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Singlestack
05-02-2015, 10:01
http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/hundreds-of-muslim-refugees-headed-to-idaho/

Permanently resettling refugees with very different belief systems will cause long term problems here. It isn't clear if any of these people are even interested in US citizenship at some point. Assimilation seems very unlikely. Like the mass muslim immigration into London, Paris, Amsterdam, etc, the muslims will congregate into their own closed communities and will clash with the laws where they live.


Hundreds of Muslim Refugees Headed to Idaho (and elsewhere)
The multicultural transformation of Idaho will continue with a planned infusion of hundreds of refugees from Muslim countries over the next one to three years. A local newspaper in Twin Falls reported that city will receive 300 mostly Syrian refugees over the next fiscal year starting Oct. 1. But WND has learned the numbers will be much larger statewide and include refugees from Syria, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo and possibly Somalia. Sources tell WND that community leaders learned of the plans for up to 2,000 refugees at a recent conference at Boise State University attended by church groups, social services providers and other “stakeholders.”
“That’s the number they put out that they’re planning for, a total of about 2,000 over the next one to three years, with 70 percent going to Boise and 30 percent in the Twin Falls area,” said Shahram Hadian, a former Muslim turned Christian pastor in eastern Washington who said he spoke with a conference attendee. WND reported two weeks ago that Spartanburg, South Carolina, has also been selected for the seeding of a Syrian refugee community. Unlike Boise, residents in Spartanburg have mustered an organized opposition to the infusion of 65 Syrian refugees over the next year, saying the town already has high crime and poverty and isn’t prepared to absorb hundreds of poor Syrians.

Christina Jeffrey, who ran against Gowdy in the 2010 Republican primary and is a former historian for the U.S. House of Representatives, has joined with a group called Spartans for Biblical Immigration.Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry demanding answers to 17 questions about the refugee program, such as what benefits will be expected to be offered and what the cost will be. That was two weeks ago. WND contacted Gowdy’s press secretary, Amanda Duvall, Thursday and was told he has still not received a response from Kerry, whose State Department heads up the refugee program nationwide.
“Biblical immigration is certainly not going and bribing them and getting them to change countries,” Jeffrey said.
Jeffrey said Gov. Nikki Haley has come out in favor of the resettlement plans, which hasn’t helped Gowdy’s effort to see it scaled back. A promised resolution by the area’s legislative delegation opposing the resettlement plans also fizzled after Haley issued a letter of support.
“When the governor came out in favor of the refugees, our (Republican) legislators said it would all turn out OK and that they had faith in the vetting process,” Jeffrey said. “But this refugee thing makes us all very nervous, especially if the governor’s office is on board. It’s pretty well known around Spartanburg that there’s a lot of unhappiness about it, and surprise, especially since she was so strong on some other issues like Medicaid expansion. It could be she looks at this with a little bit of identity politics, seeing that maybe immigrants will soon have an advantage over native-born Americans. Look how many immigrants we have running for president. I think she’s moving on. I don’t think South Carolina is her intended destination.”
Residents of St. Cloud, Minnesota, have also been organizing and seeking information on exactly how many more Somali refugees they will be asked to absorb over the next few years. Lutheran Social Services has been working with the federal government to resettle hundreds of Somalis in the St. Cloud area.
The mayor of Athens, Georgia, requested information on refugees being sent to her city late last year and also complained that such information was difficult to obtain.
Chinks in the armor, FBI says
The world’s displaced persons are assigned to various countries by the United Nations high commissioner on refugees. The countries are responsible for vetting the refugees, and screening those from Syria has been a particularly difficult task due to the ongoing civil war there between warring Islamic factions.
As WND previously reported (http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/syrian-refugee-program-called-back-door-for-jihadists/), the FBI’s deputy assistant director of counter-terrorism, Michael Steinbach, testified before a House Homeland Security committee in February and said it was virtually impossible to screen refugees from a “failed state” like Syria, where the U.S. does not have boots on the ground and does not have access to reliable police or intelligence records.
Unlike Minnesota, which has seen dozens of radicalized Somali refugees leave to fight for terrorist organizations al-Shabab and ISIS while dozens of others have been convicted of providing material support to overseas terrorists, Idaho appears to have done a somewhat better job of assimilating its Muslims. However, it has had some bad apples.
​In May 2013, a 31-year-old Muslim refugee from Uzbekistan, Fazliddin Kurbanov, was indicted on terrorism charges for allegedly recruiting Muslims in Utah and teaching them to build bombs that would target public transportation and military bases.The Russian-speaking Kurbanov is one of more than 650 Uzbeks who have been resettled in Idaho since 2003. He arrived in 2009.
Kurbanov, whose trial has been delayed, told an informant before his arrest that a military base would be his preferred target for a potential bomb attack, according to court documents.
“For me the best … a military base,” Kurbanov told an FBI source during a secretly recorded conversation, reported KTVB 7 in Boise. “If I have every stuff … like bomb, like this and this one. I want to kill a lot of military or every. I don’t know, whatever.”
Kurbanov is accused of funneling personnel, software and money to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Members of the IMU fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and seek to overthrow the government of Uzbekistan and replace it with an Islamist caliphate, according to the National Counter-terrorism Center.
Idaho a magnet for refugees
While Idaho remains largely a rural farm state, it is not new to the refugee business. The Agency for New Americans, an arm of Episcopal Migration Ministries, operates from an office in Boise doing the organizational work on the ground needed to resettle refugees and get them “integrated” into the community. The International Rescue Committee, whose top executive is former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, also resettles refugees in Idaho.
Miliband recently wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post saying the U.S. needed to take in at least 65,000 Syrian refugees to fulfill its “duty” as the world’s largest haven for the displaced.

image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/04/Boise-Mayor-David-Bieter.jpg (http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/04/Boise-Mayor-David-Bieter.jpg)
http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/04/Boise-Mayor-David-Bieter.jpgBoise Mayor David Bieter

Muslim refugees began arriving in Boise in large numbers around 1995. Since that time, 11,000 refugees have been integrated into the city, according to city officials. While there have been reports of culture-clashes between Muslims and non-Muslims in the school system and elsewhere, an April 27 blog post (http://www.welcomingamerica.org/2015/04/27/diversity-is-essential-for-boises-prosperity-and-livability/)from Mayor David Bieter said the city welcomes the refugees with open arms. “Diversity is essential for Boise’s prosperity and livability,” according to the mayor’s blog.
“Diversity isn’t a buzz word. It’s our birthright,” Bieter wrote in the blog for Welcoming America, an organization that received $150,000 in seed money from billionaire George Soros’ Open Society in 2010 and now works with the White House Task Force on New Americans to integrate new immigrants and refugees into cities across the U.S. Obama formed the task force Nov. 21 following his unilateral granting of amnesty to more than 5 million illegal aliens.
Boise’s mayor, along with mayors in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Dayton and Cleveland, Ohio, San Antonio, New Orleans, San Fransisco, Nashville, Atlanta, Wichita, Houston, Boston and dozens of other cities, work with an organization called the Partnership for a New American Economy (http://www.renewoureconomy.org/). This group includes a mix of progressive mayors, executives from some of America’s largest corporations and Chambers of Commerce all working to influence Congress to allow more immigrants into the country, both skilled and unskilled, claiming that more immigration leads to more economic prosperity for Americans, a claim that is rejected by think tanks such as the Center for Immigration Studies and the Economic Policy Institute.
Boise, a self-described “Welcoming Community,” has seen waves of Muslims sent its way by the United Nations in recent years from Afghanistan, Somalia, Turkey, Bosnia, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Congo, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bosnia.
The greater Boise area already has several mosques, the largest of which is the Islamic Center of Boise, with plans unveiled recently for a large mega-mosque on the outskirts of town in Kuna, Idaho. Twin Falls schools currently have more than 100 refugee students and more than 20 languages are spoken. That may sound daunting, but it’s nothing compared to another city in America’s heartland — Wichita, Kansas.
Kansas another hotbed of refugee resettlement
The Wichita school district, already one of the most diverse in the state, is now trying to cope with a new influx of immigrants from Central America and the Middle East. The new arrivals don’t speak English or Spanish, requiring costly interpreters and tutors to be brought in to help the immigrants learn.
The Wichita district has more than 350 students from other countries and 160 from other U.S. states who speak minimal English. Currently, 81 languages are spoken in the district, the Wichita Eagle reported. It has 11 classrooms spread throughout the district devoted to teaching recent immigrants and refugees.
“Wichita is definitely a diverse district, and it’s becoming more so,” Stephanie Bird-Hutchison, a teaching specialist at the district’s Multilingual Education Service Center, told Fox News Latino (http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2015/04/26/kansas-school-district-copes-increased-ethnic-diversity-from-influx-immigrants/). “Every continent except Antarctica is represented in Wichita schools.”
Because federal law requires schools to provide information to parents in their preferred language, an Arabic speaker is on call to help teachers and others communicate with families, Fox reported. And the district contracts with Propio Language Services, an interpreting service that helps teachers and parents who speak any language to converse by phone through an interpreter.
The number of students speaking Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodian has decreased while students speaking languages from Africa and the Middle East have increased dramatically in recent years, Dalia Hale, director of multilingual services for Wichita schools, told Fox. Many in the latter group are refugees from camps in central Africa, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan. “We’ve never had Swahili show up before this year in our data,” Bird-Hutchison told Fox. “That has come on due to the refugee population that’s just emerging in Wichita.”
Wichita school board members said they worry a new block-grant funding plan for schools will prevent the district from getting more funding to provide services for the refugees and other immigrants, according to the Fox News Latino report. “That’s a huge concern, because we will not be receiving additional money for those students,” said Board President Sheril Logan.
Sharia-based crime problems emerge
As Muslim populations increase in American cities, communities will be forced to deal with issues common to Islamic culture, such as arranged marriages forced upon teenage girls, female genital mutilations, forced veilings and spousal abuse. Just last week ,a case of a forced marriage exploded into domestic violence in Phoenix, Arizona. Daniel Akbari, a former top defense lawyer in Iran’s Shariah courts who defected to American several years ago, said spousal abuse is expressly allowed by the Quran.
“Chapter 4, verse 34, of the Quran expressly says if a woman does not comply with her husband’s command he has the right to beat her up, and that is what you see happening here and what has happened over 1,400 years,” Akbari said. “What is going on here in Phoenix is totally Islamic, under Shariah. Everyone in that Muslim community will agree with that except the girl here.” Akbari is author of the book, “Honor Killing: A Professional’s Guide to Sexual Relations from the Islamic Sources (http://www.amazon.com/Honor-Killing-Professionals-Relations-Violence/dp/1496957032/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430487015&sr=8-1&keywords=Honor+Killing).” He says the hadiths are just as strict on this matter.
According to the well-regarded historic Islamic scholar Ibn Majah, a woman must comply with a demand for sex even while on the back of the camel. He cites Vol. 3 Book 9 No. 1852 (http://sunnah.com/ibnmajah/9) (English reference), which states:

