Tag: US State Department

60 Minutes spewing B.S. on refugee screening/travel costs

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I can’t even bring myself to watch the recent 60 Minutes program on the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program, but think I need to say something about a couple of bits of B.S. from CBS’s written report on the show.
First on security and health screening, this is what 60 Minutes reports:

US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson testifies before a House Appropriations Committee Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on the Homeland Security Department budget on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2015. AFP PHOTO/NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
Director of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, B.S.er-in-chief on 60 Minutes.

Johnson explains that the process begins with United Nations. Long before refugees make the journey to a new home, they are interviewed multiple times by the U.N. for their vital statistics — including where they came from and who they know — and given an iris scan to establish their identity. After that initial assessment, the U.N. then refers refugees to a country for resettlement.

B.S. meter….
So we are expected to believe and trust that the United Nations, with its vast network of Muslim employees, will screen (interview!) refugees fairly.
The refugees are able to tell their ‘stories,’ but there is no way to establish the truthfulness of those ‘stories’ because no one can call home to Syria.
Then they get an “iris scan” which may have value later if they commit some crime or terrorist act and their identity needs to be determined. But, there is no way this scan has any meaning beyond that.  There is no way to go back to the Syrian government and say, gee, we would really like to see a past IRIS SCAN to compare to the one we just got from a ‘refugee’ living in Jordan for example.
60 Minutes continues:

If that country is the U.S., a State Department resettlement center takes over, runs background checks, and creates a file on the refugee. From there, the Department of Homeland Security, led by specially trained interrogators, conducts additional interviews looking for gaps or inconsistencies in their stories. All that information is then run though U.S. security databases for any red flags. If approved, the refugee goes through medical screening by a team of doctors prior to arriving in the country.

B.S. meter:
We have already heard ad nauseum that our Dept. of Homeland Security (yes, Johnson, your FBI!) has no data from Syria that would allow them to find gaps or inconsistencies in stories.  Did 60 Minutes ever mention what FBI Director Comey and others have been saying for months?
And, then on the medical screening B.S.  Did 60 Minutes mention that, even if they are screened, we let them in with communicable diseases like TB and HIV/AIDS anyway?  You see how this works, they mention the screening, but don’t mention part two!  Your assumption is the screening actually screens out someone!
60 Minutes continues:

The entire process, Johnson says, takes between 18 and 24 months.

B.S. meter….
Did 60 Minutes tell its audience that the Obama Administration (Jeh Johnson) sped up security screening for Syrians and the whole process was taking only 3 months from start to finish over the summer in order to reach Obama’s goal to admit 10,000 Syrians before September 30th?

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Gina Kassem (US State Department): Refugees want to repay those travel loans to help others get in to the US. Well, Ms. Kassem, how about releasing the data you have, for years! refused to provide the taxpaying public. What is the repayment rate? Did 60 Minutes even think to ask?

60 Minutes on travel loans:

When refugees do arrive in the U.S., they’re expected to repay the government for their plane tickets. As Kassem explains in the clip above, the government asks refugees resettled in the U.S. to repay the fare six months after they arrive, giving them time to find a job. That money then helps additional refugees resettle in the U.S., which encourages the refugees to repay their fare.

“Because they are indebted to the United States for taking then in,” she says, “they want more people in their situation who are fleeing the violence to be able to take advantage of the program.”

B.S. meter….
Here is how it works, our tax dollars go to the International Organization on Migration (now an agency of the UN) to pay for the plane tickets.  And, yes, refugees are ‘expected’ to repay the loan.  But, get this! The federal non-profit contractor*** that resettled them acts as the collection agency and POCKETS 25% of what it collects adding literally millions more of your dollars to the contractors’ pockets.
We have no idea how many refugees are motivated by this nonsense to repay the loan on schedule to help other refugees get here (what a naive comment!) because the State Department steadfastly refuses to release the repayment data.

And, then have some sympathy for the refugee who gets here with a family of 6, is lucky to have one family member working for $9.00 an hour at a slaughter plant and is expected to repay thousands of dollars of airfare expenses beginning 6 months after arrival.
Teaching indebtedness!  One of the reasons I’ve heard the contractors give for their dunning notices to refugees is it’s a lesson in borrowing money in America and paying it back so as to maintain a good credit rating!
If you feel like it, see more of the 60 Minutes B.S. by clicking here.

You know, it is quite a stunning thing to know a lot about something and then see mainstream media blatantly be untruthful!

*** For new readers, these are the nine major federal contractors reaping millions more of your tax dollars acting as collection agents for the airfare loans that by rights should all go back in to the US Treasury!

 
 

Refugee child died arriving in Chicago; look for many more problems as the DOS crams them into your towns

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

My next post today was going to be on this very subject when I spotted this news about an 8-year-old refugee boy from the DR Congo dying mysteriously during a flight change in Chicago.  His family was reportedly on the way to Texas and their new home (so much for Governor Abbott’s efforts to close the program in the state).

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We told the United Nations we would take in 50,000 from the DR Congo over 5 years. We took about a 1000 in FY12. We are now up to 33,212. These are very needy people (some small number of Muslims in the mix), and they will not be contributing members of the community for a very long time. We have seen reports that the women need mental health treatment. Texas received the most so far (3,724).

We will have to wait until an autopsy is performed to learn why the child sickened and died.  Here is the news at Breitbart:

“An 8-year-old refugee from Congo died Tuesday after landing at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport,” the local CBS affiliate reports:

David Dieme, an 8-year-old boy landed Tuesday at approximately 4:30 p.m. with a refugee family at O’Hare International Airport.

Dieme was traveling with his father and several other children, who arrived to Chicago on a flight from Dubai. After clearing paperwork, the family was being escorted to their next flight, when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer noticed Dieme unresponsive.

Emergency Medical Services was immediately notified and arrived at the terminal. Standard procedures are in place to address sick passengers, according to a spokesman for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Dieme was sick prior to the flight, but did not report any symptoms on the flight. He was examined at the airport by CDC officials, in an isolated room. Dieme’s temperature was taken, but he had no fever. He experienced diarrhea and vomiting. It was determined he should be taken to the hospital.

Dieme was taken to Presence Resurrection Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Waiting on an autopsy report.
Leahy continues:

Breitbart News has reported extensively on the public health risk to the general public posed by a resurgence of diseases that had been on a path to eradication until the recent influx of migration to the country. Among the diseases newly resurgent are tuberculosis, whooping cough, intestinal parasites, mumps, and measles.

Refugees are required to undergo overseas medical screenings prior to their arrival in the United States. Those screenings, however, do not prohibit refugees with a number of diseases from arriving in the United States. Few arriving refugees, for instance, are tested and treated for latent tuberculosis infection prior to their arrival in the United States.

Though initial domestic medical screenings of all arriving refugees are recommended within ninety days of their arrival, those screenings are not required by either law or regulation.

Go here for more of that news (plus to follow the links I was too lazy to add!).

Is carelessness and neglect of the refugees themselves the inevitable next step as the White House has obviously demanded the program be accelerated? 

I think it’s a very real possibility.
Did this child die because it was a rush-job to get his family here?
With the huge number of refugees being flown in to the US right now, look for refugees to not be properly taken care of  with possible breaches of the contract the resettlement agencies sign with the Department of State.
Our news above highlights the medical issues that might be overlooked when attempting to get the refugees placed at an accelerated pace.  Are they cutting corners on more than security screening?

What you need to do where you live: look for refugees being neglected by the agencies hired to bring them in.

I think there is a very good chance that your local resettlement agency won’t be able to handle the numbers coming in.  We are already hearing about drives in many communities to find enough volunteers. (I’ve heard there is a pretty high turnover rate for volunteers as they learn how needy, and sometimes not very grateful, the refugees can be.)

