DNA testing required in wake of widespread Somali family reunification fraud

In an otherwise whining piece about how the feds are too slow to admit family members of refugees, at least this Frontline ‘news’ story admits that thousands of Somalis entered the US fraudulently resulting in a 4-year closure (in 2008) of the so-called P-3 family reunification program of the US State Department.

Dadaab-refugee-camp-007
Somali refugees in Dadaab, a massive UN camp in Kenya. Truth be told, there is no way to thoroughly screen the refugees we accept from the UN any better here, than those we are accepting from UN camps in the Middle East. Photo: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/sep/12/somalia-kenya-murder

You should read the whole long article, but here (below) is the segment on Somali fraud (btw, none of those who got in here by lying were ever deported).
For our thousands of new readers:  We covered the discovery and aftermath extensively, here.  The fraud was originally reported at the Wall Street Journal in August of 2008.
The nine major federal resettlement contractors fought tooth and nail to keep the State Department from requiring DNA testing.
Frontline on DNA testing:

Even if those restrictions are loosened, refugees applying for family reunification will face another hurdle to clear: DNA testing.

The inspiration for this requirement was born in East Africa, where more than 1 million Somalians have been displaced from their country by civil war and famine. In the mid-2000s, the U.S. was providing refuge to about 10,000 Somalians a year*** — many of whom went on to apply to the family reunification program to bring over relatives.

Immigration officials suspected that some were inventing “ghost children,” and filling out applications for children not related to them. There had even been some reports of brokers who sold the ghost children’s slots for profit, according to a U.S. Department of State official who spoke to FRONTLINE but asked not to be named.

So in early 2008, the State Department launched a pilot program to determine the extent of fraud by testing relationships using DNA.

In the initial pilot of 476 applicants in Nairobi, Kenya, only 16 percent were genetically related to every person they said was in their family. Another 39 percent tested false for at least one family member. In the remaining 45 percent of cases, applicants either refused to participate or didn’t show up for the test.

Officials interpreted these results as proof of widespread fraud. The P-3 program was suspended, and did not reopen for more than four years.

This stunned refugees around the world, many of whom had spent years waiting for P-3 applications to be approved. Most were told to apply for an alternate visa, but it was even more restrictive than P-3 and soon had a multi-year waiting list.

There is much more, read on.
*** We admitted 8,858 this past fiscal year, (9,000 the year before that!):

As the UNHCR is sending Somalis back to Somalia from its Kenyan camps we admitted 8,858 Somalis to the US in FY2015, here (many from the Kenyan camps!).  Somalis are the third largest ethnic group admitted to the US this past year.

Go here to see how many Somalis entered the US through the Refugee Admissions Program since its inception.  Notice some of the biggest years are in the George W. Bush Administration.

Why are we still admitting Somali refugees after three decades?

Community refugee resettlement consultations are required; demand to attend!

It has only been in the last year or so that we have been made aware that QUARTERLY CONSULTATIONS with community “stakeholders” were being held quietly, out of public view.   In fact, I wondered why I hadn’t heard about them and now I know why!

The citizens of St. Cloud, MN, here and here, brought the issue of exclusion of taxpaying citizens from the meetings where the ‘non-profit’ refugee resettlement agency meets with local elected officials, fire/police, education, health departments etc. to assess how things are going with the refugees, and they discuss how many to bring in the upcoming year.

gowdy looking dumb
Where are you Trey Gowdy? As the US State Department and its contractors work day and night to change the demographic makeup of American towns and cities IN SECRECY, where is your subcommittee in helping citizens get the information they are entitled to? Frankly, this is more important for the future of America than Hillary’s e-mails!

According to a State Department spokesman (unnamed!) doing a press briefing for reporters on September 11th, we learn that they have only been doing these QUARTERLY CONSULTATIONS since 2013!  WTH!
And, they are lying!  “Private citizens” have not been welcome.
These agencies (‘non-profit’ resettlement subcontractors) work very hard to hold these meetings secretly and out of the view of local concerned citizens—the ultimate stakeholder, the taxpayer! Yet, we have a State Department official (why no name?) telling the mainstream media that private citizens can attend!
Why is the spokesman unnamed?

We are pleased to have [name and title withheld] with us today. Moving forward, [State Department Official] will be called State Department official for the purposes of this call. Again, this call is on background.

So much for Obama’s much ballyhooed transparency!  Now here is what ‘name and title withheld’ told a special group of reporters:

In addition, starting about two years ago, I believe it was FY13, we required that all of our resettlement agencies conduct quarterly consultations with stakeholders in their communities. So that means that not just once a year when they’re preparing a proposal, but every quarter they have to reach out to a wide variety of stakeholders. And that would include other community organizations. That could include the police department, the school, the mayor’s office, the fire department, other agencies that have a stake in refugee resettlement, and private citizens can be invited as well. And they hold those quarterly conversations and that is taken into account when we are making placement plans for the entire year and throughout the year.

