The Refugee Racket Thrives

 

            The massive flow of immigrants into America continues unabated, despite the huge numbers of unemployed Americans who most assuredly don’t need the extra competition for employment. And one category of immigration, refugees, has actually been increasing.

            This year the U.S. took in 75,000 refugees, notes writer Don Barnett in the Tennessean (Nashville) 12/9/09. This is the highest number of admissions since 2001, and a total three times higher than the rest of the developed countries combined. Barnet, an expert of refugee resettlement, observes that most people who come to America claiming to be refugees are not people fleeing immediate danger and persecution. Far more often they are simply claiming to be refugees in order to improve their economic situation.

            Significantly too, 95 percent of the refugees coming to the U.S. are not selected by our government, but instead are referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Because of this, says Barnett, “the U.N. is effectively dictating much of U.S. immigration policy.” The refugees, he explains, encourage flows of their relatives to come to the U.S.

            Refugee resettlement is highly profitable, says Barnett, for “hundreds of taxpayer-funded organizations.” The largest of these is Catholic Charities and its parent the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Sixty-five percent of Catholic Charities’ budget comes from government sources, i.e., taxpayers. But the subsidies from taxpayers don’t stop there. Refugees, unlike other immigrants, are eligible for welfare as soon as they arrive.

            Lately it appears that the refugee industry is trying to place as many refugees as possible in our country’s heartland in order to promote their ideological agendas of  “diversity” and “multiculturalism.” This is often done without considering the interests, capacities, or the general consent of the receiving communities.

            The agencies commonly try to get their way by manipulating the theme of compassion. What they don’t let anyone know about is their financial interest in refugee planting. Americans across the country are growing wise to this “refugee racket” and are putting up resistance when their communities are caught in the cross hairs of resettlement schemes. Those who advocate charity might consider—especially in times like these—that charity begins at home.