Tag: refugee resettlement

Gov. Phil Bredesen Cut Elderly, Sick and Disabled From TennCare While Enrolling Refugees

Chris Alto
Phil Bredesen

Phil Bredesen, the health insurance executive turned governor, had an antidote to contain the spiraling costs of the state’s Medicaid program – disenroll elderly, sick and disabled Tennesseans from TennCare. According to Gordon Bonnyman, co-founder of the Tennessee Justice Center, two years into Bredesen’s first term as governor, “[a]pproximately 200,000 of [TennCare’s] costliest patients lost their coverage over a four-month period in late 2005.”  Bonnyman characterized this group as the “sickest subgroup of the TennCare population.” The TNReport calculated that by the time Bredesen left office in 2011, approximately 350,000 Tennesseans were cut from TennCare which included an estimated 100,000 people with disabilities. At the same time that Tennesseans were losing their TennCare coverage, refugees being resettled in the state were being assisted by refugee resettlement contractors to enroll into TennCare. A spokesman for State Senator Bill Ketron’s office confirmed to The Tennessee Star that Holly Johnson, director of Catholic Charities’ Tennessee (CCTN) Office for Refugees (TOR) provided data requested by the Senator which included the number of arriving refugees being enrolled into TennCare. Senator Ketron’s office shared that data with The Star. Bredesen’s action several years earlier of withdrawing Tennessee from administering the federal refugee program created the opportunity for…

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Gov. Phil Bredesen Increased Refugee Resettlement in Tennessee by Thousands, Bringing Big Money to ‘Non-Profits’ Catholic Charities and World Relief

Chris Alto
Phil Bredesen

When he was governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011, Phil Bredesen set the state up to receive a dramatically higher number of refugees – an increase well into the thousands – bringing with it significant financial benefit to federal refugee contractors like Catholic Charities of Tennessee and World Relief. Early into Bredesen’s second term as governor, he withdrew Tennessee from the federal refugee resettlement program writing to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) that “refugee-specific service providers” could better meet the needs of arriving refugees. By taking this step, Bredesen created the opportunity for the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to hand over running of the state’s program to Catholic Charities of Tennessee (CCTN) but without any accountability to the state legislature or the state budget. The first full year during which CCTN administered the program in Tennessee, refugees arriving to the state increased from 847 to 1,492, despite a decline in refugee arrivals on a national level. By 2010, with the new designation from the U.S. ORR and more federal funding, CCTN expanded its refugee operations and established its Tennessee Office for Refugees (TOR). This department was set-up to coordinate all refugee resettlement agencies operating in the state. CCTN’s…

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Cost for English Language Learner Services in Tennessee Public Schools Increases Over 100 Percent Since FY 2016

Chris Alto
ESL student

The cost to teach English to non-English speaking students in Tennessee public schools has increased over 100 percent since FY 2016. In FY 2016, the total cost for English Language Learner (ELL) services was $94,110,440. Seventy percent was funded through the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP) in the amount of $65,877,308, matched by a “required” local share of approximately 30 percent, totaling $28,233,132. In FY 2018, funding for ELL services for the upcoming school year will cost state and local taxpayers $198,150,357. The state will fund $138,705,250, a 110 percent increase from FY 2016. The required local match will increase 111 percent from FY 2016 at a cost of $59,705,107. “There are 2,872 EL teaching positions and 287 translator positions that will be funded for this [FY 2018] school year, which are funded at a ratio of 1 teacher per 20 EL students and 1 translator per 200 EL students,” according to information forwarded to The Tennessee Star by the state’s Department of Education Deputy Director of Communications. In FY 2016 the BEP funded 1,570 teaching positions and 153 translator positions, highlighting the sharp increase just two years later. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, Title VI of the…

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Advocates in Pennsylvania Want More Taxpayer Money to Educate Illegal Immigrant & Refugee Students

Chris Alto
Education Law Center sues Phila

Philadelphia-based Education Law Center told the city’s School Reform Commission that immigrant students and English Language Learner students (EL), need expanded programming, “improved cultural competency” for teachers, more support for the parents of these students and greater access to vocational training programs.  According to the Law Center, test results show that this group of students are failing to progress in their education: Test results indicate that immigrant students and ELs are among the most educationally at-risk of all student groups. For instance, 44 percent of EL students scored below basic in 2015-16 in standardized math and reading tests, while only 19 percent of non-EL students were in that category. The Law Center advocates statewide “fighting for fair school funding” and “equal access” to education services and programs. In 2016, the ELC with help from the ACLU of Pennsylvania and lawyers from a high-priced private law firm, sued the Lancaster School District on behalf of six high school- age refugee students, objecting to their placement at the privately run Phoenix School. Officials with the school district cited Phoenix School’s “special acceleration program”as the reason the refugee students were placed there instead of the district’s regular high school: A special ‘acceleration program’ at…

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Phil Bredesen and Tyson Foods Helped Shelbyville Become an Employment Magnet For Somali Refugees

