Idaho petition drives underway to shut down refugee resettlement in Twin Falls, and in the whole state

10/13/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

On Sunday MagicValley.com reported on two petition drives being conducted in the Twin Falls area.

Republican Gov. Butch Otter is being asked to shut it down statewide. He does not have that power! But, putting pressure on him like this is still an excellent idea.

TWIN FALLS • Supporters of a ballot measure to ban refugee centers in Twin Falls County have started to gather signatures.

The Twin Falls County Clerk’s office approved the form of the petition on Oct. 5, giving them 180 days — or until early April — to gather the 3,842 signatures they need to get the initiative on the countywide ballot in May.

Rick Martin, the head of the Committee to End the CSI Refugee Center and the sponsor of the ballot measure, was gathering signatures outside the U.S. Post Office on Second Avenue West on Wednesday morning. He said their goal is to gather about 4,300 signatures, to make sure they have enough in case some get challenged.

[….]

The ballot measure would ban refugee centers anywhere in the county, including within the cities, and would take effect Nov. 1, 2016.

Another group, III Percent of Idaho, is working a petition to get the Governor to shut down refugee resettlement for the whole state. They will hold a rally this coming Sunday. See MagicValley.com for details.
Remember readers that Idaho is a Wilson-Fish state and as such decisions are made between a non-profit group (Jannus Inc, mentioned here) and the UN/US State Department. Neither the Governor, nor other elected officials, will be able to shut it down without first getting rid of the Wilson-Fish status.
Note to activists:
If the Governor is reluctant to do anything (to even speak up), check his campaign contributions and see if he is getting campaign cash from big industries like the one setting up the new meatpacking plant near Boise and Chobani Yogurt near Twin Falls. Both industries are looking for cheap refugee labor to make sure their profit margin is good (your culture, your local economy and your safety be damned!).
For all of you, wherever in the US you are located, be sure to research which industries are working closely with federal resettlement contractors (phony ‘church’ groups) to bring refugees to your community.
Idahoans! You really must focus some attention on your federal representatives, your two US Senators and your two Members of the House. I know, I know, we all think they are a bunch of do-nothings, but you still gotta hound them!

More on Chobani

chobani-yogurt-300x225 — Chobani changing America one cheap immigrant laborer at a time….

Remember I told you about the refugees getting the boot from an apartment complex in Boise, here. Now a reader tells us that Chobani has stepped in to rescue the refugees, here, here and here.

So let me ask this question: If refugees do not have enough money (or jobs) to get and keep housing without extra help from Chobani, why are we bringing more refugees to Idaho or to America for that matter?

Learn more about Chobani and its Kurdish-American founder in Twin Falls, here.
Go here for our HUGE archive on Idaho.
This post is also archived in our relatively new category—Pockets of Resistance.

Community refugee resettlement consultations are required; demand to attend!

10/12/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It has only been in the last year or so that we have been made aware that QUARTERLY CONSULTATIONS with community “stakeholders” were being held quietly, out of public view. In fact, I wondered why I hadn’t heard about them and now I know why!

The citizens of St. Cloud, MN, here and here, brought the issue of exclusion of taxpaying citizens from the meetings where the ‘non-profit’ refugee resettlement agency meets with local elected officials, fire/police, education, health departments etc. to assess how things are going with the refugees, and they discuss how many to bring in the upcoming year.

gowdy looking dumb — Where are you Trey Gowdy? As the US State Department and its contractors work day and night to change the demographic makeup of American towns and cities IN SECRECY, where is your subcommittee in helping citizens get the information they are entitled to? Frankly, this is more important for the future of America than Hillary’s e-mails!

According to a State Department spokesman (unnamed!) doing a press briefing for reporters on September 11th, we learn that they have only been doing these QUARTERLY CONSULTATIONS since 2013! WTH!
And, they are lying! “Private citizens” have not been welcome.
These agencies (‘non-profit’ resettlement subcontractors) work very hard to hold these meetings secretly and out of the view of local concerned citizens—the ultimate stakeholder, the taxpayer! Yet, we have a State Department official (why no name?) telling the mainstream media that private citizens can attend!
Why is the spokesman unnamed?

We are pleased to have [name and title withheld] with us today. Moving forward, [State Department Official] will be called State Department official for the purposes of this call. Again, this call is on background.

