Amnesty International: Migrants are getting shafted around the world

Funny, isn’t it that many of the countries cited by the London-based Amnesty International in a recent report (that you have to purchase to read) are Muslim countries.  Weren’t we told back in 2009, here, that Muslim charity toward the stranger is the root of refugee law to protect the migrants of the world today?  So how come some Muslim countries are listed among those treating migrants like dirt?

Here is the article, but I really would have liked to see the report.  I don’t see any mention here of how horribly Saudi Arabia treats asylum seekers.  I think groups like Amnesty are too chicken to take on the Saudis.  Or, there is a possibility that the Global Post when publishing this story left out Saudi Arabia because they fear the Saudis.

And, sheesh, why isn’t South Africa mentioned—the ‘rainbow nation’ is giving asylum seekers a hell of a time!

The countries mentioned for their maltreatment of refugees/migrant workers are:   Hong Kong, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Greece, Italy, Northern African governments especially Egypt and Libya.  Also, Sudan, Gabon, the Bahamas, and Ukraine.

Whatever the Bahamas are doing it can’t compare to Saudi Arabia!  But, then Amnesty has no fear of any Bahamian arriving in London to chop off some Amnesty worker’s head.

Australians lamenting the high cost of educating asylum seekers’ children

I have a pile of stories I want to post, just the run of the mill news about refugee problems around the world—you know the boring stuff.  I look on those stories now as a refreshing vacation of sorts from the daily diet of refugee/immigrant terrorist stories of late.   Here is one in my stack.

Children of the ever-growing tide of boat people arriving in Australia will cost the taxpayers $55 million over four years, here at the Herald Sun.

The Aussies say more kids are on board these boats, but from what I’ve seen most asylum seekers are young virile Muslim men.

But before I give you some of the story, something just occurred to me—at least in Australia they are having discussions on this topic. That’s just how it is in Canada too where it seems there is a daily dose of political back and forth IN THE MEDIA on the details of the problems and costs  those country’s face with their ever-expanding refugee and asylum systems.

In the US we aren’t even having a public discussion on the topic! 

When is the last time you saw an article in a major national publication outlining the cost of educating asylum-seeking children? 

How many of you even have a rough idea of how many asylum seekers are granted asylum (like the Tsarnaevs) in the US each year?

I follow the press from Canada and Australia and can assure you these discussions are happening at least weekly if not more frequently.  Here in the US the media must have decided such topics are verboten! Verboten!  Verboten!

Back to the news from Australia:

EDUCATING asylum seeker children will cost more than $55 million over four years amid a record number of minors arriving on boats.

The Opposition has accused the government of cutting university funding while spending millions on meeting the educational needs of asylum seeker children with more than 3000 arriving so far this financial year.

How refreshing is this—they even have an opposition immigration leader!

Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the the costs of educating children had to be met but he blamed the bill on a blow out in boat arrivals.

“While Julia Gillard is actually cutting funding to schools and universities, she is providing an education revolution for asylum seekers arriving on illegal boats,” he said.

“Labor’s budget blowout on asylum seekers of more than $10 billion, includes the federal government paying for the full education costs of students who have arrived by boat.

“Given the record number of children coming on boats, it is not surprising that these costs are so high.”

[....]

Meanwhile, the government revealed the arrival of two new asylum boats carrying 150 people yesterday.

More than 2300 people have arrived so far this month.

Here are some statistics for US asylum seekers granted asylum in 2011.

Of all the individuals granted asylum in 2011, 54 percent (13,484) were granted asylum affirmatively, while 46 percent (11,504) were granted asylum defensively.

An additional 9,550 individuals outside of the United States were approved for asylum status as immediate family members of principal applicants. [The Tsarnaev boys would have been in that number, whatever it was back in about 2002---ed]

So that amounts to close to 35,000 in one year.  Gee, wonder what that costs us to educate the kids?  And, those are just the ones granted asylum, what about those who are still in the pipeline waiting for approval or who have never identified themselves or been caught yet.

By the way ‘granted asylum affirmatively’ means they got here and asked for asylum, and ‘defensively’ means they got here illegally, got caught and are in removal proceedings and asking for asylum.

Update for comparison:  News from burning Stockholm reports that Sweden approved 44,000 asylum seekers in 2012!  Most are from Muslim countries. Yikes, no wonder they are suffering!   Imagine what those kids are costing the welfare nation.