Chris Alto
Phil Bredesen

From the inception of the federal Refugee Admissions Program in 1980 until 2003, the first year of Phil Bredesen’s first term as governor of Tennessee, only a handful of Somali refugees were resettled in Tennessee by the federal government. That all changed in 2003. Between 2003 and 2011, Bredesen’s last year as governor, 1,866 Somali refugees were resettled in Tennessee by federal resettlement contractors. During that same time period over 9,000 refugees of multiple ethnicities were brought to Tennessee by federal contractors. The numbers do not, however, account for secondary migrants who are first resettled in other states or other parts of Tennessee but then relocate to follow friends, relatives or jobs and join the growing ethnic enclaves in a different location. “[T]he simple action of offering hundreds of job openings at the local chicken processing plant” according to former Shelbyville Times-Gazette reporter Brian Mosely, explains in part, what drew Somali refugees to his hometown. Increasing the supply of Somalis and other refugee workers was facilitated by then governor Phil Bredesen’s treatment of Tennessee’s refugee resettlement program. In 2007, Mosely wrote a five-part, award-winning series about the arrival of Somalis to Shelbyville.  One of the stories connecting Somalis to the town’s Tyson Foods plant…

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Off the Record: Tyson Foods Recycles a Smidge of Tennessee Taxpayer Money as Payback to Gibson County

Chris Alto
OFF THE RECORD

Tyson CEO and President Tom Hayes was the BMOC (big man on campus) at the Humboldt plant ground-breaking on Wednesday when he promised a $500,000 kickback grant to Gibson County. But it’s not really a no-strings unconditional gift, nor is it really money from Tyson Foods’ pocket, is it Tom? First, the ever paternalistic Tyson leadership that has come to rescue Welcoming Witherspoon – who is now out of favor with his Democrat party – has not agreed to just let Gibson Countians decide on their own how to spend their new found wealth. Nooooo.  A steering committee “of community leaders and Tyson Foodsteam members” will decide how to spend the money. Any chance the “community leaders” will be same ones that worked the deal that could possibly “fowl” some of the already threatened nearby waterways? The same leaders like Welcoming Witherspoon who has said that, like Randy Boyd, he welcomes Muslims and immigrants to come work in Gibson County: Randy, like me, isn’t afraid of a Muslim coming to the county and maybe seeking a job, or a legal immigrant coming to the county. He’s not afraid of that; neither am I. If somebody wants to come here legally, and seek employment and…

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Tennessee Forced to Deal With Ethnic Gangs So Federal Refugee Resettlement Contractors Can Profit

Chris Alto

Refugee resettlement in Tennessee has brought sizable fiscal rewards for the federal contractors operating in Tennessee but along with helping to establish what former mayor Karl Dean celebrated as “growing enclaves of immigrants” has come Kurdish and Somali gangs from refugee groups brought to the state. In 2007, the New York Times reported that police described the Kurdish gang members as “increasingly vicious and brazen.”  That same year former Shelbyville Times-Gazette reporter Brian Mosely, a Tennessee Press Association awardee, wrote about drug dealing and gang problems associated with Somalis that had settled in Bedford County. Gang experts warn that gangs made up of people that come from war-torn countries pose a “unique problem” because they are desensitized to violence and dismissive of authority. Just weeks ago, Nashville’s first Kurdish refugee turned Metro police officer, investigated by the TBI and discovered to have lied about his connections with the Kurdish Pride Gang, was charged with 57 counts of official misconduct. In April, four Somali men including Salim Hussein from Nashville, drove to Concord, New Hampshire to violently confront other Somalis at a wedding party there. Hussein was charged reckless conduct with a firearm and reportedly remains in jail. Police have suggested that the four…

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Leftist Diversity Agenda Drove Hiring of Kurdish Refugee Dismissed from Nashville Police Force for Gang Affiliation

Chris Alto

Jiyayi Suleyman, a Kurdish refugee resettled in Nashville as a young child with his parents and siblings in 1991, was dismissed from the Metro Nashville Police force after it was discovered that “he lied on his application about who he was” and about his involvement with the Kurdish Pride Gang. Suleyman became a Metro Nashville police officer in 2012. His sister Remziya Suleyman, also made her mark in Nashville. Trained by the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), she organized opposition to a 2011 anti-terrorism bill but failed to stop it from being passed into law. Her efforts did, however, result in establishing the American Muslim Advisory Council with assistance from the Haslam administration. Former Nashville mayor Karl Dean made elevating “new Americans” a priority during his term. Early on he established the New Americans Advisory Council with participation from Conexion Americas and TIRRC. The MyCity Academy program designed to politically empower refugees and immigrants followed. In 2014, Dean established the Mayor’s Office of New Americans and the Parent Ambassador Program whose volunteers would serve as advisors to Metro schools. Without hesitation Dean praised the self-segregation in “growing enclaves” of new Americans that keep them separated from assimilating into and adapting…

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Diane Black and State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver Urge Appeal of 10th Amendment Lawsuit Against Federal Refugee Resettlement Program

Chris Alto
Diane Black & Terri Lynn Weaver

One year after Tennessee filed suit in federal court challenging the commandeering of state revenue by the federal government to fund its refugee resettlement program, Judge Stanley Thomas Anderson, ignored plaintiffs’ request for a hearing and dismissed the case. The court’s decision did not reach the substantive Tenth Amendment issue ruling instead that the state lacked legal standing to sue. Anderson was appointed to the court by George W. Bush in 2008 and became Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in 2017. GOP Gubernatorial Diane Black and State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, a named plaintiff in the suit have said unequivocally that Tennessee should appeal the court’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a non-profit public interest law firm filed the lawsuit on behalf of Tennessee and the legislature at no  cost to the state or taxpayers.  Mr. Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the TMLC has already indicated that the court’s decision “is filled with appealable issues” and that his firm is prepared to continue its representation pro bono and appeal the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary:…