  • If you see refugees confused and wandering in an airport, take note.  They are supposed to be met by the resettlement agency and escorted to an apartment where the refrigerator is required to be stocked with culturally appropriate food.
  • Get friendly with the local medical officials in your town and stay on top of any notices being released to the public about health threats arriving in your community. Try to find out if the refugees are being screened in the prescribed time frame and whether school-aged children are being vaccinated.
  • Look for refugees being placed in temporary housing. Refugees are supposed to have apartments/houses that have sleeping space for large families. (You probably have a zoning code requiring certain limits on family size for the size of the apartment.)
  • Keep an eye out for any news about refugees being homeless (yes, that is happening).
  • Report any suspicions about refugee kids turning up at school hungry or sick.
  • If you see or hear that refugees are not being supplied with adequate winter clothing and bedding, take note.
  • You should try to find out how many refugees are living in your community and what sort of housing they have. Have they been placed in dangerous slums.  Especially try to determine if any of your local poor and disabled are being bumped down the list for subsidized housing.
  • See if refugees who speak little English are being bugged unnecessarily soon by the resettlement agency for the repayment of the airfare loan (which they get a cut of!).
  • Maybe even volunteer yourself so that you will have firsthand knowledge of any shortcuts the resettlement agencies are taking in the care of the refugees.  Remember the contractors are supposed to be putting their own time and money into this and if they can’t do a good job they need to say to the DOS—we can’t handle that many refugees! Don’t send so many. (NOT! Ask for more federal money.)

So what do you do if you believe refugees are being neglected, contact the US Department of State.
Barbara Day is in charge of the resettlement of refugees to your towns via the contractors (or at least she was last I checked). Send her any information you have about refugees not being taken care of by your local resettlement agency.
Her address is:

Barbara Day

Domestic Resettlement Section Chief

Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration

2202 C St. NW

Washington, DC 20520

This may still be her e-mail address:  daybj@state.gov

State Department and refugee lobby group work on private sponsorship scheme to get more refugees into the US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update October 19th: More on this scheme. Remember the purpose is to get more refugees in to the country because this private scheme would be in ADDITION to the present system.
So, as it is described by one commenter: Instead of buying a $10,000 car in the coming year, what the heck adopt a Syrian refugee instead.
I would be a proponent of private sponsorship if it accompanied the complete abolition of the present system that involves middlemen federal contractors (the VOLAGs) being paid billions of tax dollars, and required the sponsor to pay for all costs associated with the refugees for a year or two. Congress would, of course, have the final say on numbers, security screening and nationalities permitted entry to the US in my hypothetical re-write of refugee law.

matthew-lacorte
Matthew LaCorte (one of the brains behind the plan) thinks $10,000 will get him a refugee—what for a month or two! Then what? The refugee he sponsored is on us!

But, this plan, which they are apparently hatching within the State Department and in cooperation with the Refugee Council USA (the resettlement industry’s lobbying arm), is a plan to bring in additional refugees over and above what Congress is willing to pay for.
(For those of you who think we have no impact, this indicates to me that the industry knows there are limits to how much of your money the Congress is willing to shell out to bring hundreds of thousands of impoverished refugees to your towns.)
This really is a pretty audacious concept since they apparently think they can do this ‘in house’ and not involve rewriting refugee law.  (Congress writes the laws, or have they forgotten?)
Here is the jaw-dropping (Bloomberg, of course!) story at the Chicago Tribune (hat tip: Julia):

Americans might be able to bring a refugee to the U.S. on their own dime if talks between the Obama administration and the nation’s leading refugee advocacy group come to fruition.

The State Department is considering a pilot program that would let citizens sponsor a refugee from their country of choice by paying for airfare, housing, clothing, food and other resettlement costs. Conversations began in July and are expected to continue in the coming year, said Naomi Steinberg, director of the Refugee Council USA.

The program, modeled after a similar one in Canada, is designed to crack open new sources of funding as growing anti-refugee sentiment in Congress threatens to cut resettlement programs.

“It puts Americans in the driver’s seat,” said Matthew La Corte, policy analyst at the Niskanen Center***, a Washington-based libertarian think tank that was an early supporter of the program. “It allows them to say ‘I have a spare bedroom. I was thinking of buying a new car but I’ll instead take that $10,000 and put it toward bringing a Syrian refugee over.”‘

[….]

Such a program would mark one of the biggest structural changes to U.S. refugee policy in three decades, and would allow Barack Obama or future presidents to skirt opposition by shifting financial responsibility to everyday Americans.

[I’m all for shifting all of the costs to those who are promoting refugee resettlement—ed]

[….]

For fiscal 2016, Congress appropriated $3.1 billion for refugee and migration assistance programs, the same level as two years earlier, according to figures from the agency.