“No woman can fulfill her duty towards Allah until she fulfills her duty towards her husband. If he asks her (for intimacy) even if she is on her camel saddle, she should not refuse.”
The Phoenix case involved Mohamed Abdullahi, 30, a Muslim refugee from Somalia brought here by the U.N. and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He entered into a “Nikah,” which is an arranged Islamic marriage, with the parents of an 18-year-old Muslim woman.
Phoenix police arrested him April 22 on charges of kidnapping and sexual assault. The Arizona Republic reported that his bride-to-be was brought to his apartment that day by her parents, against her will. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, told Fox News that such violence has “no basis in the Islamic faith.” Apparently CAIR has not read Sura 4:34 in the Quran or the hadiths. Akbari said it’s time U.S. media stopped falling for the “explain it away” propaganda put out by CAIR.
According to the Arizona Republic, the woman’s parents arranged the marriage with Abdullahi and their daughter in November without her knowledge, according to court records. When the woman learned of the marriage, she fled the state but returned 15 days later to finish high school, police said.
The woman’s parents drove her to Abdullahi’s apartment. Once she was inside, Abdullahi reportedly punched her in the left eye, causing her to fall to the ground, according to court records. Abdullahi then allegedly grabbed his future bride around the throat and began strangling her while she was on the ground. At that point, Abdullahi dragged the woman into the bedroom and proceeded to sexually assault her, police said. Hadian, the pastor in eastern Washington who also ministers in Idaho, believes the continued influx of Muslim immigrants, if not tempered soon, will have disastrous results for America. Most of the Christian charities that help resettle refugees, contracting with the government or one of the nine major resettlement agencies, do not share the gospel with Muslims or consider this a part of their work, he said.
“Most of those that even claim to be Christian are usually of the interfaith variety and are not very big on evangelism,” Hadian said. “Their whole thing is, be nice and do good works. When I was in Boise and presented there, I had a gal who came up afterward and she made a comment about refugees coming from Iraq and how they’re so open to Jesus and it’s fantastic. I said, ‘So you guys had an opportunity to share the gospel?’ She said no, they asked, ‘If we come into the church, what benefits do we get?’” Hadian believes this is not the best way for churches to interact with Muslims unless the aid being provided also comes with a clear gospel message.
“I said you guys are bringing these refugees in, you’re giving them free housing and things, and so now even if they think they want to become a Christian, it’s seen as a monetary gain,” he said. “My goodness, is this what we’re doing to the gospel now – accept Jesus and we’ll give you free things? “If they could be bold with the gospel, yes, but I don’t see any evidence of that. They usually want to say let’s be friends with them, let’s have a Ramadan meal with them, and this is why I say we should have a moratorium on Muslim immigration.”

Irving
05-02-2015, 10:24
Bailey must be thrilled!

<MADDOG>
05-02-2015, 10:45
I wonder how the Indians felt about Jamestown and Plymouth...

