Tag: Where is Congress

Pay attention! Your town could become St. Cloud too!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

 

As St. Cloud goes, so goes the nation!

…..that is if you don’t do something now to stop it where you live.

I’ve been arguing that the national media is doing a great disservice by not showing the true picture of a city and a state undergoing a dramatic demographic change thanks to forces arrayed against us—against regular folks, American citizens.

Most Americans would be stunned if they had any idea of what is happening in Minnesota!

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Mogadishu first! Minnesota governor Dayton said earlier this week that he would light the governor’s mansion blue (Somali flag color) because of the terrorist attack there recently that killed hundreds.  Did he light the governor’s mansion in any color when the Somali refugee terrorist attempted to kill shoppers at the St. Cloud mall a year ago?

Topping the list of those changing America by changing the people are the global corporations seeking cheap compliant labor, and cheered on by the Chamber of Commerce, Democratic political activists looking for voters, ‘non-profit’ groups paid by taxpayers to place the third world in unsuspecting towns, Islamic supremacist groups like CAIR advancing the hijra and enabled by bleeding hearts in the media and the clearly frightened local elected officials.

The St. Cloud, Minnesota story will tell your community’s story next year, or ten years from now!

(See also, my St. Cloud post yesterday, here)

Here Leo Hohmann at World Net Daily pulls the threads together about St. Cloud. This is your future too!

A small city in the Midwest is becoming “ground-zero” for a long-simmering battle over refugee resettlement that could have a ripple effect across the United States.

“The long-term future of literally every city and town in America will be affected by who wins in St. Cloud and Stearns County, Minnesota,” says Ann Corcoran, one of America’s foremost experts on the resettlement industry through her website Refugee Resettlement Watch.

St. Cloud and the surrounding small cities of Central Minnesota have been the drop-off points for thousands of refugees coming from United Nations camps over the past 15 years.

[….]

If St. Cloud is successful in carving out a local role in determining refugee numbers flowing into its community, that will spread quickly to other cities, says Corcoran, who has followed the resettlement industry across all 50 states for the past decade.

But it’s an uphill fight.

One council member, Jeff Johnson, has decided to champion the cause and is expected to introduce a resolution on Nov. 6 calling for a moratorium on refugee arrivals until a study can be completed on the economic impact of the resettlements.

So far Johnson says he has only one other councilman who is willing to listen to his argument that economics matter, but he is hoping to convince others that they will be better able to make decision affecting the taxpayer if they have empirical data on refugee costs.

Citizens like Ron Branstner have become experts on the meat industry:

Branstner sees lots of winners when it comes to refugee resettlement. The meat-processing companies – Hormel, JBS Swift, Pilgrim’s Pride – all benefit from the cheap labor. The transportation industry makes money shuttling the refugees to and from work.

But the biggest loser is the taxpayer.

So-called “Big Meat” – with most of the companies foreign-owned – has plants scattered throughout the Midwest in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, the Dakotas, Kansas and Colorado. [States throughout the south are also affected. Big Meat/Big Poultry is in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and more—ed]

“These corporations, in cooperation with chambers of commerce, nonprofits like the Blandin Foundation, Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities, have transformed town after town throughout southern Minnesota since 1990,” Branstner says.

He believes the taxpayer is subsidizing the meat industry’s addiction to cheap refugee labor.

So please don’t let anyone tell you this is about humanitarianism and thus any criticism by you means you are a mean, racist boob!  That is just what they do to silence you!

There is much, much more, continue reading here.

See also my huge archive on ‘Meatpackers’ by clicking here.

Endnote: One of my great frustrations is that I will get readers/commenters on this post who will say—what should I do? Where is an easy petition to sign or an easy fax to send?

I understand that some of you might be new and this is the first time you are seeing RRW, but geez, for the rest of you, I tell you almost daily what to do and even have a category now entitled ‘What you can do.‘ Please have a look!

Sorry this isn’t going to be easy or fast!

Don’t miss my recent step by step prescription for some thing you can do, here.  The gist of that post is that you must get involved locally as the people of St. Cloud are doing and ultimately get rid of mayors and councils who are operating in secrecy and facilitating the destructive demographic change we see here in the city that is the canary in a coal mine.

