Up next!
Niagara Falls to become ‘welcoming’ refugee resettlement site, by Ann Corcoran 11/28/16
We learned months ago that the US
State Department had been secretly assessing the feasibility of 47 new sites in
which to place some of Obama’s last wish—110,000 refugees for America in
FY2017.
Those 47 would presumably be in
addition to the 110-200 listed here. (oops! The State
Department’s Refugee Processing Center has taken down some of the handiest
links we could previously access. Sure hope it is just temporary and not a
further effort to keep information from the general public.)
Seneca Niagara Casino needs workers,
so Niagara Falls will get a refugee office. Starting wages must be too low to
attract Americans! I wonder who owns this Casino? No time to find out right
now….
Because there is no published list
of new sites we can only assume that is because the federal government and its
contractors do not want to tip off any citizens who might object. We have been
listing all those we learn about (see list below).
But here is the latest news on
Niagara Falls from Buffalo News. The Jewish resettlement contractor says there are jobs
there for refugees—what as waiters, maids and janitors in hotels catering to
tourists?
As many as 50 refugees from one of the world’s troubled spots are
likely to resettle in Niagara Falls next year as
Jewish Family Service of Buffalo and Erie County expands its services
northward. [It is just the beginning,
the numbers will increase each year and there is no stopping it once a
contractor has set up shop.—ed]
The U.S. State Department recently approved Jewish Family Service’s
application to begin refugee resettlement in the Cataract City [nickname—ed], said Marlene A. Schillinger, the local
group’s president and CEO.
Jewish Family Service will be the
first refugee resettlement agency working in Niagara Falls, and Schillinger
said it makes sense to do so. “There’s capacity for this in Niagara Falls,” she
said. “There are employment opportunities.”
Many refugees who have resettled in
Buffalo have taken jobs at the Seneca Niagara Casino, and Jewish Family Service
hopes some of the new arrivals who settle in Niagara Falls will do the same.
Jewish Family Service has been working with Niagara Falls Mayor Paul
Dyster and the Niagara Falls School District to prepare for the refugees’
arrival.
“You can’t just plop people down
there,” said Peter Scott, career services program manager at Jewish Family
Service, who will supervise the new operation. They say the community is all fine with it!
Does the community even know?
Democrat Mayor Paul Dyster supports
the arrival of the federal refugee resettlement program to Niagara Falls. See
his bio here: http://www.dyster.com/
And despite fears that refugees from Syria might be a terror threat,
“we have not had any pushback from the community,” Scott said. “And there’s certainly an economic benefit.”
Dyster could not be reached for comment, but Schillinger and Scott said
the mayor has been supportive, hoping a refugee influx in Niagara Falls could
revitalize neighborhoods and stem falling population, just as it has in Buffalo.
Fewer refugees have arrived in
America recently from Burma, the destination that has been the source of a
majority of Buffalo’s refugee influx in the past 15 years. But Burma
remains one of the top five home countries for refugees moving to the U.S.,
along with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Iraq and Somalia.
One thing the good citizens can be
sure of is that the refugees will most likely be Muslims from Iraq, Syria and
Somalia. Even with the Burmese, large numbers now arriving are Burmese
Muslims (which won’t make the Burmese Christians living there very
happy!). Just so you know, only a handful from DR Congo are Muslims.
However, Niagara Falls officials need to know they will get a mix of refugees
and they don’t get to choose their favorite ethnic groups.
You should know that this Jewish
agency is a subcontractor of the major federal resettlement contractor Hebrew Immigrant Aid
Society.
New sites! Here are some of the new sites being chosen by the US State
Department (that we know of!). We are adding Niagara Falls, NY. If anyone
there is interested in learning more, check out our ‘Ten Things Your Town Needs to Know‘ by clicking here.
Asheville, NC
Rutland, VT
Reno, NV
Ithaca, NY
Missoula, MT
Aberdeen, SD (may have been thwarted
as a primary resettlement site!)
Charleston, WV (expansion of what
was a very small program)
Fayetteville, AR
Blacksburg, VA
Pittsfield, MA
Northhampton, MA
Flint, MI
Bloomington, IN
Traverse City, MI
Poughkeepsie, NY
Wilmington, DE
Watertown, NY (maybe)
Youngstown, OH (maybe)
Storm Lake, Iowa
Niagara Falls, NY
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2016/11/28/up-next-niagara-falls-to-become-welcoming-refugee-resettlement-site/
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