Daily Archives: January 13, 2021

WASHINGTON Three faith-based resettlement agencies say it will be easier to welcome refugees after a federal appeals judge ruled in their favor to block President Donald Trumps executive order allowing local and state officials to refuse refugees.

On Jan. 8, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the 2019 executive order, which required state and local governments consult with the federal government before acting on refugee resettlement, violated the 1980 Refugee Act. This decision upholds a preliminary injunction granted a year ago.

The three refugee resettlement agencies that filed the lawsuit Church World Service, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service are pleased that they will no longer need permission from localities to resettle refugees.

There was an outpouring of relief and excitement that we are entering a new era and returning to the U.S. being a beacon of hope and freedom, Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, told Sojourners

Vignarajah said her agency filed the lawsuit because they believed the executive order was an unconstitutional, illegal, and politically motivated move by the Trump administration to turn refugees into political pawns. The president does not have the legal authority to block refugees from resettling and receiving vital services in their new communities, Vignarajah said.

At a time when local government faces significant fiscal constraints, refugees represent a way to grow and rebuild our economy," she said."So I think it is such an important moment for us to reopen the gates and welcome those who are fleeing desperate circumstances from around the world.

Jen Smyers, director of policy and advocacy at Church World Service, told Sojourners she was sad the agency had to resort to suing the federal government in order to continue helping refugees.

You cannot discriminate against someone based on where they're from, she said.

Despite the executive order, 43 governors and over 100 local leaders had continued to allow refugees to resettledespite the executive order, Naomi Steinberg, vice president of policy and advocacy at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, told Sojourners.

The refugee resettlement program survived, Steinberg said. And so now we get to rebuild.

Not only will refugees be able to resettle because of the ruling, but they can apply for family members to join them. Also, more than 100 local resettlement offices that had to close because of Trump's refugee policies might be able to operate again, Smyers said.

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to raise the annual refugee cap to 125,000, much higher than the historic low of 15,000 that the Trump administration set for fiscal year 2021. Still, the agencies say theres much work to be done to reverse course on the hundreds of actions that the Trump administration undertook to dismantle the refugee resettlement program.

We know that there are thousands of people who have been vetted who have gone through every single security check, have been medically checked, and have been cleared to come to the United States through the resettlement program that have been unable to do so, Steinberg said.

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'The Refugee Resettlement Program Survived. And So Now We Get to Rebuild' - Sojourners

At long last, the Scottish Government have admitted our heroic NHS workers will be getting this money [the 500 thank-you payment] thanks to the UK Governments huge increases in spending,"Scottish Conservative shadow health spokesperson Donald Cameron.

To pay these well-deserved bonuses, the Scottish Government is using a contingency fund supplied as a result of Barnett consequentials derived from English spending increases. However, the payment was created by the Scottish Government, using funds that the UK Government has borrowed. An independent Scotland with its own borrowing powers could still makethese payments. The Tories in London are not to thank.

At the SNP conference in November, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced a 500 "thank-you"payment to NHS and adult social care workers, as a Christmas bonus in appreciation of their work during the pandemic emergency. She asked the UK Treasury to exempt this bonus from taxation but the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, refused.

Recently, former Labour MSP and GP Dr Richard Simpson OBE used the Freedom of Information legislation to ask where in the Holyrood budget the bonus cash was coming from? He also asked which services would be cut as a result?

According to subsequent reports: Nicola Sturgeons 500 bonus for NHS workers is being funded from an emergency extra health grant provided by the UK Government to tackle Covid-19. The First Minister unveiled the 180 million pledge at the SNPs virtual party conference in November but has faced a backlash.

READ MORE:FACT CHECK: Tory excuses over 500 NHS bonus simply don't add up

Under FOI rules, the Scottish Government is obliged to publish replies on its website. Thereply was actually published on the ScotGov website on December 18, 2020.

The actual ScotGov reply reads in part: The Scottish Government has been provided with 8.2 billion of Covid consequential support, which is allocated in Scotland according to need. The non-consolidated bonus has been funded from these consequentials via the overarching health allocation. Necessary funding is being made available to NHS Boards.

The reply goes on: Circa 330 million of funding has been allocated as contingency... The bonus is covered by this contingency.

