A reminder, how refugee resettlement should be done….

….one family at a time! 

Coincidentally I just came across a new post at Jeffrey Kirk’s blog, Refugee Resettlement Support, where his group is moving their Burmese refugee family again.   I say coincidentally because one should contrast how Kirk’s folks in Wisconsin are caring for their family to this mass resettlement in Bowling Green, KY that has caused a furor here on RRW.  In Bowling Green, hundreds of Burmese are unhappily living in apartment buildings under questionable conditions, resettled there by a government contractor—the Bowling Green International Center.

How refugees get stuff: houses, businesses, education and cars

Your tax dollars:

Yesterday a reader asked about special deals for refugees and I was reminded of the Individual Development Accounts—a special savings plan for refugees that provides matching taxpayer money—which I haven’t mentioned for a long time.  I see now there is new information at the site—a list of the 22 organizations and agencies in the country where this sweet deal is available to refugees this past fiscal year.

Here are the objectives right from the ORR website:

The objectives of the IDA Program are to increase the ability of low-income refugees to save; promote their participation in the financial institutions of this country; assist refugees in advancing their education; increase home ownership; and assist refugees in gaining access to capital.

Program description:

Individual development accounts are matched savings accounts available for the purchase of specific assets. Under the IDA program, the matching funds, together with the refugee’s own savings from their employment, are available for purchasing one (or more) of four savings goals: home purchase; microenterprise capitalization; post secondary education or training; and in some cases, purchase of an automobile if necessary to maintain or upgrade employment.

IDA grantees provide matched savings accounts to refugees whose annual income is less than 200 percent of the poverty level and whose assets, exclusive of a personal residence and one vehicle, are less than $10,000. Grantees provide matches [using your tax dollars] of up to $1 for every $1 deposited by a refugee in a savings account. The total match amount provided may not exceed $2,000 for individuals or $4,000 for households. Upon enrolling in an IDA program, a refugee signs a savings plan agreement which specifies the savings goal, the match rate, and the amount the refugee will save each month.

In addition, the IDA grantees provide basic financial training which is intended to assist refugees in understanding the American financial system, budgeting, saving, and credit. The IDA grantees also provide training focused on the specific savings goals. The specialized training ensures that refugees receive appropriate information on purchasing and managing their asset purchases.

Here are the 22 organizations and agencies that received money in FY09 (we have already begun FY10):

1 Alliance for Multicultural Community Service Inc. Houston TX

2 Cambodian Mutual Assistance Assoc of Greater Lowell Lowell MA

3 Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County San Jose CA

4 Catholic Charities, Diocese of Camden Camden NJ

5 Catholic Charities, Diocese of St. Petersburg, Inc. St. Petersburg FL

6 Diocese of Olympia Seattle WA

7 ECDC Enterprise Development Group Arlington VA

8 Economic & Community Development Institute Columbus OH

9 International Rescue Committee New York NY

10 Maine Department of Health & Human Services Augusta ME

11 Mountain States Group, Inc. Boise ID

12 Neighborhood Assets Spokane WA

13 United Way, Inc. Los Angeles CA

14 Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Society Bowling Green KY

15 Lao Family Community Development, Inc. Oakland CA

16 World Relief DuPage Wheaton IL

17 Women’s Opportunities Resource Center Philadelphia PA

18 ISED Ventures Des Moines IA

19 Business Center for New Americans New York NY

20 International Institute of Metropolitan St. Louis St. Louis MO

21 Jewish Family & Vocational Services, Inc. Louisville KY

22 Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc. Nashville TN

I wonder how much of the money went for administering the program.

By the way, note near the end of the ORR web page there is a link to a document that summarizes how much of your money has been redistributed with the help of 54 grantees since 1999.

Reforms needed:   I can’t tell you the number of times I hear from annoyed citizens about how refugees get stuff that other Americans don’t get and it is creating tension in some “welcoming” cities—-mostly because the citizens don’t know how the refugees are getting the stuff.

This program is a prime example of the point I have made from the beginning of writing this blog.  If the government, through our elected officials, thinks this is such an important initiative it should be discussed in public forums (in the local paper, etc.)  in those cities and states where the program is available.    All the facts about refugee resettlement must be made public, it shouldn’t be left to citizens to dig around on obscure websites for information.    

I suspect that a large part of the reason for the secrecy is that government officials know that there will be anger, if the program were thoroughly discussed.

If I’m wrong and the program is well-publicized, I welcome anyone sending me links to news clippings where this program has been made public and I will post those links.

Comment worth noting: Why don’t you tell about the good side of refugee resettlement?

