Author: Pat Hamsa

Posted on

The U.S. Department of Justice Adamant That Counties Be Consulted About Refugee Resettlement…

Even if Governor Lee doesn’t agree or even care what counties think. Remember he basically said the counties “are at the mercy of the state.”

After the federal refugee contractors had their temper tantrum, whining, moaning and groaning about having to actually get written consent from governors AND from county executives, the federal profiteers went ahead and sued the Trump administration.

Aside from their overt hatred of the President and perhaps their worry that the pubic dollar gravy train the resettlement industry relies upon could actually force them to fundraise (they are “charities” after all), three of the federal resettlement contractors sued to enjoin the President’s Executive Order.

They want this consent stuff stopped NOW and PERMANENTLY. In fact, they want to have it declared invalid.

But Trump’s Department of Justice is having none of it – or at least that’s what they are arguing. And what they have told the federal court in Maryland is directly the opposite of what Bill Lee says with regard to counties. For some reason, the DOJ keeps repeating in their legal memo to the court that local governments are supposed to be consulted about whether they want refugees resettled to their communities.

First the DOJ lawyers have the audacity to cite to federal law:

The Refugee Act sets out a number of factors for federal agencies charged with making placement decisions to consider when making initial placement decisions. In carrying out this initial program of resettlement under Section 1522(a)(2)(A), the Government shall consult regularly (not less often than quarterly) with State and local governments…

And they just keep repeating that local governments are part of the refugee resettlement equation:

“Although there is an existing process by which the Federal Government consults with State and local governments to identify the best environments for refugees, ‘[s]ome States and localities [ ] have viewed existing consultation requirements as insufficient, and there is a need for closer coordination and a more clearly defined role for State and local governments in the refugee resettlement process.’”

“[c]lose cooperation with State and local governments ensures that refugees are resettled in communities that are eager and equipped to support their successful integration into American society and the labor force.” As the Executive Order explains, ‘State and local governments are best positioned to know the resources and capacities they may or may not have available to devote to sustainable resettlement, which maximizes the likelihood refugees placed in the area will become self-sufficient* and free from long-term dependence on public assistance.’”

“To those ends, Section 2(a) of the Executive Order directs the Secretary of State to develop and implement a process within 90 days of the date of the Executive Order to determine whether the State and locality both consent in writing to the resettlement of refugees within the relevant State and locality, before any refugees are resettled within that State and locality under the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program. § 2(a). Section 2(a) also requires the Secretary of State to publicly release the written consents provided by States and localities to resettlement of refugees.” (emphasis added)

“As explained in the Executive Order, it is the policy of the United States to cooperate and consult with State and local governments and to take into account their preferences when determining whether and where to resettle refugees. Executive Order § 1” (emphasis added)

How in the world could Bill Lee get this all so very wrong?

And what’s his justification for deciding that counties are second class citizens and their position on the issue just doesn’t matter? Does he think that just because the law says the federal government is supposed to consult with local governments, he doesn’t have to?

*for whatever it’s worth, this “self-sufficiency” language is deceiving – here’s what it really means – a refugee be in most public assistance programs such as public housing, Medicaid, Food Stamps, WIC, etc.” and still be considered “self-sufficient.”

Yeah right.

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Governor Lee Is Wrong – Counties Don’t Have to Defer to Him on Refugee Resettlement

According to multiple reports, the very-much-on-the-defense Governor Lee claimed at First Tuesday that counties defer to the state’s consent for refugee resettlement. One attendee described Lee’s version as “the counties are at the mercy of the state.”

This is so NOT what the President’s Executive Order says and NOT what the State Department guidance says.

The EO and the Funding Notice which ORR says “operationalizes” the EO, say over and over and over and over again, that local governments have a role and a stake in deciding whether to have refugees imported into their counties.

The written guidance issued by the State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees & Migration says specifically that the State Consent Letter could “consent to initial resettlement for refugees only in certain counties” which Arkansas’ governor did. This strongly suggests that there would have been communication and consideration for concerns which counties might have.

Remember, Bill Lee rode his tractor in all those rural counties which he says he cares the most about, so he should know who to talk to about refugee resettlement there. He certainly knew who to pander to for votes.

 

Governor to county consultation could have happened if the Governor hadn’t been so insistent about imposing his personal agenda on the entire state.But he never bothered to ask the state legislature or county officials who have to open up the purse to pay for the Governor’s personal agenda.

Every public system and every state taxpayer in Tennessee is impacted by refugee resettlement. For example, take required language services. The Tennessee Department of Human Services must offer applications for food stamps and cash welfare (TANF) in Somali, Arabic and Spanish. They used to (and probably still do upon request), offer help in two Kurdish dialects, Bosnian and Vietnamese.

 

There are plenty of good reasons why counties might have something to say about federal resettlement contractors spreading their customers anywhere from 50 – 100 miles away from the resettlement office.

For example, since 2016, Tennessee has received 4,113 refugees which included 279 Bhutanese, 405 Burmese and 366 Somali refugees.

Demographic data from the State Department’s website shows that of the 11,627 Bhutanese brought to the U.S., 27% were under 14 years old and only 15% of the adult population attained a secondary school education level.

Of the 26,500 Burmese who were brought to the U.S. over 9,500 were under 14 years old, 426 were over 65 and only 20% of the adult population attained a secondary school education.

Of the 15,689 Somali arrivals, over 6,000 were under 14 years old and only 8% of the adult population attained a secondary school education.

Refugee students who enter public school systems and who don’t speak English require specialized English Language Learner (ELL) services. School systems must also hire translators to assist the parents. Many students lack regular formal education in their native language.

Even though the federal government mandates teaching English to students so they can access the education being provided, very little of the cost is funded by the federal government; the majority of the cost is funded by the state with a required local share.

And even though refugee students are the smaller part of the ELL population (wanna guess who the majority might be?), it’s the refugee students who bring the much larger number of different languages to serve. Not saying these students shouldn’t be taught, but the Governor has no business blindly imposing costs (which he isn’t even allowed to do under the state Constitution) so he can fulfill his Biblical and personal mandate.

Bill Lee believes he can force feed refugees into any county in the state 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.

 

Posted on

Bill Lee Agrees to Take Australia’s Rejected Refugees

A big part of Governor Lee’s defense for consenting to resettling refugees is centered on President Trump. Lee has made a big deal about supporting what he refers to the refugee program designed by President Trump. Lee has focused on enhanced vetting measures undertaken by the Trump administration and the lowered refugee admission numbers.

What the Governor hasn’t bothered to disclose, however, is that part of Trump’s lowered annual admission plan and number of 18,000 has already been committed to taking refugees rejected by Australia under a deal that was cut by Obama before he left office and which Trump agreed to honor.

Surely Bill Lee has read the section on Proposed FY2020 Allocations in the “Report to Congress on Proposed Refugee Admissions for FY2020” which says that of the 7,500 other refugees not covered by the other categories listed, the U.S. will take:

Those currently located in Australia, Nauru or Papua New Guinea who access to USRAP pursuant to an agreement between the United States and Australia.

 Per Obama’s deal, the U.S. agreed to take the 1,250 illegal entrants to Australia who then claimed they wanted asylum. The group of mostly men who were detained at Australia’s offshore detention centers on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru, were identified as coming from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan.

Iran and Somalia are still on the list of travel ban countries, so how will that work? Oh right, refugees are exempted from the travel ban. That’s why in 2019, just under 1,400 refugees were “imported” from travel ban countries. Since the final version of the travel ban went into effect, ninety-eight (98) refugees from Iran, Somalia and Syria, have been resettled in Tennessee. This number does not include secondary migrants from the travel ban countries who may have re-migrated to Tennessee during the same timeframe.

Most likely the Australia refugees will still be subject to the U.S. enhanced vetting, but seriously, if these refugees were unacceptable to Australia, why is the U.S. taking them????

By the way, “the data U.S. officials use to screen these refugees is transmitted from a private refugee-resettlement contractor,” some of the same ones who have a financial incentive to resettle as many refugees as possible.

A 2017 report from Center for Immigration Studies researcher Nayla Rush, relates the activism of Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish refugee (Bill Lee’s favorite kind), detained on Manus Island whose postings on social media were highly critical of President Trump. With regard to the President’s vetting measures, Boochani’s facebook page hosted a discussion about getting around some of the enhanced vetting measures. It included warnings for potential refugees to clean up their social media pages because they would be looked at under the enhanced vetting procedures.

“About Facebook. Guys can delete their pages, but still keep a backup copy on a USB drive. Or better still ask a friend who is not in Manus to download a copy. … I agree it is better to not have anything in your phone or on Facebook or Messenger or anywhere else.”  

Any chance they were concerned about anti-America or pro-jihad postings?

CIS researcher adds this thought – “… added scrutiny of social media for purposes of vetting refugees only works when it comes as a surprise. Most asylum seekers today expect it and cover their tracks accordingly.”

Of equal concern, is information gathered by “United Nations experts” about the pool of Australia’s rejected refugees:

“…medical experts found that 88 percent of asylum seekers and refugees surveyed “were suffering from a depressive or anxiety disorder and/or post-traumatic stress disorder. … Furthermore, a number of very severe psychiatric disorders were identified, including gross psychopathology consistent with psychosis as well as psychotic dissociation.” Experts concluded that “[t]he prevalence and severity of mental disorders presented by the asylum-seeker and refugee population on Manus Island is extreme.” Eighty-three percent of asylum seekers and refugees surveyed on Nauru “suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and/or depression.”

Trump initially called Obama’s agreement with Australia, a “dumb deal.” Nevertheless, the arrival and resettlement of these refugees across the United States, including in Georgia, Oregon, Colorado, Texas and Arizona, began right before FY2018 ended.

And according to the FY2020 report, it continues.

Governor Lee has insisted, repeatedly in fact, that “engaging” the state of Tennessee in Trump’s refugee program means “we have control over who comes in.”

Not so fast Gov. The State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees & Migration (PRM), says that when YOU issued your consent for refugee resettlement in Tennessee, you were not allowed to “place any other conditions on refugee resettlement, including acceptance of certain refugees or based on any other factor, such as refugees’ race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.”

Blimey mate!

 

 

Posted on

Can Governor Lee Really “Control” Which Refugees Come to Tennessee?

It’s pretty interesting that Governor Lee keeps telling us how much “control” he can have over which refugees come to Tennessee now that he’s consented to putting the state back into the program.

Except Lee hasn’t actually defined what control means in any definitive way.

During yesterday’s second radio interview Lee mentioned the “control” factor no less than four times while defending his decision to put Tennessee back into the refugee resettlement program. 

He [Trump] improved the vetting process. And we have been speaking to them and talking to them about this process because I want to make sure it’s a process we want to live with and he improved the vetting process. If we engage in this then we have some control over it. And we have control over who comes in.

 This process that President Trump has outlined and that all these Republican governors are engaging? You know why they’re engaging? Because if we don’t, the Democrats decide what this process looks like. If we engage in this then we get to have some control over who comes. Where they come from. How they’re assimilated.

“…we get to have some control over who comes. Where they come from. How they’re assimilated.”

Remember the President’s Executive Order on the travel ban – the one titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States?

Guess what Governor – the travel ban EO doesn’t apply to refugee arrivals.

In fact, in 2019, just under 1,400 refugees were “imported” from travel ban countries. Since the final version of the travel ban went into effect, ninety-eight (98) refugees from Iran, Somalia and Syria, have been resettled in Tennessee. This number does not include secondary migrants from the travel ban countries who may have re-migrated to Tennessee during the same timeframe.

Lee is also relying on the “enhanced vetting” put in place after the courts shredded the first version of the travel ban EO. Enhanced vetting includes gathering more biographical data, checking social media accounts, training interviewers to detect fraud, and data sharing among agencies.

But even this has limits.

During the time of the first vetting discussion after the jihad in Paris, MULTIPLE U.S. agency officials involved in vetting refugees testified that vetting refugees from failed states or where no databases exist or where refugees lack vital documents, demonstrate the real limits of the vetting exercise.

The Governor also continues to try and hide behind Trump – he says he trusts the President, he appreciates that the President gave him a choice, he thinks the President has everyone vetted to the teeth, Trump, Trump, Trump.

We know that Tennessee is Trump country but that doesn’t shield Lee from his own actions – especially since Trump has been trying to dismantle the dysfunctional refugee resettlement program since he took office!!!!!!

During the campaign Lee told audiences that he supported the state’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit challenging the refugee program. The problem of course it that voters thought it meant he agreed with them that the state shouldn’t get back into resettling refugees and that the federal government shouldn’t get away with forcing the state to pay for a program from which it had withdrawn.

But the Governor has said he feels all better about it now because the President gave him a choice and didn’t force the state to be in the program.

So Governor, please, please, please explain to us, the great unwashed, how what you’ve said about the state now not being forced by the federal government to pay the fed’s cost share for the program, doesn’t undermine the state’s lawsuit?

And what is to be understood when the Governor says nonsensical things like we can’t stop refugees coming to Tennessee from other states so we should go ahead and have the federal contractors bring new refugees in from overseas. Huh?

And the thing he and his wife have with Kurdish refugees and the Governor’s adamant declaration that he won’t turn his back on them! Talk about a direct backhand to Trump against whom Nashville’s Little Kurdistan protested after the President’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Northern Syria.

The immigration issues plaguing the country was a centerpiece of Trump’s campaign. Trump has been trying to reduce the entry of low and unskilled immigrants and those who like refugees, are legally able to use all public assistance welfare programs. The Trump-effect has been that “workers at the bottom of the pay scale have been feeling positive effects on their wages at the end of 2019 — especially when compared to those at the top.”

