Tag: Vermont

Rutland, VT: City aldermen demand answers as rift with mayor grows

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As regular readers know by now, I am driving through the heartland to learn more about how towns and cities, seeded through the UN/US State Department with growing enclaves of ethnic diversity and where in most cases no effort to assimilate by the newcomers, is creating politically and socially tense communities.
Rutland VT map
If I were to pick one motivating force (for RRW and this trip) it is to expose the secrecy with which towns and cities have been populated by third worlders through federal refugee contractors working for the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
The controversy swirling in Vermont (of all places!) about the establishment of a new resettlement site for Syrian Muslims is instructive. Initial plans were put in place between the refugee contractor and a rogue mayor.  When citizens caught on, only months from ‘welcoming’ the first Syrians, all hell broke loose. (See our previous posts on Rutland by clicking here.)
Here is the latest from VTDigger.org.  City council excludes mayor from discussion of their next moves!

Rutland’s Board of Aldermen held a closed-door executive session with the city’s attorney last night to discuss legal issues surrounding the refugee resettlement process. In a rare move, the board excluded Mayor Chris Louras from the meeting.

The board approved three motions: one directs the City Attorney to request the full abstract*** and application for Rutland’s resettlement program from the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and its affiliate, the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program; the second asks the attorney to conduct a review of the mayor’s actions and whether those actions comply with the city charter and any other applicable law; and the third recommends that the Charter and Ordinance Committee review subchapter 9 of the charter which lays out the mayor’s executive powers.

In an interview outside the boardroom Mayor Louras said this was the first time he’d been excluded from an executive session.

“I think this is the board acting out in a relatively juvenile manner,” he said.

[….]

He also said he wanted to know if there was a “contract or paper trail between the mayor’s office and VRRP.”

The mayor has stated on numerous occasions that refugee resettlement is a federally administered program involving no contracts or agreements with the city. The only paper trail, beyond correspondence with the various agencies involved, Louras says, is the letter of support he wrote to the State Department as part of the application process. Louras says he writes similar letters for grant applications on a regular basis without board approval.

[….]

At a tense board meeting on May 25, one month after the announcement was made that Rutland was being considered as a possible location for Syrian refugees, members of the board were provided with hard copies of the three-page abstract pertaining to Rutland and submitted to the State Department by USCRI.

More here.

***Get your FY2017 Abstract!  Knowledge is power!

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse when I say this, but every one of you living in on-going resettlement sites and proposed new ones must demand to be given the R & P Abstract for FY17.  This is a document prepared by every contractor and it goes to Washington as the document used to FUND the resettlement program where you live.  It is a treasure-trove of information.
Also, these documents (payment planning documents) will be used for the creation of Obama’s last decision on how many refugees he will propose for FY2017 which begins October 1, 2016.
The discussion above, that for Rutland there are only 3 pages, is suspicious.  I have the one prepared by USCRI (the same major contractor) for FY17 for Reno, Nevada and it is 16 pages!  Significantly there are many pages attached which are letters of support from the school system (you must identify who is behind more refugee resettlement!), Catholic Charities (the major contractor in the state) and the local Islamic Center, etc.
It also lists the companies that are apparently eager for cheap immigrant labor.
Demand transparency for your communities!
Call your local resettlement contractor and ask for the R & P Abstract for 2017.  They will likely tell you NO! Then contact your state refugee coordinator and ask for it.  If you get a NO there, then try using your state’s Public Information Law and and try to get it that way (may not work in Wilson-Fish states where the program has been essentially de-coupled from any elected body within the state).
If you get the document, make it publicly available and open a debate. Put it before your local elected body and demand a public hearing or meeting on it. If you don’t get it raise a ruckus!

This isn’t some sort of silver bullet, but is an important part of the process of demanding transparency for American citizens paying the bill for all of this. As someone said to me yesterday. We have no silver bullet, but we are building one!

Refugee Protection Act of 2016 introduced by Vermont Senator Leahy

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It is probably the same old bill he has been trying to get passed for years.  I didn’t bother looking at it.  The point I want to make here is this—the Open Borders Left never gives up!  There is no way this bill will go anywhere this year in the waning months of an election year, but this sort of thing is done because they constantly push and they constantly gin up their grassroots by doing ‘show’ bills like this.

patrick Leahy
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy one of the most important Senators pushing for MORE and MORE refugees to be admitted to the US.

Editor: By the way, I am traveling as I mentioned here. I am really hoping to continue posting from the road, however, at least this hotel in this city has a lousy internet connection (I’ll probably lose this connection 5 times before I finish this post)!
Here is a bit of information from Human Rights First about the bill introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California:

New York City—Human Rights First urges members of Congress to support the Refugee Protection Act of 2016, a bill that reaffirms the United States’ commitment to refugees and strengthens legal safeguards for those seeking protection from persecution and violence. The organization applauds Senator Leahy and Representative Lofgren for their leadership on this bill and for their commitment to the America’s legacy as a haven for refugees.

[….]

The bill would improve the efficiency, fairness and effectiveness of the U.S. asylum and resettlement processes, and strengthen protection for refugees. U.S. global leadership on the protection of refugees is crucial, as demonstrated by President Obama’s decision to host a world Leaders’ Summit on Refugees on September 20, and the U.S. asylum and resettlement systems should be a model for other countries. The Refugee Protection Act of 2016 fixes many of the areas in which U.S. laws and policies are not living up to the standards the United States has set for itself and, by extension, the bar it sets for the rest of the world.

Then this is my favorite in a list of things the bill would do, revealing I believe the Achilles heel of  the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program—refugees are not finding jobs and economically helping communities, but are in fact a drain wherever they are placed.  This is probably a provision to send more of your $$$ to the resettlement contractors to distribute to the refugees (I didn’t bother to look it up!):

Safeguards newly arrived refugees from slipping into poverty and supports local communities.

Continue reading here for more of what Human Rights First has to say.

melanie nezer
HIAS’ Melanie Nezer is telling her people to write to Congress now.

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (one of the nine major federal refugee contractors) is telling its members to write to their representatives in Washington and say this (they gotta keep their members believing that they are working for them in Washington):

I write to urge you to cosponsor the Refugee Protection Act (HR 5851/S 3241).

This legislation would provide critical protections for refugees and asylum seekers in the United States. It would ensure due process for refugees and asylum seekers, simplify asylum procedures, keep more refugee families together, protect refugee children, and modernize our refugee resettlement program.

The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is a critical tool for achieving our humanitarian goals, promoting our economic interests, and enhancing our national security. Refugees selected for resettlement to the U.S. have been thoroughly vetted by our national security agencies and arrive in the U.S. wanting the same things we all want — peace, safety, and opportunities for themselves and their children.

As a nation with a long legacy of welcoming refugees, it is critical that we have the best procedures and tools for helping the world’s most vulnerable victims of violence. Resettlement — to the U.S. or anywhere else — is often the last resort for refugees who may never be able to return to their home countries or have any access to a productive future in the country to which they first fled.

As your constituent, I urge you to use your voice to stand up for refugees by co-sponsoring the Refugee Protection Act and opposing any legislation that would undermine our Jewish and American values of welcoming the stranger and protecting refugees.

Of course I’m telling you all this with a chuckle, but if Hillary is elected, this won’t be a laughing matter.  Bills like this could get through to her desk!
And, again, that is because they (the Open Borders Left) never gives up, they agitate and they agitate, day after day and year after year!
Note to angry Rutland residents: If you want to stop the madness help get rid of your old man in the Senate and help us all!

More on Rutland Vermont's refugee controversy

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update: Breitbart has just learned that the Vermont Health Dept. has treated 17 cases of ACTIVE Tuberculosis in the refugee population placed in that state by the US State Department.
I’ve been remiss in not reporting on the drama in Rutland, VT last week as the Aldermen there voted on whether to place a referendum seeking the public’s approval (or disapproval) of the city becoming Vermont’s next federal resettlement site.

Anne Richard UN seal
The Aldermen of Rutland, VT are asking Richard (Asst. Sec. of State for Populations, Refugees and Migration) for more information on the plans for the city. The nerve of them!

I am woefully behind on the Vermont news (although I did post on the latest regarding ACTIVE TB in the state here),  so forgive me if more important things have happened since the vote.  Here Watchdog.org reports on the vote (they voted to not put the referendum on the ballot).
By the way, the focus has been on Syrian refugees resettling there, but once an office is open, a smattering of many other ethnic groups will be brought in—Somalis, Congolese, Burmese, Iraqis and so forth—making assimilation even harder as each ethnic group creates its core community. Myriad ethnic groups also increase the expense to local tax payers for the school system and even the health department as interpreters must be provided for each group.
You should read Watchdog.org for all the details of the debate, but I wanted to emphasize one thing mentioned by one of the Aldermen:

David Trapeni, a two-time mayoral candidate and the organizer of the petition drive, criticized the resettlement plan as too open-ended.

“It’s not a hundred — it’s hundreds of refugees that come,” Trapeni said. “Once you open that door that’s it — you’re going to get hundreds, and you’re not going to have any say.”

I cannot stress enough how significant Trapeni’s comment is.  He is exactly right!  You cannot shut the spigot off once the pipeline starts to flow. You can’t next year say, well, that doesn’t work for us and expect the feds and their contractor to shutter the office they opened and fire the staff.  This program builds on itself because first, the agency is paid by the head to resettle the refugees, and secondly they are hellbent on bringing in the family members once the original seeds are planted. You will be even more vilified when you say we don’t want families reunited.
In the controversy in Spartanburg, SC a year ago, the contractor/feds promised to bring in only 50 refugees, now the plan for next year is 150 (I didn’t check the exact number, but it is at least that many).
It will not end, just ask the mayors of Manchester, NH or Amarillo, TX who have been trying for years to close the spigot!