You know Larry Bartlett told Senator Sessions this basic untruth here in the Senate hearing the week before last as well.

It gets worse!

We need lawyers on our team!  Have they been breaking the law for 33 of 35 years?  Or, have the states, which are supposed to prepare a plan every year and hold the meetings, not done their required duty to hold the quarterly meetings with communities?
And, if yours is one of 11 Wilson-Fish states*** you don’t even get this much involvement in the planning.
Here are the federal regulations guiding the program (From CFR 400.5(h))

Provide that the State will, unless exempted from this requirement by the Director, assure that meetings are convened, not less often than quarterly, whereby representatives of local resettlement agencies, local community service agencies, and other agencies that serve refugees meet with representatives of State and local governments to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees’ arrival.

What should you do now?

So, for all of you working in ‘Pockets of Resistance’ (and others too!).  Go here, and call the closest refugee resettlement office near you and tell them you want a schedule for the upcoming quarterly consultation!  Ask them as well for the FY2016  R & P Abstract which will tell you their plans for your town/city this year.  (They have been instructed by their lobbying arm in Washington, RCUSA, to deny you those, but keep asking).
At the same time, go here, and call your State Refugee Coordinators office and ask for the quarterly consultation schedule for your city and/or for the whole state.  Ask the coordinator for the FY2016 Abstracts as well (for your individual city) or for every community in the state!  The State Coordinator must have approved it!
Let me know what response you get and we will start listing the agencies that refuse your requests for admission to quarterly consultations and for the R & P Abstract.  We will build a case.
And, hey, Trey Gowdy where are you? Where is your hearing?

I would like you to make those calls and report the results to me.  I am going to post the responses on these pages.  (I know some of you have done this already, but I didn’t log your information when you were stonewalled.)   Please put “report on calls” in the subject line when writing to me at  RefugeeWatcher@gmail.com so I don’t miss your e-mail.

*** Wilson-Fish states where your state elected officials have virtually no say (and where you should be demanding your state get out of Wilson-Fish!):  Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee and Vermont.  Call the agencies in those states too. 
***Update***
There are 12 Wilson-Fish states:   Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee and Vermont.

More from Twin Falls: Is our security threatened so big business can bring in cheap labor?

One of the citizens concerned about what is happening in Twin Falls, Idaho had an ‘opportunity’ to meet with three of the big players who flew out from Washington for a stacked public “forum” last week to try to tamp down the growing controversy about more refugees arriving in Twin Falls—more refugees than many in the town believe the town can handle.
The issue started boiling in earnest here in April when the local refugee subcontractor (financially entwined with a public junior college—very fishy arrangement) bragged that Syrians were on the way to Twin Falls.   By the way, Syrians have already been resettled in Boise (see all the cities where Syrians have been resettled so far).

US_CoC_Logo
Is the US Chamber of Commerce, which supports so-called immigration reform, happy to see third world refugees resettled in your city? Yes! And, we believe they play a huge role in silencing Republican elected officials on the refugee issue.

Here Vicky Davis, who attended a pre-meeting with three of the Washington men in charge of changing communities through refugee resettlement, reports on what was said.
From TVOI News:
The three from Washington included:

Larry Bartlett, director of the U.S. State Department’s Office on Refugee Admissions, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration

Ken Tota, deputy director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement

Lee Williams, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).  [USCRI is the Arlington, VA based contractor which subcontracts to CSI Refugee Program in Twin Falls.—ed]

Ms. Davis continues (emphasis is mine):

Larry Bartlett’s focus was primarily on the security issue. He talked about their system for checking on people declared to be refugees. They are interviewed, fingerprinted, photographed, etc. The government also has computer systems for several agencies – DOD, DOJ, DHS, etc. that have – data bases of known or suspected terrorists and criminals. Apparently the system worked reasonably well for Iraqi refugees because when Iraq was captured, all of their records were found intact. However, some terrorists did slip through because they didn’t have police records but the DOD did have their fingerprints on some IEDs that they set up for American soldiers to “find”. Those Iraqi “refugees” were found living on the public dole in Kentucky.

