"Betraying the voters who elected Donald Trump, the Department of State slipped the news to the contractors on Thursday who then slipped the news to the New York Times just as you were packing up for the beach or getting ready for a family barbecue using the federal government’s favorite holiday weekend trick to bury the news.
Forget everything I said in my post yesterday about Trump’s “average” admissions. If they do as they are now saying they will, Donald Trump will be responsible for one of six highest resettlement years since 9/11 [2001].***
Manchester here we come!
Here is the headline (Hat tip: Julia). Emphasis mine:
[New York Times] "U.S. Quietly Lifts Limit on Number of Refugees Allowed In"
WASHINGTON — "Despite repeated efforts by President Trump to curtail refugee resettlements, the State Department this week quietly lifted the department’s restriction on the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States.
The result could be a near doubling of refugees entering the country, from about 830 people a week in the first three weeks of this month to well over 1,500 people per week by next month, according to refugee advocates. Tens of thousands of refugees are waiting to come to the United States.
The State Department’s decision was conveyed in an email on Thursday to the private agencies in countries around the world that help refugees manage the nearly two-year application process needed to enter the United States.
In her email, Jennifer L. Smith, a department official, wrote that the refugee groups could begin bringing people to the United States “unconstrained by the weekly quotas that were in place.” [….]
Refugee groups now predict that entries into the United States could increase so rapidly that the total number of refugees admitted by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, could exceed 70,000. [….]
Refugee advocates were delighted by the State Department’s decision.
“This is long overdue, but we’re very happy,” said Mark Hetfield, president and chief executive of HIAS, an immigrant aid society."
Continue reading here as the contractors say they are worried for next year. Oh, sure they are.
Bottomline is that it appears that the REPUBLICAN Congress (never forget they want to keep big business donors happy by providing a steady supply of cheap labor) appropriated gobs of money for refugee resettlement!
And, the Trump Administration (remember Trump campaigned with talk of a moratorium on refugee resettlement) appears to have no fight left in them on this issue (other issues too!).
***Here are the refugee admissions since 9/11 (those in red exceed Trump’s projected 70,000). Bush had only 2 years in excess of 70,000 and Obama had 3 of his 8 years higher than 70,000.
2001: 87,259 (this year’s number would have been proposed by Clinton in the fall of 2000)
2002: 45,896
2003: 39,554
2004: 79,158
2005: 69,006
2006: 41,223
2007: 48,282
2008: 60,191
2009: 74,654
2010: 73,311
2011: 56,424
2012: 58,238
2013: 69,926
2014: 69,987
2015: 69,993
2016: 84,994"
"This move signals that the (Trump) Administration has no plans to lead a reform of the program in Congress."...Ann Corcoran
Added: From LA Times:
May 28, 2017, "Pipeline disruption? LA Times adds a bit more information to the Trump refugee admission reversal," Refugee Resettlement Watch, Ann Corcoran
"Go here to see what the LA Times is reporting about the stunning reversal on Thursday by the Trump State Department on refugee admissions where we learned that by September 30th we could see 70,000 refugees admitted to the US, in a year Trump initially said we would see a MORATORIUM. 70,000 is a number higher than five of Obama’s eight years!
Be sure to take note that it is Congress that is shoving money (your money) for refugees down the throats of the Administration. I contend that the Administration has the power (but no will!) to reject it and tell Congress to rescind it (but that is a story for another day).
This is the bit of the LA Times story I wanted you to see. The refugee resettlement contractors are complaining that the “pipeline” abroad has been so severely interrupted that they might not get even 50,000 in FY18. Only urgent cases are being interviewed! Isn’t that what should be done? Why are US taxpayers responsible for non-urgent cases?...
This entire system of refugee resettlement set up by the Refugee Act of 1980 should be scrapped. Contractors like Kekic’s Church World Service are worried because they are paid by the head and must build their entire budgets (since it is largely funded by you) around the number of refugee clients in a “pipeline” to America.
There is never any incentive to moderate the flow when nine contractors are ‘bidding for bodies!’ [9 groups listed after break below]
My disappointment at the news, that Trump’s State Department has apparently caved to pressure and is opening the spigot wide for the remainder of the fiscal year, is primarily because this move signals that the (Trump) Administration has no plans to lead a reform of the program in Congress.
Congress is never going to review, in any serious way, the program and change it significantly without leadership from the White House.
What can the White House do? The White House could have continued on its earlier course. A MORATORIUM placed on the program would be a strong incentive for Congress to finally, after 35 years, review the original law and scrap or re-write it.
And, remember this in the first EO, see here? It is Section 5 (g):
(g) It is the policy of the executive branch that, to the extent permitted by law and as practicable, State and local jurisdictions be granted a role in the process of determining the placement or settlement in their jurisdictions of aliens eligible to be admitted to the United States as refugees. To that end, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall examine existing law to determine the extent to which, consistent with applicable law, State and local jurisdictions may have greater involvement in the process of determining the placement or resettlement of refugees in their jurisdictions, and shall devise a proposal to lawfully promote such involvement.
There is no longer any mention of impact on communities, states rights, cost to taxpayers, public health concerns, crime, security concerns, transparency, nothing
!—nothing that motivated voters to work their butts off for Trump.
Sadly, we have been dragged into a debate framed solely on numbers. Will it be 50,000, 60,000, 75,000, 100,000, more?"
.....................
Added: via 5/28/17, "Burmese biter was headed for New Bern, NC; are we importing mentally ill in refugee program?" (scroll down)
Nine federal resettlement contractors monopolize all (US taxpayer funded) resettlement in the US:
- Church World Service (CWS)
- Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) (secular)
- Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM)
- Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
- International Rescue Committee (IRC) (secular)
- US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) (secular)
- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS)
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
- World Relief Corporation (WR)
- .......
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