So much for Obama’s much ballyhooed transparency! Now here is what ‘name and title withheld’ told a special group of reporters:

In addition, starting about two years ago, I believe it was FY13, we required that all of our resettlement agencies conduct quarterly consultations with stakeholders in their communities. So that means that not just once a year when they’re preparing a proposal, but every quarter they have to reach out to a wide variety of stakeholders. And that would include other community organizations. That could include the police department, the school, the mayor’s office, the fire department, other agencies that have a stake in refugee resettlement, and private citizens can be invited as well. And they hold those quarterly conversations and that is taken into account when we are making placement plans for the entire year and throughout the year.

You know Larry Bartlett told Senator Sessions this basic untruth here in the Senate hearing the week before last as well.

It gets worse!

We need lawyers on our team! Have they been breaking the law for 33 of 35 years? Or, have the states, which are supposed to prepare a plan every year and hold the meetings, not done their required duty to hold the quarterly meetings with communities?
And, if yours is one of 11 Wilson-Fish states*** you don’t even get this much involvement in the planning.
Here are the federal regulations guiding the program (From CFR 400.5(h))

Provide that the State will, unless exempted from this requirement by the Director, assure that meetings are convened, not less often than quarterly, whereby representatives of local resettlement agencies, local community service agencies, and other agencies that serve refugees meet with representatives of State and local governments to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees’ arrival.

What should you do now?

So, for all of you working in ‘Pockets of Resistance’ (and others too!). Go here, and call the closest refugee resettlement office near you and tell them you want a schedule for the upcoming quarterly consultation! Ask them as well for the FY2016 R & P Abstract which will tell you their plans for your town/city this year. (They have been instructed by their lobbying arm in Washington, RCUSA, to deny you those, but keep asking).
At the same time, go here, and call your State Refugee Coordinators office and ask for the quarterly consultation schedule for your city and/or for the whole state. Ask the coordinator for the FY2016 Abstracts as well (for your individual city) or for every community in the state! The State Coordinator must have approved it!
Let me know what response you get and we will start listing the agencies that refuse your requests for admission to quarterly consultations and for the R & P Abstract. We will build a case.
And, hey, Trey Gowdy where are you? Where is your hearing?

I would like you to make those calls and report the results to me. I am going to post the responses on these pages. (I know some of you have done this already, but I didn’t log your information when you were stonewalled.) Please put “report on calls” in the subject line when writing to me at RefugeeWatcher@gmail.com so I don’t miss your e-mail.

*** Wilson-Fish states where your state elected officials have virtually no say (and where you should be demanding your state get out of Wilson-Fish!): Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee and Vermont. Call the agencies in those states too.
***Update***
There are 12 Wilson-Fish states: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee and Vermont.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho newspaper confirms it: No refugees to be resettled in Northern Idaho ("right now")

10/09/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

However, the state refugee coordinator, Jan Reeves, while suggesting Northern Idahoans are too hostile to accept refugees, confirms that Syrian refugees will be resettled in Twin Falls.
Last week we heard a rumor that refugees were going to be resettled in Coeur d’Alene and/or St. Marie’s, Idaho and our story reached thousands and thousands of readers, see the original story here.
Then we heard from the Director of the World Relief office in nearby Spokane, Washington who told us that there were no plans to resettle refugees across the state line, but they were only looking for donations and volunteer help. See our follow-up post here.

Reeves and Johnson — That is Jan Reeves on the right with Holly Johnson of Tennessee (left) they decide for Idaho and for Tennessee (along with the US State Department) who gets resettled in their states with virtually zero input from elected officials in their Wilson-Fish states. In 2013, Obama chose Reeves as a “champion of change.”

It is not the purpose of this post today to discuss the donated stuff, but you should know that the ‘stuff’ (even junky donations) are counted as cash by the federal government for the purpose of demonstrating that the non-profit group was adding its share to the pot of money that is used for the refugees and for the agency’s salaries and overhead.
Also, volunteer hours are tracked and a dollar value is placed on them also for the purpose of ‘matching’ federal dollars. But, I digress.
Now thanks to some good sleuthing by Jeff Selle, at the CDA Press.com, we learn this (below) from Mr. Reeves (Reeves is largely responsible, along with the UN/US State Department, for determining who comes to Idaho, a Wilson-Fish state, with no Idaho state government input!). (Emphasis below is mine.)