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Diane Black Calls Federal Judge’s Dismissal of State’s Refugee Resettlement Lawsuit ‘A Slap in the Face to the Overwhelming Majority of Tennesseans’

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Diane Black Calls Federal Judge’s Dismissal of State’s Refugee Resettlement Lawsuit ‘A Slap in the Face to the Overwhelming Majority of Tennesseans’

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) issued a strong statement reacting to U.S. District Court Judge S. Thomas Anderson’s dismissal Monday of Tennessee’s refugee resettlement lawsuit against the federal government just moments after it was published. “I am incredibly disappointed with Judge Anderson’s decision to dismiss Tennessee’s case,” Black said. “This is a slap in the face to the overwhelming majority of Tennesseans who are sick and tired of being forced to foot the federal government’s bill for resettling refugees.” Turning her ire to the “status quo” of management of Tennessee’s previous top executives, she added, “The last two governors have outsourced refugee resettlement, and I believe it’s time for the state to take back that responsibility. As governor, I will not tolerate this federal overreach, and I will fight to empower our citizens and keep them safe.” Black’s statement points out that even though Tennessee opted out of the federal refugee resettlement program, 2,397 refugees arrived in the state in 2016, resettled by the federal government in a refugee admissions program managed in the state by Catholic Charities of Tennessee. The lawsuit alleged, among other things, a 10th Amendment violation by the federal government for forcing the state to accept refugees and…

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Tennessee Legislators Continue to Deny Voters Right to Elect State’s Attorney General

Chris Alto
State Sen. Ken Yager

The Republican dominated General Assembly has already moved the appointment of judges to the Governor and if they have their way this legislative session, they will continue to keep the selection of the state’s chief law enforcement officer out of the reach of Tennessee voters as well. Forty-three states elect their Attorney General. Sen. Ken Yager (R-Kingston), chief sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 611 which partially reforms selection of the State Attorney General, has previously stated that selecting an AG through popular election is the least-preferred method of selection Yager’s resolution would instead require the General Assembly to confirm the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Attorney General nominee and if rejected, require the court to submit another nominee. The AG’s term would also be reduced from eight years to four years. In the past, the state’s Supreme Court has held a public hearing during which lawyers applying for the AG position made presentations in open court. However, most of the court’s process is kept from public view. Judges conduct private interviews of the candidates and there is no record of how they vote on the AG nominee. Yager’s resolution would open the Supreme Court’s process – “[t]he nomination shall be made by the Supreme Court in open court…

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GOP State Rep. Eddie Smith Could Be Deciding Vote in House Education Committee on Bill Rewarding In-State Tuition to Illegals

Chris Alto

State Rep. Eddie Smith (R-Knoxville), a member of the House Education Administration & Planning Subcommittee and Vice-Chair of the full Committee, was nowhere to be found when subcommittee chairman State Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) jumped his own bill on in-state tuition for illegal immigrants from number 35 on the agenda to the very first bill to be heard. As The Tennessee Star reported earlier, White’s bill, HB2429, was passed on a voice vote without any discussion other than a strongly worded statement of opposition from State Rep. Dawn White (R-Murfreesboro)  (no relation to Mark White). It will go next to the full Education Committee although it has not been put on the calendar yet. The Senate companion bill, however, is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, March 21st. Smith joined the subcommittee after White’s bill was passed. As to prior in-state tuition bills, Smith’s voting record is more transparent with the exception of the subcommittee votes where bills are passed by voice vote even though legislators have the option to request being recorded specifically as a “no” vote. With regard to Tuesday’s vote, the only recorded “no” vote was from Rep. Dawn White. The first year Eddie Smith served in the Tennessee General Assembly…

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Democrat Mayor Who Endorsed Randy Boyd & Is Open to Bringing Immigrants to Gibson County Runs as Independent in Next Election

Chris Alto

After publicly endorsing GOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd and welcoming Muslims and immigrants to take jobs in Gibson County, Mayor Tom Witherspoon, twice elected as a Democrat, will run for re-election as an Independent. Witherspoon credits Randy Boyd for helping “Gibson County stay in the race to land the Tyson Foods plant” and on several occasions, has suggested that his vote for Boyd is payback for that assistance saying, “[t]hat man kept his word with me and I’ll keep my word with him.” Witherspoon also says that like Boyd, he welcomes Muslims and immigrants to come work in Gibson County: Randy, like me, isn’t afraid of a Muslim coming to the county and maybe seeking a job, or a legal immigrant coming to the county. He’s not afraid of that; neither am I. If somebody wants to come here legally, and seek employment and be productive and work hard, God knows we need more of that, not less of it. Meat processing and packaging companies, including Tyson Foods, employ a steady stream of arriving refugees in plants across the country. In the case of the Tyson Foods plant in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the company justified bringing Burmese refugee workers to supplement…

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No Evidence Public Meetings Were Held Before November Announcement Tyson Foods Chicken Processing Plant Coming to Gibson County

