Author: Pat Hamsa

For the less fearful Commissioners, they should know that they are being given misleading information on the refugee resettlement issue.

With regard to the issue of refugee resettlement, it would seem that county commissioners would be guided by the voters who put them into office.

Not so at the recent Coffee County Commission meeting where the commissioners voted to table until the February meeting, a resolution that says they want to stay out of the refugee resettlement program.

Looking for any excuse not to act, Commissioner Helen Debellis who wanted a motion to postpone considering the resolution also said that, “she doesn’t want to make state officials mad with the resolution without making sure they have all their facts together. ‘I don’t want to make the hand that feeds me mad,’” said Debellis.

What’s Debillis so afraid of? Denial of construction permits? A vindictive Governor?

What Debellis should be more concerned about is not listening to voters and supporting her state legislators. Rep. Rush Bricken has signed both the resolution which supports the state’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit challenging the federal refugee resettlement program, and Rep. Ron Gant’s bill, HB1929, which addresses the unConstitutional action of the federal government transferring the costs of it’s program to the state without an appropriation by the General Assembly.

Both these legislative actions make it clear that neither the federal government, nor any branch of the state government (ie, the executive branch), have the Constitutional authority to bypass the General Assembly when spending public money.

As an aside, it seems the Governor may have stepped into a similar problem with his school voucher program.

The Coffee County Commissioners were also likely misled by information provided by both the TN County Services Association (TCSA) and Holly Johnson, the State Refugee Coordinator who works for Catholic Charities of Tennessee (CCTN).

David Connor, Director of the TCSA has circulated a letter to county commissioners “advising” them about President Trump’s Executive Order 1388 which asked governors and local counties to weigh in on whether to accept refugees who are brought to their counties by federal contractors like the CCTN.

“The TCSA report said if the county was not contacted by a specific agency to accept refugees then there is nothing the county needs to do. Under the executive order, the county can only opt-in or consent into receiving refugees.”

The TCSA letter sent to county commissions also tried to tie refugee resettlement to the four urban counties – “[t]his has primarily been an issue affecting the four largest urban counties.” (Be sure to compare the info here with the TCSA version).

Holly Johnson pretty much walks in lock-step with the TCSA.

What neither the TCSA nor Johnson bothered to tell them is that the FY2020 Funding Notice is part of the package of federal documents which must be read alongside the President’s Executive Order because as the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement has directed, the Funding Notice “operationalizes” the Executive Order.

The Funding Notice which funnels taxpayer money to the federal resettlement contractors that Johnson advocates for, says that refugees can be placed between 50 – 100 miles away from the resettlement agency’s office.

And that’s been happening in Tennessee for quite some time and regardless of what Johnson says, there is no rule that requires the resettlement agency to get the county’s consent because the federal government says they can do it!

Actual arrival data reported by TOR shows that during the October 2014 – 2019 time period, federal contractors have placed refugees outside of the four urban areas including in the following counties: Montgomery, Rutherford, Sevier, Williamson, Roane, Sumner, Wilson, Fayette, Bedford, Anderson, Bradley, Coffee and Washington.

Then there’s the case of Rutherford County where no resettlement agency is located but which has been used as an initial resettlement site at least since 2012.

And Holly Johnson who is almost always moved to tears when she talks about her cash cow refugee program, didn’t seem terribly concerned about the refugees dumped in Rutherford County motel room by federal contractor World Relief which then closed its Nashville office. Johnson indicated that “ensuring whether refugee contractor World Relief provided food and clothing to the refugees it resettled, was not her responsibility.”

Despite shafting these refugees, World Relief continues to operate in Memphis, where Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris (former state Senator), held a ceremonial letter signing including World Relief’s director, consenting to continued refugee resettlement.

Mayor Harris, along with the mayors from Knox and Davidson counties sit on the TCSA board. These are the three largest counties where federal refugee profiteers make their money.