(Twin Falls, Idaho, as I have mentioned often, is right up there with St. Cloud as a lesson for what will happen to your town next!)

ORR embroiled in controversy about illegal alien minors getting abortions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is yet another reason that Congress should review the entire US Refugee Program with an eye to trashing it or at least reforming it.

How is it that the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement is in the business of housing illegal alien minors (so-called unaccompanied children) in the first place, let alone be in the position of facilitating abortions when the kids get pregnant?

They are not refugees!

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Obama’s Director of ORR, Bob Carey, told Politico that he signed off on the use of federal funds for abortions three or four times a month during his tenure. Pictured here with Linda Hartke, CEO of the Lutheran resettlement agency which receives federal funding for unaccompanied minors.

Here is the story at Politico which I haven’t the time or energy to extensively analyze and comment on.

The gist of it is that the present ORR Director is saying the feds are not going to facilitate abortions for ‘minors’ in their care while the previous Obama Director (Bob Carey) did.

Of course all those interviewed for the story are lined up against Trump’s appointee.

AUSTIN, Texas — The Trump administration is preventing an undocumented, pregnant teenager detained in a Brownsville refugee shelter from getting an abortion in a policy shift with big implications for hundreds of other pregnant, unaccompanied minors held in such shelters.

She is not the first to be stopped, according to advocates who work with undocumented teenagers.

For the last seven months, the Health and Human Services Department has intervened to prevent abortions sought by girls at federally funded shelters, even in cases of rape and incest and when the teen had a way to pay for the procedure. The agency has instead forced minors to visit crisis pregnancy centers, religiously affiliated groups that counsel women against having abortions, according to documents obtained by POLITICO, interviews with sources involved in the Brownsville case and those familiar with the agency’s policy.

In some cases, a senior HHS official has personally visited or called pregnant teens to try to talk them out of ending their pregnancies.

“There is a pattern of unconstitutional overreach of power in a minor’s abortion decision,” said the teen’s lawyer, Brigitte Amiri of the ACLU.

The ACLU brought suit on Friday on behalf of the 17-year-old in the Brownsville shelter….

[….]

“What’s especially disturbing for us about this case, is that the child is in the custody of ORR [the Office of Refugee Resettlement], so she has no other choice, and she is stuck in a form of custody or detention,” said Michelle Brane of the Women’s Refugee Commission.

The “child” in question arrived illegally across our border, we expect her (all of them!) to be held in custody! But, that custody needs to be under a different federal agency—not one whose mission is supposed to be to care for refugees, not to care for illegal aliens!

Continue reading here.

By the way, you need to know that at least two federal contractors—the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—receive money from you to take care of some of the ‘children.’  The UACs cost the US taxpayer at least $1 billion a year.

Brigitte Gabriel: Refugee resettlement is driven by the desire for cheap immigrant labor/subsidies

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Brigitte Gabriel microphone

Of course I couldn’t agree more.  It is not the only factor, but it is the primary reason that most Republican leaders never push for trashing or reforming the Refugee Act of 1980.

(After all, Congressional leaders are playing baseball with Tyson Foods lobbyists and you, the taxpayer, are not invited!)

The US Refugee Admissions Program is NOT first and foremost about ‘humanitarianism,’ it is a business!

(It is a business! Just ask the Lutheran contractor in New England, here.)

Okay, this is one of those things I’ve written about until I want to barf (right Mr. Nixon!).

I’m just going to let you read what ACT for America leader Gabriel said at the Value Voters Summit in Washington this past week.  See here at CNS News:

ACT for America President Brigitte Gabriel said certain U.S. industries seek to hire refugees instead of regular U.S. workers because a refugee’s salary is often subsidized through the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), which means “the regular American goes to the back” of the employment line while refugees are imported and hired, many of whom “do not share our values” and sometimes work “against our own country.”

“Refugee resettlement is not about humanitarianism,” said Gabriel during her speech at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 13. “It is about supplying cheap labor – industries looking to boost their bottom line is what drives most refugee resettlement in the United States today.”

More here.

And, it isn’t just the refugees, but many immigrant groups that supply labor which allows these large global industries to pay cheaper wages.

However, there is a big difference between refugee cheap labor and other immigrant cheap labor!

