Refugee
lobby in high dudgeon over Trump refugee numbers slump, by Ann Corcoran, 3/27/18
Their paying client numbers are very low right now and could hit an
all-time low if this trend continues.
I started this post simply wanting
to let readers know what the normal sequence is in a given year as the feds
move toward the next fiscal year, but then I noticed the press release from the Refugee Council USA-–the lobbying arm of the
refugee industry.
I wanted to get the jump on them as
we approach the 6-month mark in the refugee admission year of FY18 by telling
you what the time table for their action will be. (Fiscal years begin on
October 1 and extend to September 30th, so April first marks the 6 month mark.)
So, I’ll do that, then tell you about the press release.
Ms. Giovagnoli is now the director
of the Refugee Council USA the lobbying arm of the refugee industry and on the
left is Eleanor Acer of Human Rights First at an earlier event.
And, I said here yesterday, admission numbers are way below where they would
normally be at this time of year (that isn’t to say they won’t rebound in the
second half of the year because some of that depends on how much cash Congress
put in the recent gigantic omnibus).
Abstract prep
At about this time in a normal year,
the subcontractors are busy as beavers in hundreds of US towns and cities
putting together their ‘Abstracts’ in secrecy. That is the plan for your community with
how many refugees your local agency desires.
Scoping meeting sham
In a normal year the US State
Department holds a scoping meeting in about May to basically see how many
refugees the contractors want in the upcoming year and where they might come
from. (The State Dept. did not hold such a meeting last year that we know
of, and I’m betting the newbies in there don’t even know about it.)
Ostensibly the scoping meeting is to gauge your views too, but in a number of years where we participated and many of
you, my readers, sent in comments, it was pretty clear that the State
Department did not want to hear about objections to the program. If
anyone is interested in what we said, there are dozens and dozens of posts
filed here about what happened in 2012-2016 with those “scoping meetings.”
(See category drop-down for State
Department Testimony.)
It would be nice (and fair!) if the State Department reinstated scoping
meetings and made them available to all Americans. Heck, it would be great
if they went on the road and held hearings!
Presidential determination for coming year
The Abstract prep and the scoping
meetings were (are) lead-ups to August when the President’s people supposedly meet with Congressional
committees in the House and Senate to discuss the coming year. There are supposed
to be Congressional hearings (before the submission of the ceiling) at this
point, but that never happens.
The President then sends a ‘determination’
letter (and report) to Congress for the new fiscal year which
begins October 1. The President decides what the CEILING will be for the
coming fiscal year—how many refugees and from where. This is a CEILING, A
CAP, and is not a goal although the contractors want it to be a goal or target.
And, also yesterday, the lobbying
arm of the refugee industry—Refugee Council USA sent
out a press release to whack the Trump Administration and beg for this year’s
45,000.
Right now, for new readers, the
CEILING is 45,000, but at the present rate of entry we will get no where near
that (thus the press blast yesterday from RCUSA).
Washington, D.C. – Midway through Fiscal Year 2018, the Trump
administration has admitted only a quarter of the 45,000 refugees it pledged to
take in, making it highly unlikely that the United States will meets its
anticipated admissions goal. Instead, the administration appears to be on track
to admit roughly 22,000 refugees, far below any admissions number since the modern
refugee program began in 1980. Today, Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) gathered
experts to discuss the immediate and long-term implications of this failure.
More here. Mary, Eleanor and others participated.
Get ready for the big FY19 push to start at any time
Although they are still in
panic-mode and pushing for the 45,000, this is about the time of year the
yammering begins for next year’s numbers. The contractors shoot really
high.
Watch them ask for 100,000 or more
(to make up for lost time and lost revenue for them).
Last year, because of Trump’s
campaign promises they were pushing for a paltry 75,000. What will it be
this year? We will be watching!
The Refugee Council USA has
an Activist
Toolkit that you might benefit from seeing. Click here. It might give you some ideas!
I sure hope that none of this is being paid for with our tax dollars!
Congress are you paying attention?
And lastly, I got a chuckle seeing
this sample letter (from the toolkit) that refugees are encouraged to send to
newspapers:
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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