Chris Alto

Gibson County Mayor Tom Witherspoon has defended “as very open and transparent” the process that culminated in a November 20, 2017 announcement that Tyson Foods would be building a new chicken processing plant in Humboldt, a small city with about 8,300 residents in Gibson County. With regard to public meetings being held about the Tyson plant, Witherspoon, a Democrat who has endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd, was asked in a Facebook exchange whether the “open meetings with the media were before or after the decision was made and was the public informed of the meetings ahead of time?” Witherspoon responded: Media was involved before, during and after. All public meetings were properly advertised, conducted and closed. He also stated that: I can assure you that many, many community leaders along with the media and public were involved in  multiple meetings. I don’t know anyone in Gibson County that wasn’t aware of Tysons coming weeks before the official announcement. (Editors’s Note: The Tennessee Star has screenshots of these Facebook exchanges.) On January 23, 2018, The Tennessee Star emailed the Gibson County Director of Economic Development asking for the specific dates of the public meetings, how they were advertised and where they were…

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Secrecy and Withholding of Information Characterize Move of Tyson Foods Plant into Humboldt, Tennessee

Chris Alto

Gibson County Mayor Tom “Welcoming” Witherspoon and Humboldt Mayor Marvin Sikes claim that only positive impacts will result from the arrival of the Tyson Foods chicken plant, first rejected in Tonganoxie, Kansas, but now being relocated to Humboldt, Tennessee. The plan to put the plant in Tonganoxie was defeated by citizen-led opposition because of concerns of Tyson’s history of environmental violations, impact on infrastructure and potential to attract refugee workers. Opposition to the Kansas plant also focused on the secrecy surrounding the plan for Tonganoxie and withholding of information from public scrutiny. Twilight Greenaway, reporting at Moyers & Company, the website operated by far left journalist Bill Moyers, described the citizen-led opposition in Tonganoxie as “staggering” and fueled in part by the secrecy in which the deal was arranged between Tyson executives and local officials until information was finally made public. As Greenaway reported: The Tyson plant was also a long-kept secret with the code name Project Sunset. Local lawmakers were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements when considering welcoming it to town, and the company is said to have worked through intermediaries when negotiating with the landowner over the 300-acre lot it would occupy. But once the deal was done and…

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Gibson County Mayor ‘Welcoming Witherspoon’ Defends Tyson Foods Plant Using Rhetoric From Open Immigration Organizations

Chris Alto

The announcement in November that Humboldt, Tennessee is getting the Tyson Foods plant that was rejected by citizens in Tonganoxie, Kansas, raises legitimate questions about whether the new plant will attract refugee workers to the area. In their press release, Tyson Foods said the company had “accepted the invitation of city, county and state leaders to build a new chicken production complex in the City of Humboldt, which is part of Gibson County in western Tennessee,” and included words of praise from Humboldt Mayor Mavin Sikes, Gibson County Mayor Tom Witherspoon, a Democrat who has endorsed Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd in the Republican gubernatorial primary, and Gov. Bill Haslam: “This is an historic day for Humboldt, Gibson County and West Tennessee,” Humboldt Mayor Marvin Sikes said. “I want to thank Tyson Foods for their commitment to our community and region. The significant job creation and capital investment that will result from this project will have a positive impact on our community that will last for many years, and I could not be more excited about the future of Humboldt and Gibson County.” “Many years of dedicated work from countless Gibson County citizens and volunteers have laid the foundation for the…

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Tyson Plant Rejected by Kansas Citizens, But Welcomed by Gibson County Mayor

Chris Alto

The decision by Tyson Foods to open a meat-packing plant in Humboldt, Tennessee, welcomed recently by Gibson County Mayor Tom Witherspoon, came only after the facility was rejected by citizens in Tonganoxie, Kansas. The “big meat” company would have created approximately the same 1,500 jobs there that it says it will bring to rural Gibson County. Witherspoon, elected as a Democrat in 2010 and 2014, is one of 45 county mayors who have endorsed GOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd, the Knoxville businessman and former commissioner of the Tennessee Economic and Community Development Department. Reuters reported in November 2017 that the decision by Tyson Foods to switch over to Humboldt came only after “the No Tyson in Tongie” citizen-led opposition defeated a proposed Tyson plant in Tonganoxie, Kansas, a town not much smaller than Humboldt. Several Kansas state legislators also committed to opposing the proposed Tyson plant. Citizen opposition in the “Tongie” area was described as “staggering,” Twilight Greenaway reported at Moyers & Company, the website operated by far left journalist Bill Moyers. That opposition was fueled in part by the secrecy in which the deal was arranged between Tyson executives and local officials until it was finally made public in September, Greenaway reported:…

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Veteran Owned & Operated Coffee Company ‘Fueling Freedom-Loving Americans’ While Starbucks Focuses on Hiring Refugees

Chris Alto

When globalist Starbucks announced its pledge to hire 10,000 refugees in response to President Trump’s executive order instituting a temporary travel ban, former Special Ops veteran Evan Hafer, now CEO and founder of Salt Lake City, Utah-based Black Rifle Coffee Company (BRCC) had a better idea. Hafer said his veteran owned and operated company is working to employ 10,000 veteran service members and others who have served their country. Hafer, who had been roasting coffee for ten years between multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and taste-testing his roasts on the gun range while teaching tactical skills, launched his “premium conservative coffee company” in 2014. During interviews Hafer’s passion for roasting coffee, serving his country and supporting those who have served, is evident. He says simply, BRCC is different from other coffee sellers because it was “built from the ground up for people serving their country.” And instead of Starbuck’s globalist approach to business Hafer says it’s important to shift the focus closer to home. In that context, he makes a compelling case for the potential veteran worker pool of 2.5 million unemployed or underemployed post 9-11 vets and a veteran unemployment rate of 6.3% as compared to a 5% non-vet unemployment rate. Hafer…

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Chattanooga’s Refugee Resettlement Contractor Likely to Close Office Under New State Department Guidance

Chris Alto

Catholic Charities of Tennessee State Refugee Coordinator Holly Johnson has confirmed that the federal refugee resettlement contractor Bridge Refugee Services, may have to close its Chattanooga office due to new guidance from the U.S. State Department which reportedly informed voluntary agencies (VOLAGs) that any of their local offices expecting to resettle fewer than 100 refugees in 2018, “will no longer be authorized to resettle new arrivals.” Bridge’s resettlement numbers for Chattanooga were reported as likely to fall below the 100 mark for 2018. It is not known whether this will lead Bridge to concentrate all its efforts in Knoxville where their other office operates. Nine national voluntary agencies (VOLAGs) contract with the State Department to facilitate refugee resettlement through almost 300 local affiliated agencies across the U.S. which must first be authorized to receive new refugee arrivals. Refugee resettlement contractors have become dependent on federal funding to operate these local agencies even though the State Department contract states that the public money is only “intended to augment the private resources” the refugee contractor is supposed to contribute. The contractors are paid a fee for each individual refugee they resettle. Currently, the contractor keeps $1,000 of the $2125 refugee fee paid by the…

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Boyd-Endorsing Mayor May Help Humboldt, Tennessee Become a New Refugee Resettlement Site

Chris Alto

Tysons Foods recently announced the building of a chicken processing plant in Humboldt, bringing with it, 1,500 jobs to Gibson County’s largest city.  While GOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd was Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD), business development money began flowing to Gibson County, an investment that has paid off for Boyd with it’s mayor supporting his run for governor. Tom Witherspoon, mayor of Gibson County was included on Boyd’s July list of county mayor endorsements. Locating a food processing plant in Gibson County may also continue a trend of transforming small rural towns by becoming a magnet for federal refugee resettlement contractors looking to place low-skill workers who don’t have to speak English. Tysons Foods has a demonstrated commitment to employing refugees; its Human Resources Manager, Gary Denton served on the board of the Nashville-based Center for Refugees and Immigrants of Tennessee. Representing the State of Tennessee Economic & Community Development, Lamar Alexander’s son, Will, while serving as Chief of Staff for Haslam’s ECD, served as Treasurer for the resettlement contractor, the Nashville International Center for Empowerment. The federal resettlement program allows refugee contractors to place refugees within 100 miles of the resettlement contractor’s office and that, “[re]gardless of their…

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Senator Bob Corker Has Plenty of Evidence to Support President Trump’s Reduction in the Refugee Ceiling for FY 2018

Chris Alto

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) has plenty of evidence to support President Trump’s presidential determination to reduce the refugee ceiling in FY  2018 to 45,000, but, so far, the soon-to-retire senator has been silent on that matter since that news broke late last month. In April, however, PJ Media reported, “Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said he hopes the Trump administration begins to ‘move back to a regular process’ and ‘normalize’ the admission of refugees into the United States.” Corker should know the pitfalls of “normalizing” the admissions of refugees to higher levels of the Obama administration. He was a sitting member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when it convened a hearing in 2010, to address the failures of the U.S. refugee resettlement program and he learned a great deal about the serious problems of the program back then. The committee’s report, Abandoned Upon Arrival: Implications for Refugees and Local Communities Burdened by a U.S. Resettlement System That is Not Working, offers ample, if not overwhelming justification for Corker, now chairman of the committee, to support President Trump’s responsible FY 2018 cap for U.S refugee admissions at 45,000 annually, significantly lower than the 85,000 admissions in FY 2016, the…

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Tennessee Taxpayers Fund Conexion Americas’ ‘Education Equity’ for Students Here Legally and Illegally

Chris Alto

  Last year Conexion Americas, a multi-million dollar funded Latino advocacy organization headquartered in Nashville, convened the Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition (TEEC), which it now leads. Partnering with the George Soros funded Migration Policy Institute, TEEC launched the “TN English Learner Network.” TEEC does not appear to be a separate corporate entity, but rather merely a “project” of Conexion Americas, according to the most recent Conexion Americas annual report. Renata Soto, founder and director of Conexion Americas, was elected in 2015 to lead the National Council of La Raza’s (La Raza) board. George Soros has generously funded La Raza over the years in amounts typically exceeding $2 million. Gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd is a mega donor to Conexion Americas, which received $250,000 from Randy and Jenny Boyd in 2016, and his education non-profit Complete Tennessee, which works in a reciprocal relationship with Soto and the TEEC. Soto serves on his board and his organization serves as a State Partner to TEEC. Both Complete Tennessee and the TEEC say they want to address “equity gaps” in the education provided to Tennessee students. Both Soto and Boyd are tied to organizations that support “tuition equity,” which is the legislative reference to a bill that would…