One big difference with the refugee program is that the refugees have taxpayer- funded head hunters masquerading as ‘religious charities’ (aka VOLAGS, aka contractors***) helping corporations find the workers and get them signed up for welfare which becomes the avenue for those special employer tax credits Gabriel mentions.

(Remember BIG MEAT wailing here back in February when Trump first dropped the refugee ceiling to 50,000! They weren’t wailing for the love of those poor souls living in 3rd world hell holes.)

Refugee workers and giant corporations have their own federally-funded employment services! 

Right now for each refugee admitted to the US they come with a $2,125 per head federal payment to a contractor.

The contractor is required to spend $1,125 on the refugee and pockets $1,000 to run its own office. So you could look at this as another taxpayer subsidy to say Tyson Foods or Marriott Hotels!

What a business model!

Workers are found by the UN, you pay the UN

You pay to have them screened/processed in to the US

Contractors get them settled in towns where global corporations (and other companies) need labor

You pay as contractors get the family settled, and find them a job

Wages inadequate so welfare is supplied (you pay for housing subsidies/school/medical/police etc)

Employer gets federal tax incentives to employ people on welfare….

And, the next year a fresh batch of refugee workers (who can’t go home) arrive in American towns!

What a racket!

*** These are the nine major contractors (LOL! I’m going to tell you this over and over and over again).  There will be no reform of how the US admits and settles refugees as long as these nine are paid for their ‘charitable’ work.  And, on top of it, act as Leftwing community organizers and political activists.

 

JW: US Dept. of State says they have NO records on refugee travel loans/repayment (really?)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

From time to time over the years we have mentioned that refugees are required to repay their airfare loans they receive from you, the US taxpayer.

Citizen watchdog, Judicial Watch, reported yesterday that they asked, through the Freedom of Information Act, for records on those loans. No information was received and JW sued. Now in response to legal filings, the DOS (Trump’s State Department!) says they have no records!

How could that be! We know that the resettlement contractors are tasked with sending the dunning notices to impoverished refugees and that the contractors—including those kind souls at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops—keep 25% of what they collect for themselves. So someone must be keeping records!

I’m guessing the mystery relates to the fact that the public (if fully informed) would react negatively to finding that the repayment rate is pretty low and that the contractors*** put a quarter of anything repaid in their pockets (so they can teach ‘new Americans’ all about debt!).

Judicial_Watch_Logo

(First Judicial Watch, then see below, what a coincidence to see a sob story on airfare loans at NorthJersey.com just yesterday as well.)

Here is JW:

In response to a Judicial Watch lawsuit, the State Department claims in a legal document that it has no records involving refugee travel loans that the agency gives foreigners overseas to buy plane tickets to fly to the United States. The program is operated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an intergovernmental group that assists refugees worldwide with hundreds of millions of dollars from Uncle Sam. The money is channeled through the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). In fiscal year 2016 the State Department gave IOM $477,257,564, according to the agency’s report on contributions to international organizations. That doesn’t even include millions more that the State Department gives the IOM for special refugee resettlement “platforms” that pop up throughout the year.  [IOM is now part of the United Nations—ed]

[….]

In a federal court document responding to Judicial Watch’s lawsuit, the State Department writes that its “search did not retrieve any records reflecting the number of refugee travel loans furnished per year using U.S. Government funds, the number of such travel loans defaulted on annually, nor the amount of money written off per defaulted loan.” In a footnote the agency writes that it did retrieve some records reflecting IOM’s “general reporting” on refugee travel loans, but none of it contained the “specific information sought” by Judicial Watch. This is outrageous because it suggests that the State Department can’t account for money American taxpayers are lending to foreigners to fly here to declare themselves refugees. A source with inside knowledge of the matter confirmed to Judicial Watch that the records exist and years ago a State Department insider provided figures that show only about half of the travel loans have been repaid since the program was launched in the 1950s, representing a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars to American taxpayers. Judicial Watch viewed the records, which span from 1952 to 2002 and reveal that the IOM issued $1,020,803,910 in “transportation” loans and recovered only $584, 219,453.

Continue reading here at JW’s “Corruption Chronicles.”

Now check this out! Coincidence? Just yesterday (JW’s news was yesterday) NorthJersey.com reports on poor Syrian refugees who can’t repay those loans!

Clearly this is a State Department program, so how can they possibly say they don’t keep records. In fact, how do the contractors get their 25% cut if no one is keeping records?