This is a comment from Mr. Ralph Parker writing from the Atlanta area.  He asks a question that we have answered but it’s been a long time ago, so for new readers I’ll answer again.

This is what Mr. Parker said in a comment to my post about Ethnic Community Based Organizations, here.

Why dont you look atthe web site of Refugee Family Services of stone Mountain, Georgia to see thw wondeful work they do for families. One of the grants they have is to organize ethnic comunity groups. i will be working with them to help th ehuge Bhutanese community in Atlanta organize a self help organization.

It might be more fair if you profile the great succeses refugees have had and the good things that EBCOs can do,.

Not everyone who is Muslim is a possible terrorist. I have been visiting refugees weekly for 12 years and while there are issues, you need to be more empathetic with the refugees and agencies. Faith based efforts do not work-there is just not enough to go around Agencies would prefer better and safer housing, but what can you get for the small subsidy. By the way refugee cash assistance in our state is $378. for a family of 5.Agencies are scrambling to come up with rent balances. We have an agency here doing yard sales to raise rent money. Our Indian community has paid over $20,000 to prevent evictions of Bhutanese refugees. The problem is lack of federal funding. I have spend several hundred dollas myself just for food and supplies for families.

Have you gone and visited any families?

How about telling the good side of refugee resettlement?

Mr. Parker, the “good side” of refugee resettlement is told every day across the country in mainstream publications, in pro-immigration websites, in the myriad websites created by every ethnic group, in government websites, in lectures to community groups and on and on.   Someone has to balance that news!  We are the only website I know of specifically criticizing aspects of the refugee resettlement program.

You yourself indicate and have in the past indicated that the program needs to be reformed on many levels.  Will reform ever happen if no one points out the trouble spots?  And, why do virtually none of those media and other groups promoting more refugees ever mention problems (except in passing)—because it is politically incorrect to do so and they are scared of being called names.   We aren’t afraid of people calling us names (and many have!).  

As for Muslim refugees, I think the US is making a huge mistake in resettling large numbers of Muslims, many of whom have no intention of assimilating.

Then on the ECBO (mini-ACORNs) issue.  I am a conservative and I fundamentally disapprove of taxpayer money going to set up any non-profit group.  It is an expansion of government over which taxpayers have no control and in this case is primarily a mechanism to foster separation of ethnic groups, not foster assimilation.  Why on earth does every city need a government-supported Bhutanese group, a Somali group, a Hmong group and so forth?   Each of these groups are and will demand political accommodations and will demand rights for THEIR people.  What happened to becoming Americans!

And, why should the taxpayer be expected to pay for the “charitable” work that you care about?  Should every charitable function in America be government supported?  LOL!  As I write this, I guess that is already happening as we march to socialism. 

Let me give you a ludicrous example.  I know something about animal welfare and rescue and a year or so ago an article appeared, I think it was in the Wall Street Journal, that reported on a woman who had gotten in over her head with too many horses.  She was proposing in all seriousness that the government set up a program to financially help such horseowners.  So, when does it stop?  Who is going to decide whose charity is more valuable than anothers.  People who love their horses, love them more than they love refugees—so who will be deciding what is ”fair” when there is only so much taxpayer money to go around?  You might argue that it was silly of her to collect so many horses and she might argue that you have resettled too many refugees.

I won’t even touch the topic here of the fraud in these ECBO’s, I have been doing that elsewhere on these pages.

When all the pro-open borders media and groups are “fair” in their reporting, then our job will be done!

Attempt to block UNRWA’s terror ties stalled in Congress since January

FrontPage Magazine published an interview yesterday with  Asaf Romirowsky, a Middle East analyst and Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Forum, who brings our attention to a bill in Congress dealing with UNRWA. That’s the UN agency in charge of the Palestinian refugees; we’ve written about it extensively. Briefly, we give it a lot of money, much of which goes to funding terrorism. Romirowsky writes (somewhat inaccurately; see below):

 After much pressure from Congressman like Mark Kirk (R – IL) and Steve Rothman (D – NJ) and others we are now seeing a new bill entitled UNRWA accountability. It demands transparency and responsibility from UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency). The bill seeks to ensure that the monies funneled to UNRWA from the United States do not fund acts of terrorism in any way (bringing the funding into compliance with the US Foreign Assistance Act of 1961).

The bill goes further, underscoring the need to evaluate the text books used in Palestinian UNRWA schools; to ascertain there is no “inflammatory and inaccurate information about the United States and the State of Israel, anti-Semitic teaching, as well as the glorification of terrorists.” Something that has been a constant problem in UNRWA schools which have acted as a catalyst for terrorist activities against innocent civilians in Israel.