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State Rep. Bill Sanderson Led Defeat of Refugee Resettlement Bill in 2013, Backed Gas Tax Increase in 2017, Wants Voters to Support Him Again in 2018

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  State Rep. Bill Sanderson, chairman of the House State Government Subcommittee passionately opposed a 2013 bill intended to quantify how much state revenue was forcibly being diverted by the federal government to pay for its refugee resettlement program. First elected to the General Assembly in 2011, Sanderson voted for the gas tax this year. Last week, gubernatorial candidate Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) announced that she is supporting Sanderson’s  bid to continue representing voters in his district at an event held in Kenton, Tennessee. After Governor Bredesen, a Democrat, had withdrawn Tennessee from the federal program in 2008, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement chose Catholic Charities of Tennessee (CCTN) to continue the resettlement program for the state. The federal government also continued to rely on state revenue to support refugees resettled by the federal contractors in Tennessee. Testimony provided during debate on the 2013 bill cited a seventy-five percent increase in refugee arriving to Tennessee since CCTN took over the program even though the number of refugees arriving to the U.S. were declining. The bill still received enough votes to go to the full committee even with Sanderson abstaining from voting. In the full committee Sanderson spoke extensively against the bill after…

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Volunteer Group Will Help Grow Refugee Resettlement in Murfreesboro

Chris Alto

  The refugee assistance organization “Murfreesboro Roots for Refugees”(MR4R) is busy providing services to refugees being resettled in Rutherford County. MR4R has taken over refugees abandoned in Murfreesboro by the World Relief resettlement agency. It was announced during the March MR4R meeting that they were assisting 17 families that totaled over 100 individuals including 65 kids and no longer restricting their assistance to Syrian refugees. The recent merger of Abdou Kattih’s “Home Away From Home” and Melissa Sohrabi’s “Roots for Refugees” now called MR4R, appears to be the the first organized refugee resettlement initiative in the county. During the March meeting, Kattih and Sohrabi discussed how they provided food, clothing and furniture needed by the arriving refugee families. They also detailed arranging to meet needed medical and dental services along with providing community orientation to newly arrived refugees. These are some of the same “core” services detailed in the Cooperative Agreement that federal refugee contractors sign and for which they are paid to provide. There are additional support services that are also provided with federal grants to “ethnic community based organizations (ECBO)” or  “mutual assistance associations (MAA).” Kattih is a Syrian who immigrated to the U.S. to join his parents in Chattanooga but then…

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Nashville Chamber of Commerce Brought Office of Refugee Resettlement’s ‘Building the New American Community’ to Music City Back in 2001

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

  With the Nashville Chamber of Commerce in a leading role, Nashville was one of three “non-traditional gateway cities” along with Portland (OR) and Lowell (MA) chosen for the 2001 pilot project funded by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) called “Building the New American Community, A Collaborative Project on Integration (BNAC).”  These three sites were determined to be in the “beginning phases of a demographic transformation” due to increases in refugee resettlement and the arrival of legal and illegal immigrants. As explained in the project’s final report authored by the Soros funded Migration Policy Institute (MPI): Nashville exemplifies characteristics typically associated with new immigrant gateway cities in the United States: strong economic growth coupled with rapid foreign-born population increases from a very tiny base of refugees and immigrants who resided in the city in 1990. Core principles of the pilot project included building coalitions, refugee and immigrant leadership, and civic engagement, including: learning about the American electoral system and the importance of voting, but also participating as partners with public agencies in the coalitions. In practical terms, refugee and immigrant organizations played a direct role in crafting policies and programs that directly influence their communities as well as the receiving community.…

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Catholic Charities of Tennessee Says It Is Not Responsible for Addressing Complaints World Relief Failed Murfreesboro Refugees, Despite Tearful Plea

Chris Alto

Catholic Charities of Tennessee says it is not responsible for the failures of its subrecipient, World Relief, to provide basic services to newly arrived refugees in Murfreesboro. Those shortcomings were all too real for volunteer organizer Melissa Sohrabi, who started crying during a March meeting in Rutherford County while detailing federal resettlement contractor World Relief’s neglect and failure to provide essential survival services to the refugees they placed in Murfreesboro.   A third family “had nothing but a mattress and sheets, no blankets,” she told the audience that night (beginning at 2:02 in the YouTube video above): They didn’t know how to work the thermostat, they were freezing. They were scared and they were so relieved because Saffi knew their language. They had been there for several days with no contact with anyone. They did not know how to get in touch with their caseworker and with no language skills they didn’t know where to go or who to ask to even how to get help. We immediately took them to Greenhouse Ministries which is a great support system helping underprivileged people here in Murfreesboro and they graciously, with very few questions, gave them blankets and food and clothes and dishes…

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Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander Silent on Federal Contractor Failing to Provide Services to Refugees Dumped in Murfreesboro

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

The same day that The Tennessee Star discovered complaints publicized on YouTube by the refugee service volunteers in Murfreesboro made against refugee resettlement contractor World Relief for failing to provide basic and essential services, both Sens. Alexander and Corker’s offices were contacted for comment. Sen. Corker’s office never responded and while Sen. Alexander’s media contact asked for and was given additional time to look into the matter before responding, days later no comment was ever received. During the March “Murfreesboro Muslim Youth” (MMY) meeting soliciting help for refugees brought to Rutherford County by World Relief, refugee service organizer Melissa Sohrabi started crying while detailing the contractor’s neglect and failure to provide even basic survival services to the refugees they placed in Murfreesboro: [the third family] had nothing but a mattress and sheets, no blankets. They didn’t know how to work the thermostat, they were freezing. They were scared and they were so relieved because Saffi knew their language. They had been there for several days with no contact with anyone. They did not know how to get in touch with their caseworker and with no language skills they didn’t know where to go or who to ask to even how to get help. We immediately…