WE have to teach these refugees about borrowing money so that will help them be better Americans say contractors!

Headline and story at NorthJersey.com:

For refugees, escape to U.S. comes with a cost

The travel loan program is supposed to help families build a positive credit history in the United States, advocates say. But families like the Al Samakehs worry that the reverse will be true and that they’ll be saddled with debt and a bad credit rating.

The State Department established the travel loan program after the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980, setting up a revolving fund for the continued support of refugees. Before they travel, refugees agree to repay the interest-free loans for travel costs within four years, including a six-month grace period.

The agencies that resettle and help refugees in their new lives also oversee repayment, collecting a 25 percent commission.

Erol Kekik 2
It helps refugees build good credit. Most pay the loan back. How do we know, if there are no records?

Sean Piazza, a spokesman for U.S. Programs at International Rescue Committee, one of the resettlement agencies, said the arrangement teaches refugee families financial literacy and helps them build a credit history. That, he said, “can later help realize huge steps in a family or individual’s self-sufficiency, including automobile or home ownership.”

Erol Kekic, executive director of the Immigration and Refugee Program of Church World Service, said the travel loan program is controversial, but that building good credit could help refugees. He also said that clients get financial counseling and that most pay back loans on time.

“They go into it knowingly and they try to honor their responsibility,” he said.

So, the State Department had records in 2015!

Nationally, around 70 percent of loan balances are repaid within five years and 78 percent are repaid within 10 years, the State Department reported in 2015. The average loan amount is $1,200 per person.

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This is from the annual report of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration Fund in 2014 showing clearly the travel loan collection fee of over $3 million. More recent financial docs show a similar pot of money. So, if the DOS has no records on travel loans, how do the Bishops determine their income from collecting loans (from getting the money out of the impoverished refugees they “serve.”)

Still, some critics say the agencies’ [the volags, the contractors—ed] role poses a conflict of interest. Steven Sacco, an immigration attorney at a New York City nonprofit legal organization, said a debate about the loan program had been stifled because the agencies that are primary advocates for refugees also make money from the program.

“They’re trying to support themselves and their mission, but because they are short on cash they guard their income sources,” Sacco said. “It’s a conflict of interest because it’s a burden on the people they serve.”

Sacco argued that the loan program should be illegal because it amounts to a tax on refugees.

More here.

This is one more reason that Congress should be investigating the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program.

*** Here are the contractors who monopolize all refugee resettlement in America. Six consider themselves ‘religious charities.’

By the way, back in 2007 when resettlement contractor Church World Service came to the county where I live, one of the first revelations to me came when an English language instructor told me about some poor refugee who didn’t speak English coming to her to ask about a letter he didn’t understand—it was his letter from the contractor to begin repaying his airfare loan through them. It came as an unhappy surprise to him.

Supreme Court won’t hear ‘travel ban’ case, but refugee portion not addressed

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I wish I could explain to you what all of this means for the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program which we reported got off to a flying start for FY18 with 98 arrivals since October 1, but I can’t.  I’m not a lawyer and the whole thing just seems like a huge mess that should not distract you from doing what you must do locally and on the state level (see here).

supreme court 2017
The Supremes should never have wandered in to refugee law in the first place by literally writing, although temporarily, new law.

However, until I read this story at The Hill about the ban, I had forgotten that the 120-day refugee moratorium was still in place until October 24th!

You can thus see how meaningless that moratorium was since 98 arrived in ten days from October 1 and October 10 with the third largest number being the supposedly banned Somalis.

(In fact thousands of refugees were admitted during the ‘moratorium’ at the end of FY17 because of the Supreme Court mucking around in refugee law.)

Here is a bit from The Hill that reminded me:

The court has not yet ruled on whether to ultimately hear the other challenge to the ban, which was brought by the state of Hawaii. That case also challenges the part of Trump’s ban halting the U.S. refugee resettlement program for 120 days. That provision does not expire until Oct. 24.

More here.

HIAS was a plaintiff in the case.

Moral of the story: You are going to have to continue local and state political organizing and not rely on the courts, or the President, or the Washington swamp to bring a resolution to the issue.

See my whole category entitled ‘Supreme Court’ if you want to learn more about what they did regarding refugees.