Texas Governor Orders Private Charities To Refuse Help To Homeless Syrian Refugees

[doggie]

a great example of islamaphobia on refugees that are already in texas. 

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/11/21/texas-governor-orders-private-charities-to-refuse-help-to-homeless-syrian-refugees-video/

Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to the Heath and Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Public Safety directing them to inform all local volunteer agencies and organizations not to provide any aid to Syrian refugees in need of help. The letter could affect programs at organizations like Interfaith Ministries, Catholic Charities, and YMCA International Services, along with many others.  Wait – whatever happened to that “stay out of my business big government attitude?” Looks like that’s only the case when it’s politically convenient to do so.

In addition to being just plain wrong and evil, it might also be illegal, as well. While the Texas Governor maintains that his state will not take in any more refugees, there are still more than 210 that have been living there for the last 14 months. Even though there have been absolutely no links to terror attacks from these refugees, he wants to cut off private sources of help. It’s absurd.

Abbott is doing everything in his power on this. The only way he will foreseeably get away with it, is because the state doesn’t have to accept federal funding for the organizations that choose not to go along with his scheme. That’s the kicker. Even though they are private, they do live off of grants, too. According to immigration attorney Gordon Quan, it puts nonprofits trying to help in a bind:

 

[Mama Mia]

I worked as a non- profit director, providing social services for mostly very poor families. A large number of our clients were  undocumented immigrants. 

We would have to be very careful to use only private charity donations and not government sources of funding with these families. Non- profits have to separate different eligibility for sources all the time. For agencies that are largely government funded ( like mine ) it can be a huge challenge and greatly limit what's available -- but for primarily privately funded non- profits they are able to treat everyone more equally 

I can not imagine that a provider like Catholic Charities - which has a huge social justice stance and gigantic donor base - would care the tiniest bit about what that idiotic governor has to say. 

Eta: of course, I can only speak for my experience in my state. Large charities in other areas might have vastly different circumstances and political pressures. So if the local Catholic Chsrities Diocese are anti - Syrian immigrant - they might pressure the local organizations to comply with the governors order. Or withhold their own funding streams.

[Iamhispurity]

These people are fleeing from the exact same terror he is afraid of! They don´t want to terrorize us, they just want to live. That´s racism and islamophobia at its best. I am disgusted.

[nastyhobbitses]

Does he ever stop to think that one of the reasons many young men like the ones who carried out the attack in Paris are turning to extremism and violence is because they feel alienated and disenfranchised, and groups like ISIS offer a sense of community and respect that their adopted Western homes do not or will not? More to the point, does he even have any shred of humanity or compassion? Now, I have a policy of not wishing death on people, even if they're irredeemably horrible bigots without a shred of kindness for others in a terrible situation. So unto Greg Abbott, instead I wish these things:

May he always miss his exit whenever he's driving on the freeway to go home, adding 15 minutes to his commute home every single day.

May he suddenly develop a mild allergy to the fabric of his underwear, making his genitals itch at inopportune times.

May he misjudge every fart.

May every pair of shoes he ever buys from now on give him horrible blisters.

May the path rise to meet him, and may that path be riddled with dog poop wherever he steps.

May his Netflix subscription get cancelled, and any attempt he makes to get it reinstated result in a garbled message about credit card fraud.

May the person in front of him in any line he ever stands in have an extremely complicated order/issue that takes at minimum 7 minutes and the presence of a manager to resolve.

May the proprietors of all Middle Eastern restaurants and businesses in Texas collectively decide to deny him service.

May his children pick out a horrible nursing home for him when he is old, and may the Maxwell family make that nursing home their new ministry, and may he be forced to go to every one of their "hanging out with the elderly" sessions.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

What a fucking bastard.  I don't know which is worse: being anti-refuge because it is a popular political stance or being anti-refuge because he believes refuges are not worth helping.  Both are extremely anti-Christian ideas.  Read the Bible, jackass.

[prayawaythefundie]

Trying to think of a wise and sophisticated comment...

I can't. So here's my initial reaction:

WHAT THE FUCK?

[doggie]

[notfundy]

These Republican governors (mine included, Wisconsin) are such assholes.   

The process for being vetted as a refugee in the U.S. is already very lengthy (years) and very stringent.  If someone really wants to look thoughtfully at a process by which people enter our country, perhaps look at how we grant tourist visas (that process is less stringent, and imo, more possibilities for a bad guy/gal getting in).

My daughter is married to a Czech citizen (not a known terrorist country afaik) and the process they had to go through for his permanent legal residency was mind-boggling. 

And don't even get me started on Trump talking about Muslims having to wear some sort of identifying "badge" (Nazi Germany, anyone?) or being entered into a database (again, Nazi Germany)?

