Saturday, February 18, 2017

Ending Refugee Program in NY

NY: As refugee contractors begin to run out of federal money, they turn to state legislatures looking for millions, by Ann Corcoran on February 17, 2017

We told you earlier this morning that refugee contracting agencies (see list below) are closing some of their satellite offices.

The UN/US Refugee Admissions Program is numbers-driven since refugees arrive in the US with federal funding attached to each one—administration of that money (your money) is left to the ‘non-profit’ resettlement agencies. As the Trump Administration cuts the numbers, there is commensurate reduction in funding for non-profit groups!

Here we learn in New York that the federal contractors who operate in the state are looking to state taxpayers to make up their loss of federal funding.

Why aren’t they out raising private money from all of the ‘humanitarians’ they claim want this program? If you live in New York State you better let your state legislators know what you think!

From the Poughkeepsie Journal (hat tip:Jim): ALBANY – Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday called for a $12 million boost in state funding for upstate’s refugee resettlement agencies.

Assemblyman Harry Bronson: Wants $12 million for refugees in New York State. And, we are told this program doesn’t cost anything to state and local taxpayers!
The request for additional funding came in response to President Trump’s 120-day ban on refugee travel to the U.S., though the order has been placed on hold by a federal court.

The vast majority of refugees who resettled in New York last year migrated upstate, with about 94 percent settling outside of New York City, according to U.S. State Department data. [They didn’t “migrate” upstate they were placed there by federal refugee contractors mostly operating in secrecy!—ed]

The Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance has been working with the nonprofit group Church World Services to open a resettlement office in the City of Poughkeepsie since April. Church World Service has plans to place 80 refugees from Syria, Iraq and the Congo in Poughkeepsie.

The funding push was backed Wednesday by a handful of Assembly Democrats. It comes as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers are negotiating a state budget that will top $150 billion.

“This funding will allow us to provide services and programs that will help refugee families successfully become contributing members of communities across New York state,” Assemblyman Harry Bronson, D-Rochester, said in a statement.

Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, and other lawmakers call for state help to fund refugee resettlement centers Wednesday at the Capitol’s Million Dollar Staircase in Albany. http://wxxinews.org/post/refugee-centers-ny-face-funding-crisis

Under the proposed plan, $2 million would go toward allowing refugee resettlement agencies to continue working at capacity and make up for any revenue that was lost during the 120-day ban, if re-enacted.

The Assembly members also requested $5 million to be included in the state budget to fund legal services to refugees.

The remaining $5 million would go toward allowing resettlement agencies to provide an additional 90 days of services to refugees, up from the current 90.

Certainly one thing that the present situation has highlighted is the FACT that refugee contractors are paid by the head!

“If resettlement agencies are no longer able to accept refugees for a 120-day period, they are no longer receiving funding,” Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, said in a statement. “This will lead to staff cuts, and resettlement agencies will no longer be able to provide services to refugees who have already come to New York.”

Read on here. See our huge archive on New York, consistently one of the top states in America to ‘welcome’ refugees. And, see our recent posts on Poughkeepsie, here.

Be sure to keep an eye out in your state for the legislature or state assembly to try to slip funding in for non-profit groups that should have been raising private money (for their ‘religious charitable’ work) for decades!



No comments: