Feds will close 74 refugee offices during the
course of this year, by Ann Corcoran 4/15/18
We
knew this was happening, but this article at The Indypendent has some useful nuggets of information on the
internal turmoil involving the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program which began in
1980 as a supposed public-private partnership, but has evolved in to an almost
entirely publicly (taxpayer) funded industry.
I’m
guessing that the average uninformed reader of this story is scratching his or
her head and asking, how can the federal government ask non-profits to close
their doors?
It
is because the ‘non-profits’ are really fake
charities and they can’t survive without the continuous
infusion of federal dollars.
Here
are a few nuggets from the story: The
Trump Administration is Dismantling the Refugee Resettlement System.
April
1 marked the halfway point in the federal government’s fiscal year and, so far,
the United States has only admitted 10,548 refugees, placing it on track to
fall far short of its already record low admission ceiling of 45,000
individuals.
Resettlement workers and refugee advocates say that this is
further evidence of the Trump administration’s deliberate efforts to sabotage
the refugee resettlement system now and for years to come.
“The program is being torn down from the top,”
says Dr. Shelly Callahan, executive director of the Mohawk Valley Resource
Center in Utica, which works to resettle refugees.
The
U.S. government works with nine private nonprofit organizations, known as voluntary
agencies, to assign refugees to host communities around the United States.
Voluntary agencies receive $2,125 in federal funding for each refugee
they resettle and administer networks of local offices that provide services
directly to the refugees.
All of the approximately 320 local offices provide new arrivals with housing
and social services including language training, job-search assistance,
school-enrollment assistance and help integrating into the community during
their first months in the United States. [They
can never bring themselves to say they are signing them up for welfare, medical care and food stamps!—ed]
In
practice, virtually all resettlement offices also provide a variety of services
to other immigrant, minority, and vulnerable communities alongside refugees,
and assist refugees beyond the first months of resettlement. [Yes, we know they are providing
taxpayer-funded services to illegal migrants too!—ed] They rely on
private donations for these programs. [No
they don’t! Only small amounts!—ed]
Erol Kekic of Church World Service says
they are trying to find a more sustainable model. Does that mean trying to
raise private money now that the easy federal money, doled
out on a refugee per head basis, is drying up?
In December, the State Department informed the voluntary agencies of
its intention to close all local affiliate offices [aka subcontractors.—ed]
that are not projected to receive at least 100 refugees in fiscal year 2018. According to a plan drawn up by the
voluntary agencies and obtained by Reuters, some 74 offices are expected to be closed this year.
Eleven
new offices that were in the planning phase at the time will not be opening,
although some of them may still be able to operate as sub-offices dependent on
other offices for cases and funding.
“We’re
trying to look into what would be the best make up of our network and how do we
change what currently exists into something more sustainable that can still
meet its moral and legal commitments,” says Erol Kekic, executive director of
Church World Service, one of the national voluntary agencies. Church World Service has closed 17 offices
this fiscal year, bringing its total to just 19.
The layoffs and closures being engineered by
the Trump administration will impact the refugee resettlement system for years
to come. More here.
The
article references a cool Reuters interactive
graph showing how many offices are closing in each state. See the whole thing here. This is just a portion of a screen shot.
Here is where the original list of over 300
subcontractors is archived, but it looks like the list has not been updated for
over a year.
Closings
are occurring in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, North
Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Virginia, Massachusetts, Arizona, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado.
I
post the contractor list almost every day because I want new readers to know
exactly who is responsible for driving the US Refugee Admissions Program (in
addition to the UN!). We are hearing reports that all nine might not
survive the year.
The
number in parenthesis is the percentage of the nine VOLAGs’ income paid by you (the
taxpayer) to place the refugees, line them up with (low paying) jobs in food
production and cleaning hotel rooms, and get them signed up for their services (welfare)! From
most recent accounting, here.
Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) (secular) (93%)
International
Rescue Committee (IRC) (secular) (66.5%)
US
Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) (secular) (98%)
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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