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Muslim ban already having effect

Next Wednesday (June 20th) is World Refugee day, and I have an ask for all of you.

As some of you know (whether from the Pit employment thread where I tracked the uncertainty of resettlement last year or through this thread and others on the tunnels), I work with a refugee resettlement agency.

To let you know where refugee resettlement stands right now:

After resettling 84,995 refugees in 2016, the US commitment to refugee resettlement was 110,000 heading into fiscal year 2017, amidst the largest refugee crisis in history.

4 months into the year (January 2017), the commitment to refugee resettlement dropped mid-year from 110,000 to 50,000, the lowest in the history of modern refugee resettlement (as outlined by the Refugee Act of 1980).

Heading into 2018, the refugee cap was once again reduced to 45,000 - the lowest in in the history of the program.

Aside from the lowered cap, the current administration reduced the number of "circuit rides," where US officials administer the final security interviews for refugees awaiting resettlement. The number of stops and number of staffers on these rides have also been reduced.

As a result, fewer refugees are admitted into the resettlement pipeline and many refugees awaiting resettlement not receiving these last clearance interviews watch their medical clearance expire - causing them to start the resettlement process over again (which takes at minimum 18-24 months, and can take much longer).

With the lowered number of circuit rides, the number of resettlements that are actually occurring is much lower than the 45,000 commitment. Currently, the US is on pace to resettle just under 21,500 by the end of this year. For the first time ever, Canada will resettle more refugees than the US this year (raw number, not per capita).

Heading into 2017, World Relief Triad was approved to resettle 750 refugees. In contrast, for 2018, we have only received 88 arrivals through the end of May (which annualized would be 132 for the year).

Funding for resettlement agencies is predominantly tied to the number of arrivals they receive (with about 85% of our budget coming from government grants). With this drastic reduction in arrivals, the financial support to provide services to both arriving refugees and the existing refugee community is also drastically reduced. Our organization has closed 5 field offices in the US, with 2 more likely to close this year. Our field office has lost just over 25% of our staff (almost half of our Reception and Placement department) since January of last year.

In order to provide better, more consistent service for the refugee community in the Triad, our office is striving to become less dependent on the whims of the government for the source of its funding. As part of this effort, our office is trying to raise $60,000 and I'm committed to raising $1500 of that total by World Refugee Day on June 20th. Every bit from this fundraiser will go to directly impact arriving refugees and the existing refugee community in Winston-Salem and High Point. $10, $25, $50 would be huge in helping us meet our goal.

To help welcome refugees to the Triad through World Relief, please donate here:
https://fundraise.worldrelief.org/fundraiser/1471584

I've received a lot of support and encouragement for the work we do on the boards, and wanted to extend an invitation to contribute meaningfully to work that is being done for refugees locally.
 
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IaT, can't respond in rep because I need to spread around, but thank YOU for the work you do in the real world to help some of the most vulnerable.

And thank you for giving us a tangible way we can help. (To anyone wary, you can donate anonymously, so it won't blow up your spot or anything.)
 
I'm going to bump this once and then let it die.

Today is World Refugee Day. UNHCR released the new refugee numbers for this year and there are 2.9 million more refugees this year than last year, bringing the total number worldwide to 25.4 million. It looks like we will resettle around 22,000 this year.

Refugee resettlement numbers fluctuate in cycles. It's the way it has been since the inception of the program. We are trying to shift our funding structure to be less dependent on government grants to ensure that the quality of service we provide to arriving refugees and the existing community doesn't fluctuate with government whims. We are also trying to preserve the knowledge base and maintain the infrastructure during these leaner times so that when the country is once again more comfortable with resettling more refugees, the quality of support won't suffer as we have to rebuild.

I want to thank those of you who have contributed to this fundraiser - the support I've received from this board has been overwhelming - especially those of you who don't really now me and don't live in this community. Your generosity have been humbling.

If you would still like to contribute, the fundraiser is open until the end of June. You can donate here. It is tax-deductible and donations can be made anonymously.

https://fundraise.worldrelief.org/fundraiser/1471584

I will leave you with one last thing:

I want to introduce you to my new friend Raphael. He has been in the country for 21 days now and yesterday we spoke to Senators and Representatives about his story. He spoke through tears about having a hope these last 3 weeks that he hadn't known in over 20 years. We spoke about the positive impact refugees have on the community and the economy. Most of the staffers we spoke to listened.