This is rather sloppy reporting on a number of fronts. He does not give the number of the bill nor its entire title, nor report that it was introduced in January 28 of this year. After searching around I found information at Open Congress, a useful, searchable site which not only reports on bills in Congress, but collects comments from news sources about each bill. It says:

H.Con.Res.29 – Expressing the sense of Congress that the United Nations should take immediate steps to improve the transparency and accountability of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in the Near East to ensure that it is not providing funding, employment, or other support to terrorists.

The entire bill is at Thomas, the official government website.  I highly recommend reading it for its outstanding summary of the problems with UNRWA; it’s quite short. Its recommendations are excellent and to the point, but unfortunately do not have the force of law. It

(1) strongly urges the Secretary of State to take all necessary measures to certify that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) operates in full compliance with section 301(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act and therefore, no American taxpayer dollars are being directed to terrorists or to further terrorist propaganda;

 (2) calls on UNRWA to improve their transparency by publishing online copies of all educational materials used in UNRWA-administered schools; and 

(3) urges UNRWA to improve their accountability by implementing terrorist name recognition software and other screening procedures that would help to ensure that UNRWA staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries are neither terrorists themselves, nor affiliated with known terrorist organizations.

Apparently it hasn’t gone anywhere, since Thomas reports:

Latest Major Action: 1/28/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

I know the Democrats in Congress are routinely ignoring or defeating Republican legislation, but this is a bi-partisan bill, introduced by a Democrat, with many Democrat co-sponsors. A Concurrent Resolution, which this is, doesn’t have much force anyway; it only “strongly urges”  and “calls on” the State Department and UNRWA, with no power to compel. But I guess even these recommendations to prevent our money being funneled into Hamas aren’t as important as all that messing around with our economy, our freedom and our security that occupies the time of the House of Representatives.

I’m grateful to FrontPage for bringing the stalled bill to my attention, but some fact-checking would have been in order.

ONE Lowell is denied its federal grant, should it even get one?

Here is a little story that popped up this morning.  What follows is the whole short story that appeared in the Boston Herald yesterday.  ONE Lowell didn’t do anything wrong we are told, just that other applicants were better.

A Lowell immigrant advocacy group that helps Cambodian refugees obtain U.S. citizenship has been denied a federal grant to continue its program.

Victoria Fahlberg, executive director of ONE Lowell, said today her group was recently notified by the Office of Refugee Resettlement that it would not renew the group’s three-year grant for $180,000. She said that leaves 550 refugees seeking citizenship in limbo.

A spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families, the agency that oversees the grant, said there were no problems with ONE Lowell’s application but other applicants scored higher.

Fahlberg said in three years the group has helped around 1,300 refugees, many elderly Cambodians, become U.S. citizens with free classes and assistance with immigration documents.

Read the comments and note that commenters point out (rightly) that the classes aren’t free—that taxpayers pay for them.  But, here is a little more information on ONE Lowell.   From its Form 990 filed in 2008 (the only one on record), we learn the following:

*Their entire income was $348,346 for 2007.

* Government grants (taxpayer funding) were $224,386.

* Salaries totalled $208,993, payroll taxes $19,508, and $1,340 in benefits (they must not pay much for health insurance!).  

So, we can conclude that  most of ONE Lowell’s budget is for salaries for a few people.  If they don’t get their federal grant of $180,000 the organization could hardly go on.

But, should they go on?  Looking at the ADVOCACY page on their website it’s pretty clear they are advocating for rights for illegal immigrants and registering voters.  They are urging people to contact legislators. Is that what we are funding with taxpayer money?  I thought it was citizenship classes for poor Cambodians!

Is this just one more mini-ACORN?  Incidentally these ACORN copycats seem to reproducing like rabbits.  ONE Lowell was only incorporated in 2006, here.  It must have gotten a federal grant right off the bat if it was a 3-year grant they are now seeking to re-new.

Georgetown study critical of US State Department refugee program; and are there rich Iraqis?

Students from the Georgetown University Law Center in conjunction with some refugee advocacy groups interviewed Iraqi refugees and issued a report on their findings two days ago.

A report out of Georgetown University released today says the U.S. government is failing to help Iraqi refugees resettle.

“Iraqi refugees face odds so heavily stacked against them that most end up jobless, some even homeless,” the report says.

The report was based on interviews with Iraqi refugees – more than half of them from metro Detroit – that were conducted by students at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C. in partnership with human rights groups at the university. In recent years, thousands of Iraqi refugees have been accepted in the U.S., a significant percentage of them coming to Michigan because of relatives and the high numbers of Arabic speakers.

