Credit: Ann Corcoran

Refugee Resettlement Watch

INTRODUCING MORNING TEA

"When you look at the world today,
What is your point of view?"

Following are two items which demonstrate the SECRECY behind the efforts to bring millions of refugees into the United States.

First:

" An opinion piece published in The Tennessean

And

"Vermont citizens, who are not happy that they were blindsided by their mayor who quietly invited 100 Syrians to resettle in the small city, have succeeded in getting enough signatures on a petition to bring the issue before voters.!"

Tennessee

This is an opinion piece published in The Tennessean yesterday and posted in its entirety here with permission from the author.

Barnett is an expert on the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program and its history having followed its progression for literally two decades.

From The Tennessean:

Before the Refugee Act of 1980, refugee resettlement was the work of true sacrificial charity, where sponsors and charities committed to maintaining and supporting the refugees with housing and employment, even medical care if needed. There was an explicit bar to the access of welfare benefits. The sponsor was responsible for all costs. This helped to guarantee assimilation and is how we absorbed post-WWII refugees, those fleeing communist oppression in Eastern Europe, the Hungarian Revolution and other upheavals.

Barnett is a longtime resident of the Nashville, TN area

With the 1980 Refugee Act and related laws, the charities morphed into money-making federal contractors whose main job is to link the refugees with social services and welfare benefits. The 1980 act made all welfare available to refugees upon arrival — for life, if eligibility is maintained.

Originally, the Refugee Act included three years of federal refugee cash assistance and medical insurance. As well, state governments were reimbursed for their expenditures on welfare used by refugees, such as Medicaid (TennCare), for three years. By 1991, reimbursement from the feds for state welfare expenditures had been completely eliminated and the three-year period of refugee cash and medical assistance for refugees was limited to eight months.

According to the most recent government data, even those refugees in the country for five years are largely dependent on taxpayer largesse. Sixty percent of this group receives food stamps and 17 percent are on the cash welfare program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). A nationwide U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study shows 44 percent are still in Medicaid and 29 percent of families who have been here for five years have one or more members on the lifetime cash welfare program Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

This gives an idea of the costs to the federal taxpayer and of the unfunded federal mandate placed upon state taxpayers by this program.

Because of the byzantine structure of Tennessee’s program, there is no way to get exact costs. Both the state refugee coordinator and state refugee health coordinator, who are supposed to represent the state and its taxpayers, are actually employees of Catholic Charities, the federal contractor whose income rises in direct proportion to the numbers of refugees resettled. Further, the salary for both of these positions is paid not by the contractor, but by the feds. How’s that for a conflict of interest?

In a healthy and open environment, information would be made available from these two sources, which would help in evaluating program success and program costs, such as use of TennCare by refugees, rates of infection with communicable disease and so on. Alas, because of incentives and disincentives built into the refugee coordinators’ jobs, the best strategy for them is to withhold information.

Secrecy surrounds all aspects of the program. We have no idea what it is costing Tennessee. Statistics about medical conditions among refugees are secret. Even the numbers of refugee arrivals proposed for next year is a secret. And when arrival numbers are reported, after the fact, they are routinely reported as lower than actual numbers by conveniently neglecting to include categories of resettlement that are not official refugees, but that have the same entitlements — and benefits to the contractor — as refugees.

Orwellian use of language allows for absurd claims about refugee economic integration. For instance, refugees are considered officially “self-sufficient” even if they receive every federal welfare benefit except TANF. Refugees in temporary jobs or training programs are counted as “employed.” An unpublicized federal audit from 1999 obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request found that Memphis Catholic Charities was dropping refugees off at a day labor lot and reporting them as “employed."

It was never intended that the sponsors, known as “Voluntary Agencies,” would be purely federal contractors with all the behavior, untoward incentives, money and influence peddling that this brings. Yet, that is what we have today.

There would be no issue with this program if refugees were resettled in the traditional way America has always absorbed refugees. As long as the current resettlement model persists, it is imperative that Tennesseans have a say in how state resources are used. The state attorney general should proceed with SJR 467 challenging the federal government’s presumed authority over state resources.

We have previously posted op-eds by Don Barnett or written about his work, click here for posts mentioning Barnett.

VERMONT

Lack of transparency got citizens steamed in Rutland, VT

Vermont citizens, who are not happy that they were blindsided by their mayor who quietly invited 100 Syrians to resettle in the small city, have succeeded in getting enough signatures on a petition to bring the issue before voters...but get this!

The mayor says he isn't sure he will put it on the ballot!  I don't know enough about Vermont election laws, but I do know a bit about the secrecy surrounding refugee resettlement in almost any city in America where refugees are resettled or where the feds are targeting next, and I know that time and time again arrogant politicians thumb their noses at voters (at their peril!) and that the paid federal contractors sneak refugees into towns with only refugee advocates in on the plan.

Stacie Blake (right) representing the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (the major federal refugee contractor working in VT) attempts to place blame on citizens with concerns---that they are sending an 'unwelcoming' message to immigrants. This is however, your fault Ms. Blake because your organization chose to proceed with this plan and willfully kept information from citizens for months! It is about secrecy coming from Washington, not about the refugees themselves!

For background for new readers, visit our previous posts on the escalating controversy in Rutland, VT by clicking here.

From WAMC Public Radio:

Some residents in the city of Rutland were blindsided when the mayor and the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program announced in April that 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugees would be coming to the city in October. Now, a petition seeking to put the issue before voters has been validated.

Concerned citizens have appeared repeatedly before the Board of Aldermen seeking information on the resettlement plan. But little information has been made public. A group called Rutland First circulated a petition and collected more than 1,200 signatures asking the mayor and Board of Aldermen to put a proposition before the voters.

Despite the demand that the refugee resettlement plan be placed before city voters, Mayor Christopher Louras has been quoted that he's "not inclined at this time to put it on the ballot." Calls to the mayor were not returned."

For a complete timeline and specifics on the Vermont issue click below:

https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/?s=Rutland

Have you been noticing a trend?  Small town newspapers (owned by big media corporations) are skewing stories to put concerned citizens in the worst light, while there appears to be some efforts still going on at TV and radio stations to give a more balanced report on the latest news about immigration/refugees.

For new readers, find out if your town is already getting refugees by clicking here.

The following cities are ones that are newly targeted.  There could be many more, but these are the ones we have reported on so far (in addition to Rutland): Reno, NV, Ithaca, NY, Missoula, MT, Charleston, WV, and Fayetteville, AR.  Again, I believe there are dozens more. Let me know if you suspect something is up where you live!

For future reference this information is available on the main page of the website at:
www.fctpcommunity.org

"“The failure of the nation lies in the failure of its citizens.”
 Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind