When I wrote about this the other day, I didn’t really think our Department of State could be serious, but obviously the Obama Administration is going to shove it down our throats! How many more outrages will we see regarding refugees before January 20th when Donald Trump will be setting US immigration policy?
Watch the 2013 news about the asylum seekers, angry with Australia and the slow processing of their claims, burn down the asylum center. Link here if this doesn’t open: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoL6dASFh8M
German press (Deutsche Welle) is reporting that we are going to transform Australia’s failed asylum seekers, mostly Muslims, into legitimate refugees bound for Anytown, USA.
I would like to know, from the ‘brains’ at the US State Department, how these 1,800 boat people were vetted. And, most of all, why Australia turned them down! Deutsche Welle:
The US has agreed to accept 1,800 refugees held at Australian-funded camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, according to media reports. Human rights groups have criticized the conditions in the camps. [What? And, that means because conditions are supposedly bad in an Australian camp, its inhabitants become our problem!—ed]
The Australian newspaper reported on Friday that the US and Australia were close to announcing an agreement for up to 1,800 mainly Muslim refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia on the island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull declined to comment on negotiations with the US. “There’s always speculation about these things” Turnbull said on Melbourne Radio. “And we never comment on them.”
[….]
An agreement struck with the administration of President Barack Obama could be opposed by his successor, Donald Trump who has called for tight restrictions on Muslim immigration into the US.
Human rights groups have condemned the conditions in the camps which they have condemned as an abrogation of Australia’s responsibilities as a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention. There have been street protests over the treatment of the refugees (photo).
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said this week he was looking for countries that would accept all asylum seekers bound for Australia, including those who have had their refugee claims rejected, but who refuse to go home.
Donald Trump really can’t do anything yet, but your Washington reps can!
Call your US Senators and member of Congress!
I’ve been preaching for weeks/months that there is only one place right now (before January 20th) where you can have an impact if you choose to do the work! That is Congress. Call your representatives in Washington on Monday (they should be back to work on Tuesday, but their staffs should be working) and complain about this outrage. Use it as an example of how out of control the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program is.
Tell your representatives to call the US State Department (the Asst. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration) to put a halt to this sheer insanity!
And, while you are at it, tell your members of Congress to DEFUND the RAP in the FY2017 budget that will be before them beginning on Tuesday.
It is not unprecedented to reduce refugee numbers dramatically, we did it following 9/11! By Inauguration Day 2017 we will already be at 35,000 for the fiscal year!
Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated on the 20th of January as our 45th President. Many of you worked very hard to make it happen. He said he will stop the flow of Syrian (majority Muslim) refugees to your towns and cities and at minimum we expect him to do that!
But, reducing the numbers is not enough, he must demand the repeal of the Refugee Act of 1980. The system as constructed is rotten to the core and I no longer believe it can be reformed.
This isn’t just an ideological battle between ‘do-gooders’ on the Left and ‘haters’ in the conservative grassroots, but a third player is the Chamber of Commerce which will fight tooth and nail to buck Trump. They want the cheap immigrant labor! Tom Donohue, friend of Paul Ryan, here: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/12/chris-wallace-establishment-business-groups-ready-to-primary-conservatives-if-they-dont-play-ball-with-paul-ryan/
A simple reduction in numbers, that has been suggested by somein the immigration control movement, is not adequate. If it is deemed in the national interest to resettle third worlders in America going forward, an entirely new program must be constructed by Congress.
In my view, there are three issues that must be addressed in a White House and Congressional review and they are: 1) National security concerns, 2) the VOLAG system where non-profits are paid by the head (out of the US Treasury) to resettle refugees chosen by the UN, 3) lack of transparency (the outrageous secrecy by VOLAGs and the feds involved in choosing target towns). There may be others I can’t think of at the moment.
So as we knew, and as a Newsweek article yesterday confirmed, on January 21st, Donald Trump can turn off the spigot of refugees flowing in to the US and tell Congress if they want a refugee program to get to work and come up with a new one!