These three counties also house mini-me TIRRCs – Centro Hispano in Knoxville supported in part with money from Pilot and La Raza Randy Boyd’s PetSafe.

TIRRC and Conexion Americas in Nashville, and Latino Memphis in Shelby County.

These organizations use refugees to help shield their advocacy for illegal aliens like opposing the anti-sanctuary city bill so that illegal aliens who commit crimes return to the community as opposed to being deported.

These organizations are being joined by groups like Indivisible in Greene County.

President Trump’s Executive Order was perfectly clear that county governments had a say along with a state’s governor.

Regardless, the arrogant Bill Lee declared otherwise – he said that counties would have to defer to him.

Bill Lee believes he has consented for the whole state and can force feed refugees into any county he chooses. So counties would be wise to formally object if they disagree with the Governor. In the end silence may equate to acceptance. The EO, the Funding Notice, the State Department Report to Congress and even the Department of Justice response to the VOLAG lawsuit trying to enjoin the EO, repeatedly say that they really want to just try and put refugees in communities that want to support them.

So Commissioners, maybe that’s why you need to say whether or not you want refugees to be resettled in your county.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunatley, Lee’s self-righteous arrogance is dominating. He was quoted this week saying that he’s sticking to his decision to bring refugees to Tennessee and have the state pay for them.

It’s the same self-righteous arrogance that had him proclaiming for all to hear that the counties have to defer to his decision in the matter. As much as he likes to claim that he’s supporting President Trump on the refugee program, Lee didn’t even bother to follow the President’s Executive Order about county governments having a say.

What the kool-aid drinking Governor Lee is following though, are the talking points from the federal resettlement profiteers who like to say that the federal government pays 100% of the cost for refugee resettlement.

How then does Biblical Bill explain the federal reports and US Senators admitting that the costs of the federal program have been involuntarily transferred to state and local governments?

Certain other issues aside, Lee has managed to flip off the conservative base so he can stand with the radical left groups like TIRRC and AMAC who always resort to name-calling and emotional arguments when, as is typically the case, the facts don’t support their position.

President Trump offered states a somewhat orderly decision-making process to decide about allocating costs and human capital related to the FEDERAL refugee resettlement program. Not only did Lee NOT FOLLOW the prescribed process, but he managed to create deep divisions within his own party.

Happy day for the ever so smug lefties.

But some Tennessee legislators who actually understand which branch of the state government has the Constitutional power and duty to appropriate public money, have offered Lee a way out of the mess he has created.

Rep. Ron Gant has a bill that basically tracks what the legislature did on the Medicaid expansion issue a few years ago.

Towards the beginning of his second term, Haslam, (at best, a left of center Republican), kept trying to figure out how to sign onto Obama’s Medicaid expansion plan. So he came up with his own Medicaid expansion plan and called it “Insure Tennessee.” But the General Assembly understood that Haslam’s plan was going to require boo-coos of state dollars which could only be approved by the legislature.

So the House and Senate passed a bill, opposed by all Democrats, requiring the governor to get the consent of the legislature before he obligated the state to a federal program requiring the expenditure of state dollars.

Predictably, the only Republican to vote against this was Sen. Steve Dickerson a self-described “different kind of Republican” – as in a Democrat who decided to run as a Republican. Dickerson was also the only Republican senator to vote against the state’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit challenging the refugee program’s cost shifting. That same year, Bill Lee donated $1,000 to Dickerson’s re-election campaign.

As an aside, Dickerson is named in a federal and state lawsuit “ being accused of submitting more than 750 false claims, nearly $6.5M in fraud” to Medicare and Medicaid.

If you compare Gant’s bill and the 2014 bill signed into law by Haslam, you’d see that Rep. Gant and the 51 co-sponsors (hopefully there will be more), are doing what is Constitutionally legitimate and appropriate with regard to yet another federal spending program.

If the Governor had any political and common sense, he’d put more ink in his bill signing pen and let the legislators know that he’d sign this bill if it makes it to his desk.