Titled “Refugee Crisis in America,” the report criticizes the United States Refugee Admissions Program, which is administered by the US State Department, for what it called “poor planning and coordination.” A department spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment.

The report recommends that refugee assistance be extended from eight to 18 months and be administered separately from regular poverty assistance. It also calls for improved planning.

We’ve been reporting on this subject for two years now, so there is no surprise here.  It is not just the Iraqis who aren’t making it in the US.   There is also no surprise that one of the chief recommendations of this report is to expand the program and spend more taxpayer dollars on it. We agree the program needs to be reformed, but I’m not sure I’ll be agreeing with the Georgetown students on how to do it.  You can read the whole report here.   I’ll have more to say when I’ve gotten through it.

We told you about the mess in Detroit on several occasions (most recently here).  Michigan is broke, unemployment is through the roof and the immigrants continue to pour in.

Rich Iraqi refugees?  

I guess these students only found the homeless Iraqis (or those on the verge of homelessness) to interview.  Coincidentally, I just last night got this comment to an old post by someone identfying himself/herself as ‘Stealth’.  I have no way of knowing if this is true but ‘Stealth’ seems to know something, although I don’t know what that last sentence means.

I can tell you that the state knows exactly what they are doing..These refugees you speak of, I handle most of the banking in MI and it would blow your mind to know this. Refugees wire in money to “our MICHIGAN banks”, from IRAQ/Jordan from property’s sold from their homeland..Each incoming wire 2-3 in days apart are between 250k-750k..The Refugees are bringing in new cash, it’s still on the hush hush and most are College Grads..Trust me on this one, if it wasn’t for all the NEW money coming in from the riches of IRAQ refugees, I assure you that is why were gettinh the Ctholics.

So what is up with that?  More later.

Australia: Bhutanese refugee woman found dead, hanged

Who knows what was going on in this poor woman’s life.  One report I saw mentioned possible suicide.  The story reminded me of another story I heard about a Bhutanese woman right here in the US.   Here is the whole short article from Adelaide where the cause of death is still under investigation:

Adelaide,October 7: Mon Maya Ghimirey,29, a Bhutanese refugee resettled in Adelaide in Australia was found dead today afternoon in Marion .She was spotted hanging in the garage of her tenant house at around 4.30 pm local time when her children had gone for outing.

Ghimirey was resettled from Sanischarey Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal on March,2009 .

She is survived by two under-aged children of her own and two step children.The cause of her death is not yet known.

This is the story that was relayed to me, and the question my friend asked:   This friend had an occasion to be in the apartment of a recently resettled Bhutanese refugee in a major US city.  The apartment was in the worst neighborhood in the city and the woman, alone it seemed, was fearful of setting foot outside.   It was discovered she wasn’t alone but was living with a girl (hiding in a closet) perhaps in her late teens who appeared to be mentally impaired.  My friend asked, what sort of life does this woman have?  Would she not have been better off in the UN run camp where she had lived for nearly two decades among her own people and her own culture?   What would America be able to do for her?

Reforms needed!

I raise this because I want readers to at least consider for a moment that willy-nilly hauling people to the US (or any westernized country) may sometimes not be the best thing for the refugee.  And, I propose that the US State Department set up a return program where after a certain time to adjust any refugees wishing to be returned (as the Iraqis have been doing recently) to their original location be provided airfare to do so.   Some of that airfare cost should be picked up by the volag that resettled the refugee in the first place.

Recently I wrote about the good and bad resettlement story from the Bronx and just now went to check Journalism in Exile to see if he had more on the woman in Australia.  Nothing so far on Australia, but in his latest post he does report that the NYPD has made a concerted effort to protect the 170 or so Bhutanese refugees living in one building in the Bronx.

A large number of new immigrants (like we Bhutanese refugees in Bronx, NY) dwelling in the same building could sometimes turn out to be a point of attraction for those involved in taking best-advantage of their innocence and struggle during their initial days. Visits of police authority officials, no doubt, will discourage those elements from attempting to fraud/attack or sometimes daring to occur even unexpected crimes on new immigrants. Thanks to NYPD for your visit in our building.

In July we told you about a promising young Bhutanese man being murdered in the parking lot of his apartment building in Jacksonville, here.

The US plans to resettle 60,000 Bhutanese (really Nepalese) from camps in Nepal over 5 years.

Revisiting ‘Refugee Resettlement Support’

I first told you about this excellent blog here.   This church group in Wisconsin is resettling refugees the old fashioned way—one family at a time.  It has been our reform suggestion from the earliest days of writing this blog that we go back to this method of refugee resettlement.   Although these Wisconsin Burmese refugees are still linked and still get some funding from federal government contractors and the taxpayer, at least they have the best chance of assimilating by being helped at every step of the way by a caring group of people.