In 2012 alone, Sweden accepted 44,000 asylum seekers, up by nearly 50 percent from a year earlier.

Steve Sailer is all over the Chechen ‘refugee’ fraudsters

Steve Sailer writes at VDARE and elsewhere, including at his own blog iSteve.

From day one, when we first became aware of the fact that Chechen asylees were responsible for the first successful major Islamic terror attack on American soil since 9/11, Sailer has been on the story.

Chicks digged those Chechens. Go figure!

Here is a post from yesterday (hat tip Fjordman via Twitter) where Sailer pulls together the sorry tale of the lives (and deaths) of the  Tsarnaev-Todashev mixed martial artists—their lying to get into the US and their Muslim misogynist attitudes about women.  I think you will find it as informative (and amusing) as I do.

Tsarnaev-Todashev story has immigration fraud written all over it

Some excerpts here to encourage you to read the whole thing!

Sailer:

From the Boston Globe:

In 2008, the US government granted Todashev asylum, a protection granted to foreigners with a credible fear for their safety in their homelands ­because of religious, political, or other specific forms of persecution.

But Reuters reports that Todashev’s father is a government official in Grozny whose father is in tight with the All-Time Champ Chechen Ramzan Kadryov.

[....]

We hear a lot these days about immigrants’ “American Dream,” but the Chechen Dream appears to be to have some babe support you. Do you think these guys were big hip-hop fans back in the old country?

[....]

Why is it okay for various violent Chechens to just up and move to my country because they think it’s a better place to practice hurting people?

Good question!  Read it all, there are lots of still unexplained twists and turns in this story.

Chechen Asylee connected to the Tsarnaevs killed (in self defense) by FBI in Florida

Another one of the “few” Chechens in the US is now dead after attacking an FBI agent with a knife.  For new readers, we have been told that the US Chechen asylum ‘community’ is small, but they sure are busy pleasing Allah.

Muslim mugshot: Another charming Chechen.

To get some key details of the breaking news, one has to read a couple of reports on what happened in Florida earlier today when a friend of the Tsarnaevs, Ibragim Todashev, was killed in the process of being questioned in the gruesome deaths of three Boston Jewish young men on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  We reported on the ritualistic murder here just a few days ago.  The men had their throats slit.

The New York Times confirms he was being investigated for the murder of the Jewish men.

“The investigators were working on the theory that he and Tamerlan,” had played a role in the murder, said the official, referring to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the deceased marathon bombing suspect. One of the victims was a friend of Mr. Tsarnaev.

But, of course the NYT cannot bring itself to utter the ‘R’ word or the ‘A’ word, so we learn from CNN that Todashev was a political refugee—we gave him asylum just as we had given the Tsarnaevs protection and their friend in Manchester, NH as well!

CNN confirms here that Ibragim Todashev was granted asylum in the US in 2008 AFTER BEING HERE FOR SOME TIME ALREADY!

Todashev was from the Chechnya region, as were the Tsarnaev brothers, the source said.

Todashev was granted political asylum in 2008 but that he came to the US some time before that, a federal law enforcement official told CNN. Todashev has living in the US as a legal resident because of that aslyum claim, the official said.

Readers, Todashev, like most other “asylum seekers” was first an ILLEGAL ALIEN.  Under present law he had one year to apply for asylum after getting his feet on American soil, but if S. 744, as passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, becomes law he will have two years to hang around before applying for asylum, while living off the good will of the American people!

Hey, here is an idea!  Maybe Mark Hetfield of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society should invite these Chechens to his neighborhood!

And, one more thing!  Everyone is focused on the three other major scandals facing the Obama Administration but the failure of the Department of Homeland Security to identify Muslim terrorists in our midst, is to me the most damning of the FOUR scandals (or five if you count Fast & Furious).  Here is one more bit from the NYT:

The F.B.I. has also focused on Chechens who may have ties to extremists in Russia. Before the attacks, the bureau had not thought that they were a significant threat in the United States.

About the photo, both CNN and the NYT used this mugshot of the now dead Muslim, but the NYT only uses his name as the caption while CNN tells us this: “Ibragim Todashev, shown in a mug shot after his arrest on an aggravated battery charge this month.”

Addendum: No time to say more now, but please visit Blue Ridge Forum today about the mega-mosque being built in Maryland with Turkish government money (and the approval of Gov. Martin O’Malley).