KestrelBike
05-02-2015, 10:50
I wonder how the Indians felt about Jamestown and Plymouth...
I dunno, ask them how it worked out for them.

02ducky
05-02-2015, 10:50
Well, there goes the neighborhood.

buffalobo
05-02-2015, 11:55
Structured legal immigration is healthy for our country. Forcing refugees upon the citizenry is not.

SamuraiCO
05-02-2015, 12:17
Interesting melting pot experiment. Can't wait to see all the muslim hunting and fishing guides.

When I saw the story first thought it would be Coptic Christians relocating. Hope the people of Idaho do not cave to political correctness.

Aloha_Shooter
05-02-2015, 12:55
When I saw the story first thought it would be Coptic Christians relocating. Hope the people of Idaho do not cave to political correctness.

I think the objective is the transform the cultural and political landscape there much as Hollywood, New York, and DC have been transforming the culture across the nation for the last 10-20 years. It's not so much making Idahoans cave as it is slowly changing them like turning the heat up slowly on the frog in the pot of water.

electronman1729
05-02-2015, 13:22
This is based off that old movie from HBO "The Second American Civil Was"?

Bailey Guns
05-02-2015, 13:36
Idaho has been part of the effort to resettle refugees from various countries since 1975.

BushMasterBoy
05-02-2015, 13:37
Just another part to "Jade Helm"...

Mtn.man
05-02-2015, 17:34
Bailey must be thrilled!

Another reason I ain't going.

Bailey Guns
05-02-2015, 18:57
Do some research. It ain't new and it ain't just ID. It's all over the country in almost every state. As an example, over 650,000 displaced Europeans were brought over to the US during and after WWII.

Mtn.man
05-02-2015, 19:45
Got a couple friends there one said economy ain't up to par with CO or surrounding states. Other is working in Oregon to make ends meet, and yes they said Mosques are popping up around them so they are thinking of MT or WY. Or somewhere they can make a decent wage. My one buddy commutes to SD for the oil fields as he makes 2x's the $ he can make in Idaho. Hey if you ain't got potato land you ain't making a living. I got $$ Land and other crap so I am hanging.
No Mosques in Bailey Yet so wtf

Irving
05-02-2015, 19:56
Do some research. It ain't new and it ain't just ID. It's all over the country in almost every state. As an example, over 650,000 displaced Europeans were brought over to the US during and after WWII.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone in Colorado who looked like they came from anywhere else but America.

Bailey Guns
05-02-2015, 19:58
I didn't have a problem finding a job there...making more than here. Just wasn't ready to move yet. That doesn't change the fact that the refugee relocation program has been in existence for decades.

Bailey Guns
05-02-2015, 20:00
I don't think I've ever seen anyone in Colorado who looked like they came from anywhere else but America.

Yeah, no shit.

USMC_5-Echo
05-02-2015, 20:14
Where are they going to stay, with the Mormons or the skin head neo-nazis?

kidicarus13
05-02-2015, 20:48
I don't think I've ever seen anyone in Colorado who looked like they came from anywhere else but America.
Apparently I missed the sarcasm

hurley842002
05-02-2015, 20:52
Been to Aurora lately?
Apparently you haven't been following Irv's extreme sarcasm lately...

roberth
05-02-2015, 21:04
Apparently you haven't been following Irv's extreme sarcasm lately...

He got me the other day. :)

Ah Pook
05-02-2015, 21:16
Send them to Coeur D'alene. There will be muslim outposts in eastern Oregon in no time.

Bailey Guns
05-02-2015, 22:20
Send them to Coeur D'alene. There will be muslim outposts in eastern Oregon Washington in no time.

Geography police...CDA is just across the river from Spokane, WA. Oregon is 130-ish miles south of CDA.

wctriumph
05-03-2015, 09:35
Seems to me the place to send them would be Cuba. And I don't mean Gitmo.

Jacket
05-03-2015, 10:19
Always make me wonder how these families from war torn places get a magical ticket, citizenship and placement in the US ? Did the CIA tell some guy "Do away with them. and we will get you and your family out of here" ?

Aloha_Shooter
05-03-2015, 13:14
Do some research. It ain't new and it ain't just ID. It's all over the country in almost every state. As an example, over 650,000 displaced Europeans were brought over to the US during and after WWII.

I'm well aware of that but the State Department then was very different from the State Department now. Even the resettlements in the 80s and 90s were different. In the past, I believe the resettlement locations were selected based on cost of living and the ability of the refugees to become part of the economy. These days, I'm much more suspicious about the motives of the White House and State Department.