He can hold the hammer over their heads by turning off the flow!
But! He will have to battle the major corporations and the US Chamber of Commerce looking for a plentiful supply of CHEAP LABOR.
As much as some want to frame it this way—as a battle between two major forces of Democrat Left wing open borders ‘humanitarian’ activists on one side and Republican Right wing believers in tightly controlled immigration on the other, there is a third player with enormous power—BIG business and US Chamber of Commerce lobbyists always on the hunt for CHEAP (some say captive, compliant) LABOR!
Trump will have to battle Republican Congressional leaders who follow the lead of their industry friends!
That (above) is my main point, for those who want to wade into the numbers weeds, here is what I’ve been looking at this morning.
What do the numbers look like now?
Using data provided by the Refugee Processing Center, we have admitted 12,272 refugees of all stripes between the beginning of the 2017 fiscal year (October 1, 2016) and election day (November, 8, 2016). This rate (319 a day) is higher than anything we have seen in the last ten years (see chart in this post).
If that rate continues until Inauguration Day on January 20th, 2017, then we will have admitted over 35,000 refugees in just over 3 1/2 months, more than we brought in 2002 and 2003. Obama wants 110,000 for the entire fiscal year (319 a day would bring the total over 110,000). However, it is not unprecedented to dramatically reduce numbers. See here that in the two years following 9/11 we admitted less than 30,000 refugees for each year 2002 and 2003!
So where would the greatest impact be if the spigot were closed on January 21st? On the contractors of course. They will have to close some offices, not open new ones, reduce staff and overhead, and gee maybe even reduce the excessively large salaries their CEOs are getting. Of course they will scream bloody murder and say how mean Trump is by leaving refugees in the pipeline.
By the way, if you like to do research, check USASpending.gov in the coming weeks and see if the federal agencies—US State Department and Health and Human Services—are pouring excessively large amounts of grant money into the coffers of thenine major contractorsbefore Obama leaves office.
More numbers….
When I checked the data this morning, I see that the following numbers have been admitted from Muslim sending countries (from October 1 to November 8):
Iraq (1,635)
Somalia (1,684)
Syria (1,602)
Smaller numbers come from places like Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Keep an eye on Burma because originally we resettled mostly Christian Burmese, but Burmese Muslim (Rohingya) numbers are ticking up (269 since Oct. 1). One final note: The UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program is only one program of many LEGAL immigration programs admitting large numbers of Muslims and others from the third world. I previously wrote about the Diversity Visa Lottery which admits another 50,000 migrants to America via a lottery system each year because we need more diversity (!). I hardly see it mentioned, so I need to start writing about it again because we have the best chance ever now to review and possibly throw out programs which are detrimental to American workers and our communities.
The Republicans previously have tried to stop the Diversity Visa lottery (some call it the Green Card lottery) and I don’t know why they have shut up about it.
“It does you no good to have local grassroots action in a vacuum that never gets to the ears of your Washington reps!”
Get some sleep and then celebrate.
It’s a wonderful day here on the farm because it’s raining (we’ve had a drought!) and of course because the country class has risen up and soundly defeated the elite establishment ruling class all across America. Ryan test! Will Speaker Paul Ryan block any effort to defund the Refugee Program in upcoming lame duck session? If he does, it may be one of the first tests of whether Ryan will work with Trump, or whether his political career is over.
Since Donald Trump, President-elect of the United States, has succeeded in maintaining the Republican majority (coattails!) in both houses of Congress, it will soon be very clear whether the Republicans will work to scrap/reform the the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program (RAP) or let it move full steam ahead.
If you think that you can relax, that Trump will take care of this problem for you—forget it! The work has just begun!
Heretofore, the open borders Republicans could point to an Obama with a veto pen as their excuse not to undertake any scaling back or reform of the RAP. They can no longer shirk their duty! Congress returns with Republican majorities pretty much intact for the lame duck session next week, and we will have the first test of Paul Ryan’s speakership as it relates to the budget and this program.