Raphael was 4 when war came to the DRC. He spent much of his youth between Congo and Burundi before ending up in a refugee camp in Namibia 9 years ago.

He hasn't seen his mother and his 2 brothers in 9 years. He has just been reunited with his sister in Greensboro after being separated for 5 years.

Raphael wishes to be a pediatrician because he says that pediatricians saved his life when he was younger.

This is why I speak out and want to make the Triad a welcoming community

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Must spread rep, but you are the man, keep fighting the good fight.
 
Thunderbolt, do you really think that the deaths of the refugees, who perished trying to reach Europe, is the responsibility of "fortress Europe?" Could other factors be involved? Perhaps even bear most of the responsibility?
 
Thunderbolt, do you really think that the deaths of the refugees, who perished trying to reach Europe, is the responsibility of "fortress Europe?" Could other factors be involved? Perhaps even bear most of the responsibility?

No. I think there are some more harder line policies in some countries than I think are necessary, but the migration crisis in Europe is a mess due to proximity and sheer numbers. Some of the policies make traveling to more open countries much more dangerous than it could be with greater cooperation. I'm not sure exactly what the fix is there.

The situation in Europe is much different than refugee resettlement on the US. It's more complex than even our asylum process on our southern border.

I don't endorse that verbiage, but do think it's important to not lose sight of the human impact and toll of the global refugee crisis.
 
I agree with you, the human toll is horrible. The situation in Europe is different from the situation in the US. One thing is the same: no one has a viable long-term solution for either situation.
 
Everyone should also realize that this is going to get much worse as climate change impacts places creating water shortage, food shortage, pandemics, etc..
 
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You guys are incredible. Y'all have contributed over $500 as a board to the fundraiser, which is pretty incredible. Since, for the most part, you don't know me or anything about me, it says a lot that y'all would support refugee resettlement this strongly. So a most sincere thank you to all of you, especially those of you who donated anonymously that I can't thank personally.

If anyone else wants to get in on this, the donation link is live through this Saturday (June 30th).

https://fundraise.worldrelief.org/fundraiser/1471584
 
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Well, you seem a decent and reasonable fellow, trying to do good in the world.


Best wishes.
 
Official for this fiscal year:

Trump just signed the presidential determination capping refugee resettlement at 30,000 for the year. This is the lowest cap since the USRAP officially began in 1980. Since that time, the avg. yearly ceiling has been 95,000.

A further departure from all past presidents who viewed the cap as both a limit and a goal to reach, this administration does not. Last year, the ceiling was set at 45,000, yet barely 22,000 were resettled.

Of note is the seeming absence of the Lautenberg amendment in this determination - which gives aide to persecuted religious minorities, and must be reauthorized each year.

Despite all of his posturing toward Christians, only 70 Middle Eastern Christians were resettled all of last year, down from over 1,200 the year before.
 
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Thunderbolt, do you really think that the deaths of the refugees, who perished trying to reach Europe, is the responsibility of "fortress Europe?" Could other factors be involved? Perhaps even bear most of the responsibility?

You mean like fleeing Marxist tyranny or the International Marxists who keep Africans from gas and oil exploration and instead use the continent as a test lab for solar technology which sucks so badly that rural hospitals can’t run all their machines at the same time without blowing the breakers..

I named — yes — Fucking unedumecated Lectro, typing at some ass-end of the Ether message board..

I call what Western Ideologues of the United Nations are doing to the African Peoples:

TECHNOLOGICAL APARTHEID

No reason in this world and certainly NOT a .8 degree Celsius change in temperature over 100 years would ever convince me that this would be good cause to keep Africans across the continent without the basic 20th Century advance of Electricity!

I realize you are Dumb and by that I mean NUMB to this FACT of Climate Change Ideology preening as social advance and sacrificing whole generations to a world of Darkness. Oh Irony of Ironies you self-righteous band of ignoramasus.

FUCK YOU AND YOUR GOD DAMNABLE “empathy”

You will Bear The Shame..you swineherd of willful ignorance
 
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