Private sponsorship “is a good option in terms of increasing numbers without increasing budget outlays,” said Kevin Appleby, senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies in New York. [Appleby was formerly the lobbyist in DC for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, we have a lot on him here at RRW—ed]

storella_197_1
State Department’s Mark Storella: we will be working on it this coming year (when Hillary gets to the White House). Photo: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/bureau/259069.htm

Refugee Council USA and the state department began talks about private sponsorship this summer, said Steinberg, director at the Washington-based agency, which is an umbrella group for 22 organizations.

The State Department plans to work on the issue “in the year to come,” according to a statement from Mark Storella, a deputy assistant secretary. [Looks like they are pretty confident Hillary will be in the White House.—ed]

[….]

Before any program is launched, critical points must be addressed, said Steinberg. The group wants to ensure that sponsorship does not replace existing government programs.

“The only private resettlement program that we could support would be one that increases the number of refugees who arrive in the U.S., while at the same time maintaining and even strengthening the U.S. government commitments,” Steinberg said.

Continue reading here.

*** What is in it for the libertarians at the Niskanen Center—cheap refugee labor for big business? Would someone tell me!

Senator Jeff Sessions' Senate subcommittee has re-scheduled Refugee Oversight hearing

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is the same hearing that the Dept. of State said they couldn’t attend last week because they were too busy hobnobbing at the United Nations.

bob_carey_orr_director_2
One of those scheduled to testify is Bob Carey the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS). Carey came to his government job from a major refugee contracting job at the International Rescue Committee. He had previously served as chair of the Refugee Council USA, the lobbying arm for the refugee industry. (Revolving door!) http://www.acf.hhs.gov/about/leadership/bob-carey

The hearing in Sessions’ subcommittee ‘Immigration and the National Interest’ will be this coming Wednesday, the 28th.

Go here for details.
I’m thinking that maybe you should tell your US Senators on Monday and Tuesday to take the time this week to attend Sessions’ hearing so they won’t be so ignorant about this program that is changing (and endangering!) America. It is a good excuse to call them.
Heck, you could even tell  your House Members to walk across the Hill and stop in since the House Judiciary Committee (Rep. Trey Gowdy is Sessions’ counterpart in the House) isn’t doing anything.
Again, check out the Senate Subcommittee website here. I expect they will be live-streaming the event.
For a reminder of what happened at this same hearing last year, go here.
And, by the way, until Sessions’ hearing last year, Congress had not been doing its legally required hearing on the Presidential Determination.  I believe that hearing was the first since 9/11.
Here is what I said last year about the law!  LOL! I wonder if there is anyway to sue the House Judiciary Committee for breaking the law?

Obama Administration thumbs nose at Senate Judiciary Committee, refuses to testify tomorrow

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Senator Jeff Sessions had scheduled a legally required Senate hearing for tomorrow on the President’s ‘Determination’ about refugee numbers for Fiscal Year 2017 (begins in 11 days).
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Here you can tell by the usually mild Senator Sessions tone that a refusal to appear, by all branches of the administration that deal with refugees, is of major concern for the nation and a clear slap in the face to all American citizens with fears for the security and economic well-being of their communities.
This is stunning! United Nations First! (Not America First!).

Sessions: Obama Administration Subordinates Concerns Of The American People To Advance Agenda Of The United Nations

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and The National Interest made the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s refusal to attend a hearing tomorrow about the Refugee Admissions Program:

 

“Despite having sufficient notice of a statutorily required hearing regarding its plans for the Refugee Admissions Program in Fiscal Year 2017, the Obama Administration has once again elected to subordinate both its relationship with Congress and the legitimate concerns of the American people to advance the agenda of the United Nations. The Department of State claims that not one official is available to appear at tomorrow’s scheduled hearing due to this week’s United Nations General Assembly and Summit for Refugees and Migrants. The Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services have also refused to attend tomorrow’s hearing in a strange display of bureaucratic solidarity with the Department of State’s indefensible decision. The American people deserve explanations about the Administration’s reckless plans to admit 110,000 refugees beginning on October 1, 2016. They demand that their leaders end the lawlessness and abuses in the Refugee Admissions Program, and that their leaders place the safety and security of this country first.”

Stay tuned, we will keep you posted if the lawless Administration ever deigns to follow the law regarding the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program!  The hoopla in the UN over refugees was yesterday and today, so is the Judiciary hearing interrupting the the bureaucrats NYC party time?
Subpoena them!!!