It is about the POWER OF THE PURSE!
Will Ryan bow to what he knows Trump wants—a scaling back of the RAP especially as it relates to refugees from countries which hate us—or will he agree to fully fund the RAP at the high level Obama wants for FY2017?
Until January 20th, Obama would likely veto a budget that defunds the RAP, but that is no excuse not to force his hand.
This is going to be the ultimate and clear test for us!
And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will be showing his colors too on the budget. By the way, they could continue the present FY2016 level (not enough money for 110,000 refugees) into say March giving a Trump Administration time to weigh in on the final 6 months of the year. You must get to work tomorrow, especially in Republican House Districts to tell your member of Congress to DEFUND the program! (We expect to see a repeat effort by Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX), and hopefully Dave Brat (R-VA) to attach an amendment to the Appropriations bill that must be passed, or kicked down the road, by December 9th).
If Paul Ryan blocks such an effort, we will then clearly know whether he will work with a Trump Administration or not!
You can see all of my posts on the budget process by visiting the tag ‘Where is Congress.’
So many of you are working in your towns and cities to investigate the RAP, to pressure local elected officials, to look for ways to sue the federal government, to pressure your state legislators and governors to say no to more refugees, which is all good and necessary work.
However, in the next few weeks all of that effort should be directed at one outcome—DEFUNDING the program. So, every grassroots effort must be directed at your House member and Senators.
Do not assume that if you hold a rally or other public meeting, or call upon the governor to sue the feds to oppose resettlement where you live, that your Congressman and Senators will hear about it—they are some of the least informed people you know—they live in a beltway bubble!
It does you no good to have local grassroots action in a vacuum that never gets to the ears of your Washington reps!
What must Trump do on January 21st?
First, if they haven’t resigned already, he must demand the resignations of the political appointees running the RAP.
They include Anne Richard, Asst. Secretary of State for Population Refugees and Migration and Robert Cary, Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and any of their underlings who are there in politically appointed jobs. There is nothing to be done right now about career federal employees, let’s just hope that a recent poll that said a quarter of federal employees in DC would quit if Trump was elected follow through.
Of course, much of what happens with this program going forward depends on who Trump will place in his cabinet as Secretary of State, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Homeland Security. Will they be people willing to slow or stop some immigration programs?
As we discussed above, Trump must work with Congress to cut the budget—appropriations are policy!
As for Obama’s ‘determination’ submitted to Congress this past September where Obama said he wanted 110,000 refugees placed in America by September 30th 2017, Trump has the power to stop that flow on January 21st. Obama’s proposal is a ceiling only, it is not a legally mandated goal! Of course those Obama appointees and the federal contractors are already working day and night to get as many refugees, especially from Syria, in to your towns and cities by January 20th. They are also getting as many placed in a pipeline as well so they can scream and shout about how mean Trump is to close the spigot with people in the pipeline.
And, that is why curtailing the budget NOW, in the lame duck, is so important. It sends the signal that the spigot is closing! One final thing! This Trump landslide victory sends a message to our friends in Europe that they can resist the Islamification by migration of Europe!
We have told you about this on previous occasions over the years, but it bears repeating! The nine major federal resettlement contracting agencies, that like to call themselves VOLAGs (Voluntary agencies! Ha! Ha!), have lobbyists in Washington to not only protect their flow of federal dollars, but to promote their Open Borders agenda.
And, that means not just “advocating” for more refugees, but all of the contractors have worked on past initiatives by Congress for so-called ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform.’ This is where LIRS is headquartered and a few years ago I got this description from their website: The Lutheran Center (LIRS headquarters) is a six-story structure constructed in 1999 on property owned by Baltimore’s historic Christ Lutheran Church. The building is located near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in the historic Federal Hill neighborhood, a charming area rich with history and an eclectic array of eateries and shopping venues. (Congress gives them your money to keep the whole thing going!)