Unlike Lee’s first “incoherent defense of his refugee decision” Monday’s radio host went overboard trying to minimize the overwhelming public criticism of the Governor’s decision by calling it a mere “disagreement.”

Hardly.

Posted on

Governor Lee Chooses Refugees Over 6,300 Tennessee Citizens with Disabilities

Even if Governor Lee doesn’t care about people with disabilities, at least the leftist Tennessean newspaper does. In December, the paper ran a pretty detailed story about Tennesseans born with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are supposed to get services from TennCare, but aren’t.

Right now there are 5,000 of these folks actively trying to get services but instead, they are “stuck on a waiting list.” TennCare, one of the worst agencies in the Tennessee state government, isn’t even asking the Governor or the legislature for enough money to serve all these people. TennCare says it’s willing to wait for however many years it takes for the money to be there to help these people.

There’s been no mention that the Governor included the money in his budget either. Instead, he’s been talking about spending down the state’s TANF (cash welfare) reserve probably as a way to funnel more money to the refugees he’s trucking into the state. Unlike most other legal immigrants, refugees are immediately eligible when they get here to apply for all forms of public assistance, including cash welfare.

In fact, the federal government mandates that refugees be enrolled into TennCare if they’re eligible. The federal government admits that they used to reimburse the state for the money the state spends on TennCare for refugees, but then stopped because Congress decided to spend less money on refugees. Congress decided to let states that wanted refugees use state money instead.

That’s why Tennessee has sued the federal government – because the state is being forced by the federal resettlement contractor-profiteers to use state money to fill the money gap created by the federal government which the Governor apparently agrees the state should do. Like pay for TennCare for refugees.

And that leaves less state money to pay for people with disabilities who are waiting for help from TennCare.

So next time you read or hear folks from Bill Lee’s administration say nonsensical things like “if we don’t take refugees, the state won’t get the federal money to support them” realize it’s the same political propaganda put out by the federal resettlement contractors.

In and amongst Bill Lee’s rambling and disconnected first radio interview trying to justify his decision to keep the refugees flowing into Tennessee, he said he was following his heart, his Christian faith, his (supposed) conservative values – “It was a decision based on a number of factors. Including my heart. Including my faith belief that we have a Biblical mandate to provide refuge for those who are persecuted and oppressed.”

So where’s his HEART for the state’s disabled?

Tennessee’s 2019 overall ranking for intending to help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities is 26th among states. BUT Tennessee is 48th in actually delivering the services to those who need it Ten years ago, Tennessee ranked 43rd in this category. The number of families receiving the needed supports in terms of state spending has been virtually stagnant since 2011. 

Someone should remind Lee that whether or not he likes it, the decision he made is about state policy, not his Bible, his heart or even finding cheap labor for the Lee Company or his corporate cronies at the Chamber of Commerce. (You know, “business decisions” like his campaign donations to pro-abortion candidates Megan Barry and Phil Bredesen).

He has a duty to care first and foremost for the citizens of Tennessee.

And if he can’t find the ethical courage to honor the oath he took when he became governor, he could defer to 1 Timothy 5:8  which we presume is in the same Bible he consulted for his decision on refugee resettlement:

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

Bill Lee wants Tennessee voters to accept that his decision to resettle refugees is just about disagreeing on the issue. Fool us once, shame on you, fool us twice shame on us.

 

Posted on

Biblical Bill and Marsha Blackburn Work Their Individual Agendas to Undermine the President

Whoa! Biblical Bill’s lefty admirers have let the cat out of the bag. The refugee resettlement program isn’t about being a humanitarian. It isn’t about saving Christians. It’s about giving Pompeo foreign policy bargaining chips!

It’s also about keeping the gravy train of taxpayer money flowing to “charities” like Catholic Charities. Someone has done a great job of digging into the public money data which federal contractors have become addicted to:

In 2018 alone, over $1.2 billion has been awarded by our federal government to organizations and religious charities for refugee resettlement, unaccompanied alien children, refugee and entrant assistance, etc.

Catholic Charities of Tennessee (CCTN)’s latest available financials show that refugee resettlement money and services have come to dominate their work since they took over Tennessee’s program after Bredesen withdrew the state in late 2007. “Service fees” money is typically what the federal government pays for the privilege of having so-called charities like CCTN disburse taxpayer money.

Don’t be misled by the entry “Basic Needs/Counseling/Job Training/Elder Care” – most likely that is funded through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services formula grants for refugees and immigrants.

And what about those “Hispanic Services” CCTN now offers to complement the “Immigration Services” they offer?

Anyone really believe Bill Lee and Mike Pompeo’s weekend jaunt wasn’t deliberate? Don’t for one minute underestimate Bill Lee’s ego – he’s being touted by his Tennessee admirers as the expert who can help Pompeo fix the U.S. refugee resettlement program. And don’t think any of this is innocent.

Like Biblical Bill, Pompeo has a use for refugees, whether as bargaining chips for foreign allies or to mollify State Department careerists he now oversees. The same leftist New Yorker reporter who understands that the President is trying to dismantle the dysfunctional refugee program, has outed Pompeo as wanting to keep the numbers high.

Fake news? Maybe not.

Refugee Resettlement Watch reported an even more persuasive statement made by refugee contractor HIAS’ Melanie Nezer:

“Pompeo is the critical stakeholder,” one refugee advocate said.

Now that he’s served both as CIA director and secretary of state, activists hope that Pompeo has earned an appreciation for the diplomatic leverage having a robust refugee program can give the U.S. in negotiations with other countries.

“It’s a bargaining tool: We’ll take a certain number of refugees. These are the things you will do for us,” explained Melanie Nezer, a top official with HIAS, one of several organizations that helps refugees.

What Nezer knows that gullible Republicans including Bill Lee don’t, is that from the first minute, refugees are handled by the paid federal contractors who work at the overseas Refugee Service Centers. Once there in the U.S. who do you think handles all the goodies they get from the American taxpayer? The paid federal contractors, that’s who. And whose financial health is dependent on how many refugees they resettle? The paid federal contractors, that’s who. Their messaging is not how good the American taxpayer is, it’s look what we have done for you, if it wasn’t for us fighting for your rights, the Republican meanies wouldn’t even let you come to their country or their state.

Look what President Trump has done – tried to keep you out.

And look who Bill Lee has surrounded himself with – Tennessee Globicans like his Director of External Affairs, Joseph Williams who, like Bill Hagerty,, was a Jeb! delegate, and his chief of staff anti-Trumper Blake Harris.

Then there’s Sen. Marsha Blackburn doing her level best to deceive her way out of a bad bill that we now learn really does go against Trump’s American first immigration efforts.

A leaked State Department memo about Marsha’s bill confirms what Dailyrollcall previously reported:

Blackburn’sbillmandates a fast track for Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds who claim they were in some way connected, however loosely or remotely, to America’s fight against ISIS. The bill’s language in this regard isvery broadly written.

No cap is put on the numbers to be admitted as refugees, nor does this priority group of refugees count towards President Trump’s FY2020 cap of 18,000 refugees. Vetting for this particular pool of potential U.S. entrants, is vague at best.

The State Department memo states:

Bill Lee is manipulating Tennessee Christians. Marsha is manipulating Tennessee voters.

But Bill Lee and Marsha Blackburn are both undermining President Trump.

Posted on

Biblical Bill Started Planning TN’s Refugee Resettlement in October Behind Legislature’s Back

Biblical Bill (BB) has been a busy little bee.

In January, shortly after taking office, he signed Executive Order 3 which “mandates openness, transparency and accountability within the executive branch”

Then he started learning how to do his job which he said eleven months later, he still hadn’t figured out how to do it.

Fast forward to now and his announcement that has leftists “taking a victory lap” and more clearly identifying the Republicans within the state’s GOP that now have that big “L” as in liberal, stamped on their forehead.

The totally transparent BB repeatedly told the media as late as December 2, 2019, that the deadline to decide whether to consent to resettling refugees was January 21, 2020:

“The state’s deadline for consent is January 21. We will continue working with the federal government to determine the best outcome for Tennessee.”

In a radio interview the day after Lee blind-sided everyone, House Speaker Cameron Sexton said that legislators were also thinking that the Governor would issue a decision sometime in January:

“We had heard for a while that he was leaning in this direction but we were under the belief that it would be sometime in January. There were members who had reached out to the administration had conversations with the governor and with staff and so we were thinking it was going to be a little longer than what it was going to be so the announcement did take us by surprise when the call came in.”

Apparently the Governor showed no more courtesy to the legislators than he did to Tennessee citizens:

“We got a call from a staffer a couple of hours before [the Governor announced his decision] and then we saw the letter a few minutes before it went out to the media on what his stance was.”

But it turns out that as early as the beginning of October, the Governor was working on his plan to put the state back into the business of resettling refugees.

In defense of BB’s decision, a self-described Governor confidante and serial facebook poster has told everyone about U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo’s visit to the Governor’s church and how they have spent time canoodling and solving the problems of the dysfunctional refugee resettlement program:

October 13, 2019, was barely three weeks after President Trump issued his Executive Order giving states the option to not consent to resettling refugees. On the heels of the EO, the FY2020 Funding Notice was issued clearly setting out that the consent from the EO was only for the period of time from June 1, 2020 through September 30, 2020 – the end of the federal fiscal year.

