Guest commentary: What you can say,
when they say _____by Ann Corcoran, 6/23/17
I’m asked all the
time: What can I do? What can I do? This is an excellent
example of the kind of thing you can do. This is a list of talking points
thoughtfully prepared by Brenda Arthur of the Charleston, WV Act for
America chapter. As a citizen activist, she put some serious time
into preparing this point/counterpoint and made it available for all of you!
PROPONENTS OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT
WILL SAY :
1.
Your town is losing population. Bringing refugees will revitalize your city.
+ Truth: Saying that
Importing third world poverty into our city or state revitalizes it just defies
logic and commonsense.
+The educational level
of many refugees is low. They will only qualify for minimum or low wage jobs.
Therefore, they will continue to qualify for some form of government assistance
such as Medicaid and/or Food Stamps aka SNAP.
+ Big Business uses
refugees for cheap labor thereby depressing wages for Americans with low
education levels.
+ The cost of
educating a refugee child is apprx $10,000+ per year not to mention the
additional cost of English language assistance/interpreters and additional
tutoring due to a lack of previous education.
+ Refugees often send
some of their money out of the country to family left behind. Those remittances
that leave the country are dollars unavailable to the local economy. This is
never factored in.
+ As the refugee
population grows more languages will be required to be provided by the school
system. This erodes the quality of the schools and reduces teaching time for
American kids whose parents are paying the bill.
+ In towns where the
refugee population has grown, parents are finding 17-20 year-olds in class with
their children.
+ Some school
districts across the country have as many as 81 languages for which they must
provide ESL teachers and interpreters.
2.
Another selling point by the proponents is that “It is our moral obligation.
That’s who we are as a country.”
+ Our tax dollars were
never meant to be someone else’s charity .
+ We should aid
refugees where they are. For every one brought here we can help 12 people
there. The administration of mercy belongs to each of us individually—-not to
the government.
+ Our first moral
obligation is to our own people.
3.
OVER 800,000 REFUGEES (since 9/11) HAVE BEEN ADMITTED TO THE U.S. AND NO
TERRORIST PROBLEMS:
+ Proponents will
present the picture that everything is “sweetness and light “. Not true. Many
problems are occurring with refugee populations in towns all across America:
Gangs, increased drug trafficking, sex slave trade, domestic violence, crime,
drug resistant strains of TB, female genital mutilation, and more.
+ Cultural differences
are often great and cannot be bridged. Some refugee cultures believe that
“honor killing” and rape of non-muslim women is acceptable.
+ In addition, there
have been terrorist acts committed by refugees as well as many crimes.
Taxpayers pay for expensive trials, and for those who are sentenced we must
bear the cost of imprisonment for many years.
4.
NO STATE MONEY IS INVOLVED.
+ Yet another selling
point of the proponents is that THERE IS NO STATE MONEY INVOLVED. IT’S ALL
FEDERAL MONEY. WELL, FIRST OF ALL, FEDERAL MONEY IS OUR MONEY. SECONDLY,
LET’S DISCUSS THE STATE COSTS: MEDICAID , STATE EMPLOYEES, EDUCATION,
INTERPRETERS, AND LIKELY CASH WELFARE PAYMENTS.
DON’T TELL ME OR
ANYONE ELSE THERE IS NO STATE MONEY INVOLVED WITH THIS PROGRAM. It’s a matter
of how much.
TO RECAP:
+
Medicaid–Unreimbursed cost to the state
+ TANF–Cash Welfare payments –Unreimbursed costs to the state
+ Interpreters–Provided to students and other refugees as needed
+ Education–Cost for educating children K-12
+ State Employees’ salaries and benefits who work w/refugees
+ TANF–Cash Welfare payments –Unreimbursed costs to the state
+ Interpreters–Provided to students and other refugees as needed
+ Education–Cost for educating children K-12
+ State Employees’ salaries and benefits who work w/refugees
5.
The vetting is very, very rigorous.
+ Former FBI Director,
James Comey, Obama’s Special Envoy to the Middle East to fight ISIS, General
John Allen, Former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, Mike
McCaul, Chairman of Homeland Security in the Congress , and now we know from
the leaked Wikileaks documents that even Hillary Clinton herself said at a
private meeting in 2013 that the refugees cannot possibly be vetted.
+ Further, Leon
Rodriguez, former Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,
reluctantly told former Senator Jeff Sessions’ Senate Committee in September
2016 that some of the refugees get in based solely on their testimony alone.
+ Fraud is rampant in
the refugee program. Many refugees come from failed states. They have no
documentation. We are supposed to believe the lie that everyone is who they say
they are.
+ ISIS has sworn to
infiltrate the refugee population. They already have.
6.
The refugees become self-sufficient within 5 years.
+ The fact is that the
Office Of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) defines self-sufficiency in a way that is
contrary to the common understanding of the word. A household is considered
self-sufficient if it is not receiving “a cash assistance grant”. But other welfare
programs do not count under the ORR definition. Thus, ORR considers and reports
them as self-sufficient even if they are receiving other forms of government
assistance such as: Food Stamps (SNAP), Housing subsidies, or Medicaid .
Don’t be fooled. Make them
define their terms.
7.
Refugees pay taxes.
+ Consider that the
average educational level of a Middle Eastern refugee is 10.5 years. That is
not even a high school diploma. This means that the likelihood of them earning
more than $9-$12 /hour is pretty unlikely. Having a low wage job is most
likely. Further, even if they work and pay taxes the fact that the earnings
level is low will often make them eligible for continuing government subsidies.
There are other points to consider:
+ Earned Income Tax
Credit (EITC) is available to people whose income is low. Many, if not most,
refugees would likely qualify for this.
+ Child Tax Credit up
to $1000 per child would apply based on income guidelines. This credit is IN
ADDITION to deductions for dependent children.
+ Once the Tax Credits
are applied it is possible that they are getting back all or most of the taxes
that were paid and potentially more than they paid.
So, there we have it
for those of you looking for something to do. Use Arthur’s points for
letters to the editor, arguing with ‘friends’ on facebook, or when
corresponding with your elected officials.
This post is filed in
two categories here at RRW: ‘Comments worth noting’ (here) and in my new category ‘What you can
do’ (here). And, for all of you
interested in Arthur’s home state of West Virginia, go
here for my archive
on the state.
No comments:
Post a Comment