Rutland, Vermont refugee program officially dead (for now)

01/19/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Since I’m on the subject of Vermont—see machete attacker is son of Somali refugee in my previous post.
And, since I told you about the shake-up at USCRI (the federal refugee contractor in charge of Vermont) yesterday, I figured that you might want to know the latest from Rutland where a huge public battle over a new refugee office was waged over the last couple of years.
New readers might want to see my archive on Rutland by clicking here.
From The Rutland Herald yesterday. The tone of the article suggests the media is miffed that they weren’t informed of the meeting with USCRI’s new top dog, Eskinder Negash. Par for the course that refugee discussions are done in secrecy and who knows it better than the citizens of Rutland!

Rutland is not expecting any more refugees during the current fiscal year, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

A letter dated Jan. 4, from Eskinder Negash, acting chief executive of the refugee organization, said USCRI officials were asked by the State Department Bureau of Populations, Refugees and Migration to revise its placement plan for the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, based on “several executive orders.”

“Based on PRM’s instructions and our analysis, we regrettably write to inform you that USCRI will ‘zero out’ its refugee arrival target for Rutland, VT, until we hear further notice from PRM on the resumption of refugee arrivals,” Negash said in the letter.

Mayor David Allaire posted the news on his Facebook page Wednesday in a post that was not initially made public and was only available to Allaire’s Facebook friends. The post was updated to be made public Thursday afternoon.

Allaire, along with Alderman Chris Ettori, attended a meeting at the Community College of Vermont’s campus in downtown Rutland on Wednesday. Negash and Amila Merdzanovic, director of the USCRI program in Vermont, also attended.

The Rutland Herald learned of the meeting and developments from USCRI from someone who attended the meeting. There are no indications the media was invited to the meeting or informed in advance that it was taking place.

Phil_Scott_2017 — Republican governor Scott welcomes refugees and immigrants to the Green Mountain state (aka Green card state!). Including machete man?

Attempts to reach Negash and Merdzanovic on Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.

[….]

While the recent work by USCRI officials to bring refugees from Syria and Iraq to Rutland has been controversial, USCRI has been relocating refugees to Vermont for 30 years.

Did they resettle the Somali machete hacker family?
Rutland Herald continues…..

Negash also said USCRI leaders “greatly appreciate Gov. (Phil) Scott’s strong support for refugee resettlement.” A call to a Scott representative was not returned Thursday afternoon.

On Jan. 29, 2017, Scott issued a statement in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting immigration and refugee resettlement.

“I can’t imagine what Vermont, or our country, would look like today, had we refused to allow immigrants from all reaches of the world to experience this wonderful country the way most of us have, simply because they were not born here or didn’t share our exact religious view,” the statement said.

Much more here.
See more of my posts on Vermont generally by clicking here.
The US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) is one of nine federal contractors with hundreds of subcontractors under them that monopolize all resettlement in the US. USCRI has staked out Vermont for itself. (Numbers in parenthesis after each is the percentage of their funding you give them via your tax dollars.)

Long time refugee advocate and refugee agency CEO is gone

01/18/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This isn’t exactly breaking news!
Lavinia Limon stepped down as head of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) last October according to a statement by the head of its board of directors. However, it may not have been a voluntary retirement. Someone recently reported to me that she was “forced” out during a period of growing “panic” among the nine federal contractors who are seeing their budgets shrink as refugee arrivals slow.
USCRI is presently being led by her longtime sidekick, Eskinder Negash.
This is a portion of the statement (about her ‘retirement’) from Board Chairman attorney Gene DeFilice:

Message from the Chairman of the Board of USCRI

Dear USCRI staff and partner agencies,

Lavinia Limon, CEO and President of USCRI has decided to retire from USCRI effective October 13, 2017. The Board appreciates Ms. Limon’s over four decades of service to refugees and immigrants, and her contribution to USCRI, thanks her, and wishes her the best in her future endeavors.

lavinia-and-chobani — A picture worth a thousand words. Limon was Bill Clinton’s Director of ORR and here she is with Mr. Chobani Yogurt. USCRI is the agency bringing refugee labor to Twin Falls, Idaho which benefits globalist Chobani!

The Board of Directors has appointed Mr. Eskinder Negash as acting Chief Executive Officer. The Board is currently in the process of conducting a national search, which includes the consideration of Mr. Negash.

Mr. Negash, a refugee himself, has devoted his entire distinguished career to addressing the needs of refugees and immigrants. Mr. Negash brings nearly 40 years of experience working on behalf of refugees and immigrants and managing non-profit social service agencies. Prior to joining USCRI, Mr. Negash served as Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), within the Administration of Children and Families, at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2009-2015. With a budget of over 1.5 billion, the ORR is the largest government-funded refugee resettlement organization in the world. During Mr. Negash’s tenure, the ORR provided essential services to more than 850,000 vulnerable people through its Resettlement Program, Rescue & Restore anti-trafficking campaign, and the Unaccompanied Children’s Program.

Additionally, Mr. Negash served as Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of the International Institute of Los Angeles for 15 years, and the Chief Operating Officer of USCRI from 2002-2009.

[….]

As we thank Lavinia for her service, say good-bye, and wish her well, please join me in congratulating and supporting Eskinder as he assumes the position of acting Chief Executive Officer of USCRI.

Sincerely,

Gene DeFelice

Chairman of the Board of Directors of USCRI

(There was no mention of retirement party or farewell gala.)
If you are a longtime reader of RRW, you know that both Lavinia Limon and Eskinder Negash have been gracing our pages for years.

Lavinia-Eskinder-Full-e1450277904628 — Negash and Limon in happier days!

Click here for a huge archive on Limon and here for Negash. I don’t have the time (or patience) for a rundown on their whole careers.
However, just a few key bits of information on Limon.
She was Bill Clinton’s Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and I believe a key player in promoting the idea of refugee labor for BIG MEAT (and eventually BIG YOGURT) that began with Clinton admitting large numbers of Bosnian Muslims for his friends in the Iowa beef industry during her leadership of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in HHS.
It is actually a clever scheme: Bring in cheap captive labor ($$$) for your industry pals and wear the white hat of humanitarianism as you do it!
Michael Leahy at Breitbart chronicled Limon’s career here (a must read!).
As for Negash, he left his post as Director of the ORR (note both of them revolved in and out of government) under strange, never explained, circumstances, see here.

Again, I have no idea why this shakeup at USCRI, but it is more evidence that Donald Trump’s refugee policies are breaking up old alliances and power structures in the swamp.

USCRI’s finances….

You can imagine that they are hurting. They are one of the nine federal contractors*** that is almost completely federally funded. See a discussion of their finances here from last March. I put them (at that time) at about 94% funded by the government (you). Limon was making a largely federally funded salary/related income of over $300,000!
And then see here when I analyzed all nine contractors a few months later, I put them at 98% government funded. I was using facts provided by Charity Navigator which told me that this agency could not be evaluated because:

This organization is not eligible to be rated by Charity Navigator because, as a service for individual givers, we only rate organizations that depend on support from individual contributors and foundations. Organizations such as this, that get most of their revenue from the government or from program services, are therefore not eligible to be rated.

Go here to find an USCRI subcontractor office near you.

And, this reminds me, speaking of CEOs leaving, I wonder what is happening over at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service that was undergoing a shake-up at about the same time, see here.
Did Hartke survive?
*** These are the nine federal contractors largely funded by you. In parenthesis, after each, is the percentage of their income funded by Congress out of the US Treasury. They are paid by the head to resettle refugees, so as the Trump Administration slows the flow into the country, their budgets are being strained to the breaking point.

Vermont: "Man" attacks elderly woman with machete at hotel for homeless

01/07/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I saw the story yesterday and am looking around this morning for any news about the “man” (the alleged attacker) who happens to have a Muslim name and looks like he might be Somali. I’m not seeing anything yet.
Is he a refugee, an illegal alien, an asylum seeker, a diversity visa lottery winner, what?
There should be a law that immigration status is immediately available in criminal acts like this!

The attack happened at the controversial Harbor Place, a hotel for the homeless. The converted Econo Lodge was a source of controversy here in 2016: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2016/12/01/harbor-place-motel-for-the-homeless-can-stay-in-shelburne

Below is one of several stories on how a woman delivering meals for the homeless was attacked by a machete-wielding African “man” who then barricaded himself in his room for the next couple of hours.
From the Daily Caller:

A man armed with a machete assaulted an elderly volunteer worker at a homeless shelter in Shelburne, Vt., Friday morning, according to local police.

32-year-old Abukar Ibrahim attacked a 73-year-old Meals on Wheels volunteer while she was delivering food to Harbor Place, which provides temporary emergency housing to those in need.

While in the office, the female victim reportedly saw Ibrahim vandalizing her car. When she confronted him and tried to intervene, the man became violent, assaulting her with a machete.

The woman was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center with multiple injuries, including a “significant leg wound.” She received treatment and was later released.

In the wake of the attack, Ibrahim, who police identified as the assailant, barricaded himself in a room for two and a half hours. He supposedly taunted police officers from inside the room before deciding to come out and surrender. The attacker was sent to the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility on charges of attempted murder.

He will be arraigned tomorrow.
For more information on the “welcoming” state of Vermont, click here.
Shelburne is only 15 miles from the USCRI affiliate in Vermont—-Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program. Inquiring reporters might want to call there and see if Ibrahim is one of their’s.

Chobani Yogurt update: plant expansion planned for Twin Falls, Idaho

11/14/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Idaho Republican governor Otter praised the yogurt tycoon.