So of course it makes total sense that when Biblical Bill got around to letting the legislative leadership know what he was doing, he wrote that “[m]y consent is valid initially for one year and that we will work closely with President Trump you, and your colleagues to ensure this process is effective as we work together with the Trump administration to facilitate and carefully monitor continued refugee resettlement for the next year.”

Which year or years Bill? Sounds ominously that BB is sending a very strong signal of his intent to commit Tennessee in perpetuity – or at least until a Democrat governor comes along to withdraw the state from the program.

So here’s the timeline:

-January 24, 2019 – Governor Lee signs Executive Order 3 which “mandates openness, transparency and accountability within the executive branch” [was this supposed to apply to him also???}
-September 26, 2019 – President Trump issues his Executive Order on refugee resettlement
-October 13, 2019 – Mike Pompeo spends weekend with BB & his wife and attends BB’s church
-November 5, 2019 – Governor Lee is looking to give state held money to non-profits
-December 18, 2019 – Christmas comes early and Governor Lee blind-sides everyone with his announcement to put Tennessee back into the business of resettling refugees

The Governor should consider that he only gets to submit a budget – it’s the legislature that has to pass it. And the Governor can’t pass legislation. All he can do is send his bills to the peons elected by the great unwashed and leave it to them to get his agenda passed – or not.

Posted on

Bill Lee – You Weren’t Elected to Be the State’s Lead Pastor

And citizens aren’t your congregants.

Heart, values and faith are all important ingredients that every decision-maker across all walks of life hopefully bring to the table. But you Governor, have an added duty. You Governor, took an oath to uphold and govern according to the U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions. This oath still counts for something no matter how many times you tell us that you aren’t a politician.

And just to be clear, there was absolutely no rush to formalize your consent to put Tennessee back into the refugee resettlement program before the start of Christmas – that is unless you thought no one was watching or would forget about it once 2020 arrived.

Well, you are probably as wrong about that as you are about the decision you made.

You told radio listeners on Friday, that you made your decision for several different reasons but in the end, based it on your religious beliefs. 

You also tried to use President Trump and Ronald Reagan for cover. Your Biblical beliefs blinded you to the fact that Trump has been trying to dismantle the dysfunctional refugee resettlement program since he took office.

Clearly the President underestimated the resolve of GOP governors to support his America First immigration agenda. After all, how could the President have known that Biblical Bill would choose people living on other continents over the 5,000 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in Tennessee on a waiting list for help. The state says our most vulnerable citizens will have to wait for help until there’s more money.

And what about the veterans in Tennessee that also are waiting for help?

You made a mockery of the President’s “Make America Great Again” movement when you tried to use it to justify your decision to consent for opting the state back into the refugee program. What’s more, you went above and beyond the consent period required by the Executive Order. Consent was only supposed to be for June 1, 2020 through the end of the federal fiscal year which everyone knows is September 30, 2020. But you made your consent valid for a year from December 18, 2019.

And the same document that outlines all the stuff on consent says you didn’t even have to consent until late spring, like May 2020. So at the very least, you could have waited until after Christmas. Or maybe even like sometime in January which was the time you led legislators to believe was when you were going to decide.

You keep telling us that you’re new to this job, but after almost a year into it, how do you not understand simple courtesy?

Governor, you are not the only Bible reader in Tennessee. Biblical mandates are for individuals. But instead, Tennessee’s got Biblical Bill who has decided to use his authority as Governor to impose a Scriptural mandate on state taxpayers. 

And let’s talk about your Biblically-based inconsistencies when it comes to issues this past year:
-you’ve spent more time on school vouchers than the heartbeat bill. Even non-Bible scholars know that protecting life is in those pages somewhere.
-on thetransgender bathroom issue you said it was an area of life that the government should stay out of and that a state-wide policy would be divisive. Well, the Bible has something to say about that controversial issue also.
-and that marriage thing? That’s a twofer – Biblical and Tenth Amendment.

Are we to understand that as a faithful and devout Christian who says he supports the Tenth Amendment, it’s more like your position on the gas tax – that marriage thing is now “water under the bridge.”?

Rest assured though, that blind-siding us with your consent to put the state back into paying for a voluntary federal program is definitely unfinished business.

Nevertheless, Tennesseans were brought up with good manners so we want to thank you for the Christmas card!

Posted on

Bill Lee Tithes For the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program With Taxpayer Money

Why do millionaires like Bill Lee feel so free to use state tax dollars to live out their personal religious beliefs?

Remember when Bill Lee was campaigning and trying to dazzle gullible voters with his “brilliant” idea for an Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives?

