States must submit refugee resettlement report each fiscal year

When I wrote about funds (lots of federal funds) going to Catholic Charities in Kentucky and Tennessee yesterday and today, I was reminded* of the Code of Federal Regulations that govern the Refugee Resettlement Program.  Readers wishing to try to understand this program better might want to look over the regulations here. 

I won’t pretend to understand them entirely myself, but I recall that State coordinators are required to submit a plan each fiscal year to the Office of Refugee Resettlement that has been approved by the Governor.

This is from 45 CFR Section 400.4:

(b) A State must certify no later than 30 days after the beginning of each Federal fiscal year that the approved State plan is current and continues in effect. If a State wishes to change its plan, a State must submit a proposed amendment to the plan. The proposed amendment will be reviewed and approved or disapproved in accordance with §400.8.

Regarding that line I have in bold, we are now at 30 days after the beginning of the fiscal year which began October 1, 2009 (FY2010).

From Section 400.5,  this is what the plan must include:

The plan must:

(a) Provide for the designation of, and describe the organization and functions of, a State agency (or agencies) responsible for developing the plan and administering, or supervising the administration of, the plan;

(b) Describe how the State will coordinate cash and medical assistance with support services to ensure their successful use to encourage effective refugee resettlement and to promote employment and economic self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.

(c) Describe how the State will ensure that language training and employment services are made available to refugees receiving cash assistance, and to other refugees, including State efforts to actively encourage refugee registration for employment services;

(d) Identify an individual designated by the Governor or the appropriate legislative authority of the State, with the title of State Coordinator, who is employed by the State and will have the responsibility and authority to ensure coordination of public and private resources in refugee resettlement in the State;

(e) Provide for, and describe the procedures established for, the care and supervision of, and legal responsibility (including legal custody and/or guardianship under State law, as appropriate) for, unaccompanied refugee children in the State;

(f) Provide for and describe (1) the procedures established to identify refugees who, at the time of resettlement in the State, are determined to have medical conditions requiring, or medical histories indicating a need for, treatment or observation, and (2) the procedures established to monitor any necessary treatment or observation;

(g) Provide that assistance and services funded under the plan will be provided to refugees without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, or political opinion; and

(h) Provide that the State will, unless exempted from this requirement by the Director, assure that meetings are convened, not less often than quarterly, whereby representatives of local resettlement agencies, local community service agencies, and other agencies that serve refugees meet with representatives of State and local governments to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees’ arrival. All existing exemptions to this requirement will expire 90 days after the effective date of this rule. Any State that wishes to be exempted from the provisions regarding the holding and frequency of meetings may apply by submitting a written request to the Director. The request must set forth the reasons why the State considers these meetings unnecessary because of the absence of problems associated with the planning and coordination of refugee placement. An approved exemption will remain in effect for three years, at which time a State may reapply.

(i) Provide that the State will:

(1) Comply with the provisionsof title IV, Chapter 2, of the Act and official issuances of the Director;

(2) Meet the requirements in this part;

(3) Comply with all other applicable Federal statutes and regulations in effect during the time that it is receiving grant funding; and

(4) Amend the plan as needed to comply with standards, goals, and priorities established by the Director.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 0960–0418)

[51 FR 3912, Jan. 30, 1986, as amended at 60 FR 33602, June 28, 1995; 65 FR 15443, Mar. 22, 2000]

ACTION NEEDED

Beginning today, I am going to write to each of the State Coordinators listed here and ask for the state’s most recent plan.   I recommend readers who are concerned with the refugee program in your state do so also.   Note in the regulations above, state coordinators are required to be employees of the State.

* I first wrote about these regulations last February when I was addressing the issue of states being able to opt out of the program.   So far, only the State of Wyoming has done so.

Tennessee Catholic Charities rolling in federal dough now too!

USA Spending.gov sure is an entertaining government website for anyone interested in watching the flow of your tax dollars.

Yesterday, after I wrote about Kentucky’s Catholic Charities stash of cash, I noticed that one of Tennessee’s Catholic Charities had also brought in a large pile of federal dough in 2009 for refugee programs.  Yet,  Tennessee is way down the list of states when ranked by the number of refugees they resettle.

More interesting is to note what a huge jump in funds this particular Catholic Charities office received compared to previous years.  What did they do to deserve that?  Would someone in-the-know please write to us to explain (I feel like Glenn Beck must feel with his red phone line to the White House!).

For FY2009 Catholic Charities of TN, Inc raked in $8,539,705 of your federal tax dollars for refugee programs!   We will be eager to see how many refugees were resettled in Tennessee in 2009 to warrant that big hike.

In 2008, they received $1,880,242  (847 refugees resettled*)  To clarify, we don’t even know if Catholic Charities resettled the entire 847 refugees themselves.

In 2007, they received $194,392  (961 refugees resettled)

In 2006, there is no report    (724 refugees resettled)

* You can see here where I get the refugee numbers, check this out for your state too!

Go to this list of State Coordinators and note that Holly Johnson, employed at this Catholic Charities office, is also the Tennessee State coordinator for the refugee program, isn’t that interesting?   In many (most, I think) states there is a separate state office overseeing the program.

FY2009: How many refugees did we resettle and from what countries?

Just now I was looking for the statistics on the number of Cuban refugees we have resettled recently for another post I’m working on, and see that this website, The Cultural Orientation Resource Center*, has updated its numbers for the close of fiscal year 2009 which ended September 30th.

Here is the site, you might enjoy going over the numbers.  We resettled a total of 74,652 refugees.   I see we brought 730 Palestinians—that is new.  We’ve brought only a handful in prior years.  We are back in the thousands of Somalis, and the top sending countries are Iraq, Burma and Bhutan (really Nepal).

*After searching around I learned that the Cultural Orientation Resource Center is a program of the Center for Applied Linguistics which can be found here on USA Spending.gov.  I bring this to your attention to show how your tax dollars are distributed to the most arcane projects and programs and to make my point that refugees are big business—well, government-funded business that is!

Convicted criminals should not get federal grants

Your tax dollars:

As a follow-up to my post yesterday on USA Spending.gov, here is another government website you can check if you are concerned about someone you know getting a federal grant (contracts too, I think) and you know they have been convicted of a crime.

It is called debarment in government lingo when someone is disallowed or forbidden to receive government funding.

This is the site, it’s called the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS).  Yes, what a name, not one you would think to google!  

So, if you know someone getting federal grants and they have been convicted of a crime, check this list.  If they are  not on it, then write to the agency and to the agency’s Inspector General that is awarding the grant and tell them that so-and-so has reasons to be debarred.  There are other reasons besides a criminal conviction, but I don’t know what they are.  I didn’t research that.

This is filed in our category ‘where to find information.’

USA Spending.gov website seems much improved

Your tax dollars:

People ask me all the time, how much does refugee resettlement cost the US.  Frankly there is no way to figure that out with any accuracy.  However, thanks to USA Spending you can get a little idea of how much the federal taxpayer shells out for the program. 

I first told you about this handy website here, but when I first used it, it didn’t seem so up-to-date, but I notice now it is much improved.

USA Spending is where you can check out how much grant money (contracts too, but I didn’t go there) that businesses, local and state governments and non-profits are getting from the federal government.  To start with I wanted to know how much the Top Ten volags (refugee resettlement contractors) were receiving now (in my previous post I found numbers for 2008).   So here is what I found for FY2009:

Church World Service:  $31,098,497   (Note that almost $900,000 of this went to their Washington DC office.  We have heard that the US State Department pays for the volags DC offices, so I’m wondering if that is what that amount is for.  Then I suppose they use the DC office to lobby for more money and for promoting comprehensive immigration reform, aka amnesty.)

Ethiopian Community Development Council:  $7,898,621

Episcopal Migration Ministries:  No report, so it must get its money in another name.

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society:   $13,386,048

International Rescue Committee:   $90,790,153

US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants:  That is funny, there is no report for USCRI either and I even checked under its two other names, US Committee for Refugees and Immigration and Refugee Services of America.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services:  No report.

US Conference of Catholic Bishops:   They have their money sent elsewhere because I’ve tried to search for them before.  So, lacking any other way to find out where their (your) money goes, I’ve searched Catholic Charities and that amount for 2009 is $85,557,665.