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Property Owners in Tennessee Can Bypass Airbnb Restrictions and Place Refugees in Their Communities

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

  Airbnb, the online service that helps people “monetize their extra space” with short-term rental agreements, has launched a new platform called “Open Homes” that lets homeowners donate that “extra space” and host refugees, saving the federal contractors time and money in meeting the terms of their agreements with the U.S. State Department. By “donating” space in privately owned homes and apartments, any restrictions on use of private property imposed by local governments, can be by-passed. One hundred offers for hosting have already been offered in New York. Airbnb has set a goal “of providing short-term housing over the next five years for 100,000 people in need.” Regulations put in place by the Nashville Metro Council have attempted to curtail the use of privately owned property for short-term rental use, whereas the Memphis City Council opted to take the cash and charge “extra space” hosts the same taxes and fees paid by hotels. Chattanooga’s city government requires specific zoning for short-term rentals except in the unincorporated parts of Hamilton County where only a special permit is required. Knoxville property owners must also secure special permits to profit from short-term hosting. None of the local government ordinances appear to address the scenario…

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Refugee Volunteers in Murfreesboro Say Government Contractor Didn’t Provide Resettlement Services

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

  During the March “Murfreesboro Muslim Youth” (MMY) meeting soliciting help for refugees brought to Rutherford County by federal resettlement contractor World Relief, it was disclosed that goods and services that the government paid for were not provided to the new refugees. According to Abdou Kattih, founder and president of MMY, were it not for his organization, special emergency needs such as getting medical care for the refugee who arrived with a broken jaw or simply providing household essentials and even clothing, would not have been addressed, explaining they had taken care of “someone that does not have literally anything but the clothes they had off of last month.” (See 1:47 mark of YouTube video clip below.)   Melissa Sohrabi, who merged her group “Roots for Refugees” with MMY, was more direct in detailing the deficiencies of the government contractor in this talk she delivered in March: There is an expectation of what should happen and there’s reality of what really does happen.  . . Why didn’t World Relief give them a table and chairs? Why didn’t they bring them a couch? What’s going on? . . . Not only did it not happen but if it did happen, those…

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Nashville Refugee Service Provider Siloam Health Uses Culturally Sensitive But Problematic Term ‘Female Circumcision’

Chris Alto

  Dr. Jim Henderson, medical director for Siloam Health Care Services, Inc., uses the terms “female circumcision” and female genital mutilation (FGM) interchangeably, responding to questions from The Tennessee Star about the state’s female FGM reporting law. Except, “female circumcision” has been rejected as an accurate description of the barbaric FGM practice by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the National Organization for Women, human rights organizations and perhaps most importantly, by anti-FGM activists  who were mutilated in their home countries like Jaha Dukureh, founder of Safe Hands For Girls: As an infant growing up in Gambia, I experienced Female Genital Mutilation. It took away a part of my femininity, my ownership to my body. Some girls, including my half-sister who died from complications from being cut, even lose their lives. Siloam Health serves as the Statewide Refugee Screening Coordinator for Tennessee and a primary care provider for refugees: As you may know, every refugee that’s resettled in Nashville passes through the doors of Siloam Health for his or her initial medical screening exams. Many of these refugees eventually become our primary care patients, and it is our privilege to get to know them over time as they become a vital part of…

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Siloam Health Chooses Not to Help Stop Female Genital Mutilation in Tennessee

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

  Working in partnership with Catholic Charities’ TN Office for Refugees, Siloam Health Care Services, Inc., headquartered in Nashville, serves as the Statewide Refugee Screening Coordinator for Tennessee and provides the initial domestic medical screening for refugees resettling in Middle Tennessee. Siloam also contracts with Christ Community Health Center in Memphis, and Cherokee Health Systems in Chattanooga and Knoxville to provide the medical screenings in East and West Tennessee where federal resettlement contractors are bringing refugees. Siloam has confirmed to the Tennessee Star that they do not screen for FGM as part of a refugee’s initial exam, and because Siloam says they don’t provide follow-up primary care for the refugees, they have no idea what the “actual prevalence of FGM among refugees” might be: Performing a pelvic exam is not a routine part of that first exam.  For that reason we can’t comment on how prevalent FGM is among the refugees that we screen.  Follow-up care (continuity of care or ongoing primary care) is with local TennCare practitioners in the county, so the actual prevalence of FGM among refugees may be known by others in our community. However, Siloam’s January 29, 2017, Facebook post expressly acknowledges the continuing medical-patient relationship with “many” of the refugees who…

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No Screening for Female Genital Mutilation Among Arriving Refugees in Nashville During Initial Medical Exam