Wouldn’t you think that agencies like the Lutherans here would not want the country flooded with illegals-made-legal while they were charged with finding work for their tens of thousands of legal refugees?
I don’t want to wander back into the weeds of the Gang of Eight bill that passed the Senate, but the refugee contractors were in the thick of it (lobbying for its passage) because if it had become law, they would have gotten more paid “clients” that they would help get signed up for welfare, job training, medicaid, etc.
I meant to make this quick and I will. Check out Gates of Vienna (GoV) blog here (hat tip: Richard at Blue Ridge Forum) discussing the job announcement for a DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY.
That is ‘fancy-schmancy’ language which simply means—-LOBBYIST. O.K. fine, they can have a lobbyist too, but the big question is this—-are you paying for their lobbyist???
Their advertisement says this:
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) is a national faith-based organization with a 77-year history, a budget of approximately $58 million per year, and over 100 headquarters staff.
BTW, that headquarters is in a very nice building at the posh Inner Harbor in Baltimore.
And GoV wonders how much of the $58 million is your money. I can answer that because I just analyzed LIRS finances last month, here.
From the most recent available Form 990 (2014) we learned this:
Total revenue for that year was $59,862,898
Total federal grants were $55,341,275
And, they also received from your money $1,817,755 for a loan service fee.
95% of their income comes from you—-the taxpayer! Without the money that CONGRESS appropriates to them they would dry up and blow away! DEFUND!!!
The only power you have right now to try to slow the juggernaut is if you can persuade your Representatives in Washington (your Congressman and US Senators) to DEFUND the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program on the FY2017 Budget that Congress must pass by December 9th.
We have no taxpayer-funded lobbyists working for us. In fact there is NO lobbyist working exclusively on our side—the side that wants to slow the flow—of the refugee issue. Frankly, if you don’t even try to do this then you can keep complaining (in comments to me and on social media) about the program until America is gone!
Why do you think LIRS needs a Director of ADVOCACY in Washington DC? Because they get it—they know that Congress holds the purse strings! Your money is their lifeblood!
Endnote: for all of you having problems with a Lutheran resettlement contractor in your state, this Baltimore-headquartered Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Serviceis their mothership!
We have reported on many occasions that West Virginia has pretty much dodged a bullet when it comes to the federal government resettling third worlders in the state, but all of that is changing as new efforts are underway to supply more industries there with cheap labor—in a state that has been struggling for years! [***Update*** or is it pressure from the Catholic Church, see here—ed]
The controversy began last spring when Episcopal Migration Ministries (one of 9 federal refugee contractors) went public with its plan to bring Middle Eastern refugees—Syrians in particular—to Charleston which had only gotten a few Iraqis and Iranians in the last ten years. Rep. Alex Mooney represents Charleston, WV. He is also a member of the House Freedom Caucus. West Virginians who have concerns about refugees being placed secretly in the state, must get a commitment from him BEFORE the election to join any effort in the lame duck session to DEFUND the RAP. See here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/10/26/reminder-these-are-the-house-members-who-should-be-automatically-on-the-side-of-defunding-the-refugee-admissions-program/
BTW, 176 refugees in total were placed (mostly by Catholic Charities) in West Virginia in the last decade. Charleston got 13 Iraqis and 9 Iranians before last year’s five Syrians.
We reported on the plan by EMMhere. Then again here and here in September. And, more recently published the testimony of citizen activist Brenda Arthur to Senator Jeff Sessions Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, here.
Arthur has now launched a facebook page—ACT Charleston-Secure West Virginia. Click here to join and keep up with the news.
Earlier in the summer when Arthur was just learning about the RAP (Refugee Admissions Program), after reading about it in an article in the Charleston Daily Mail, she penned a letter to the editor. Arthur reports the following:
This (below) is the letter I tried to get Kelly Merritt – Charleston Daily Mail Opinion Page Editor – to publish in late July 2016. He wanted me to “soften” it, as he said it was too “inflammatory”. I would not — therefore, he would not publish it.
This is the “inflammatory” letter, what do you think?
REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT FOR CHARLESTON?
Brenda Arthur
On May 26, 2016, the Charleston Gazette-Mail published an article by staff writer Erin Beck. She painted a glowing face on the issue of Charleston being targeted by Episcopal Migration Ministries as a “resettlement community.” I’m compelled to fill in gaps in her narrative with what Paul Harvey called ‘the rest of the story’.
The refugees being brought to the United States are 98% Muslim. Only a small number are Christians. In reality, the Christians are treated much worse in the refugee camps. Many Christians are afraid to go to the refugee camps because of mistreatment by the overwhelming numbers of Muslims.
Although people being brought here as refugees come from all over the world — many of those coming now are picked by the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees from the refugee camps in Syria, Turkey, and Jordan. The UN is a corrupt organization that hates America and Israel. How can we trust any refugees they pick for us?
Beck’s article never mentioned that ISIS has sworn to infiltrate the ‘refugees’:
“ISIS has said in their own words that they want to exploit it to infiltrate the West. Again, it is not a threat I am making up, it’s a threat their own officials have warned us about.” (11/18/15)–House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul.
Beck neglected to report that these refugees can’t be vetted, an alarming fact that ISIS knows even if Erin Beck doesn’t.
James B. Comey, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice: “There is risk associated with bringing anybody in from the outside, but especially from a conflict zone like [Syria]… My concern there [about bringing Syrian refugees into the United States] is that there are certain gaps I don’t want to talk about publicly in the data available to us.” (10/8/15)
Supporters of this resettlement scheme will tell you that the refugees are vetted by our State Department and Homeland Security. REALLY? Is this the same State Department that “vetted” the wife of the San Bernardino terrorist, and gave refugee status to the Tsarnaev brothers a.k.a. the Boston bombers? Perhaps Erin Beck has a copy of the State Department memo warning Charleston – and other host cities across America – that some refugees are afflicted with drug resistant strains of TB.
Are we to believe highly informed intelligence experts — or groups like the Episcopal Migration Ministries (one of 9 major Federal Contractors paid mostly with our tax dollars) who are paid “by the head” to bring these people to the United States. Thanks to a reserved place at the public trough, these Federal Contractors get hundreds of millions of dollars in government grants.
Ask yourself these questions:
Why do groups like Episcopal Migration Ministries (a 501(c) 3 charity) *(and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops operating in West Virginia as Catholic Charities of West Virginia) get hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to do their work ?
Why do they operate “below the radar” away from public scrutiny?
Why aren’t they presenting our elected representatives with the R & P Abstract (Reception & Placement) which details the plan for the town they are invading?
Before you vilify me as a bigot, xenophobe, racist, or hater, answer these questions:
Why is it incumbent on us to absorb so many impoverished third world peoples who reject our language, our culture, or our values?
Why spend millions on them when thousands of my fellow West Virginians are facing hard times due to the Federal assault on our coal industry?
Why is money given to foreign nationals when our veterans cannot get quality medical care?
Why not resettle them in other Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia where there is plenty of space and oil money to boot?
Why should our country which is almost 20 Trillion dollars in debt give refugees Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Food Stamps, Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance, Public Housing, Child Care & Development, Job Opportunities for Low Income Individuals (JOLI), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and other government benefits?
We have our own problems. Could any group that wants to bring impoverished third world peoples here that add a further financial burden to our citizens and have the potential of risking our security have the interest of our community and state in mind?
*Added: 10-23-16
More questions from me:
Where is the West Virginia Congressional Delegation? Where is Senator Shelley Moore Capito? Where is Rep. Alex Mooney? Are they shilling for industries in West Virginia clamoring for cheap immigrant labor in a state that has seen unemployment go up as the coal industry is being killed by Obama? Their silence is telling! Endnote: While doing my research on Iraqis here yesterday, I noticed that the tiny town of Washington, WV on the Ohio border is getting Iraqis, only a small number so far, but I wonder why? Spillover from Ohio?
