Well, well....as they say: The (Refugee Resettlement) beat goes on!!!
One of the things that I keep wondering about is the fact that the President clearly issued the Executive Order (based on campaign promises) to give states the opportunity to OPT OUT of the program and is he sitting in Washington scratching his head and wondering, 'what happened' as he watched 19 GOP Governors sign on to take more refugees.
You will want to carefully read all the first article below. It contains some REALLY important information.
The second article demonstrates that this program involves a lot of our tax dollars.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott chooses his taxpayers and truth over special interests and virtue-signaling
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has a lot of chutzpah. He actually thinks his job is to put the interests of his own taxpayers ahead of an endless line of potential impoverished immigrants from violent countries after his state has experienced record legal and illegal immigration in recent years. What a novel idea! He had the nerve to express the Founders' view on immigration - that it should factor the interests of Americans and those already here before those of foreign nationals.
The reality is that these commentators need a little more virtue and a little less signaling. True virtue begins with understanding the foundation of the issue at hand before commenting on it. The entire concept of refugee resettlement is outdated and only continues to line the pockets of private contractors at the expense of the taxpayer.
The true motivation: Are they really refugees as originally understood under the law?
As far back as 2000, David M. Robinson, a former acting director of the refugee bureau in the State Department, described the insidious power of the contractors as follows: "The agencies form a single body [that] wields enormous influence over the Administration's refugee admissions policy. It lobbies the hill effectively to increase the number of refugees admitted for permanent resettlement each year and at the same time provides overseas processing for admissions under contract to the State Department. In fact, the federal government provides about ninety percent of its collective budget. If there is a conflict of interest, it is never mentioned. [Its] solution to every refugee crisis is simplistic and the same: increase the number of admissions to the United States without regard to budgets or competing foreign policy considerations."
This is why the program has brought in impoverished individuals from third world countries in recent years, as opposed to past years when we brought in educated people fleeing communism. It's not about individualized, one-sided persecutions. Since 2004, we've admitted 51,564 Sunni refugees and 36,764 Shia refugees from Iraq. Well, who is the persecutor and who is the persecuted? Iraq is full of Sunni and Shiite jihadist elements, yet each group is able to claim refugee status if they can show they are persecuted based on their minority status in a given neighborhood.
Further, elements of both Sunni and Shia groups have been admitted to places like Bowling Green, Kentucky, and there are now stories of violence erupting between them! We have brought the sectarian problems to our shores by admitting immigrants not based on their love for our values or their status as a persecuted minority, but based on the sectarian violence itself.
The fiscal burden
Last week, the Denver Post inadvertently let the cat out of the bag concerning the poverty of these refugees. The article was trying to make people feel guilty, but at the same time it blew the cover off the lie that most modern refugees are not a drain on local resources. While chronicling the plight of recent refugees from countries like Congo in the East Colfax neighborhood of Denver, the article notes how "48% of children in the East Colfax neighborhood live in poverty, and 80% of third-graders aren't up to par in their reading." They profile some of the homeless and impoverished and how "Muslim women who fled rural Myanmar, formerly Burma, to a UN refugee camp in Thailand - and who now in Denver lack transport to supermarkets - flocked to the cardboard boxes of potatoes and greens set out in a parking lot."
I thought these people were not only net contributors but also job creators? Indeed, a recent study shows that refugee resettlement costs taxpayers $1.8 billion a year, and that doesn't include the secondary low-skilled migration spawned by the resettlement. The reality is that this is the logical outcome of a program designed to line the pockets of private contractors by bringing in individuals from impoverished countries rather than those facing one-sided political or religious persecution.
Knowledge is Power II: How Much Taxpayer Moola do the Federal Refugee Contractors Receive?
This is the second installment of my new series I'm calling Knowledge is Powerin my attempt to get as many of you as possible up to speed on how the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program works in light of the fact that the issue has heated up thanks to the President's effort to reform how refugees are resettled in America.
See Knowledge is Power I. Since it's Monday and the states' refugee coordinators should be at their desks, please call yours and ask for your State Plan.
I can't tell you how many times in recent weeks I've been asked -how much federal dough do the nine resettlement contractors actually get?
Over the years I've done various accounting efforts, but the most up-to-date and thorough accounting is from James Simpson's book 'The Red/Green Axis 2.0.'
You should all just drop a few bucks and get it as a handy reference guide.
Here (below) is a table Simpson compiled using USA Spending that includes the millions of dollars each of the nine contractors devoured in the last eleven years.
Know that the contractors do not just get money from the US State Department for placement of refugees per head, but also get myriad grants and contracts from other federal agencies, mostly the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Health and Human Services, but other agencies as well.
Many counties are now passing resolutions to oppose the acceptance of refugees in their counties. HAVE YOU TALKED TO YOUR COUNTY LEADERS ABOUT PASSING THE RESOLUTION??
LEBANON, Tennessee - There was no conflict or drama Thursday as all five members of the Wilson County Commission's Legislative Committee voted unanimously to oppose Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee on refugee resettlement.
There was just a lot of agreement among commissioners, who said they believe Lee's plan does not serve Wilson County particularly well.
County commissioners took less than five minutes to discuss the matter, which now goes to the full commission to consider. They will likely do so at their next scheduled meeting on January 27 at the Wilson County Courthouse.
Committee members said they couldn't believe Lee didn't approach state legislators first before he decided Tennessee would continue to allow refugee resettlement around the state.
Other committee members stated flat out they think of Lee's directive as an unfunded mandate.
Federal judge blocks Trump order allowing states to refuse to settle refugees
BY HARPER NEIDIG - 01/15/20 12:14 PM EST
A federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked an executive order signed by President Trump that would allow state and local governments to refuse to accept refugees.
Judge Peter J. Messitte of the Maryland District Court granted a motion from refugee groups to temporarily stay the order while their legal challenge against the president plays out.
"By giving States and Local Governments the power to veto where refugees may be resettled - in the face of clear statutory text and structure, purpose, Congressional intent, executive practice, judicial holdings, and Constitutional doctrine to the contrary - Order 13888 does not appear to serve the overall public interest," Messitte, who was appointed by former President Clinton, wrote in his opinion.
"Granting the preliminary inductive relief Plaintiffs seek does," he continued. "Refugee resettlement activity should go forward as it developed for the almost 40 years before Executive Order 13888 was announced."
Blessings
Bobbie Patray
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