World Relief Corporation:  $23,112,641

State of Iowa, Bureau of Refugee Services:   This is the tenth volag, but it’s beyond my abilities to figure out how much this agency gets.  I see the whole Dept. of Human Services which is the parent agency to the Bureau of Refugee Services gets $71,231,004 from the federal taxpayer. 

By the way, when you go to the links above, note in the lower right hand corner you can see how much each was awarded in previous years and you can also see a breakdown of what programs your tax dollars were used for.

Other refugee-related agencies that interested me: 

International Organization for Migration:   $301,623,246

UN High Commissioner for Refugees:   $641,255,483  (You might want to look at previous years to see how much our funding for the UNHCR has grown)

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.

Emerging Infectious Diseases: a useful site at the CDC

The Centers for Disease Control has an interesting section entitled ‘Emerging Infectious Diseases’ that you might find a useful resource.    I came across it just now and note this recent article and study about the health of Burmese refugees arriving in Australia.

As we consider the cost of health care in America, the health of refugees should be considered.

We have a category here at RRW called ‘where to find information’ and I’ll post this link there for your future reference.  I found that one need only use the sites search function for “refugees”  (presumably the search could be narrowed to specific refugee groups) to find all sorts of interesting studies on refugee health issues.

US Conference of Catholic Bishops cozy with Islamist group

Reader Robert alerts us to a meeting coming up this week in Milwaukee, WI between the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).  If you are in the Milwaukee area you might want to drop in.

The Midwest Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims will present the lecture “Faithful Citizenship: Catholic & Muslim Engagement in Civic Life” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Islamic Society School, 815 W. Layton Ave.

The presentation features Marquette University Theology Professor Irfan Omar, who specializes in Islamic thought, and Michael Hovey, assistant adviser for ecumenical and interfaith affairs for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The Midwest Dialogue is a program of the Islamic Society of North America and the United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops. To register, call (414) 769-3452.

This is an on-going series of meetings.  Here is some information from an earlier meeting in 2007.

Regular readers of RRW know that the USCCB is one of the top ten federal government contractors resettling refugees and the group also was entangled with ACORN for years.

For more on ISNA, a sister group to CAIR, visit Discover the Networks, here.  We most recently mentioned ISNA when they announced their intentions of not cooperating with the FBI, here.   Here is a post from Jihad Watch about ISNA’s most recent convention.

The Immigration Managers series, excellent source of information on legal immigration programs

David North, an associate at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has been blogging on “Immigration Managers.”   For those of us confused by the myriad federal programs involved in immigration, it is a handy resource.    Here is the one on the US State Department and the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

Readers are encouraged to go to Mr. North’s blog, here, and see the other posts in the Immigration Managers series.  Also, see his “who’s who” series on the Washington insiders making immigration policy.

Just a reminder, we have a category entitled ‘where to find information’ in which we have posted links to all sorts of documented information on refugees and immigration in general, here.

US takes lion’s share of world’s refugees, costs US taxpayers over a $billion a year

Your tax dollars:

As I said yesterday when I told you about the President’s report to Congress on the refugee program for FY2010, there would be lots more interesting information included in the report.

Note that on page 59, the US takes 75% of the world’s UNHCR-referred refugees!  The number doesn’t include others we have picked up through other means and does not include asylees.  After the US at 75% comes Canada (8%), Australia (7.8%), Sweden (2%), and New Zealand (1%).

Now check out the cost of the program on page 58.   The figure reported here, $891,800,000, does not include the taxpayer funding of programs relating to healthcare, subsidized housing, education, food stamps and so forth from local and state governments.

It looks to me that at minimum, it costs way over $10,000 a year per refugee.  And, now that the International Rescue Committee is reporting to us that only about 20% of refugees are finding work, the cost to care for more refugees will only go up.

See my post last month on refugee horrors in Houston:

For years, agencies across the country have used private funds, unpaid overtime and volunteers to patch together a system that before the recession was typically able to find jobs for more than 80 percent of refugees after six months. Those numbers are plummeting — to as low as 20 percent at one national agency, the  International Rescue Committee, which Bob Carey, its vice president of resettlement and migration policy, expects is more or less the situation at most. In some states, refugees are becoming homeless.

Flooding the welfare system?