Thread: Midwestern towns trying to cope with large numbers of refugees

From 2015.

Midwestern towns trying to cope with large numbers of refugees

Posted by Ann Corcoran on March 23, 2015

I’m speechless! After years of reading one fluffy-puffy piece after another about refugees seeing their first snow, we are beginning to see major mainstream publications (Christian Science Monitor in this case) reporting on the struggle small towns are having with the huge numbers of refugees the US State Department and its contractors*** are dispersing across America.

Pay attention Spartanburg, SC and any other town contemplating “welcoming” refugees!

The NYT might still be hiding the source of the influx by not reporting on the refugee program, but other media is not so deceptive.

By the way, I expect every person who read the NYT story yesterday, scratched their heads and wondered how so many Somalis got here!

From the Christian Science Monitor entitled, ‘For small-town America, new immigrants pose linguistic, cultural challenges:’

In 2012, Burmese children drowned near Marshalltown resettlement site.http://forefugees.com/2012/07/07/thr...halltown-iowa/

Marshalltown, Iowa — The voice was frantic – and unintelligible to the 911 dispatcher. “Ma’am, I cannot understand you,” she said. After 80 seconds, one word leapt out: “Riverview.”

On a warm July evening in 2012, while Marshalltown, Iowa, celebrated Independence Day, three refugee children from Myanmar (Burma) drowned in the Iowa River. The drownings at Riverview Park cast a grim light on the challenges facing both the city and its newest immigrants, most of whom spoke little English and had scant understanding of life in their new home – including the perils, known to more established residents, of the river’s treacherous currents. [Where was their resettlement contractor which should have been assimilating the refugees to their new home?–ed]

“Many towns are struggling to cope!”

For two decades, rural communities across the Midwest have been finding ways to absorb Latino immigrants. Now, a new generation of immigrants arriving from far-flung places such as Myanmar, Somalia, Iraq, and West Africa has brought a bewildering variety of cultures and languages. Many towns are struggling to cope.

Again, speechless, a reference to the meatpackers wanting refugee labor (see our 2008 post about Clinton bring Bosnians to Iowa for the meatpackers):

Experts say the changing face of immigration in the rural Midwest reflects stricter federal enforcement. Tighter border security has slowed the influx of immigrants from Latin America entering the United States illegally.Meanwhile, the meatpacking industry has looked to refugees, who enjoy legal status, as a way of avoiding problems with undocumented Hispanic workers.

By the way, they don’t say it here, but due to a Clinton Executive Order that Bush did not rescind, local governments (you the taxpayers!) or any agency getting any federal funding is required to supply interpreters for the myriad languages and dialects the refugees bring to your town!

Much of the difficulty surrounding the new immigration is linguistic. Language barriers complicate services from law enforcement to health care. Ms. Beach recalls a school expulsion hearing that required two interpreters – the first to translate from one dialect of Myanmar to another, the second to translate into English.

See Ten Things your town needs to know before ‘welcoming’ refugees. See also our archive on ‘Meatpackers changing the face of small town America’ with their insatiable appetite for cheap labor.

*** Nine major federal contractors. Go here for a list of all the State Department subcontractors working in a town near you!

• Church World Service (CWS)
• Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC)
• Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM)
• Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
• International Rescue Committee (IRC)
• US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)
• Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS)
• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
• World Relief Corporation (WR)

https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wor...s-of-refugees/

Bush could have rescinded this Executive Order. There is no "law
" that says the US has to provide interpreters, Just Bill Clinton's decree that is part of the long range Democrat plan to flood this country with foreign immigrants to dilute the conservative population. JMO

Federal RegisterVol. 65, No. 159Wednesday, August 16, 2000Title 3—

The President Executive Order 13166 of August 11, 2000

Improving Access to Services for Persons With LimitedEnglish Proficiency

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and thelaws of the United States of America, and to improve access to federallyconducted and federally assisted programs and activities for persons who,as a result of national origin, are limited in their English proficiency (LEP),it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Goals.The Federal Government provides and funds an array of services thatcan be made accessible to otherwise eligible persons who are not proficientin the English language. The Federal Government is committed to improvingthe accessibility of these services to eligible LEP persons, a goal that reinforcesits equally important commitment to promoting programs and activities designedto help individuals learn English. To this end, each Federal agencyshall examine the services it provides and develop and implement a systemby which LEP persons can meaningfully access those services consistentwith, and without unduly burdening, the fundamental mission of the agency.Each Federal agency shall also work to ensure that recipients of Federalfinancial assistance (recipients) provide meaningful access to their LEP applicantsand beneficiaries. To assist the agencies with this endeavor, the Departmentof Justice has today issued a general guidance document (LEP Guidance),which sets forth the compliance standards that recipients must followto ensure that the programs and activities they normally provide in Englishare accessible to LEP persons and thus do not discriminate on the basisof national origin in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,as amended, and its implementing regulations. As described in the LEPGuidance, recipients must take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful accessto their programs and activities by LEP persons.

Sec. 2. Federally Conducted Programs and Activities.Each Federal agency shall prepare a plan to improve access to its federallyconducted programs and activities by eligible LEP persons. Each plan shallbe consistent with the standards set forth in the LEP Guidance, and shallinclude the steps the agency will take to ensure that eligible LEP personscan meaningfully access the agency’s programs and activities. Agencies shalldevelop and begin to implement these plans within 120 days of the dateof this order, and shall send copies of their plans to the Department ofJustice, which shall serve as the central repository of the agencies’ plans.

Sec. 3. Federally Assisted Programs and Activities.Each agency providing Federal financial assistance shall draft title VIguidance specifically tailored to its recipients that is consistent with theLEP Guidance issued by the Department of Justice. This agency-specificguidance shall detail how the general standards established in the LEPGuidance will be applied to the agency’s recipients. The agency-specificguidance shall take into account the types of services provided by therecipients, the individuals served by the recipients, and other factors setout in the LEP Guidance. Agencies that already have developed title VIguidance that the Department of Justice determines is consistent with theLEP Guidance shall examine their existing guidance, as well as their programsand activities, to determine if additional guidance is necessary to complywith this order. The Department of Justice shall consult with the agenciesin creating their guidance and, within 120 days of the date of this order,VerDate 112000 11:37 Aug 15, 2000 Jkt 190000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 4705 Sfmt 4790 E:\FR\FM\16AUE0.SGM pfrm07 PsN: 16AUE050122 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 159 / Wednesday, August 16, 2000 / Presidential Documentseach agency shall submit its specific guidance to the Department of Justicefor review and approval. Following approval by the Department of Justice,each agency shall publish its guidance document in the Federal Registerfor public comment.

Sec. 4. Consultations.In carrying out this order, agencies shall ensure that stakeholders, suchas LEP persons and their representative organizations, recipients, and otherappropriate individuals or entities, have an adequate opportunity to provideinput. Agencies will evaluate the particular needs of the LEP persons theyand their recipients serve and the burdens of compliance on the agencyand its recipients. This input from stakeholders will assist the agenciesin developing an approach to ensuring meaningful access by LEP personsthat is practical and effective, fiscally responsible, responsive to the particularcircumstances of each agency, and can be readily implemented.

Sec. 5. Judicial Review.This order is intended only to improve the internal management of theexecutive branch and does not create any right or benefit, substantive orprocedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United States,its agencies, its officers or employees, or any person.

THE WHITE HOUSE,August 11, 2000.œ–
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2000-08-16/pdf/00-20938.pdf