In other words, nothing has been cut from existing services and nothing has been diverted from fighting the Covid-19 emergency.

Should the bonus money have been spent on something else, as Dr Simpson implies?

Health is a labour-intensive sector. As a result, in 2018-19, wages represented 53 per cent of all Scottish NHS revenue expenditure. As such, any increase in spending for the Scottish NHS (via normal or emergency Treasury grants) is bound to go in large measure to salaries.

The exact distribution of the increase in the salary bill (though wage rises, overtime payments, bigger staffing compliment, bonuses, or all four) is a political decision. But it is nonsense to argue that extra funding for the Scottish NHS during the pandemic going to salaries is somehow unusual or a misappropriation.

In response to the FOI, Scottish Conservative shadow health spokesperson Donald Cameron (educated at Harrow and Oxford), said: Nicola Sturgeon tried to play politics with this payment and her stunt completely backfired.

"At long last, the Scottish Government have admitted our heroic NHS workers will be getting this money thanks to the UK Governments huge increases in spending.

Cameron (below)is open to the charge of being hypocritical by claiming that the NHS bonus is only thanks to UK Government spending while simultaneously denouncing the bonus as a stunt.

He is also being misleading by implying the cash is somehow a beneficial gift from the UK Treasury.

On June 16, 2015, SNP MPs at Westminster put down amendments to the Budget Bill demanding that the Scottish Government at Holyrood be given full fiscal freedom to raise taxes and set spending. These amendments were both voted down by 309 votes to 60. The Westminster Tories cannot refuse fiscal autonomy to Holyrood and then claim credit for funding Scottish public spending as ifthey were making a gift.

Next, Scottish Government funding is partly based on home-generated income and partly on an annual Treasury grant. The latter is based on the so-called Barnett Formula whereby spending increases allected to England are passed on automatically to Scotland according to a formula based on population.

READ MORE:Jeane Freeman hits out at UK Governments 'political game' over Covid vaccine roll-out

Latterly, after devolution, these Barnett consequentials are governed by a complex formula that deducts earned income tax revenues generated in Scotland. Nevertheless, the substance of the Barnett system remains: if English ministers decree an increase in English departmental spending, a similar proportion by population is allocated to Scotland.

Any subvention to Scotland under the Barnett Formula (as per the increase in NHS spending under discussion here) is not a gift nor is it decided by Westminster for Scotland. It is an automatic consequence of an English spending decision.

Mr Cameron is wrong to imply that somehow the Westminster Tories were being kind to Scotland or Scottish NHS workers.

Finally, the extra money being spent by the UK Treasury does not come from borrowing. It is actually being created electronically by the Bank of England.

Inferring that the resulting Barnett consequentials represent some generous sacrifice towards Scotland on behalf of the Chancellor is absurd. If anything, the Chancellor could easily use the same method to fund wage increases for all frontline workers across the UK.

The Tories are at once trying to attack the payment and take credit for it, but any claims Scottish workers are getting a 500 gift "thanks to the UK Government" is misleading.

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Are the Tories in London to thank for the 500 Scottish NHS and carers payment? - The National

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 03: Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) questions Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta as he testifies during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the Labor Budget for Fiscal Year 2020, on Capitol Hill on April 3, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)

Washington, DC. Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-03) today released the following statement regarding the Article of Impeachment slated to be voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives tomorrow:

The President of the United States incited a riot aiming to halt the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next.That riot led to five deaths.People everywhere watched in disbelief as the center of American democracy was assaulted.The violent mob bludgeoned to death a Capitol police officer as they defaced symbols of our freedom.These terrorists roamed the Capitol, hunting the Vice President and the Speaker of the House.

Hours went by before the President did anything meaningful to stop the attack.Instead, he and his lawyer were busy making calls to senators who were still in lockdown, seeking their support to further delay the Electoral College certification.House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy describes pleading with the President to go on television and call for an end to the mayhem, to no avail.The President attacked Vice President Mike Pence on Twitter while Pence was in a secure room having fled from the mob that had breached the Senate floor threatening to hang him. Finally, the President released a pathetic denouncement of the violence that also served as a wink and a nod to those who perpetrated it: I love you, he said to them, you are special. More hours of destruction and violence ensued before law enforcement officials were finally able to clear the Capitol.