Bailey Guns
05-03-2015, 14:30
I didn't say I like it or trust the State Dept...or the gov't in general for that matter. But to bring this up like it's something new? As disheartening as it is the gov't has been doing this sort of thing, in every state, for a long time whether it's in the best interest of the citizens of the country or not. I don't see it as any different than the "leadership" of the City of Denver allowing it to become a sanctuary for illegals.

The rest of us have little choice in the matter.

SNAFU
05-03-2015, 14:44
I know I'm fux'ed up but did I understand, through other sources.
That the fukng UN can tell a Country it HAS to except refugees?
WWII was a world wide event, Korea and Vietnam people adapted,
children,OK with that.
So now forced refugees, illegals becoming legal.

No Irish need apply,,sign that meet my Great Grandfather from Cork.

Singlestack
05-05-2015, 13:46
Some stats on 2014 immigration and more about refugee resettlement: What could go wrong? [panic]

http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/congressman-seeks-to-unlock-secret-refugee-program/#R4GvBff27mpk1Aiz.99

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., has received a response to his letter demanding answers from Secretary of State John Kerry about the planned resettlement of dozens of foreign refugees in his state. But the answers failed to shed much light on the secrecy that surrounds the refugee program. The process by which cities and towns across the U.S. are selected to receive displaced persons from United Nations refugee camps remains largely a mystery.
As Gowdy discovered, the city of Spartanburg, South Carolina, was approved for an infusion of 60 refugees, mostly from Syria and Africa, by its own state government headed by Republican Gov. Nikki Haley.
And if the program plays out in Spartanburg as it has in communities in Minnesota, California, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and other states, then the 60 refugees will blossom into hundreds and eventually thousands every year. Minnesota, for example, is now receiving more than 2,000 Muslim refugees annually, mostly from Somalia. Texas receives more than 7,000 per year, and California more than 6,000, directly from the Third World.
Here are the top 10 states for refugee resettlement based on fiscal 2014 figures from the State Department website:
Texas, 7,2011
California, 6,110
New York, 4,079
Michigan, 4,000
Florida, 3,519

Arizona, 2,963
Ohio, 2,812
Pennsylvania, 2,743
Georgia, 2,693
Illinois, 2,578
The United Nations and nine private resettlement agencies are pressuring the United States to accept at least 65,000 refugees from Syria by the end of President Obama’s term in office.
Of the 815 Syrian refugees resettled in the U.S. so far, 749, or 92 percent, have been Muslim, according to State Department data.
Only 43 Syrians allowed into the U.S. have been Christians, even though the turmoil in Syria and Iraq has driven thousands of Christians from their homes under threat of death by ISIS.
The U.S. takes in more refugees than any other country, about 70,000 per year, and has absorbed 3 million since 1975. But since the early 1990s, the trend has been to accept more from Muslim countries.
Some residents of Spartanburg are upset and asking questions, not only about the security risks associated with importing refugees from a Middle East war zone but also about the numbers of refugees that will eventually end up in their county and how much it will cost to absorb them into schools, housing and health-care facilities.
Almost all refugees coming into the U.S. from war-torn countries are hand-selected by the United Nations.
The plan to send refugees from Syria and Africa to Spartanburg first surfaced in March when a story appeared in a local newspaper.
Gowdy pressed Kerry’s State Department for more information in an April 13 letter.
Kerry’s response on May 1 indicated the process of picking Spartanburg as the country’s newest refugee haven actually began back in April 2013, when World Relief, one of nine private agencies that contract with the government to provide resettlement services, was contacted by local faith groups in Spartanburg. Gowdy’s own office was notified of the plans in August 2014.
Gowdy was not happy with Kerry’s response and fired off another letter May 4 to the secretary of state.

image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/03/trey-gowdy.png (http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/03/trey-gowdy.png)
http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/03/trey-gowdy.pngRep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