I agree - something has to be done about ISIS and its ilk . . .  they are surely determined to root out all the infidels in the west, but these refugees are fleeing ISIS and are in need of help.   I keep thinking that people are entitled to their own opinions but not to their own FACTS.   Ugh.   

 

[FrumperSeamstress]

What the actual fuck. 

[Granwych]

Sweet Jesus.  Just when I think that Texas cannot get any more Neanderthal-like, out comes this.  How can any state say such a thing?  Pick and choose their residents?  I hope that the federal government stands up to every governor, organization, whomever holds such a vow.  I am grateful to the governor of my state who has welcomed refugees from anywhere.

(Over forty years ago, my husband, his parents, and his siblings came to the USA from a small nation undergoing civil unrest and rioting.  Everyone old enough got jobs, and within two years the family was able to purchase a home.  Several of the family served in the armed forces.  I'm proud to be considered part of the family.)

 

[salex]

Given that drug gangs from Mexico are a more serious problem in Texas than Syrian terrorists, I'm trying to figure out WTF?  That said, I mentioned to a man in Texas years ago that the anti islamic rhetoric he was spewing on facebook sounded much like what the Germans were saying about Jews right before Kristallnacht.  

What I find amazing is the same paranoid people who are worried about the government intervening in their lives, or tracking their movements are jumping on the bandwagon for these data bases that track people by religion, etc.... If it is legal to track one group, it will be legal and eventually be used to track other groups.  First muslims, both immigrant and citizens, then other non christians and what, then the wrong kind of Christian or people who voted for the losing candidate?  

When I asked this question a few months ago, I was called "not a real Christian" and a "muslim lover"   so I'm guessing their answers meant I was correct.

 

 

[Lillybee]

Does he really expect Catholic Charities to disobey the Pope who said that it was the churches duty to aid these refugees?

[KnittingOwl]

Does he really expect Catholic Charities to disobey the Pope who said that it was the churches duty to aid these refugees?

Also, isn't the governor of Texas telling private (and possibly religious) charities what to do a violation of the separation of church and state? I thought that was so sacred. 

 

The whole thing makes me so incredibly angry. I can't help but think Jesus would be pissed too. 

[Mecca]

Long story short, Texas traded in one asshole governor for an even bigger asshole governor. 

[Lillybee]

It is a pity that Molly Ivins passed a few years ago. I would love to read her take on this.

[doggie]

Long story short, Texas traded in one asshole governor for an even bigger asshole governor. 

And we thought that would be hard to do.

[CyborgKin]

These people are fleeing from the exact same terror he is afraid of! They don´t want to terrorize us, they just want to live. That´s racism and islamophobia at its best. I am disgusted.

Seems like he's creating the exact same terror.

[nastyhobbitses]

And we thought that would be hard to do.

Somewhere, Rick Perry is doing a little fist-pump and whispering "yes, someone finally outdid me".

Seriously, I'm from the northeast, and the asshole politicians we tend to get are just corrupt, not actively callous on this level.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

Somewhere, Rick Perry is doing a little fist-pump and whispering "yes, someone finally outdid me".

Seriously, I'm from the northeast, and the asshole politicians we tend to get are just corrupt, not actively callous on this level.

You really ought to read up on Maine governor Paul LePage.  He's cornered the market on callous, dumb, and mean spirited.  

He's like a preview of a Trump presidency - and it makes me nauseated just thinking about it.

[Lillybee]

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+19:33-34

 

 

Has the Christian gov.of Texas ever read the bible?

[Howl]

Does he really expect Catholic Charities to disobey the Pope who said that it was the churche's duty to aid these refugees?

Greg Abbott is a Catholic married to a Latina.  One of his more successful campaign ads features his mother-in-law, who was the madrena at his wedding in a Catholic church, talking about what a great guy Greg is.   So, Catholic yes, but, you know, politics first! 

And yes LillyBee, I desperately miss Molly Ivins' incredible insight and cutting wit as the best commentary on Texas politics evah!  RIP, Molly. 

[FloraKitty35]

You really ought to read up on Maine governor Paul LePage.  He's cornered the market on callous, dumb, and mean spirited.  

He's like a preview of a Trump presidency - and it makes me nauseated just thinking about it.

Don't forget Chris Christie or Christie-lite Larry Hogan.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

Don't forget Chris Christie or Christie-lite Larry Hogan.

Chris Christie and Paul LePage are buddies.  It's . . . grotesque.

I try to avoid naming them - is like Betelgeuse.

[Mecca]

And we thought that would be hard to do.

Honestly, I am just happy to no longer live where Ted Cruz is one of my Senators. Now, that guy is flat out scary. Heck, Ted is so scary he even looks like Grandpa Munster. 

[ALM7]

 

Cute, however; my hope is we will make it our business.  Must we repeat an example in history...The MS St. Louis.