For those who are interested in monitoring refugee resettlement programs in
Florida, here is my video of the routine meeting:
major cities in Florida, including Orlando, Miami and Tampa.
There still does not seem to be a huge amount of Syrian or questionable
refugees arriving in Florida (my concern). A huge percentage are Cuban &
Haitian refugees.
In Orlando, there were about 60 present at the recent April 13, 2016
meeting, representing many types of social service providers, as well as two
Federal Contractors who bring refugees to the area, plus Florida State
employees, FBI representatives, or representatives of the USCIS
(https://www.uscis.gov/) aka US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Much of the verbally presented information is vague and unconsolidated. No
written reports are shared, thus you have to pick up some info from the
video, and some from minutes of prior meetings.
Some of the highlights of the 60+ attendee meeting were:
- The Florida Channel, which is like CSPAN, but for Florida government
topics, was at the meeting, but the task force group doesn't use microphones
and the leader didn't try to require speakers to use microphones, thus the
representative for Florida channel (they had three cameras there) said only
some segments will be in a "news" segment. HERE is the news segment.
Scroll to 4 min, 55 seconds in the 9 minute video to see their brief
coverage of this meeting .
HERE is the Florida Channel one hour, 40 minute video of the entire Apr. 5,
2016 Miami area Refugee Task Force meeting
.
- The Orlando area is allocated UN/State Dept. refugees via two of the
7 federal contractors, Catholic and Lutheran Charities. Catholics are
the large volume contractor, and the Lutherans only bring in about 200 per
year per my conversations with heads of both groups. The Catholics said
the volume is up 30% in the first two reporting quarters. They also said
growth was from Iraq and Africa.
- Florida has large numbers of Cubans and Haitians coming in the
country NOT through the refugee system, but they soak up many of the
available services. So although Florida is third highest in the country in
receiving refugees, most are from Cuba and Haiti, taking up most funding and
slots. However, Miami is becoming a huge center for inbound refugees of
all types. I also learned that many refugees waiting in Costa Rica (which
means they are from other countries) are being released for Florida soon.
- My County, Lake County, is outside Orlando, and is not planned to
get any refugees due to the distance from Orlando. We are a rural and
retirement community county, and I was told at a prior meeting that there
were not enough jobs of the type filled by refugees. But 3 Orlando area
counties ARE within the distribution area.
- A new "marketing" emphasis is focused on a UN event held on June 20
since 2001, "World Refugee Day" scheduled in Orlando for Sat., June 25th.
This reminds me of Earth Day. Apparently each of the regional Refugee Task
Forces in Florida will have an event. Here is the UN site explaining it:
http://www.unhcr.org/refugeeday/us/ The Florida Channel had an undated
4-minute segment on a prior World Refugee Day HERE
and it includes a brief overview by Pattie Grogan, Deputy Director,
Florida Refugee Services, of the Refugee process.
- Four representatives from the Mormon Church said they are rolling
out a national website for charity & community volunteer programs to request
Mormon volunteers. https://www.justserve.org/ "JustServe projects
should not directly involve volunteers in fundraising, have a political
focus, or be for-profit oriented."
- In the past, 1-2 attendees would say they were from a mosque or
CAIR, but not this time, although I think two of them were there. One woman
had a headscarf. As some readers know, CAIR is an unindicted
co-conspirator in the Holy Land trial of a few years ago regarding illegal
contributions to Islamic terrorist groups. The Florida CAIR office is based
in Tampa, and they supply legal advisors when a Muslim incident occurs.
- The FBI started attending meetings last time, and were there this
time.
