Ending the Refugee Program

Three Arkansas members of Congress question new resettlement plan for Fayetteville area, by Ann Corcoran 11/13/16

Fayetteville, Arkansas is one of the newest resettlement sites approved by the US State Department to accommodate the large number of refugees that Barack Obama has proposed for FY2017. We previously learned that there are 47 new sites, most chosen in secrecy. Below is the list of those we have heard about so far.

From Talk Business & Politics: Canopy Northwest Arkansas received final approval from the State Department on Sept. 30 and is waiting for the assignment of its first refugee family, which could come as early as mid-November.

Real test for Rep. Steve Womack (R) is whether he will support defunding the Refugee Admissions Program when Congress addresses the FY17 budget starting this week!

Womack is on the Appropriations Committee: http://womack.house.gov/biography/committees.htm

Canopy partners with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), one of nine national resettlement agencies that contract with the State Department to run the refugee resettlement program. LIRS is the agency that will assign refugees to Canopy after the refugees go through an extensive screening process, sometimes lasting more than two years. [Learn more about LIRS, here, 95% taxpayer funded!—ed]

Over the course of the coming year, Emily Crane Linn, resettlement director at Canopy, said they expect to settle 20 to 25 families in Northwest Arkansas. [That would likely be over 100 refugees—ed]

It is the Syrian refugee possibility that caused U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, and Steve Womack, R-Rogers, to send a letter dated Oct. 24 to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to “express our concern” about the resettlement program. (Link here for a PDF of the letter.)

Sending a letter won’t cut it. Sending a letter makes constituents feel better, but we know how that turned out when Rep. Trey Gowdy thought that he could slow the flow to then new resettlement site Spartanburg, SC by writing to John Kerry. It did nothing!!! Defund! Defund! Defund! Only one thing matters, and if there is a ‘pocket of resistance’ forming in Arkansas you must tell these three members of Congress to work to cut the funding in the upcoming lame duck budget battle!

I see (here) that Arkansas has no members of Congress who have tried to lift a finger to cut the funding so far. See Conservative Review’s Liberty score card for the Arkansas delegation.

BTW, how many poultry processing plants in Arkansas are hankering for cheap refugee labor? Is your city one of the newest targets for resettlement of third worlders?

Asheville, NC

Rutland, VT

Reno, NV

Ithaca, NY

Missoula, MT

Aberdeen, SD (may have been thwarted as a primary resettlement site!)

Charleston, WV

Fayetteville, AR

Blacksburg, VA

Pittsfield, MA

North Hampton, MA

Flint, MI

Bloomington, IN

Traverse City, MI

Poughkeepsie, NY

Wilmington, DE

Watertown, NY (maybe)

Youngstown, OH (maybe)

https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2016/11/13/three-arkansas-members-of-congress-question-new-resettlement-plan-for-fayetteville-area/