They chanted “si,se puede!”(yes we can) as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send amnesty bill to the Senate floor

Here is one story at The Hill.  Few changes were made that would make the bill more acceptable to most Americans.  (I’m working on a magazine article today and have little time to post unfortunately, but you will see lots of coverage elsewhere of the not-unexpected setback for America).

Five Republicans voted against S.744 (The Gang of Eight plus Grover bill).   Those heroes are Senators Chuck Grassley, Jeff Sessions, John Cornyn, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.

Kristol: Walk away Marco Rubio!

Voting with the Democrats were Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake and Orrin Hatch.  Here is the list of all committee members. Final vote was 13-5.

As the bill was voted on the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (one of nine major federal refugee contractors) tweeted:

And the bill moves to Senate floor – room erupts with “yes we can!” and “si, se puede”! We just live-tweeted history

Yesterday I was surprised to see that Bill Kristol, usually a supporter of supposed immigration reform, urged Senator Marco Rubio to abandon this monstrosity and “walk away.”    Frankly, if Rubio sticks with this bill on the Senate floor his political future as a Presidential candidate will be over, especially as the Tea Party re-emerges as a political counterweight to the “ruling class” Republicans.  Watch out for ‘ruling class’ extraordinaire Speaker John Boehner in the House going forward!  He is showing signs of squishing out!

Here is Kristol:

The Weekly Standard editor told Ingraham that Rubio — who Kristol said he considers “a friend” — should step away from the “big government bill.” Instead, immigration reform should be dealt with issue-by-issue rather than by one comprehensive piece of “bad legislation,” Kristol said.

Our view too!  S.744 expands refugee and asylum law without increasing the security issues that the Boston Bombers exposed.

We are among a distinguished group!

Go here and see the letter (opposing S. 744 as it goes to the Senate floor) to which we, Refugee Resettlement Watch, are a proud signator.  Be sure to scroll down to see all the Tea Party groups which have signed.  So, the next time you see mention of Tea Partiers supporting so-called “immigration reform” consider that Grover (Norquist) and gang are putting out that misinformation.

Photo is from the Politico story.

Refugee Council USA busy lobbying on S.744

Update:  More on yesterday’s amendments—come and get it!  Welfare for one and all (for the children)!

If you have been following RRW for the last few weeks, you know that S. 744 (The Gang of Eight plus Grover bill) isn’t just about amnesty for 11 million plus illegal aliens in the US,  it’s also about expanding our refugee and asylum system as well.  (Gang of Eight archive is here)

Yesterday we told you about Senator Grassley’s efforts to strip the refugee/asylum provisions from the bill until there had been a full accounting of how our asylum system is failing us as tragically demonstrated in Boston and the aftermath of the horrific April 15th terror attack by Muslims we “welcomed” with a grant of asylum.

Somalis waiting in refugee camps in Africa for their turn to come to America thanks to Refugee Council USA members.

You need to know more about the Refugee Council USA, the Washington lobbying consortium for the Refugee industry.

We have no one representing our views in Washington.

The big immigration restriction groups concerned with amnesty for illegals—FAIR, CIS, and NumbersUSA—have little time left over for countering the push to expand the refugee program which is really the root of  multi-culti conflicts, problems with Muslim extremists, and is a drain on social services as the US State Department and its contractors bring diversity from the third world to your towns and cities.

Refugee resettlement and asylum accounts for the largest percentage of our annual importation of 100,000 Muslims, here.

Here is what the RCUSA says they are about:

Refugee Council USA (RCUSA), established in 2000, is a coalition of U.S. non-governmental organizations focused on refugee protection.  RCUSA provides advocacy on issues affecting the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, displaced persons, victims of trafficking, and victims of torture in the United States and across the world.  The coalition also serves as the principal consultative forum for the national refugee resettlement and processing agencies as they formulate common positions, conduct their relations with the U.S. government and other partners, and support and enhance refugee service standards.

Yesterday the Refugee Council USA was lobbying against Grassley’s amendments.  This is from their action alert:

OPPOSE GRASSLEY AMENDMENTS #25, #26, #27, and #52

These amendments would strike most of the positive refugee and asylum provisions from the base bill, including provisions that would improve access to life-saving protection to religious minorities in Iran and other vulnerable populations,stateless persons, and asylum seekers. Grassley #52 in particular would delay positive changes to the asylum and student visa provisions in the bill by falsely conflating them with the Boston Marathon bombings.

