up in camps in Nepal when the country of Bhutan said they wanted only their people in their country (formerly known as Shangri-La). Nepal refused to take in its people flooding out of Bhutan causing the UN to build camps.

So, I presume looking for more docile third world workers, George W. Bush said sure!

We were only supposed to take 60,000 over five years. But guess what?

We are now up to 94,473 (2,000 more are being processed) in nearly ten years!

I’m telling you, once the spigot opens, closing it becomes almost impossible! Just look at the Somalis who we have been admitting for 30 years!

From Kathmandu Post:

Nov 19, 2017-As the decade-long third country resettlement programme of the Bhutanese refugees living in eastern Nepal draws to a close, the fate of the those still in the camps hangs in the balance.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) and the UN refugee agency in Kathmandu confirmed that the third country resettlement scheme is closing down after the last batch of refugees leaves by the end of December.

Currently there are around 8,500 refugees in the camps in Jhapa district but both sides—Nepal government and the UNHCR—have yet to find alternatives for them.

There was pressure on Nepal government to locally assimilate the refugees in Nepal, but Kathmandu has been constantly saying that these refugees should be repatriated to Bhutan.

[….]

Screenshot (1103)_LI — LOL! So much for sharing in the responsibility with 7 other countries! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_refugees

Nearly nine out of 10 Bhutanese refugees (90 percent) have been resettled since the launch of the third country resettlement programme in 2007, with nearly 111,000 refugees resettled in eight different countries. “Globally, far less than 1 percent of refugees are resettled. Thus, the resettlement programme for Bhutanese refugees in Nepal is truly exceptional,” the office said. The UNHCR, together with the international community, is working closely with the government of Nepal to find solutions for the remaining refugees, the UNHCR added. According to the UN office, with nearly 111,000 refugees resettled in third countries and only 8,500 of them remaining in Nepal, the opportunities to achieve durable solutions at this juncture are great.

[In 2006 we were told there were 100,000 that needed to be spread around the world, but see now they are up to nearly 120,000. Where did the extra 20,000 come from? Wandering in from the neighborhood?—ed]

[….]

Quick facts

Approximately 120,000 Bhutanese fled from their country and arrived in Nepal to become refugees from Bhutan in the early 1990s

They were lodged in several camps in Jhapa in eastern Nepal

The third country resettlement programme was launched in 2007

In the last one decade, nearly 111,000 refugees from Bhutan have been settled in various western countries, with the US alone receiving more than 90,000 of them

Nearly 2,000 refugees are currently undergoing screening process under the third country resettlement programme

The UN refugee agency says it is set to close down the third-country resettlement programme by early next

The last batch is likely to leave in December after which an estimated 8,500 Bhutanese refugees will remain in Nepal

More here.

For my extensive file on the Bhutanese resettlement to America, click here. You will see in early posts how hard the people fought to NOT be distributed around the world.

And, if you want to know how many your state ‘welcomed’ here is a map today at Wrapsnet.

Screenshot (1100)

Screenshot (1101)_LI — Top ‘welcoming’ states are Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas (making sure those states turn reliably blue, so dark blue you can’t read the numbers on the map!)