Here is the story from the Utica, NY Observer-Dispatch:

The founder and CEO of Chobani has no regrets about moving part of his Greek yogurt company to south-central Idaho, a region embroiled in the national debate over refugee resettlement that spread to company boycotts by far-right bloggers and conspiracy theorists. [So there were boycotts—who knew?–ed]

“I hear the conversations here and there, but it’s a peaceful community that we all love,” said Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish immigrant. “It’s the home of Chobani.”

Ulukaya spoke to The Associated Press before a Thursday announcement of a $20 million expansion of the company’s facility in the city of Twin Falls — the world’s largest yogurt plant — to serve as its global research and development center tackling how yogurt is made and consumed.

[….]

The company employs 2,000 workers, including 300 refugees.

However, Chobani’s time in Idaho also has taken a darker turn as anti-immigrant advocates have seized on the company’s open stance on refugees. Fringe websites have falsely claimed that Ulukaya wanted to “drown the United States in Muslims.” Other websites, like Breitbart News, falsely attempted to link Chobani’s hiring of refugees to an uptick in tuberculosis cases in Idaho.

To counteract the hateful rhetoric, Chobani sued right-wing radio host Alex Jones earlier this year, saying that Jones and his InfoWars website posted fabricated stories linking Ulukaya and the company to a sexual assault case involving refugee children in Twin Falls. Jones originally promised to never back down in his fight against the yogurt giant but eventually retracted his statements in a settlement. [We are aware that Chobani lawyers threatened other news outlets as well—ed.]

Ulukaya declined to comment on the Jones lawsuit but said the rise in anti-refugee sentiment has never delayed a project he wanted to pursue. And he says he is committed to being a welcoming company.

[….]

During Thursday’s expansion launch, Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter praised Chobani’s impact on the community.

More here.

See my entire Twin Falls archive by clicking here.

See what is messy here!

City Mayors shirking responsibility regarding Refugee Admissions Program

10/13/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday it was St. Cloud, MN and today it is Rutland, VT!

Getting the monkey off their backs!

Mayors and Councils across America, when confronted by citizens with questions and concerns about the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program, brush off citizens with the usual garbage line—it is a federal program and they have no role in it.

monkey-on-your-back — Mayor attempting to get the citizen ‘monkey’ off his back by saying he has no power. This is a federal program!

Yes, they do! The Refugee Act of 1980 did give local governments a role.

And, repeatedly the State Department has said they don’t send refugees to places where they are not wanted. Mayors and councils could go on record with their opinions, but at minimum they should be attending QUARTERLY STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS. And, they should be involved in preparing the annual R & P ABSTRACT (see post yesterday).

Here we have news from Rutland, VT where the previous mayor was ousted by voters for working secretly with a refugee contractor and the new mayor depends on getting his news from a state bureaucrat. Does he attend their meetings? I bet he is not even aware of the plan the contractor in Vermont sent to the US State Department not too long ago, let alone have seen it.

Shame on any mayors who are not intimately involved in preparing the plans submitted to the State Department each year for the city or town he/she is responsible for!

From the Vermont Digger

RUTLAND – Rutland has recently received word that the number of refugees an agency plans to resettle in the city in this fiscal year has been reduced from 100 to 75.

[….]

Rutland Mayor David Allaire said Thursday that litigation and court action nationally associated with the president’s immigration orders raises uncertainty over just how many refugees will actually be resettled in the city this year.

In the prior fiscal year, three families, totaling 14 refugees, resettled in Rutland. The plan had called for up to 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugees to resettle in the city by Sept. 30, about a year after the city had been designated a resettlement site by the U.S. Department of State.

Why weren’t the mayor and aldermen in on the planning process? Do they even have a copy of the final R & P Abstract? Denise should give it to them! Or, do they have it and aren’t sharing it with the public. Either way it is not good!

Rutland first signs — Signs like this helped defeat previous mayor!

Denise Lamoureux, state refugee coordinator, recently sent an email Monday to leaders of community organizations in Rutland discussing the change.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration “has approved a preliminary revised plan with an objective of 75 rather than 100 refugees for Rutland for federal fiscal year 2018 (10/1/17 to 9/30/18),” the email stated.

[….]

The issue of refugee resettlement had been a hot-button topic in Rutland during the mayoral election in March that saw Allaire win the job over longtime incumbent Christopher Louras.

The former mayor had been a strong supporter of the refugee resettlement program, while Allaire, then a veteran member of the city’s Board of Aldermen, had opposed it, citing a lack of transparency in the process. [Where is the transparency now?—ed]

For the past several months there has been little, if any, debate or discussion about refugee resettlement at city meetings.

“My feeling about this right along has been if indeed there are more families that are coming into Rutland, refugee resettlement families, I would welcome them as I would anyone else,” Allaire said Thursday. “This is a federal program, the Rutland government has no control over the numbers or anything else.”

See my Rutland archive, here. The major federal contractor operating in Vermont is USCRI. You will see a lot about them when you visit previous Rutland posts. Of all the arrogant contractors, they are near the top of my list!

And, don’t miss: Swamp not being drained so local citizen action required!