We hear constantly that we have a moral obligation to accept and resettle more and more of the world’s displaced. That’s supposedly Who We Are, or at least Who We Are Supposed To Be. But who is it that’s telling us that?
In large part, it’s nine refugee contractors who are making millions off this sanctimony. Those contractors–or “voluntary agencies,” or volags–are: Church World Service (CWS), Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM), Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), International Rescue Committee (IRC), U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS), U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and World Relief Corporation (WR).
In 2018, CIS.org looked at each of these volags to determine (1) the amount of government support they receive and (2) the salary of their heads. Full details are available at CIS.org, but, in brief, CIS found that each is funded largely by the U.S. government. Government funding ranges from a low of 58.5 percent to a high of 97.3 percent. Yearly compensations for the organization heads range from a low of $132,000 to a high of $671,749.
Most recently, the volags have been busy resettling the 95,000 Afghanis brought here following the August fiasco in Kabul. So far, that project has cost American taxpayers more than $13 billion, as the “humanitarian parolees”–they don’t actually qualify as refugees–receive free housing, food stamps, job training, and $2,300 checks. The expense is ongoing and $13 billion is only the beginning.
Word of a new wrinkle to the massive giveaway surfaced recently when a group of Republican representatives wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking for information on so-called “Refugee Travel Loans” issued by the State Department and funnelled through the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM). These loans, given to newly arrived parolees, are supposed to be paid back in full, but history shows that that doesn’t happen. Suspicion is that much of the money is being scarfed up by the volags, which act as collection agencies. The NY Times, for example, concluded a couple of years ago that the volags retain up to 25 percent of the total payments.
In a statement, Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), one of the authors of the letter, said:
President Biden is funneling taxpayer dollars through the United Nations to provide a slush fund to his supporters and it’s time for transparency. While these liberal non-profits claim the U.S. has a moral obligation to resettle thousands of refugees a year, the truth is they are making millions off U.S. taxpayers in the process.
As usual, follow the money. Where there are government handouts, there’s never a shortage of hands out.
For more, see Breitbart News.