The mark-up continues today, but Grassley has already lost a couple of his amendments (no surprise, he and Senator Sessions are basically shut out on every amendment they propose).  Go here and see the results so far.  Two of the Grassley amendments have already been defeated.

Grassley is right!  The refugee program should not be expanded in this monster bill, but a separate review of the program should be undertaken immediately!

Here are the member organizations of the Refugee Council USA (all nine of the major federal refugee contractors are here).  To add insult to injury many of these groups are funded with your tax dollars. They could not exist without federal and state grants:

• American Refugee Committee International
• Amnesty International USA
• Asylum Access
• Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL)
• Center for Victims of Torture
• Church World Service/Immigration and Refugee Program
• Episcopal Migration Ministries
• Ethiopian Community Development Council
• Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
• Human Rights First
• International Catholic Migration Commission
• International Rescue Committee
• Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project
• Jesuit Refugee Service/USA
• Jubilee Campaign USA
• Kurdish Human Rights Watch
• Liberty in North Korea
• Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
• ORAM- Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration
• RefugePoint
• Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
• U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration & Refugee Services
• U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
• Women’s Refugee Commission
• World Relief

Breaking! Senator Lindsey Graham prevails with stepped-up security amendment to S.744

Just now, I happened to catch the live mark-up proceedings in the US Senate Judiciary Committee and saw Senator Graham make his pitch for his Amendment #1, described here, that is clearly in response to the Boston Bomber Tsarnaev family’s re-visits to the homeland where they supposedly were persecuted.

Dick Durbin leans on Graham at a previous meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee

Graham sought to amend S.744 with a provision that would revoke refugee or asylum status to anyone who returns to the land of their alleged persecution without “good cause.”

Of course, if S.744 passes there will be much to do about what exactly is “good cause” and how a refugee or asylee might apply to return “home” for a visit.  Going home to a funeral might be a ‘good cause’ but as Graham pointed out going home to learn bomb-making should have a penalty.  Graham’s victory is a symbolic victory for common sense, but likely temporary.

Arguing against Graham (and voting against him) were Senators Leahy and Durbin (no surprise).  Graham was successful by voice vote.   However, cynic that I am, I think Leahy and Durbin just went through the motions of opposing Graham for the sake of making a show for their “humanitarian” lobbyist friends.

Throwing Graham a bone to keep him on board (with the Gang of Eight and Grover) now was probably more important—they can always dump his amendment later in the process.  And, besides, now Graham can say he strengthened security measures in the bill.

Senator Chuck Grassley wants to strip refugee/asylum sections from Gang’s bill!

Update May 21:  His amendment lost of course, the Dems teamed up with Graham and Flake have defeated just about everything Grassley and Sessions tried to do.  I’ll have more tomorrow, but for now check out this letter of all those opposing the bill when it comes to the floor.  We are among some great patriots!

This is such good news! Really, really, really good news!  [Amendment lost but thank Grassley anyway and tell him to take the fight to the floor!]

You must call Senator Grassley this morning to tell him you support this effort! (see below)

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is offering an amendment to S.744  to remove all references to refugees/asylum from S. 744 until after a report is completed about how the Tsarnaev terrorists were granted asylum!  I could kiss the Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican!

Erol Kekic of Church World Service does not want more security provisions added to S.744.

I stopped in his office last Wednesday when I went to DC for the State Department hearing and left a letter for him asking him to do just what the Washington Times is reporting (LOL!  But, I am sure he figured this out without any help from me!).

From the Washington Times (hat tip: Joanne).  Emphasis below is mine:

The Boston Marathon bombing hasn’t derailed the immigration debate, but it has sent lawmakers back to the drawing board on some key provisions, including changes to the asylum system that the two suspects in the bombing used to come to the U.S.

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were brought to the U.S. a decade ago by their parents, who fled the deteriorating economy and burgeoning conflicts in the Central Asian region the family had called home.

Now, as the Senate Judiciary Committee works its way through the 867-page immigration bill, some lawmakers say it’s a chance to make changes that could help prevent a future incident.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the committee, has introduced an amendment that would prevent any changes to the asylum or refugee systems until at least a year after an audit of what went wrong in Boston.

“The Boston bombing probably made us take a closer look at the asylum provisions in the underlying bill,” Mr. Grassley said. “My asylum amendments don’t address Boston specifically, but they will require a look back by the inspector general before any changes to weaken the current asylum law goes forward.”