Once elected he launched this initiative and it may end up being the vehicle for Bill Lee to funnel more state dollars to pad the pocketbooks of federal refugee contractors and other groups that want to get into the lucrative refugee resettlement business.

In fact, Bill Lee told us as much while he was on the campaign trail:

“My wife has worked in a ministry that serves Kurdish refugees, I’ve been to Kurdistan and served with refugees from ISIS in refugee camps,” Lee replied. “I believe that the work of nonprofits is powerful and important, and that’s what this is about. And I am a Christian, so my experiences and my work with non-profits that are doing effective work has been Christian organizations, so that’s what I talk about, because I talk about my experience, and I will support works that are doing, meeting some of the greatest challenges in our community that I believe government shouldn’t meet, it’s not the role of government to do that. But it is the role of the nonprofit community and I would encourage that kind of work, for sure.”

But he might just use the government to provide the greenbacks – we’ll get to that in a minute.

So why is anyone surprised that when offered, he jumped at the chance to say “YES!” I want to put Tennessee back into the refugee resettlement program!!!

And because of the 50-100 mile placement rules from the four urban centers where the federal resettlement contractor offices are located, when he consented for Tennessee, he pretty much put every county in the state up for grabs.

Shortly after the Governor announced consenting to bring more refugees to Tennessee, a Bill Lee Facebook devotee put out hints about what is in the works:

Kurds which seem to be a Lee-Blackburn obsession, are overwhelmingly Muslim and have been in a long-standing battle with other Muslims over terrain. Let’s also remember that the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party), a U.S. designated terrorist group is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF is a multi-ethnic group of secular forces in northern Syria led primarily by the YPG, a Kurdish militia group.

So exactly how does the Governor plan to “hold Churches and Christian organizations accountable for the refugees they resettle in Tennessee”?

It’s so simple even Governor Lee figured it out – do it the same way the federal government holds states accountable – by attaching conditions to money.

Lee can use his Office of Faith-based & Community Initiatives to offer state grants to the hard leftist federal resettlement contractors who just happen to also be faith-based non-profits. They’re paid by the feds to only provide 30 days of service during which, they get refugees a social security card, enroll kids in school and get anyone eligible for TennCare signed up.

Churches that want to get into the lucrative refugee industry by providing services after the federal resettlement contractors finish their 30 days, can also get in on the state money.

Money? What money?

Was a hint thrown out today by House Speaker Cameron Sexton during hisradio interview about the Governor’s consent on refugee resettlement?

Could the money be coming from the state’s accumulated TANF (cash welfare) reserve funds?

It was reported on November 5th, that the Governor originally supported holding onto the extremely large accumulated bundle of TANF money being held by the Tennessee Department of Human Services:

“However, Lee changed course on Monday by telling reporters he was open to using the surplus on a variety of options to continue helping Tennessee’s poor. His announcement was coupled with news that the state was planning on spending up to $70 million of the surplus on grant awards to nonprofits throughout the state starting in January.”

Maybe like the non-profits involved or soon to be involved with refugees? Would the Governor’s church qualify?

Tennessee has sued to challenge the federal refugee program because of the federal government shifting federal costs associated with the refugee program to the state government. This has been acknowledged in federal reports. And the cost transfer occurs whether or not the state consents to paying these added federal costs.

No worry now, because Governor Lee has now consented to paying the federal costs transferred to Tennessee on top of the state incurred costs for the refugee program and is possibly willing to add some of the TANF money to the effort.

Conservatives in Tennessee who put Bill Lee in office get a lump of coal for Christmas while the radical left TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) congratulates it’s lobbying effort on the consent push:

“We thank Governor Lee for his moral clarity and leadership in making his decision today…‘Refugee communities across Tennessee have played a powerful role in defending not only the resettlement program but the values and aspirations of this country’, said TIRRC Policy Officer Judith Clerjeune. ‘We will continue to work with refugee leaders and partner agencies to advocate for a robust and generous resettlement program.”’

During Bill Lee’s campaign his first major policy initiative was his “Roadmap for Rural Tennessee” which he highlighted by riding around on a tractor and talking about “his farming roots” and about how Tennessee is just one generation away from losing this way of life.

Not sure what happened to all that rural love, because what we have now, is the rural governor scrooging Tennessee’s rural counties in deference to the urban-based federal contractor resettlement agencies.

Merry Christmas!                  

Posted on

GOP Consent For Refugee Resettlement a Stab in the Back

According to the President’s Executive Order the Governor and the county executive must both agree in writing in order for refugees to be resettled in that county and/or 50-100 miles out from the consenting county.

How a non-consenting neighboring county might feel about that? Tough nuggies.