“To begin, it is important to clarify and correct the timeline of events for the proposal. In your response you stated there were two community meetings, one in August 2014 and one in January 2015,” Gowdy wrote to Kerry. “You also stated the proposal was submitted in July 2014 and approved in November 2014. Is this correct? If so, does this mean the resettlement agency had only one community meeting, which occurred after the proposal was submitted and before the State Department’s approval?”
At the “community meetings” no media was invited and the public was not notified, WND has learned.
Gowdy said he sent his initial letter to the State Department on April 13 because he could not answer questions asked of him by constituents regarding plans for refugees in Spartanburg.
“We have provided State’s response so the public can read it. But some of the answers are inadequate and fail to provide specificity on who was consulted at the city and county level, within the public school system, and law enforcement, and if they provided input,” Gowdy said in a statement.
Gowdy is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on immigration and border security, which has oversight responsibility for the refugee program.
He sent a staff member, Josh Dix, to the secret meeting in August but Dix did not raise any concerns about the resettlement plans, according to Kerry’s response to Gowdy’s letter.
Gowdy’s press secretary denied WND’s request for an interview with the congressman Monday and would not answer any questions.
Baptists working to resettle refugees in S.C.
World Relief, a nonprofit evangelical organization that works to resettle refugees nationwide, opened an office earlier this year in Spartanburg.
A group of 40 churches and other faith-based groups has signed on to help World Relief resettle the refugees, according to Kerry’s letter to Gowdy. One of the lead agencies working with World Relief is the Spartanburg County Baptist Network.
But the plan to place refugees in Spartanburg has been brewing for more than a year, long before any local residents caught wind of it.
Kerry’s letter provides a rare window into how a small group of people in the federal government, local church groups, a federal contractor and a Governor’s state refugee coordinator conspire to plant “seedlings” of refugees into communities across the U.S.
These refugees are seen by the White House and its network of pro-immigration and refugee partners – groups like National Council for La Raza, Welcoming America, the National Partnership for New Americans and the Chamber of Commerce – as potential “new Americans.” The refugees are set up with a full plate of government benefits, placed on a fast track to citizenship and full voting rights.
The White House is also pushing to have the thousands of Central Americans who crossed the southern border last year afforded asylum status, which qualifies them for various welfare benefits and a direct track toward citizenship.
So while Spartanburg residents found out about the plan for their town in March and April, others in key leadership positions have known about it for more than a year. No public hearings have been held before the city council or local school board. Gowdy is still trying to find out exactly who in Spartanburg was made privy to the plans and who provided input.
“The initial interest in resettling refugees in Spartanburg emerged in April 2013 when World Relief was approached by Spartanburg County Baptist Network,” Kerry’s letter states. “The group, along with 25 other individuals and church organizations, expressed their support for a World Relief resettlement program in their city.”
Kerry said the State Department requires the national resettlement agency, in this case World Relief, to “thoroughly assess the local resettlement capacity and environment of any new proposed resettlement sites before determining whether to proceed with resettling refugees in that location.”
The staffer Gowdy had present at the meeting in August did not raise any concerns about the program, according to Kerry’s letter.
“Two community meetings (August 2014 and January 2015) were convened to discuss refugee resettlement in the area,” Kerry wrote to Gowdy. “The August meeting, convened by World Relief, was attended by 54 members of the community including Josh Dix from your office, members of local churches, the Immigration Forum, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau for Spartanburg. Mr. Dix did not offer any concerns during the meeting or in follow-up afterward.”
George Soros involved
The National Immigration Forum, which was present at the meeting, receives funding from billionaire George Soros. It is the driving force behind the so-called “Evangelical Immigration Table,” or EIT. Breitbart called it (http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2013/06/02/national-immigration-forum-lead-evangelical-jim-wallis-funded-by-george-soros-other-bastions-of-institutional-left/) “a front group for players on the institutional left including billionaire George Soros and the Ford Foundation.”
The Immigration Forum and EIT were involved in an advertising campaign promoting the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill in 2013, a bill seen by many right-leaning lawmakers as “amnesty.” One of the Gang of Eight members was Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Kerry said in his response to Gowdy that Graham was also invited to attend the August meeting on refugees but no one from his staff showed up.
The South Carolina state refugee coordinator, who works for Gov. Nikki Haley, gave her approval in November for the resettlement program to move forward.
Christina Jeffrey, a political science instructor at Wofford College in Spartanburg and former historian for the U.S. House of Representatives, said Kerry’s response shows the refugee program is ingrained not only in the federal bureaucracy but in state governments as well.
“It’s another grant program; it isn’t just the feds cramming this down our throats. It’s government corruption at all levels,” she said, “with a lot of money at stake flowing to these contractors.”
World Relief, as the main contractor in Spartanburg, will be awarded a grant from the State Department of $1,975 for every refugee it resettles. Federal rules require $1,125 of that to be used in providing services directly to the refugee such as cash stipends, rents for housing or other material needs during the first 30 to 90 days of the refugee’s arrival. The remaining $850 may be used for staffing and administrative costs.