Contact Rep. Gant’s office and let him know how much you appreciate his leadership on this issue rep.ron.gant@capitol.tn.gov or call 615-741-6890

Call the Governor and tell him to start working with the legislators and not against them and the voters who gave him the privilege of serving them – 741-2001 or email him https://www.tn.gov/governor/contact-us.html

If your legislator is not signed onto Gant’s bill, ask them to sign on. If they have signed on, contact them, thank them and tell them to push forward.

A related item is Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver’s resolution HJR741 in support of Tennessee’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit. See if your legislator is listed and if not – get them to sign on. This is critically important since the slick-tongued Bill Lee has said he supports the lawsuit but then undermines it by consenting to bringing in more refugees.

How can it be that organizations which should be providing unbiased and straight-forward information to county governments are instead trying to carry water for the Governor?

Here’s what one of those organizations is circulating with regard to the issues around the Governor’s consent to continue refugee resettlement:

“Which counties are affected?

This has primarily been an issue affecting the four largest urban counties. According to a report from the Department of State, 5610 individuals were resettled in Tennessee during the five year period from October 1, 2014 to October 1, 2019. The vast majority of those individuals were resettled in Shelby, Davidson, Knox and Hamilton Counties. For example, during the quarterly period from July 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019, a total of 221 individuals were resettled in Tennessee. Of that number 210 were placed in one of those four counties.”

Anyone else wondering if the source of this info trying mighty hard to minimize the backlash from the Governor’s decision might just be coming from the Governor’s office? Hmmm.

Actual arrival numbers reported by the Catholic Charities’ Tennessee Office for Refugees (TOR) chosen by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement to administer the program after Bredesen withdrew the state, for the five years starting in October 1, 2014, shows 7,688 arrivals.

FY2019 had a total of 692 arrivals in Tennessee and during the last quarter refugees were also placed in Rutherford, Bradley and Washington counties.

It’s important to remember that refugee arrivals are cumulative, building on prior year arrivals. Add to that secondary migration numbers and that’s how the little acorns grow into big oaks. How else did Nashville end up with the largest Sunni Muslim Kurdish community in the U.S. which by their own count put their numbers at approximately 15,000.

And suggesting that refugee resettlement “has primarily been an issue affecting the four largest urban counties” ignores all the facts laid out in Tennessee’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit. How about the fact that all Tennessee taxpayers pay for the public school services refugee students receive, and that all Tennessee taxpayers ultimately pay the costs for the refugee program which the federal government decided they weren’t going to pay anymore. As stated in Tennessee’s lawsuit: 

1. 1. 1. 27. Federal funds initially supported the federal government’s refugee resettlement program, but eventually federal reimbursements to the states were reduced and, by 1991, eliminated entirely. States thereby became responsible for costs of the program.
         28. Reports to Congress from the United States Government Accountability Office and ORR have acknowledged that costs of the federal refugee resettlement program have been transferred from the federal government to the states.

Actual arrival data reported by TOR shows that during the October 2014 – 2019 time period, federal contractors have placed refugees outside of the four urban areas including in the following counties:

Montgomery, Rutherford, Sevier, Williamson, Roane, Sumner, Wilson, Fayette, Bedford, Anderson, Bradley, Coffee and Washington.

Even though Rutherford County does not have a resettlement agency located in the county, the county has been used as an initial resettlement site at least since 2012.

Facts can be oh so very stubborn.

Biblical Bill is planning to put Tennessee actively into the federal program and have the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement approve his plan. That’s why this NON-transparent Governor made his consent for refugee resettlement “valid for one year” and that’s why his administration’s minions won’t give a straight answer when asked about it.

First there was the picture and information about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spending the weekend with the Governor and his wife working on refugee issues. Not long after this, one of his advisers disclosed that “classified and confidential” information is involved.