Jan Reeves, director of the Idaho State Office of Refugees, confirmed what Kadel said.

[The Idaho State Office of Refugees, Jannus Inc, is a non-profit group, NOT an office of the state government. Kadel is the Director of World Relief Spokane—ed]

“I talked with Mark about this a couple of days ago,” Reeves said. “The last thing I would recommend is settling refugees in a community that doesn’t support them. Considering the (political) climate in North Idaho, we would not resettle refugees there.”

Reeves said the very notion that his office or the World Relief organization would clandestinely try to create a resettlement community is absurd.

Reeves may not “clandestinely” resettle refugees in Idaho, but I assure you that the taxpaying citizens of towns being chosen across the country are the last to learn (usually when refugees have already arrived in town!) the news.

“It isn’t done secretly by the dark forces of government,” he said. “In fact, it is a fairly long process.” [What is a “fairly” open process? How about a completely open process!—ed]

Reeves said North Idaho doesn’t have the service necessary to support a large number of refugees. He said the only two Idaho cities that will receive the Syrian refugees are Boise and Twin Falls.

He said Boise took 35 Syrian refugees this year, which amounted to seven or eight families.

“I do expect we will see more Syrians in Boise this year,” Reeves said, adding he is not sure how many they will take because those decisions are still being made in Washington, D.C.

“In about a month we should know much more,” he said, adding they are deciding how to distribute a total of 85,000 refugees among nine resettlement agencies and 200 resettlement communities.

There is much more, continue reading here. Be sure to see the many comments!
You need to know that in 2013 the White House chose Jan Reeves to receive its ‘Champions of Change’ award, here. Jannus Inc. was formerly Mountain States Group which I discussed here a little bit at the end of this post. Remember, Obama is changing America by changing the people!
My recommendation for Idaho patriots, especially those who have dodged a bullet for now in N. Idaho, you need to persuade your state legislature to take action and GET RID OF THE WILSON-FISH program in your state. Tell them to take control back from an un-elected non-profit group!
By the way, point out to your state and federal legislators that Montana and Wyoming take ZERO refugees. See map here.

Idaho legislator calls for more transparency by resettlement agency in Twin Falls

08/12/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have to laugh! The headline in the newspaper (MagicValley.com), that has so far not wanted to present all the facts about the UN/US State Department Refugee Resettlement plan for Twin Falls, titles the op-ed from Rep. Stephen Hartgen (R-Twin Falls) ‘Hartgen: Defunding Refugee Program Isn’t the Answer.‘

It could more accurately have been entitled: ‘Hartgen: concerned for security with refugee program, demands transparency of resettlement contractor.’
Hartgen is on the right track! Continue to demand transparency! In my experience the federal government and its contractors do not want you to know all the facts!

If Rep. Hartgen wants transparency, begin by asking for the FY 2016 Abstract!

At this very moment CSI Refugee Center is finishing up (or has finished) its R & P Abstract for FY2016. It is a document that should be made available to you, to everyone in Twin Falls, BEFORE it goes to Washington as part of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants’ (USCRI’s) federal funding wish list.
The Abstract will tell you how many refugees and from which parts of the world USCRI/CSI is looking to get them from in FY’16 which begins October 1, 2015, and it will tell what amenities the community in Twin Falls is offering the refugees (you might be surprised by what goodies you are providing refugees).
USCRI is the parent organization of the CSI Refugee Center. It is USCRI that sits down with the US State Department and decides which refugees are sent to Twin Falls. Jannus Inc. is included in the discussion.
Idaho is a Wilson-Fish state and as such the decisions that are made exclude Idaho elected officials such as Rep. Hartgen from the decision-making process. Jannus, Inc., another non-profit group, acts for the state of Idaho.
And, one more thing. Rep. Hartgen needs to acquire the CSI Refugee Center’s federal tax form—Form 990—which they must be hiding somewhere!

Here is a small snip of what Rep. Hartgen said (I dare not post more or the editor will sic its lawyers on me, as they did here):

Rather, I believe the CSI Board, which consists of locally-elected officials, and the college administration should go further in explaining to the community the center’s operation and in releasing documents on its various aspects and financial affairs. This would go a long way to alleviate concerns about the center and the plan to bring refugees from the Middle East to settle in southern Idaho.