Nearly 70 percent of World Relief’s budget is covered by government grants. Others among the nine contractors, such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, have upward of 90 percent of their refugee work covered by government grants.
Seeking a moratorium on refugees
Jeffrey said she’s happy that Gowdy has taken an interest in the program, but she believes his responsibility goes beyond fact finding.
“I can do my own information gathering. I’m not looking to Trey Gowdy for that. I’m looking for him to do his job and provide oversight on whether this is a good use of taxpayers’ money,” Jeffrey told WND.
The refugee program costs the federal government about $1 billion a year, and that does not include the welfare benefits that many refugees receive. The Congressional Research Office recently put out a study that showed 74.2 percent of refugees receive food stamps.
“Rather than just gathering information on the Spartanburg resettlement, how about let’s put the whole program on hold until Congress has a chance to investigate it?” Jeffrey said.
Jeffrey and others have also voiced concerns about national security. Dozens of people from Muslim countries have come to America as refugees only to be charged with providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations, according to FBI reports. At least another 48 cases have been confirmed of Muslim immigrants leaving the U.S. to fight for ISIS in Syria and al-Shabab in Somalia.
The refugee program has flown under the radar for more than 30 years, but controversy flared in February when a top FBI counter-terrorism official, Michael Steinbach, testified before the House Homeland Security committee (http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/syrian-refugee-program-called-back-door-for-jihadists/) and said the U.S. has no way to vet the Syrian refugees for possible connections to ISIS and other terrorist organizations.
As WND reported (http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/syrian-refugee-program-called-back-door-for-jihadists/), Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, sent a letter to the White House Jan. 28 citing “serious national security concerns” about the Syrian refugee program and imploring Obama to not let it become a “back door for jihadists.”
Transforming cities, one at a time
Jeffrey believes the Obama administration is using the refugee program, along with its broader immigration policies, for political purposes.
“Their intention is to identify, recruit, transport, whatever you have to do to get 9 million ‘new Americans’ naturalized as citizens and to the polls in November 2016 and beyond,” she said. “I’ve never seen a more blatant ballot-stuffing program in my life.”
Gowdy said in the statement on his website that Kerry’s suggestion that Gowdy had a supportive role in the assignment of refugees to Spartanburg was “patently false.”
“[T]o correct the record, the State Department’s characterization that our office was ‘critical in the process’ of establishing the refugee resettlement is patently false. Our office sent one staff member to one meeting almost one year ago, as State’s own answers to our questions indicate,” the statement said. “We were provided no follow up information on the proposal or implementation of the plan, nor did we at any point provide approval of the plan. The South Carolina Department of Social Services, not a Member of Congress, is responsible for approving proposals of this type.
“Finally, government transparency and accountability to the public is paramount. While our office does not have a role under the law in the implementation of such a plan, we are interested in providing the community with answers. To that end, we will be following up with the State Department with additional questions regarding local input.”
Gowdy posted the full State Department’s response online (https://gowdy.house.gov/sites/gowdy.house.gov/files/5.1.15%20Response%20from%20Dept%20of%20State.pdf).
The response reads in part that Spartanburg would play “an integral role in ensuring that former refugees find a community which they can call home and which they in turn can enrich through their contributions. Key stakeholders such as the local churches in Spartanburg, which provided the impetus to establish this site, are a wonderful example of the support and spirit of the community.”
According to Jason Lee, director of World Relief Spartanburg, a letter signed by about 40 ministry leaders who support resettling refugees here was hand delivered to Gowdy’s district office in Greenville.
“We felt like we were able to enlighten his staff when we met on April 21st,” Lee told the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg.
“You can be a Bible-believing Christian and have one perspective. But as an elected official, you have an obligation to the people who you work for who have legitimate questions about how things will be paid for. They have legitimate questions about access to health care, security questions, educational opportunity questions,” Gowdy told the newspaper.
He said the state approves the resettlement plan, and the U.S. State Department interacts with the contractor agencies.
“Congress has no role whatsoever, but as the member of Congress, it is my job to get answers to questions,” Gowdy told the Herald-Journal.
Jeffrey hopes Gowdy will see his role as providing more than just information, but actual oversight.
“Alexander Hamilton once said that if ever two branches of government should gang up against the American people, the Republic is over,” she said.
The full text of Gowdy’s May 4 follow-up letter to Kerry is reprinted below in full:
Congressman Gowdy | May 4, 2015
The Honorable John Kerry
Secretary
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Kerry,
Thank you for your response to my April 13, 2015, letter. This issue continues to be important to my constituents, and as their representative in Congress, it remains my job to get complete answers to the legitimate questions raised.
Toward that end, parts of your Agency’s response lacked sufficient specificity. In an ongoing effort to better understand the process and public impact of the proposed resettlement of refugees in Spartanburg pursuant to the resettlement agency’s proposal, several follow-up questions are listed below. I appreciate your prompt, substantive, and specific responses.
