Friends of Refugees

A U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program Watchdog Group

Archive for the ‘Annual Report to Congress’ Category

ORR Finds Time to Revamp Website While 3 Years Behind On Annual Reports to Congress

Posted by Christopher Coen on February 22, 2012

Yesterday, the ORR put out a PR-like statement about the launch of its new website (see below). Last year at this time the ORR was three years behind on its annual report to congress. I wrote to my senator to ask how much longer the congress was going to tolerate this and his office said that they were promising to get one report out quite soon (the FY 2008 report came out in May 2011) and then a second one would be out some months after that (FY 2009 still not released). It seems like congressional offices are more than satisfied with these type of responses (a mere positive sounding answer somehow instills trust). Now, a year later the ORR is right back to where it was – three years behind on these reports, hence, this question: how did they find all the time to revamp the website, which now includes testimonials from happy refugee clients, when they are not fulfilling other basic responsibilities?

Greetings,

The Office of Refugee Resettlement is pleased to introduce you to…ORR’s new home page, where you will find the latest ORR news, stories of those who have participated in our programs and links to useful resources. From refugee assistance to anti-trafficking in persons, this new website features grantees and participants who are part of the growing ORR family, providing new populations with the opportunity to maximize their potential…

Thank you for your continued interest in the work of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Eskinder Negash

Director

Posted in Annual Report to Congress, ORR | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

ORR’s Report to Congress for 2008 finally available

Posted by Christopher Coen on May 18, 2011

The ORR has finally released its mandated Report to Congress for fiscal year 2008 — two-and-a-half years late.

Posted in Annual Report to Congress, ORR | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

ORR stonewalls on contractor’s violation of regulation prohibiting worship using government funding

Posted by Christopher Coen on February 14, 2011

ORR director -- Eskinder Negash

Last March I blogged about the issue of World Relief Seattle refusing to hire a Muslim man who volunteered with them as an interpreter because he “might not feel comfortable while they prayed at staff meetings.” But regulations supposedly prohibit using government funding for any form of worship (praying at staff meetings in a public program resettling refugees). Oops.

I wrote to the Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Ken Tota (ORR director Eskinder Negash’s second in command) last April and asked them to look into World Relief and Catholic Charities’ announcements that they would be discriminating in hiring based on religious affiliation.

After waiting two months and getting no response I wrote to Mr. Tota again on June 10, 2010 and asked for an update. Mr. Tota finally responded on June 22, 2010 and wrote that the ORR would be conducting an investigation (now more than two months after my complaint) and that I “should not hesitate to contact [him] should [I] have questions or follow-up concerns in this regard.”

Then, four more months went by with no response from Mr. Tota or anyone else at the ORR, so, once again, I wrote to Mr. Tota on October 19, 2010 asking for an update. Mr. Tota wrote back on November 2, 2010 and claimed that his agency needed at least two more months to close its “investigation”, and said that he would send me the conclusions by late December. December came and went.

On January 20, 2011 I wrote to Mr. Tota yet again to find out what was happening. No response. On February 8, 2011 – almost one year after my original complaint – I wrote again to Mr. Tota to ask what was happening. Again, he has not responded.

This Hosni Mubarak Egyptian-regime-style of responsiveness, accountability and transparency shows me that the ORR does not take its responsibilities seriously, and apparently views the public, whom they supposedly serve, as nothing more than an irritant. Of course, this is an agency that has also refused to release to the Congress their annual reports for 2008, 2009 and 2010, even though the law requires it.

It’s clear that laws and regulations don’t seem to matter much to these federal agencies or these public servants. How do we explain to refugees that their new country of residence has government agencies as non-accountable to the people as the governments they have escaped from?

Posted in ORR, World Relief, faith-based, religion, Islamic, Christian, evangelical, funding, Catholic, discrimination in hiring, openess and transparency in government, Seattle, Annual Report to Congress | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Proposed Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2011 Report To the Congress

Posted by Christopher Coen on October 26, 2010

The Obama administration determined that refugee admission numbers for fiscal year 2011 will be 80,000 refugees. A detailed report to Congress can be found at the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center (RPC) website – Proposed Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2011 Report To the Congress.

According to the requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act the report must contain detailed information on various aspects of the refugee admissions program including “An analysis of the anticipated social, economic, and demographic impact of their admission to the United States”. The Act requires that this information be submitted before the start of the fiscal year. Curiously they footnoted this requirement with the following statement.

Detailed discussion of the anticipated social and economic impact, including secondary migration, of the admission of refugees to the United States is being provided in the Report to the Congress of the Refugee Resettlement Program, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Department of Health and Human Services.  

Sort of sounds like the ORR is simultaneously issuing a report to Congress for FY2011, doesn’t it? Yet, the ORR has not furnished Congress with a refugee report since fiscal year 2007! This seems to be some pretty serious flouting of the requirements. Of course this is hardly surprising in light of all the other violations of requirements that refugees discover once they arrive in the U.S. during their initial resettlement process.

Posted in Annual Report to Congress, Congress, ORR, RPC (Refugee Processing Center) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

 
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