[….]

….The proposed introduction of refugees from Syria has raised many concerns, and not only from Mr. Martin and his group. For one, the world today seems to be a more volatile place of war, insurrections, ideological movements and violence. The Middle East seethes with such incidents and it is not unreasonable for Americans to be concerned for our own country’s security.

Second, many people feel the U.S. government does not seem particularly competent in many tasks involving homeland security. The vetting of refugees does not seem to many to be thorough enough, and the government’s response seems to be little more than “we’re doing the best we can.” Public statements from extremist Islamic group like ISIS about how they intend to use settlement programs to infiltrate America only heighten such concerns. Attacks on American soil lead to further wariness.

Thirdly, a general suspicion of the current Obama administration’s competence and motives is now pervasive among millions of Americans, who simply no longer believe the administration has America’s best interests at heart.

Continue reading here. (MagicValley.com wants you to see its ads).
Again, Rep. Hartgen is on the right track and should be encouraged! In fact, he should be encouraged to introduce legislation to get rid of the Wilson-Fish program for Idaho that leaves state elected officials out of the decision-making process.
Incidentally, I don’t know of another resettlement agency that is intimately entwined with a college as this one is, do any of you know of another one? What is in it for the college? Are they making money off of the refugee program?
This latest round of controversy in Twin Falls began here (back in April) when CSI got all excited by the prospect of Syrian (mostly Muslim) refugees coming to town.
We have written many posts on Idaho, go here for more.
Twin Falls has developed as a ‘Pocket of Resistance’ and concerned citizens there have begun going door to door to educate their fellow citizens about the CSI Refugee Center. They (Committee to End the CSI Refugee Center) also have a very new website!

Idaho newspaper: NO worries about Syrian refugees coming to Twin Falls; just paranoia

05/15/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

All that news recently about Idaho being a hot spot for refugee resettlement must have stirred the pot there and thus the Idaho Press-Tribune editorial board apparently decided it was their duty to tamp it down before it got out of control.

We learned recently that resettlement contractors have plans to resettle Syrians in Magic Valley. And, then World Net Daily posted a lengthy article on how Idaho is welcoming Muslim refugees.

Opinion Editor Phil Bridges: You are all just paranoid, no beheadings happening in Idaho. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/phil-bridges/77/bab/7a4

Interestingly the paper published a poll and asked readers to vote. Here is the question:

How concerned are you about Syrian refugees being brought to Twin Falls?

Over 53% of respondents so far had voted that they are “very” concerned.

Opinion editor Phil Bridges says this. Notice that he blames talk radio and conservatives for being paranoid. He even mentions unreasonable fears about “no go zones” and beheadings. He obviously has no clue what ‘civilization jihad’ is.

If you listen to much local talk radio, you’ve probably noticed that some vocal people of a decidedly conservative stripe are very concerned that a few hundred refugees, some of them Syrian, are going to be brought to Twin Falls.

[….]

On balance, we believe there are more reasons to support these refugees than there are to oppose. But reasonable minds can disagree. Just make sure that, if you’re in opposition, your arguments are based in logic, not unreasonable paranoia.

— Phil Bridges

Subsequently the paper dismissed a reader who reported that the FBI testified to Congress that it could not screen Syrians for security.

See our complete archive on Idaho. Be sure to see posts on the Uzbek refugee terrorist arrested there.

Wilson-Fish!

Idaho is one of those states operating as a Wilson-Fish state. Unlike other states where the resettlement contractors and the federal government call all the shots and the state government has no say on how the program is run, Idaho reserved a small role for itself. In Idaho it looks like the state government will be in charge of enrolling refugees into its state Medicaid program or disbursing the limited 8 month subsidy for refugees that don’t qualify.

The refugee contractors like to tell the public and elected officials that the refugee program is 100% funded by the federal government. In reality, and as stated explicitly by ORR and the GAO, the costs of the federal refugee resettlement program have been shifted to state and local governments because the federal government has chosen not to appropriate enough money to pay for its program.

Maybe the Idaho Press-Tribune should look into that rather than castigate its readers (more than half of them) for being paranoid!