To begin, it is important to clarify and correct the timeline of events for the proposal. In your response you stated there were two community meetings, one in August 2014 and one in January 2015. You also stated the proposal was submitted in July 2014 and approved in November 2014. Is this correct? If so, does this mean the resettlement agency had only one community meeting, which occurred after the proposal was submitted and before the State Department’s approval?
1) (a) Who, with specificity, were the “25 other individuals and church representatives”who “expressed their support for the resettlement program in Spartanburg”?
(b) Who specifically was consulted as part of the community and site assessment referenced in the timeline included in the proposal. Please include names and dates of the consultations where possible.
(c) Was anyone directly consulted in the South Carolina Governor’s office other than Dorothy Addison, the State Refugee Coordinator? Who did Ms. Addison talk with as part of the community assessment in order to validate the resettlement agency’s assessment of the community’s ability to support the influx of refugees?
2) After the August 2014 meeting, who provided feedback on the proposal? Was this feedback included in the proposal although it had already been submitted? Which of South Carolina’s United States Senators was contacted and did either provide feedback? Was Congressman Mick Mulvaney, whose district includes a portion of Spartanburg County, consulted?
3) Who were the “care providers” consulted as part of the community assessment? Please provide names and dates of consultations where possible.
4) Who were the local “public school representatives” consulted as part of the community assessment? Please provide names and dates of consultations where possible.
5) With whom did the resettlement agency meet to identify potential housing locations for the refugees? Please provide names and dates of consultations where possible.
6) (a) Is the per capita grant funding from the Department of State guaranteed for as long as there are refugees present?
(b) What happens if the local resettlement agency, World Relief in this case, can no longer offer support services for the resettled refugees? Will the Department of State relocate the refugees? How much funding must the resettlement agency provide each year?
7) According to your response, there are nine refugees who may start arriving in Spartanburg in the next few months. What is the country of origin of each of these nine refugees?
8) (a) What advanced notification will be provided to the community after the “annual proposal process is conducted by PRM” to determine how many additional refugees will be resettled in the Spartanburg area in the coming years?
(b) Must the State Refugee Coordinator sign off on any additional resettlement of refugees?
(c) What individuals will be consulted for the annual proposal?
(d) Who are the stakeholders that will be included in the ongoing community consultations? Please provide names where possible.
9) (a) Who generally will be part of the “Good Neighbor Teams”?
(b) Who will oversee the refugees’ access to public welfare benefits and/or assist them in job searches?
(c) Will this be solely World Relief’s role or will the South Carolina Department of Social Services play a role?
10) (a) What school district representatives did the resettlement agency consult with regarding the effect of minor refugees on Spartanburg’s seven (7) school systems?
(b) Were the discussions with school principals or district superintendents?
(c) Did representatives of the school districts sign off on the resettlement? If so, please provide the names of the individuals.
(d) Precisely who in the Spartanburg school systems told World Relief there is “capacity for more students” in the system’s already existing English immersion programs?
11) For what crimes, if any, can an individual be convicted and still be approved for U.S. refugee status? Do any of the nine refugees you indicated are currently slated for Spartanburg resettlement (or any who have subsequently been selected for resettlement) have such convictions?
12) How exactly are background checks performed on individuals seeking refugee resettlement in the United States? How can the background of an individual who is outside his country of origin be thoroughly investigated? Does the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) have access to background check procedures in the countries of origin of each of the individuals proposed to be resettled in Spartanburg?
13) (a) How do the national resettlement agencies “assess the capacity and environment” to determine the number of refugees a city can resettle? How is a “strong refugee program” quantified?
(b) Who must be included in the community consultation plan? Who is typically consulted in other communities?
(c) Please provide any and all guidance provided to resettlement agencies by USRAP regarding the process that must be undertaken to get to the point of submitting a resettlement proposal, the ongoing process until the time of approval, and how a resettlement proposal should be conducted.
(d) Are local law enforcement officials part of the initial consultation and do they remain so once the resettled refugees are in the community? What, if any, efforts exist to track the refugees’ interactions with local law enforcement officials?
14) How do you ensure long-term accountability on the part of any resettlement agency so the taxpayer is not ultimately left paying for the costs of refugee resettlement proposal?
Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter. This issue remains important to my constituents, and I will continue to work with you to get answers to all their questions.
Sincerely,
Trey Gowdy

Bailey Guns
05-05-2015, 14:38
I wish we had 500 Gowdy's in Congress, the White House, Atty General, State Dept, etc...

Hummer
05-05-2015, 14:48
I think this belongs in the "WTF were they thinking thread".

IMO, everyone involved in relocating muslims to the USA should be taken out and shot.

roberth
05-05-2015, 14:54
I wish we had 500 Gowdy's in Congress, the White House, Atty General, State Dept, etc...

That would be wonderful. :)

Big John
05-05-2015, 17:10
I wish we had 500 Gowdy's in Congress, the White House, Atty General, State Dept, etc...It would take at least that many to get these scumbags in DC held to account. I loves me some TG, but unless I'm missing something, the rampant corruption seems to be eluding him.