Knoxville’s city council has voted unanimously to beg Governor Bill Lee for refugees and has directed their lefty mayor Madeline Rogero, “to send a letter to the U.S. secretary of state to share the city’s plans to participate “’in this very worthy program.”’

We hate to burst their bubble, but the consent has to come from Knox County whose Republican Mayor Glenn Jacobs is “a proud Trump supporter.”

Two weeks after issuing his Executive Order on refugee resettlement, the President told the 20,000 strong at the Minnesota rally, that:

“Since coming into office, I have reduced refugee resettlement by 85 percent. And as you know, maybe especially in Minnesota, I issued an executive action making clear that no refugees will be resettled in any city, or in any state, without the express written consent of that city or that state.”

The President has gone out on a limb to help elected officials with an immigration program that may ultimately change a state, county or town from red to a shade of blue. Trump probably didn’t expect that GOP governors were going to stand with Democrats to undermine him.

Maybe his administration figured that 24 states which are already blue, would each happily take 750 refugees. (that would be the full 18,000 admission number for FY2020).

As of now, Republican governors from Arizona, Utah, New Hampshire, and North Dakota want more refugees. Their consent supports both the resettlement industry and the federal contractors who are suing Trump for trying to put American interests and needs first.

Conservative Review Senior Editor Daniel Horowitz, has accurately diagnosed the problem– “[m]any Republicans voted for Donald Trump in the primary because they were sick of business as usual with Republican politicians acting like Democrats.”

Do the GOPers think that Democrat governors are consenting to show their support for the President’s policies?

These GOPers are also rewarding the political groups actively working to unseat the President. They can try to spin it, but consent means publicly linking arms with the growing House Refugee Caucus and the Soros-linked Evangelical Immigration Table, to oppose the President and undermine his immigration policies, including refugee resettlement.

The membership overlap between the Refugee Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus should surprise no one. Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal who each have a foot in both caucuses, have also collaborated with TIRRC here in Tennessee and spent time getting cozy with AMAC.

Because of the Tennessee lawsuit, Bill Lee should know that consenting to continued refugee resettlement also means he’s okay with state taxpayers being forced to pay the state and federal costs of the program.

Religious moralizing by Tennessee evangelicals doesn’t cut it either. In a cleverly worded letter to Governor Lee they state that “since the Refugee Act of 1980, no refugee resettled to the U.S. has taken a single American life in an act of terrorism.”

 According to these compassionate Christians, it’s not good enough that the victim(s) attacked is severely injured; they have to actually die and it has to be labeled “terrorism” for it to matter.

Two years ago, Sudanese refugee Emanuel Samson, shot up a church in Nashville, killing Melanie Crow and injuring seven other worshippers.

 

In 2011, Omar Mohamed Kalmio, a Minnesota Somali refugee, murdered 4 people in North Dakota. This was after he and a group of Somali men had knife attacked a man in Minneapolis five years earlier.

In 2008 Esar Met, a Burmese Muslim refugee raped and murdered a young Burmese Christian refugee girl in Salt Lake City.

There are multiple cases of U.S. refugees who have been sentenced for planning bomb attacks which fortunately were discovered before being executed, except for these:

2012 – Abdullatif Ali Aldosary, an Iraqi refugee, set off a bomb at a Social Security Office in Arizona
2016 – Ahmad Rahimi set off bomb in NY injuring 29 people

A small sampling of violent attacks by U.S. refugees which fortunately did not end in the victims dying includes:

2014 – A group of Iraqi refugees brutally gang raped a 50 year old woman in Colorado which left her with a colostomy bag. These guys earned their refugee status because they assisted US forces in Iraq either as informants or interpreters
2016 – Dahir Adan, a Somali refugee who went on a stabbing spree in a St. Cloud mall injuring 9 people. That same year, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, committed a vehicle-ramming and stabbing attack at Ohio State University wounding 13 people.

The World Relief resettlement contractor with help from George Soros, is leading this evangelical letter writing. This is the same federal contractor who took the money but dumped refugees in Murfreesboro without providing the services.

Knoxville’s Bridge resettlement agency is a local affiliate of World Relief and like all resettlement contractors has prospered financially from the more than 2,000 refugees it has resettled in Knoxville.

Even if Governor Lee and Sen. Blackburn choose to ignore the dangerous undersides of refugee resettlement at least Congressman Chuck Fleischmann is. He’s asking to have certain Islamist organizations investigated for “promoting extremist ideology and terror finance.”

 

The organization appears to have deep ties to Knoxville.

 

Make sure you are sharing information with your county executives, your mayor, your state legislators and Governor Lee and tell them NO consent for resettlement in Tennessee.