Of course we know that Syria is a failed state so there are no records for Syrians but that little detail did not diminish Bartlett’s optimism that their system is working. The interview combined with the running of searches on virtually empty databases is the process. If they don’t get a hit on the search (as would be expected in an empty database), the refugee is good to go. In fact, Bartlett wasn’t worried at all about the security of Americans. His concern is for the safety of the refugees. [Safety of the refugees! What a direct slap in the faces of anyone who has questions about refugee resettlement—he is implying we are violent people!—ed]

When I watched the videotape of the evening meeting, here, I was surprised to hear Bartlett referring to a two hour interview with the prospective refugee that was supposed to determine their legitimate status as a refugee. That’s it? That is the security screening when data is not available? Come on! We aren’t that naive! What prospective refugee is going to let on in any way (in an interview) that he/she might be inclined toward Islamic extremism?  Has Bartlett never heard of taqiyya (lying to infidels is permitted in Islam)?
Davis’s narrative continues:

One of the most revealing things that Bartlett talked about was supply chain for refugee resettlement. Of course he didn’t use the term supply chain but that’s what he was talking about – a steady stream of refugee inputs to keep the refugee resettlement network intact and growing. That should scare the hell out of any red-blooded American because the resettlement network is a function of the United Nations and the Socialist International and they are deeply embedded in our government at this point.

Tyson Foods
Bartlett brings up Tyson Foods! Readers might want to visit this post from 2008 where we learned that Bill Clinton brought in thousands of Bosnian ‘refugees’ to Iowa for meatpacker labor. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2008/05/17/bosnians-iowa-meatpackers-and-more/

Cheap labor, money, Chamber of Commerce, money, meatpackers, money!

I have been for years maintaining that a major driving force behind refugee resettlement in America is that big businesses, like BIG MEAT, need a steady stream of cheap and reliable immigrant labor and here Bartlett appears to confirm that.
For all of you wondering why your RINO Republican elected officials are not up in arms about the impoverished people pouring into ‘red’ states this is the explanation!  It is all about MONEY!
Davis continues (sorry to snip so much, but this is so important!):

Jobs Americans Won’t do

The most important question in the afternoon meeting from this writer’s point of view was “how many of these refugees are economic migrants?” Bartlett assured us that none of them are economic migrants. They all fled their countries for fear of persecution. Interestingly, then Bartlett mentioned that we need the labor anyway. He mentioned Tyson Foods (chickens) and “jobs Americans won’t do”. That was the wrong thing to say to this writer. That statement alone told me everything I needed to know about this refugee program and the U.S. State Department. The State Department has become nothing more than front men for big business.

[See our many many posts here at RRW on Tyson Foods, refugees, and changing American towns here.—ed]

Jobs Americans Won’t Do” is a propaganda slogan promoted by the Chamber of Commerce and other big businesses that profit from cheap labor. Tyson apparently has switched from using illegal labor to using “refugees”. Destroying the country and the lives of American citizens isn’t even a consideration. The entire global system is about nothing but global labor arbitrage – exploitation of working people for high profits for the businesses of the few.

I did a search on ‘Chamber of Commerce’ and ‘refugees’ and here you go… Refugee Crisis – Corporate Aid Tracker. It’s a program of the Chamber of Commerce Foundation – a non-profit for a non-profit that serves profit.

Open for Business… The Chamber of Commerce. Note one name on the list: Jan Reeves, Idaho Office for Refugees. The Idaho Office for Refugees made their website look like it was an agency of the Idaho State government, but in fact, they are a business unit of the Jannus Group, the “non-profit” agency that serves as the Public Health system in Idaho and that operates the ratline for “refugees” who are cheap labor for business and soldiers for the Chamber of Commerce program of economic warfare on the American people.

The refugee resettlement program is a racket backed by the Chamber of Commerce.

Hiding under the white hat of humanitarianism!

I can’t emphasize enough that as we face charges of being racists, xenophobes and just plain unkind to suffering humanity, stand firm! This is not about humanitarianism it is about MONEY straight up—cheap immigrant labor where our welfare system supports the refugees (the pawns!) while industry gets away with offering low-paying jobs.  Indeed a great business model helped by the power of the federal government (and its resettlement contractors!).
Please visit TVOI to follow links and learn more by clicking here.
Our complete Twin Falls archive is here.

Senate "oversight" hearing scheduled this week on the Refugee Admissions Program

Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled that some Congressional committee is attempting to review the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program and as far as I can tell, it will be the first time Congress takes seriously its “consultation” responsibility since before 911.  That said, as I review the list of those testifying, do the Senators really think they will get anything but a snow-job from two of those on the list of entrenched bureaucrats (Bartlett and Carey) who have every incentive to keep the monster going.

