To The Citizens of Radford, Virginia
To The Citizens of Radford, Virginia June 29, 2016
Over the past few weeks, two important meetings were held in Radford. The subject of both was to introduce Radford to the refugee resettlement program under the auspices of Commonwealth Catholic Charities, a sub-contractor for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The USCCB is a federal contractor in the business of resettling refugees in your community. Both meetings were conducted in local churches and sought volunteers to help with the resettlement activities.
Let’s start with some facts: who are these people, what are they doing here and why Radford?
USCCB is a federal contractor in the business – and yes, it is a business – of resettling refugees under the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Virginia Office of Newcomer Services. Much of their funding comes from federal grant money allocated to Virginia and passed through the Virginia ONS. Voluntary Agencies (VOLAGs) such as the USCCB are paid by the head. In other words, the more refugees they resettle, the more money they receive. Given this business model, there is no incentive for any VOLAG to stop resettling refugees in your community. Once it starts, it will not stop until either your community can’t shoulder any more or you stop it.
Yes, they are talking about only bringing in two families. But this is how it always starts. Look to your neighbors in the north in Roanoke to understand what awaits you. Roanoke has accepted close to 2,000 refugees over more than ten years from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Pakistan, Republic of South Sudan, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and Vietnam.
And that number – 2,000 – is only the direct and initial refugee resettlement. It does not include secondary migration ...
Posts
