Georgia’s Refugee Resettlement Costly, Out of Control, Posted on Tuesday, September 09, 2014 11:18 AM
Did you know that multimillions of
Georgia taxpayer dollars in recent years have been poured into refugee
resettlement programs and that the Peach State has one of the highest influx
rates in the nation?
When then-President Jimmy Carter
signed the Refugee Resettlement Act into law in 1980 it was well-intentioned.
Now it is outdated, costly and due for a drastic overhaul.
The law provided for 70,000 legal
refugees per year to enter with a fast-track toward citizenship. The U.S.
State Department was supposed to screen applicants for communicable diseases
and security threats-- and the refugees were supposed to be designated as
fleeing from brutal treatment due to their religious and political
beliefs. This is no longer the case.
Our country’s refugee screening
has basically been turned over to the United Nations, with the UN Office of the
High Commissioner for Refugees determining who meets the “refugee” definition.
Ninety-five percent of the refugees arriving are referred by this agency, says
researcher Edwin Rubenstein. Even more incredible, he found that the top 10
countries of origin are Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, Somalia, Cuba, Congo, Iran,
Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia. Clearly, the UN’s definitions and priorities are
quite different from those of the average Georgian or American!
The designation of “refugee” is
now most often given to everyone in an entire class of people who are deemed
victims of “discrimination.” An individual need not prove personal hardship.
Religious agencies receive
taxpayer funds for every refugee they get the UN to recommend for admission.
Then the refugees are all too often sent to communities without warning or
preparation— and DeKalb County has been a favorite dumping ground. The program
has brought into Georgia over 66,000 refugees who average having four children
per year. Georgia now has the third generation of refugees who are
eligible to vote-- with a potential voting population of over 150,000.
In 2010 the welfare cost to
Georgians was $17 million, according to the Department of Health and Human
Services. Counties chipped in $4 million of your money-- most of which came
from your property taxes. The federal government pays most of the cost
for 90 days. Then Georgians absorb the welfare cost in perpetuity. Estimates
show that our state’s welfare cost is now approaching $40 million annually and
rising exponentially.
Consider what has happened just in
DeKalb County. Its schools must provide costly instruction in over 100
languages. Now other school systems are grappling with this growing language
burden, especially with the border surge of Central American minors who are
being shipped to Georgia.
To his credit, Gov. Nathan Deal
asked the State Department two years ago to stop sending more refugees to
Georgia. It temporarily agreed, but now the influx has restarted. So the level
of taxpayer funding in our state budget to support refugee resettlement is now
approximately $9,700,000.
The bottom line: Georgia does not
have to participate. It doesn’t have to accept the federal money.
Research shows that if a state legislature cuts off the money the influx shifts
to another state. When Indiana and other states cut off the money the
welfare-minded refugee population quickly moved to greener pastures.
There is another factor to consider. Of the Georgia refugees who do want to
work, according to HHS, only 40 percent are still working after 90 days. At the
end of a year, only 18 per cent still work and there is a rapid drop-off soon
thereafter.
Several Democrat lawmakers joined
the Republican governor to try to temporarily stem this refugee tide into our
state. But why doesn’t the General Assembly just simply curb this refugee
influx by cutting off the money flow?
Source: Joe Newton is chairman of
Citizens for Refugee Resettlement Relief in Georgia.
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