U. of Vermont psychologists helping Bhutanese refugees with mental problems; send more refugees to Vermont!

There really isn’t much new and exciting in this story, but I’m posting it because I was interested in the small number of refugees going to Vermont, after all, Vermont’s senior Senator Patrick Leahy has, over the years, been a big pusher for more refugees and more stuff for them.

UVM psychology professor Karen Fondacaro will be busy with her Bhutanese torture victims. Here with co-founder of NESTT (New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma). http://www.uvm.edu/~psych/?Page=news/NESTT_walk_2010.html

We have had many many reports of Bhutanese (really Nepali people) who were living in UN camps on the edge of Nepal until we took 80,000 of them to America in the last 6 years or so and who are now in the US in need of mental health programs.  See our Bhutanese archive with many posts on the high suicide rate among this group of refugees, some want to go home. (BTW, Reader CW recently suggested a the creation of a ‘Repatriation Fund’ for any refugee, unhappy with America, to be allowed to go home.)

From Kentucky.com (I wondered if a Kentucky publication reported this story as a hint to start mental health counseling in KY for its burgeoning refugee population):

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The scars Ajuda Thapa carries today are emotional — the product of years living in fear, being forced from her home in Bhutan and enduring the murder of her husband during 19 stateless years before she arrived in Vermont as a refugee.

Like many others like her here, she’s helping ease the emotional trauma she suffered through a special program at the University of Vermont for the region’s refugees.

[….]

But the safety she has now didn’t do anything for the anxiety, depression and lingering emotional scars that threatened to turn her into a recluse hiding in her home. So her doctor referred her to Connecting Cultures, a program at the University of Vermont that has helped ease the emotional trauma of hundreds of others like her.

Thapa regularly attends meetings where she talks about what she experienced.

“It helps a lot to get relief from that kind of mental pain,” said Thapa, an ethnic Nepali who became stateless after leaving Bhutan in 1992.

Here are some numbers for Vermont:

Connecting Cultures organizers have found that about 65 percent of the estimated 7,000 refugees living in greater Burlington from more than two dozen countries had suffered some form of torture. [Dr. Fondacaro will be very busy!]

[….]

Thapa has struggled to deal with the emotional trauma that comes with the nearly two decades of fear and loss she experienced after being forced from her home. She is one of an estimated 1,300 Bhutanese refugees who have been resettled in Vermont, the largest single refugee nationality in the state.

Those are paltry numbers compared to many other states…

There surely needs to be a national campaign to persuade Vermonters to be more “welcoming” and to accept more refugees there, after all that would only be fair!

See our Vermont archive by clicking here.

Vermont refugee worker charged with embezzling from non-profit’s clients

Just a quick story in our favorite “welcoming” state of Vermont.  Clearly a former refugee herself, it’s alleged that Ms. Mbayu stole from other refugees.

If convicted Mbayu could get ten years in the slammer.

From the Burlington Free Press  (hat tip: Joanne):

A former caseworker at the Association of Africans Living in Vermont is facing a charge of embezzlement for pocketing $34,000 in tax refunds of two of her clients in recent years, Burlington Police said Friday.

Francine Mbayu, 43, of Burlington is due in Vermont Superior Court on Oct. 30 for arraignment on the felony embezzlement count, police said.

Detective Cpl. Michael Hemond said Mbayu diverted the tax refunds of the two victims between 2011 and 2014 into her bank account and illegally retained all or a portion of each refund.

I would love to dig into the financials for the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, but no time today. If you are a Vermonter reading this, remember it’s important to research the refugee organizations and operatives in your state (a message for readers in every state!).

See some of our recent posts on Vermont (the green card state!) which touts itself as a state welcoming diversity, but surprise! gets very few refugees.

The bacon flap in “welcoming” Winooski, VT

I don’t have the time to do this post justice this morning, but since the news about a restaurant in Vermont taking down a sign with the word “bacon” on it after a Muslim customer deemed it offensive is all over the web, and because some have linked a post we wrote here in 2009, I need to at least say a few words.

So what did they expect?  When Winooski “welcomed” the US State Department and its contractors in several years ago to resettle Muslim refugees in their town, this day would come.

Senator Patrick Leahy as he appeared when he first arrived in Washington in 1975 has been pushing for more immigration for America for nearly four decades. So, with a leader like this, Vermont deserves to “welcome” many more than it has already.

Here is a story at USA Today and one at American Thinker where you can learn more about the controversy.

Send all refugees to Vermont!  Find the “tipping point!”

That is what we have been promoting here at RRW—send all of the refugees to “welcoming” Vermont.  First, their leadership wants them (and the ‘unaccompanied alien children’ too).

Senator Patrick Leahy was a primary pusher for “amnesty” (Gang of Eight Senate bill) and he has been the Senate champion for the federal contractors looking for more refugees to be admitted to the US.  Additionally, Vermonters say they love diversity, so it is a perfect testing ground.

And, then most importantly (besides saving your state!), by sending all of the refugees to Vermont for a few years we would find out very quickly what the “tipping point” will be for America especially as it relates to the importation of Muslim refugees.

See all of our posts on Vermont, here.  But, please be sure to see these two recent posts, here and here.

New nickname for Vermont!  The Green Card State!

Vermont wants open-borders for Vermont, right Senator Leahy?

I’m really warming to the idea of a grassroots/media campaign to send more refugees to Vermont including those ‘unaccompanied alien minors’ surging at our border.

Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy as he rolled into Washington in 1975. Come on Pat! It’s time to open the borders of “welcoming” Vermont to the “children!” Photo: http://bigstory.ap.org/photo/patrick-leahy-12

If you missed my post about two weeks ago about Vermont’s elected ‘leaders’ running their mouths about how we must be more “welcoming”and knowing that Vermont Senator Leahy has been a champion of refugee resettlement and a Senate leader for the passage of S.744 (the Gang of Eight’s amnesty bill), you know that Vermont must surely be the most “welcoming” state in the nation led by such a generous man.

Then how could this be?

I just checked the statistics for this fiscal year and Vermont has “welcomed” a paltry 228 refugees while 50,988 were resettled around the country.

Vermont! It is time to put up or shut up.

In response to my post yesterday on the Vermont “refugee” group sending illegal aliens across the border into Canada reader, ‘sodiumpen’ said this:

Interesting that the VI&AA shuffled the illegal immigrants, etc. out of Vermont into Canada. Guess they didn’t want to keep them in-state?!

Just think of all the ski area hotels, motels, ski lodges, etc. that are seasonally vacant. I’m sure they’d make great accommodations for all those illegal alien children – especially the older teens!

Another good reason to funnel more unaccompanied minors and illegals into Vermont is the state plans on beginning a single payer health plan in 2017:

“The state has a planned 2017 launch of the nation’s first universal healthcare system, a sort of modified Medicare-for-all that has long been a dream for many liberals.”
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20131026/INFO/310269893

I’m sure all those liberal residents of Vermont will be glad to foot the healthcare bill for all of their new, incoming residents (instead of the non-Vermonters) – along with happily enabling & fulfilling the other liberal dreams of unfettered illegal immigration/open borders/amnesty.

Sounds like a win/win to me!

To me too!

Remember, earlier this year we reported on a document (key indicators) produced by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in HHS, that says the feds are looking for more “welcoming” sites and the availability of ‘free’ healthcare is one of the top criteria.  Vermont sounds like it is just the ticket!

As reader Jake said, let’s just call Vermont The Green Card State!

 

Vermont “refugee” agency closes its doors due to lack of funding; helped illegals get into Canada

Gee, just when we were hoping Vermont might take all of the tens of thousands of illegal alien children surging across our border (their elected officials all say they are “welcoming!”), one of their illegal alien support groups has run out of money.

I’m guessing the ORR (Office of Refugee Resettlement), which has been sending your money to this group, is cutting funds to little dogs like this one because the big-dog contractors*** are monopolizing all of the federal dollars especially since they even have Washington, DC lobbyists helping them acquire your money.

Little outfits like this one—Vermont Immigration and Asylum Advocates—which prides itself for helping illegal aliens reach Canada are just being out-competed in the federal grant wars.

So, while we are on the subject of the asylum racket (see previous post this morning), from Seven Days:

VIAA director Jenness will now go to another immigrant ‘advocacy group’— Association of Africans Living in Vermont

Long-simmering immigration issues boiled up again recently as tens of thousands of Central American children crossed into the U.S. Some of approximately 57,000 unaccompanied minors who have made the journey since last October could land in Vermont. Gov. Peter Shumlin has expressed a desire to help house them, while also noting that the state lacks the large facilities that federal officials are seeking.

In the past, Burlington-based Vermont Immigration and Asylum Advocates, the state’s leading authority for refugees seeking asylum for 30 years, would likely have been preparing to spring into action, representing the children in court and helping them adjust to their new surroundings.

But, they have run out of money:

VIAA had less than $108,000 in revenues in 2012, according to publicly available tax records. The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement contributed more than half of that. VIAA’s second largest chunk of revenue came from individual donors, who collectively kicked in more than $19,000. Several organizations, including the Vermont Bar Foundation and the Sisters of Mercy, contributed as well.

They proudly worked with “friendly” border guards to get illegal aliens into Canada:

The organization launched in 1987 as Vermont Refugee Assistance, to support refugees who had fled civil wars in Central and South America. Most were in Vermont en route to Canada, which has historically been more receptive to asylum seekers than the U.S.

In the old days, Jenness said, friendly border guards would tip them off when people had difficulty crossing into Canada. She and other staffers carried pagers so they could fetch and house those refugees who needed help.

They also did those phony-baloney asylum cases:

 The organization gradually evolved into what essentially became a pro bono legal clinic, representing detained immigrants — who are not eligible for public defenders and often face removal hearings without attorneys — and asylum seekers, who have to navigate a complex legal landscape.

Great, now this is something to really toot your horn about!

They made the national news for helping hundreds of Pakistanis trapped at the US/Canadian border due to changing laws (laws probably related to national security after 911).  If the Pakistanis had nothing to hide, why were they running to Canada?

The group made national news in 2003 when it assisted hundreds of immigrants, mostly Pakistanis, who sought asylum in Canada after the United States enacted new laws forcing them to undergo a special registration process with federal officials. Nervous about getting arrested or deported, many of the Pakistanis tried to flee to Canada but became stuck in Vermont after Canada enacted a new law allowing its border agents to send asylum-seekers back to the United States while their cases were pending.

There is more, it’s a long story and I only snipped a small portion of it.

Honestly, let’s send all of the ‘unaccompanied alien children’ to Vermont.  There isn’t a more deserving state!  It could be the Petri dish of sorts—we could find out what size immigrant population will crash the economy of a state and be the “tipping point” for the American public’s patience.

***The federal refugee resettlement contractors (we may have to start adding grant recipient big dogs Baptist Child and Family Services and Southwest Key Programs to our list):

Our complete archive on ‘unaccompanied minors’ goes back several years, click here for all of those posts.