Most refugee resettlement these days is done by federal contractors (10 major contractors who monopolize the program and their approximately 300 subcontractors) who bring in large groups of refugees and care for them to varying degrees.  We hear reports of refugees virtually being dropped off in communities by agencies too overloaded to give them a proper support system.

Scroll down the blog postings by Jeffrey Kirk and notice the detailed accounting of how much volunteer time and church donations are going into helping their limited number of families.

Also, take note that Mr. Kirk is working on a “how-to” guide for refugee resettlement. You might want to sign up to be notified when it becomes available.

US Conference of Catholic Bishops tied to ACORN and Obama

We first told you about this connection last November when the USCCB cut off its ties to ACORN likely fearing they would be dragged into the growing scandal.  See that earlier post here.

Our interest in the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is that it is one of the largest (if not the largest) federal refugee resettlement contractor (see the ten federal contractors here) with the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Now comes more information about how the USCCB is tied to ACORN, other leftwing community organizing groups, Obama and to the teaching of Saul Alinsky.  From Accuracy in Media yesterday (hat tip:  Janet):

While Obama has strong ties to ACORN, they were originally established through the U.S. Catholic Church, which has also funded ACORN and similar organizations to the tune of millions of dollars. This is another taboo topic for most of the media. Even conservative news organizations are afraid of raising the issue, apparently fearing being tagged with the “anti-Catholic” label.

[.....]

Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough was quoted as saying that Obama’s work as an organizer on the South Side of Chicago “was funded partly” by the “Catholic Church campaign for human development…” He was referring to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an annual collection authorized by the U.S. Catholic Bishops which is advertised as a charity to “break the vicious cycle of poverty” but in reality has funded left-wing political organizations such as ACORN to the tune of millions of dollars.

Reforms needed!

I think someone needs to do an audit of the USCCB—a financial audit not just a program audit to make sure that all the money they get from the taxpayers actually goes to the refugees and not to Leftwing political activities.  Did you know that the US State Department only does program audits?

Be sure to visit this report from the Capital Research Center, “Leftwing Radicalism in the Church.”

This post is filed in our “community destabilization” category where you can find many more posts about Saul Alinsky, the Radical Left and how they are working to “change” our communities and ultimately our form of government.

Palestinian “refugees” are getting restless, and so is their staff

ISRIA, a Paris-based consulting and information publishing service, reports: 

The United Nations agency tasked with assisting millions of Palestinian refugees may not be able to pay the salaries of its 29,000 staff through the end of this year because of a funding crisis, its top official said today as she urged Member States to donate more generously.

….Most of UNRWA’s running costs go to staff salaries, she said, and without an injection of nearly USD 17 million each month the agency will not be able to guarantee salaries into 2010.

Ms. AbuZayd said she has written in the past week to every country that has ever donated to UNRWA to ask them to contribute “special pledges” given the current situation, and she hopes they will respond urgently.

All the donor countries have fulfilled their pledges, but the agency needs more because of inflation, exchange rates, and other issues. Imagine that! Has an agency anywhere of any sort ever announced it needed less?

Two points to note. One is this:

She said that both staff and refugees were “becoming restless” about the funding problem and contingency plans may have to be taken unless money is provided soon.

What contingency plans would those be? Stepping up terrorist attacks so donor nations would realize they really, really, really need more money? And as for “both staff and refugees,” they are often the same people as most of the staff is drawn from the local population. In Gaza that means most are from Hamas, and we’ve written about how much of the donated money goes to Hamas. With all the, um, obligations Hamas has in other areas, it’s no wonder UNRWA’s humanitarian mission is running short.

The second point is this:

UNRWA… provides education, health care, social services, microfinance, camp improvement and emergency aid to an estimated 4.6 million Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Has the world lost sight of how weird that is? How many Jewish refugees are living in Israel? None, because Israel takes in every Jew who wants to come, including the 900,000 who were expelled from Arab countries. But do Arab countries take in Palestinians, who are also Arabs? No! We’ve written about the Iraqi Palestinians, who were not welcomed back into Iraq, and now the U.S. is taking some in. What is wrong with these Arab governments? Oh, maybe it’s because the Jews whom Israel takes in don’t produce suicide bombers. They don’t plot against their host government. The Arab governments created the Palestinian refugee problem, and they don’t want anything to do with the pathology they brought about. So the civilized nations of the earth have to keep ponying up money to keep these “refugees” quiet.

(See our Israel and refugees category for our previous posts on this subject.)