Refugee Policy Enriches Its Advocates

The Quote Below – More Misinformation from the Media

The Biden administration will more than quadruple the cap on refugee admissions into the United States this fiscal year, President Joe Biden announced on Monday. . . .,

“Today, I am revising the United States’ annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500 for this fiscal year,” Biden said in a statement, adding that the administration’s goal is to raise the cap to 125,000 refugee admissions in the next fiscal year. The previous cap, implemented under the Trump administration, was at a mere 15,000 admissions.

“It is important to take this action today. . . . Biden said. “We are going to rebuild what has been broken and push hard to complete the rigorous screening process for those refugees already in the pipeline for admission. . . .”

The about-face comes after blistering attacks from Biden’s allies on Capitol Hill and in immigrant-rights circles following his announcement last month that he would maintain the Trump-era cap on refugees. . . .

News of Biden’s reversal was greeted positively by advocates for refugee reform.

“President Biden has reaffirmed what so many Americans have long known—refugees are welcome here and are a blessing to our communities,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a faith-based nonprofit that supports refugees once inside the United States. “The new admissions ceiling reflects our core values as a welcoming nation, and finally aligns public policy with the unprecedented global need of millions forced from their home by violence, war, and persecution. . . .”

“We are working quickly to undo the damage of the last four years,” Biden said. “It will take some time, but that work is already underway.” – Biden Raises Cap on Refugee Admissions after Outrage, Scott Bixby, The Daily Beast, 5/3/21 [Link]

Fact Check of Above Quote: This article selects quotes to give the impression that the refugee program is a moral mandate, one above criticism. A full understanding of the program reveals quite the opposite, which is why the Trump Administration moved to curtail it.

The word “refugee” elicits sympathy because it suggests a person freeing a country for his life. This corresponds to the standard definition of a refugee, someone with a “well-founded” fear of persecution on grounds of political beliefs, religion, ethnicity and other factors.

In recent decades, however, immigration advocates have worked to broaden this definition to include just about anyone who is unhappy with his homeland for whatever reason. Thus “refugees” become an almost inexhaustible supply of people for immigration advocates to sponsor.

Currently the system works this way: the United Nations selects refugees for resettlement in the United States and other developed countries. It would be much cheaper to resettle them in nearby countries.There they might find more compatible cultures, and an easier opportunity to return to their home countries when conditions there improve. This is not an option our refugee advocates endorse.

They want refugees here because it is very much in their financial interest. “Charities” going by the name “volags” (volunteer organizations) carry out refugee resettlement in the U.S. Unlike genuine charities which use their own money to carry out their missions, the volags receive government money to carry out resettlement. The more refugees they resettle, the more money they get. Among the volags, this taxpaid funding ranges from almost 60 percent to nearly all of their budgets.

One of the volags is the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service mention in the article. A study several years ago found that 96 percent of its budget came from government grants. Its CEO received annual compensation of $327,876.

Perhaps the most outrageous thing about the current refugee policy is that the states and localities that the volags choose for resettlement have little choice themselves about the matter. Adding insult to this injury, the states and localities, not the volags, have to pick up the tab for providing public assistance to the refugees.

President Trump tried to reform refugee policy, by cutting the level of admissions and giving states and localities say-so over resettlement. Now President Biden and the volags aim to reverse that reform. Their “core values” don’t serve American communities or real humanitarian concerns.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here