The asylum program is for those who apply from within the U.S., while the refugee program is for those applying from outside the border. The U.S. is the most generous country in the world in granting protections, but the programs also have seen periods of fraud and abuse.

Mr. Grassley said the bill written by the “Gang of Eight” senators actually waters down some of the security measures in current asylum and refugee law, and he said he would prefer to see the process stiffened instead.

Let the whining begin! 

Refugee contractors are out in full force trying to protect their turf.  You see, they are paid by the head (with your tax dollars) to resettle refugees and get asylees hooked up with welfare goodies.  They don’t like Senator Graham’s amendments one bit either!

Human rights groups [Federal contractors---ed]…. are gearing up for a fight over another proposal by Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, who wants to prevent anyone granted asylum or refugee status from returning to their home countries, unless they got a waiver from the Homeland Security Department.

And, who is one leading whiner—Erol Kekic of contractor Church World Service.  Kekic testified at the State Department hearing on Wednesday for CWS and for the lobbying arm for contractors—Refugee Council USA.   Mr. Kekic is from Bosnia, here is his bio.

Erol Kekic, director of the Church World Service’s immigration and refugee program, said there are situations where someone wants to return home to see a dying relative or to try to play a role in constructive politics. And then there are the situations where someone was granted asylum years before, but their home country has since stabilized.

“If we’re going to deny protection for people like that I think that’s really taking away from any common sense,” Mr. Kekic said.  [Most people would see it's common sense that if a person returns to the place of his persecution he is either crazy or never persecuted in the first place!---ed]

He said it wasn’t even clear whether Homeland Security officials could track every person they suspected of returning to their home countries.

We better damn well be able to track these people after what we learned in Boston!

NOW!  Please call or fax Senator Grassley’s office and tell him to strip out all refugee and asylum references in S.744.  No matter what happens with his amendment, thank him for his concern for our security!

Here is his fax and phone number.  If you call it will ring for awhile…they are being swamped with calls.

(202) 224-3744
Fax: (202) 224-6020

This is the most important thing you can do today if you want to get this refugee program under control.  And, don’t forget to call Senator Rand Paul too.  Although he isn’t on the committee he will eventually play a huge role in determining whether this monstrous bill—S.744—passes.

PLEASE ALSO GET THIS AROUND VIA SOCIAL MEDIA—PLEASE TWEET!

Update:  The refugee contractors are tweeting like crazy esp. IRC, CWS and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS).

Senator Rand Paul: Why are we bringing so many Iraqis to the US?

From the editor:   for all those arriving here, be sure to see Senator Grassley amendment to S. 744 here.

Didn’t we give Iraq a democratically elected government Paul went on to say!  Yup!

Maybe Rand Paul needs to ask his pal Grover Norquist those questions.***

Below is a story I missed last month (again in the wake of the Boston Chechen refugee terrorist act).

And, if Paul keeps this up I will have to withdraw my criticism of  him here when he was kissing-up to the Gang of Eight plus Grover bill.

Tell Senator Paul to keep his distance from Open Borders Muslim sympathizer Grover Norquist. AP Photo

The snarky HuffPo article does mention that two Iraqi refugee terrorists were convicted in Kentucky, but there is another problem with importing the high number of Iraqis.  Iraqis are not finding work (unemployment rate is 67%) and they are heavily supported by welfare (95% are receiving food stamps).  Some are so unhappy that they have returned to the Middle East.

The HuffPo reports the number of Iraqi refugees entering the US through 2012 (64,174), but so far in FY2013 we have already imported 11,066 which means we will top 20,000 this year alone!  Some may be Christians but a large percentage will be Muslims!

The Huffington Post back in April:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) expressed concern Tuesday morning about Iraqi refugees who might be coming to the United States to commit acts of terrorism.

Speaking about immigration on “The Dennis Miller Show,” Paul said that the United States needs to reexamine its asylum-granting policies and specifically mentioned the number of refugees fleeing Iraq, a country still dealing with intense violence years after the U.S. invasion in 2003.

“We’ve exempted [Paul must mean 'resettled'---ed] 60,000 Iraqis in the last three years. My question is, for one, are any of them intending to do us harm? And two, we won the war in Iraq — why would they be running from a democratic government?” Rand asked an agreeable Miller.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the United States has admitted 64,174 Iraqi refugees since 2007…

[....]

In 2011, Paul sounded off about background checks on Iraqis seeking refuge after two Iraqi refugees in Kentucky were charged with conspiring to send weapons and supplies to al Qaeda operatives in Iraq. The two men were successfully thwarted by an FBI sting operation. One was sentenced to serve a life term in federal prison; the other to a 40-year term.

***In 2007, long before the War in Iraq was over Grover Norquist and “conservative” buddy David Keene were pushing for the US to bring in Iraqis.  They,along with Ted Kennedy, said we broke it (Iraq), so the only way to fix it is to “welcome” tens of thousands to the US.

Readers, thanks to the help of a reader from Kentucky, Robin, we have identified Rachel Bovard as the staff person in Senator Paul’s office who is working the immigration issue for the Senator.  I dropped a letter off to her last Wednesday when I was in DC for the State Department hearings asking that the Senator investigate the Refugee Resettlement Program.   Please contact her by phone or e-mail and encourage the Senator to keep asking questions and to oppose S.744 which will make it easier for more refugees and asylum seekers to come to America.

And, while you are at it, warn her about what Rep. Frank Wolf revealed about Grover Norquist on the House floor, here in October of 2011, Wolf:  You can never say again that you didn’t know!

Send her the link to my post too!

Rachel Bovard, Policy Advisor to Senator Rand Paul, phone 202-224-4343 or e-mail: Rachel_Bovard@paul.senate.gov

The IRC has a lobbying office in Washington and it should be busy today

For some unknown reason information on the International Rescue Committee’s D.C. lobbying office came up in one of my alerts this morning.  Maybe it’s because last week they put out an alert to tell supporters of the refugee resettlement industry to call US Senators working on the Gang of Eight plus Grover bill being marked up in the Senate Judiciary Committee today.

We told you about that here last Thursday.  (Go there to see what you must do!)

You need to call today too!  S.744 will increase the number of refugees and asylees in the US and it provides a slush fund for “non-profits” like the 9 BIG federal refugee contractors and their 300 plus subcontractors.

I recommend that you tell Senators that due to recent refugee-perpetrated terrorism cases that they should strip all references to the refugee program from S.744 and hold separate hearings!

To add insult to injury, the word is that the US State Department helps to fund the lobbying offices for the contractors.  I have written about that before especially as it relates to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (or any of the nine)—it infuriates me to think the Bishops are taking your hard-earned tax dollars to fund their lobbying campaigns!

Here is what the IRC says about their DC shop.  And, btw, they were not at the State Department hearing on Wednesday.  Where were they?  Or did they feel they had an inside track to the State Dept and didn’t need to provide their wishlist for 2014 before their critics in public?

Asst. Secretary of State for PRM, Anne Richard, in Philadelphia recently with an Iranian transgender refugee.

Oh, yeh, they do have an inside track—Anne Richard, the Asst. Secretary of State for the refugee program, just recently left the IRC as one of its 6-figure salaried veeps.   Classic Washington DC case of the revolving door (federal contractors in and out of government jobs)!

The International Rescue Committee office in Washington, DC maintains relations with U.S. government offices, especially those that support some of the IRC’s programs.  This includes the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Migration, and Refugees and the U.S. Agency for International Development.  The IRC meets regularly with decision-makers on both sides of the political aisle, and in both the Executive branch and Congress, to raise issues of concern and advocate for change in U.S. government policies.  The IRC is also active working in coalitions  and with other non-governmental organizations.  Members of IRC’s public policy and advocacy department in Washington, DC also plan and guide IRC’s global advocacy efforts [Like snuggling up to Hamid Karzai?---ed].  The Washington, DC office houses staff from IRC’s International Programs Department and the Women’s Refugee Commission.

Contact Us:

International Rescue Committee
1730 M Street, NW – Suite 505
Washington DC 20036
Tel: 202-822-0166
Fax: (202) 822-0089
e-mail: advocacy@rescue.org

Gang member, Senator Graham, has amendments to S.744 for the purpose of increasing security in the refugee program.

Senator Lindsey Graham still has two amendments pending that are apparently inspired by the Boston refugee bombers ‘success’ in killing and maiming innocent Americans on April 15th.  We told you about them here and here.  It will be interesting to see if those commonsense security enhancements make it through mark-up.  You can bet the IRC is lobbying hard against them today!

Here is our entire archive on the IRC for the ambitious readers among you!  They just hired former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband to step into his $450,000 a year job as its new CEO.

Photo is from Philadelphia Gay News, here.  Muslims persecute gays, so there is a big push to bring in refugees who are LGBTs from Sharia-loving countries.