- I asked senior managers from both Catholic and Lutheran charities if
they had a policy to notify local cities and advertise public hearings when
a new group of refugees were assigned to a city. I could not get a clear
answer except they "consult" with the Florida State Refugee Services leaders
in Miami. Remember, both these contractors are FEDERAL contractors and not
required to have public hearings or notify city councils, etc when they
expand allocation of refugees to a new city. Reports in other states
indicate lots of friction due to the Federal providers not warning local
city or county staffs and not having public hearings. Instead, all of
sudden, an "anchor" group of 25-50 or more new refugees show up and start
drawing on local welfare, schools, etc. For instance one contractor said
they were about to expand into Sanford, FL and I am guessing it will be a
surprise to Sanford. One rep said they announced an expansion at an
earlier task force meeting, but the contractors apparently feel they tell
the state and it is up to the state to let locals know of expected influxes
of refugees. I think this is underhanded and evidence of the Federal
government, through the contractors, of dumping refugees on communities
without warning. Once a group is in a new city, or the contractors open an
office there, more refugees will be sent there.
- Concerned citizens should seek out these type of quarterly meetings
and attend them, video them, post info on blogs, etc . In Florida, the
meetings don't have any elected leaders present, thus are not subject to
sunshine laws. Thus they don't make audio or video recordings, have
generalized statistics, don't provide microphones and amplifiers, thus
speakers are hard to hear. That needs to change.
Below is the agenda for this meeting, and minutes from the last meeting.
The minutes are a generalized summary of refugees statistics as presented at
the meetings. They do NOT make audio recordings and statistics details are
verbally described at the meetings, so the minutes are the only record.
I will keep expanding my information base on these programs, and adding
contacts. I how have the cards of senior leaders of both contractors, plus
a Florida State Refugee Services manager based in Miami. There are more
specific Florida statewide refugee statistics and info on THIS PAGE
, so the information above is only based upon the meeting I attended.
One report shows a high number of "parolees" which refers to special
programs for just Cuban & Haitian immigrants. If you want to know more
about Cuban and Haitian special refugee issues, and they are called
"parolees", READ HERE.
You can read more about the Florida State Refugee Services program and
meeting schedules HERE
.
"The State of Florida's refugee program is the largest in
the nation, receiving more than 27,000 refugees, asylees, and Cuban/Haitian
entrants each year. However, the number of arrivals has been steadily
increasing in recent years. There were 32,717 arrivals in FFY 2014 and
48,816 arrivals in FFY2015."
"Refugee Services' clients all have a legal immigration
status. Some are admitted to the United States by the United Nations and
U.S. Department of State (DOS) through its refugee "Reception and Placement"
program. DOS contracts with national refugee resettlement agencies (i.e. in
Orlando, it is the Catholic and Lutheran Refugees programs) to assist
resettled refugees during their first three months in the United States.
However, only about 14% of Florida's refugee client population enters the
U.S. through the DOS (US Dept. of State) program. A majority of our Florida
refugee clients are Cuban entrants who enter the United States through other
programs or channels." (Note: One provider representative told me they
"just show up".)
Conclusion:
1. Existing laws allow specified refugees into the country, and they
are assisted and administered by many different social service programs to
get them housing, jobs, etc. That is a routine process that has existed for
many years. However, as the quote above describes, the influx numbers are
soaring. In one year, they went from 32,000 to 48,000 arrivals.
2. A concern is the Federal Refugee contractors don't have to notify
local communities, city councils or have public hearings when bringing in a
first group of refugees, perhaps who don't' have any education or English
language skills. After 3-8 months, they are enrolled in local welfare
programs, soaking up funds that could be used for US citizens and swamping
schools and charities with an influx of refugees. To me, State of Florida
Congress members as well as Florida legislators need to address this issue
to ensure stealth immigration does not continue without locals knowing about
it.
3. Based upon comments at the meeting, many of the social service
providers lack funding and staff to cope with the high growth in refugees,
thus fewer may get assistance with housing, jobs, etc.
4. Unlike some other states, Florida does not appear to be a big
recipient yet of middle east refugees with potential national security
risks, but that could change any time.
Vance Jochim
FiscalRangers.com
Vance Jochim
[email protected]
YouTube Channel "FiscalRangersFlorida"
