Friday, February 13, 2009

A clarification on the Migration and REfugee Assistance Act of 1962

Is Obama Opening the Floodgates for Hamas?

A Clarification from Brigitte Gabriel and ACT for America.org

Dear Friends ,

Yesterday we emailed you information regarding President Obama’s presidential memorandum authorizing $20.3 million in funds to help Palestinians under the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962. In that email we raised the question as to whether or not some of these Palestinians could end up “migrating” to the United States.

There have been some postings on the web that are maintaining that Obama’s action will lead to a mass immigration of Palestinians into the U.S. One posting we know of asserts that this is in error because the fund in question is for “migrating” not “immigrating.”

Here’s an excerpt from that post: “Just to be sure, I talked to an official at the State Department. He said the fund in question, known as ERMA (the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance fund), is run out of the White House. That is, the president has discretion to use it for what he determines are emergencies. It is for providing funds for people in place — that is, where they are in need in other countries, not here. He pointed out that “migration” is not the same as “immigration.” It means people moving around, that’s all.”Based on what we can ascertain, it does appear that what the official at the State Department is saying is correct about the intent of the program, and that no Palestinians will end up “migrating” to the U.S. as a result. But given the history of the State Department, you’ll understand if we’re a bit skeptical of an explanation that comes from a State Department official. We hope what the State Department official said proves to be true, but only time will tell if in fact any Palestinians are somehow able to use this program as a springboard to immigrate to the United States.

On a Palestinian-related issue, this week we delivered to UN Secretary-General Bank Ki-moon our petition calling for an investigation of Hamas’ treatment of children in Gaza. We want to thank each of the nearly 9,000 people who signed the petition.

1 comment:

  1. Not to bust anyone’s bubble, but the State Dept. “Media Note” is not the Presidential Determination…..

    From the original release from the U.S. Government. Please note the following;

    $20.3 million from the United States Emergency

    Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose
    of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration
    needs, including by contributions to international,

    governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and
    payment of administrative expenses of Bureau of
    Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department
    of State, related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian
    refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.

    Verb; “Include” [including]

    Add as part of something else; put in as part of a set, group, or category

    “We must include this chemical element in the group”

    Nowhere in the document was the phrase “limited to” or “to be used only for”, as would be expected if the funds were earmarked only for tthe use of the HAMAS Government of Gaza, within the borders of their terror-state.

    On a totally different site, that of the Dept. of State, there has been published a “Media Note” alluding to the breakdown of HAMAS funding by Obama, and references to past contributions to the listed terrorist government of HAMASISTAN

    Again, the OFFICIAL Presidential Determination did not indicate that the intended use of Refugee Migration and Resettlement funds was to be limited to helping the HAMAS terror-state within their own borders.

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