Chris Alto

Siloam Health, staffed with full-time medical providers, is located in Nashville and operates as a “faith-based, volunteer-supported clinic for people with no health insurance and limited resources.” In 2012, Siloam estimated that eighty-six percent of its patients were foreign born. The health center contracts with Catholic Charities’ TN Office for Refugees to provide immunizations and initial medical screenings for refugees brought to Tennessee by the federal refugee resettlement contractors, but its medical director has no idea “how prevalent FGM is among the refugees that we screen.” Dr. Jim Henderson, Siloam’s medical director confirmed the health center follows the Center for Disease Control (CDC) “Domestic Medical Screening Guidelines for Newly Arrived Refugees” for the initial medical screening they provide and that: Performing a pelvic exam is not a routine part of that first exam.  For that reason we can’t comment on how prevalent FGM is among the refugees that we screen.  Follow-up care (continuity of care or ongoing primary care) is with local TennCare practitioners in the county, so the actual prevalence of FGM among refugees may be known by others in our community. The CDC offers twelve separate guidelines for a refugee’s initial medical screening including one for the “History and…

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Tennessee Department of Health Says Female Genital Mutilation Is Not Our Problem

Chris Alto

The Tennessee Department of Health’s (TDH) Mission Statement is to: [p]rotect, promote and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee….Protecting people’s health by preventing problems that contribute to illness, disease and injury is the overall emphasis of the department. As a matter of public health, however, it appears that the TDH does not consider that eradicating female genital mutilation (FGM) is part of their mission. A search of the TDH website and the wide variety of resources including reporting and training shows not a single reference or resource to FGM, even as an “adverse childhood experience.” Despite the estimated high risk to women and girls in Tennessee from FGM the TN Department of Health has elected not to address the threat as part of its mission. After learning about the twenty-one cases of FGM in Tennessee in 2011, The Tennessee Star asked the TDH whether any of those cases had been reported to any of the local or regional health departments and whether TDH was aware of any other incidents of FGM occurring after 2011. Without any additional comment, TDH responded by quoting back the 2012 FGM reporting law and underscoring the law’s mandate that law enforcement has an affirmative duty to receive and report when…

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Nashville To Teach Officials From Germany, Where Female Genital Mutilation Has Increased 40 Percent, How to ‘Welcome’ Immigrants

Chris Alto

Twenty-five “integration practitioners” from Germany will visit several U.S. cities in May, including Nashville, as part of the Welcoming Communities Transatlantic Exchange program to learn how immigrants  and refugees are welcomed and integrated (as opposed to assimilated) in these locations. As part of the exchange program, representatives from the U.S. will pay a reciprocal visit to Germany in November. As in Tennessee, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is illegal in Germany. However, increased and virtually unrestrained immigration to Germany from countries where FGM is commonly practiced, has, in two short years, resulted in a 40% increase in the number of women living in Germany who have been victimized by FGM. The government’s report notes that while most of the immigrants were mutilated before entering Germany, “the government highlighted an increased risk of the operations happening on home soil. According to the data, as many as 5,700 girls per year could be mutilated under current conditions.” Germany’s data shows that most of the FGM victims come from Eritrea, Somalia, Egypt, Ethiopia or Iraq, some of the same high prevalence FGM countries of the refugees brought to Nashville, the primary resettlement location for refugees in Tennessee. Data assembled by the Population Reference Bureau that shows…

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Refugee Resettlement and Illegal Immigration Driving Up Education Costs in Tennessee

Chris Alto
Refugees

The TN Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) is among the most aggressive opponents to the legislature’s constitutional challenge to the federal refugee resettlement program and to current and past legislative efforts to reduce illegal immigration to Tennessee.  However, TIRRC takes credit for “helping to pass a bill to increase statewide funding for English language learner (ELL) programs in public schools by $30 million.” As the legal and illegal immigrant population in Tennessee has grown, so has the cost to state and local taxpayers to teach non-English speaking students in the state’s public schools. State funding for English Language Learner (ELL) services in Tennessee public schools has increased annually bringing the 2012 $49 million up to $65.8 million in fiscal year 2016.  The required local share has increased from $21 million to $28.2 million during the same time. In September 2016,  Metro Nashville Public Schools sued the state wanting more money for ELL services, alleging that the state did not meet the Basic Education Program funding formula and as such, state funding was inadequate to pay for the proper ratio of students to teachers and translators. Tennessee Department of Education spokeswoman Sara Gast wrote that the state had provided $220 million in new…

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Randy Boyd Endorses ‘Partnership for a New American Economy’ Approach to Illegal and Legal Immigration

Chris Alto

Gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd is a named member of the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE). The PNAE has shortened its name to “New American Economy” but hasn’t changed its advocacy for comprehensive immigration reform which highlights the work ethic and perceived business ambitions of legal and illegal immigrants over native-born Americans. Founded in 2010, the PNAE is a powerful and well-funded coalition led by business leaders and chambers of commerce which formed to convince the public and policymakers that comprehensive immigration reform like the 2013 “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill would help grow the economy and create jobs for Americans. Included in PNAE’s “15 key economic issues of immigration reform in America” are: Supporting legal status for the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants which PNAE says pay taxes and do the jobs American citizens won’t do, and despite being in the country illegally, “even start their own businesses.” In a 2014 Wall Street Journal oped, PNAE co-founder Rupert Murdoch said that illegal immigrants who are already here should be provided a path to citizenship. Supporting resettlement of refugees who PNAE says that after living in the U.S. between 16-25 years are earning well above the income of refugees who have been here…

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