What’s not clear in the timeline is whether Pompeo’s visit came before or after Lee’s pastor was in D.C. talking up Bill’s plan. (rumor has it that the pastor has been spending quite a bit of time in D.C.).

There is speculation that Lee’s plan lets him wear two hats – one as the state’s chief executive and the other as the state’s chief evangelist showing deplorables that he can live his faith using the state government and his Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Lee’s plan is likely to model itself after the system worked out in Texas between the federal refugee contractors and individual members of religious congregations. Remember, Lee has talked in terms of what he and his wife have done for refugees through their church.

But since there is nothing in federal law which mandates that states resettle refugees, it’s reasonable to ask the Governor why he is demanding that all Tennessee counties prepare to receive refugees.

Is the Governor even aware that Wyoming has no history of bending its knee and state budget to the federal refugee program? Has he wondered at all why the federal government hasn’t forced that state to take refugees?

Every time one of Lee’s folks – appointed, self-appointed, or his hired office staff – talk about how under the Governor’s plan the number of refugees would be about 350 – 400, what they are really saying is that they have no idea how this program actually works.

It’s true that Trump’s 18,000 refugees divided by 50 (as in states), is about 360 per state. Except that’s not how refugees get placed – just read the relevant government documents. Then there’s the matter of the 10,000 other category of refugee-like entrants called SIVs that Lee hasn’t bothered to mention. This is the kissing cousin category which Marsha is trying to add onto with Syrians and Kurds. (Note here that Marsha’s bill was amended to cap the number of Special Immigrant Visas at 400 for her pet group).

Until Lee was elected, Tennessee was a sovereign state with a representative form of government. Then Lee consented to paying both the state and federal costs to resettle refugees and decreed that counties must defer to the state which he defined as himself.

Lee’s die-hard courtiers and some tone-deaf legislators insist that the Governor’s consent for refugee resettlement is merely a “disagreement” between what voters heard him say during the campaign and his plan for refugee resettlement across the state.

Actually, it’s the same decision that Democrats Phil Bredesen and Karl (Marx) Dean would make – they just wouldn’t have waited as long. These guys may have lost the election, but their policies on refugee resettlement are being put firmly in place by Lee.

(Gov) Bill #1 would be so proud of him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the left loves him for it! They love him because he is adamant about continuing to force refugees into Tennessee communities regardless of what those locals have to say about it.

The left and the federal contractors love what’s coming out of Lee’s mouth because they can read the tea leaves….

Bill Lee is going to have the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement approve his plan for refugee resettlement in Tennessee. They understand that in the aftermath of Lee’s giving consent under the President’s Executive Order, Lee all but admitted that he was going to put the state smack right back into the federal program and retract Bredesen’s withdrawal from the program.

And Lee has pretty much said and shown that he really doesn’t care what local governments or voters have to say about that. Wow, if that’s not a “red flag” for counties to stand up and be noticed….

Bill Lee doesn’t seem to understand that Tennessee’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit prompted by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Sebelius Medicaid expansion case is about state sovereignty. It just also happens to be about the Tennessee General Assembly being THE authority under the state Constitution to appropriate taxpayer money.

The issue in the Sebelius case was whether Congress could use their spending power to force states to expand their state Medicaid programs. If states didn’t comply, Congress was going to take away all of the state’s Medicaid funds. But the Supreme Court said nope, nothing doing Congress. The Court made it clear that even though Congress could legitimately use its spending power to put conditions on the use of federal funds, it could not use its spending power to the point where it went from encouragement to coercion.

The 2012 decision by the Supreme Court coined the phrase – “The States are separate and independent sovereigns. Sometimes they have to act like it.”

And Tennessee did just that in 2014, passing a bill to prohibit Governor Haslam who was itching to expand Medicaid with his “Insure Tennessee” plan. The legislature understood that the plan would put the state budget on the hook for an ever expanding bill that would overwhelm the state budget which is the sole responsibility of the Tennessee General Assembly and that the Governor did not have the power under the state Constitution to commit to that expenditure – that’s the job of the legislature.

So the Tennessee General Assembly acted to preserve their own power of the purse and tied the Governor’s hands.

Fast forward a few years and some really smart lawyers at the Thomas More Law Center (unlike Tennessee’s Attorney General), understood that the principle in the Sebelius case applied in the same way to the federal refugee resettlement program as it is implemented at the state level. They understood that it was even worse in a state like Tennessee which had withdrawn from the program but was still being forced to pony up state money to cover the transferred costs for the refugee program. 

So when Govenror Lee’s minions inside and outside of his office talk about all that federal money that would flow into the state with the arrival of new refugees? Maybe ask about all that other money that the state has and will continue to shell out just because Congress decided it wasn’t going to spend more of its/our money on the program they created.

Sort of sounds like a double whammy for Tennessee taxpayers.

But it’s actually worse than that.

While Bill Lee is forcing Tennessee taxpayers to live out his personal agenda and uses the state government for what the Bible says is an individual’s mandate, he will kill off the Tennessee lawsuit, the entire premise of which was based on the sovereign status of both the state and the legislature.

He may think the deal is worth it, but regular ole’ deplorables understand that governors come and go, but deplorables stay put and will defend their ground even if he won’t.

 

 

 

Funny how candidate Lee said a statewide policy on transgender bathrooms would be divisive and should be left to local decision-making, but permitting federal resettlement contractors to operate in any county they choose, was his decision alone to make.

Even though Governor Lee said he consented for the whole state for continued initial resettlement of refugees in Tennessee, President Trump and the Department of Justice have clearly said otherwise.

The DOJ has written explicitly in their legal brief objecting to the federal contractors’ lawsuit to enjoin the President’s Executive Order:

“Section 2(b) of the Executive Order further requires the Secretary of State to develop and implement a process by which the State’s and locality’s consent to resettlement is ‘taken into account to the maximum extent consistent with law.’” Specifically, if either a State or locality has not provided consent to receive refugees, then refugees should not be resettled within that State or locality unless the Secretary of State concludes, following consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security, that failing to resettle refugees within that State or locality would be inconsistent with the policies and strategies established under the Refugee Act… or other applicable law.”

But the DOJ and President Trump didn’t expect that Bill Lee would act like king for a day and claim that his consent to continue importing refugees, would take away any decision-making authority given to a local government by the President’s EO.

So why should local governments in Tennessee take the time to formally register either their CONSENT or NON-CONSENT for refugee resettlement?

1. Unlike Bill Lee, the President respects the opinions and positions of everyday working American citizens.
2. Ensuring that local governments have a say in what goes on in their community is the foundation of Trump’s America-first agenda and all of his efforts on the issues involved with both legal immigration like refugee resettlement, and illegal immigration.
3. The President’s Executive Order, the Funding Notice which operationalizes the EO, and the DOJ’s legal brief explicitly and repeatedly emphasize the role of local governments to voice their preferences about receiving and supporting refugees.
4. The President’s Executive Order says that “with limited exceptions, the Federal Government,”…”should resettle refugees only in those jurisdictions in which both the State and local governments have consented to receive refugees under the Department of State’s Reception and Placement Program.”
5. The practical effect of Bill Lee’s statewide consent, is that counties are now in the position that if they don’t formally OPT-OUT, they will remain subject to Lee’s statewide consent.
6. The State Department has not decided yet whether no action/silence on the part of a local government will be considered a consent or a non-consent to receive newly arrived refugees. So non-consenting counties would be wise to get a letter or resolution of non-consent to the State Department as they start to decide where resettlement activity will be allowed.

BTW, it’s being reported that the Governor is claiming “executive privilege” in order to hide information and other documentation related to his all-encompassing mandate for his fiefdom to receive arriving refugees.

 Now it’s really getting interesting.