Mary Doetsch is a retired veteran of the State Department with long experience in the refugee program. She says it is broken and “cries out for a fix.” In the past, private charitable agencies in the U.S. resettled refugees with mainly their own money.
Today the work is almost completely done by nine federal contractors called “Voluntary Agencies” or VOLAGS. The term is ironic because most of their funding comes from taxpayers. As Doetsch notes, “The VOLAGS receive between 57 percent to 99.5 percent of their funds from the federal government. Perhaps most troubling, top management typically receives salary and benefit packages in the mid-to-high six figures, ranging from $260,000 to more than $700,000 annually. [These] contractors have a vested interest in processing ever-larger numbers of applicants, since they make money on every refugee settled. ”
As the VOLAGS enrich themselves from resettlement, taxpayers are hit again by having to pay for public assistance that the refugees receive.
Read more at washingtonexaminer.com