Aldermen ask Asst. Sec. of State Anne Richard for more information

This (news) is a very interesting turn of events and frankly I have to give this local body a thumbs-up for even taking an initiative like this.
Basically they are signaling that local governments have a right to all the facts. That is the last thing the refugee industry wants to set a precedent about. The arrogant feds and contractors are so accustomed to operating in secrecy that they don’t want to be in a position to answer questions.
A word of caution…
However, when pressed they have been able to put on shows for the public as they did in Spartanburg, SC and in Twin Falls, Idaho where they came to town and held private meetings (Spartanburg) or held a stacked public meeting as they did in Twin Falls and gave their positive spin on refugee resettlement. (So Rutland should be prepared for such a propaganda initiative from Washington.)
Nevertheless, every city government should be so audacious as to demand more answers from the federal government. After all, your town will be changed forever!
I’ll be very interested to see how Ms. Richard responds to the letter (read it here).  Will she decide the controversy in Rutland isn’t worth pushing any further and move on to another (weaker) target town in Vermont? Or, will she put up a fight here as a show of power by bringing in her dog and pony show?
Read the whole story at the Times Argus.
Our Rutland archive is here (for new readers!).

Vermont's Watchdog.org tells us more about VT Health Dept. response to TB in the state

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a great website—Watchdog.org—I wonder how many other states have a Watchdog site like this which goes around the politically correct media spin and digs deeper into important stories effecting citizens in their states.

Patsy Kelso
Vermont state epidemiologist attempts to downplay seriousness of active TB in refugee population. Photo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patsy-kelso-97290a78

Here is more on TB following the revelations we reported from Breitbart two days ago here.
Watchdog.org is reporting that the Vermont Health Department may not be diligently alerting and testing those who might have come in contact with the recent cases of ACTIVE TB.

Information not disclosed by the Health Department includes how many contact investigations are underway to identify the disease’s potential spread among the general public. Also not disclosed was how many people will need to undergo testing due to contact with the active TB patients.

In January 2015, state epidemiologist Patsy Kelso and Health Commissioner Harry Chen led a well-publicized TB control effort to isolate a single teacher at Charlotte Central School diagnosed with active TB disease. That effort, covered by VPR and WCAX, ultimately tested 500 students and co-workers exposed to the teacher, and identified 19 children and two adults to whom the tuberculosis had spread, according to Stateline.

Kelso, speaking Thursday on VPR’s Vermont Edition, offered a much different response regarding TB disease among refugees.

“It’s not a concern of mine,” Kelso said.

[….]

During the interview, Kelso shared data that show refugee populations are exhibiting a considerably higher rate of TB disease compared to native born Vermonters. “Looking at 2003 to 2015, we’ve seen 77 cases of (active) TB in people in Vermont, and 26 of those were in U.S.-born people and 15 of them were in refugees,” she said. Kelso added that the other 36 cases involved immigrants living in Vermont.  [Of the 26 U.S.-born people, how many were living in the household of an infected immigrant?—ed]

[….]

While Kelso’s response may have been aimed at allaying public fears about the disease’s spread, the epidemiologist noted that up to 10 percent of latent TB cases advance to active TB disease. That means Vermont’s infectious disease teams can expect to diagnose many more active TB cases as a result of the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program.

For more click here.
I know I’ve said this before, but until Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart began his investigation of Tuberculosis in the refugee stream to American towns and cities, we had no idea it was this bad.  Repeatedly those involved in the resettlement industry have said, oh, only latent TB-infected people can get in and now we learn that is not true.  And, if 10% of those with latent TB become active, will they become active in your child’s school one day, or working next to you in a meatpacking plant or serving you food in a restaurant. Are they ticking TB time bombs just waiting to go off?
Go here for our very large archive on ‘refugee health’ (our posts on Leahy’s previous stories are there). 310 previous posts are listed in that category addressing the many health concerns refugees bring to America (for you to pay for!).

VT Health Dept admits: three cases of ACTIVE TB in Vermont in last seven months

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, their treatment expenses are coming out of your wallets! Isn’t diversity beautiful!
See our previous post—-what is Vermont hiding?

TB cdc
This CDC info graphic says even Latent TB cases entering the US must be identified and treated. So what is all this costing us?

 
 
More from Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart:

A spokesperson for the Vermont Department of Health confirms to Breitbart News that “three refugees [have been] diagnosed with TB in Vermont over the past seven months.”

One case was diagnosed in December 2015, and the other two cases were diagnosed in 2016.

No one other than a refugee has been diagnosed with active TB in Vermont during the first six months of 2016, the spokesperson adds.

The stunning admission comes after Breitbart News reported that the number of active TB cases in Vermont tripled from two in 2014 to seven in 2015.

More here.
I don’t want to become an expert on refugee health, but you might be interested if you have some connection to the medical field or are in regular close contact with the refugees newly arriving in the US.
Just now I had a look at the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for refugee health screening and what I don’t get is this: refugees are domestically screened between 30 and 90 days of arrival.  How many people have interacted or come in contact with a refugee family and then don’t learn for 30 to 90 days that someone in the family has TB (or HIV or parasites or other transmittable health conditions)?
See our ‘health issues’ category with over 300 previous posts on the topic.