Bartlett with map
Do Senators really think that Asst. Sec. of State Anne Richard’s right hand man (Larry Bartlett pictured here) is going to tell the Senators anything negative about how refugees are resettled in America. By the way, see the newest version of that map behind him, here: http://www.wrapsnet.org/Portals/1/Affiliate%20Directory%20Posting/PRM%20Affilaite%20Map%20with%20details1.13.15.pdf

Just last week Lawrence Bartlett traveled to Twin Falls, Idaho to participate in a laughable demonstration of a stacked public “forum” to attempt to quell the citizen criticism of the program there in Magic Valley.  Watch Bartlett in action here.
I do need to comb through that entire video and pull out some Bartlett gems for you.  When I posted on the “forum” here I hadn’t watched the videotape, so to clarify: Bartlett didn’t say they don’t drop off refugees in unwelcoming towns, he actually (with a malevolent look) said “unsafe” towns implying that opponents of refugee resettlement might be violent people!  It is an outrage!
Also, when asked why local citizens don’t have more say in who and how many will be resettled, he made it clear that this was designed as a federal program administered from Washington (so tough luck to local communities, we call the shots).  He didn’t exactly say it that way, but that was the clear message he was sending.
***Update*** Jim sends this link for the segment of Bartlett’s remarks just mentioned. More great information on the Twin Falls “forum” from opponents, here.
The Refugee Act of 1980 (Kennedy, Biden, Carter) does require consultation with local elected officials, something that is done (if at all) in the most cursory fashion and with local ‘friendly’ officials first and foremost.
Anyway, back to the hearing for October 1 (the first day of the 2016 fiscal year where 10,000 or more Syrian, mostly Muslim, refugees will be on the way to these towns and more).
Will those testifying say anything more than all is well, every town is welcoming, Syrians will be screened, blah, blah, blah.
I would like to have seen a mayor*** with problems be among the witnesses.
I’m told if you go to the Judiciary Committee website at the time of the hearing you can watch it live.

Oversight of the Administration’s FY 2016 Refugee Resettlement Program: Fiscal and Security Implications

Immigration and the National Interest
Date: Thursday, October 1, 2015 Add to my Calendar
Time: 02:00 PM
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building 226
Presiding: Chairman Sessions

Agenda
September 21, 2015

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing of the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest entitled “Oversight of the Administration’s FY 2016 Refugee Resettlement Program: Fiscal and Security Implications” for Thursday October 1, 2015 at 2:00 p.m., in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

By order of the Chairman.

Witnesses

Mr. Larry Bartlett
Director Of Admissions
Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration | United States Department of State
Washington , D.C.

Ms. Barbara Strack
Chief, Refugee Affairs Division
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services | United States Department of Homeland Security
Washington , D.C.

Mr. Matthew Emrich
Associate Director, Fraud Detection And National Security Directorate
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services | United States Department of Homeland Security
Washington , D.C.

Mr. Robert Carey
Director, Office Of Refugee Resettlement
United States Department of Health and Human Services
Washington , D.C.

Incidentally, Carey is one of the many in federal government who rotated in from a contractor’s job.  Think about it, now he is the dispenser of federal grants to the contractor he once worked for—the International Rescue Committee.
***In Twin Falls, Bartlett did mention some cities where they have problems with mayors, but implied they had been resolved. (He also whacked the citizens of Spartanburg).  He said they had pushback from mayors in Manchester, NH, Amarillo, TX, and Springfield, Massachusetts—all three of which we have covered extensively on these pages.  

Rohingya Muslims on the way to the US, many others already here

I thought I was done today.  I was just going to tackle my bulging e-mail in box when I came across an e-mail from reader Judith alerting me to this news from the Bangkok Post yesterday.

Rohingya boat
Rohingya are coming to the US. This group of young MEN was apprehended by the Malaysian government, a Muslim government, that doesn’t want the Rohingya. So we are taking them! http://news.yahoo.com/malaysian-pm-orders-rescue-migrant-boats-041729887.html

24 Rohingya (Burmese) Muslims are on the way to the US, but the article tells us that since right after 911 we have admitted 13,000 Burmese Muslims (how many are Rohingya?).
Ahhhh!
While we focus on the fact that Syrians can’t be screened, frankly neither can Muslims who get on boats in Southeast Asia (claiming to have been kidnapped) be properly screened!
New readers of RRW don’t know that we have an entire category on the very ‘observant’ followers of Islam that are known as the Rohingya.
We have 180 posts in our ‘Rohingya Reports’ category extending all the way back to 2007.  Back in 2007 and early 2008 there was no way the US State Dept. was going to admit Rohingya Muslims, but clearly all that has changed
Here is the story at the Bangkok Post (which won’t let me snip much, so please go read it yourself):

At 46 years old, Basamai, an ethnic Rohingya Muslim man, will for the first time obtain identity documents that will allow him to resettle in the United States next week, along with 23 other trafficking victims.

The 24 to be resettled follow four who left Thailand earlier this month, in a humanitarian programme that has resettled 13,000 Muslims from Myanmar since 2002, according to the US Department of State Refugee Processing Center.

They are not saying if they are coming to your town!

Following their arrival in the US — the exact location remains unknown — the Rohingya group will undergo Cultural Orientation Training before they can be resettled, said a source from the Ministry of…

Cultural Orientation Training, here? in the US?  That is a new one on me.
They were screened by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the star of this story hopes to bring his wife and 8 daughters to America real soon!