The Presidents offenses, in my reading of the Constitution, were impeachable based on the indisputable evidence we already have.I understand the argument that the best course is not to further inflame the country or alienate Republican voters.But I am also a Republican voter. I believe in our Constitution, individual liberty, free markets, charity, life, justice, peace and this exceptional country. I see that my own party will be best served when those among us choose truth.

I believe President Trump acted against his oath of office, so I will vote to impeach him.

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Herrera Beutler To Vote Yes On Impeachment - 750 KXL

On January 1, 2021, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which includes the Corporate Transparency Act (the CTA).1 The CTA requires all U.S. businesses to file beneficial ownership information with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). In sum, the CTA is designed to ban the anonymous shell companies that criminals and certain foreign officials use to hide and move corrupt proceeds and other illicit financing.

The CTA is the first significant update to the U.S. anti-money laundering laws in 20 years and gives FinCEN significant authority to adopt necessary regulations to implement the provisions of the CTA.

The CTA requires companies in the U.S. to file a report that provides the name, date of birth, current address, and unique identification number (from a passport or drivers license, for example) of the companys beneficial owner(s) to FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. This information must be updated every year to reflect any changes.

For purposes of the CTA, the reporting requirements are broad and apply to existing corporations, LLCs, and other similar entities as well as to new entities when they are formed. The CTA, however, provides exemptions for larger companies, heavily regulated companies, and companies that already provide information to a relevant government agency. The CTA explicitly exempts:

Under the CTA, a beneficial owner is an individual who, directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship, or otherwise:

There are five exceptions from the term beneficial owner:

The CTA defines applicant broadly as an individual who files an application to form an entity in the U.S. or, for a foreign entity, an individual who registers or files an application for the foreign entity to do business in the U.S. The terms file and register are not defined in the CTA, and this is an area where FinCEN is expected to provide relevant guidance.

The CTA contemplates different timing requirements for compliance based on the stage of entity formation and changes in beneficial ownership. The timing requirements are as follows:

The CTA contains numerous provisions regarding FinCENs data protection. FinCEN must store the information received in a private database not accessible to the public. Under the CTA, this information may only be released to:

The information is not available to the general public, nor can it be queried under the Freedom of Information Act. The information may only be used for law enforcement, national security, or intelligence purposes.

Violations of the CTA carry civil penalties of up to $500 for every day the violation continues and criminal fines up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment for up to two years. The unauthorized disclosure of information collected under the Act carries the same $500-per-day civil penalty but includes a higher criminal penalty of up to $250,000 and/or a higher maximum term of imprisonment of five years. Unauthorized disclosure includes both a disclosure by a government employee and disclosure by a third-party recipient of information under the CTA.

The CTA will impose new burdens on many entities operating in the U.S and is likely to have significant implications for foreign and domestic businesses. Clients should be aware of these new requirements and continue to monitor FinCENs regulations to further understand the full extent of their reporting obligations. Required compliance with the CTA does not start until January 2022, the deadline for Congress to enact the regulations. All companies potentially subject to the CTA should assess their application and, where appropriate, enhance their compliance processes to verify that the required information is being collected and reported to FinCEN in accordance with the CTA.

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1 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6395.

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What You Need to Know about the Corporate Transparency Act - JD Supra

Despite being in a global pandemic, essential low-wage workers, healthcare providers, knowledge workers and many others have continued to work. However, since the start of lockdowns in March, some 42 percent of the U.S. workforce has been from working home full-time.

The continued progression of COVID-19 has required many businesses to postpone their back-to-the-office dates to protect their workers and assuage their health concerns. Of the 42 percent of the workforce able to work remotely, some 73 percent would prefer not to go back due to fears over the disease's spread.

From Twitter to Amazon, major urban businesses have rolled out a variety of commuting policies as they contemplate going "back to the office." Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Shopify have shifted to permanent work from home arrangements for some, and Google will be working remotely until at least summer 2021.

Environmental researchers have warned that the unprecedented low-carbon levels due to stay-at-home orders could be followed by a surge in car usage as white-collar workers in densely populated urban areas attempt to evade public transportation. Climate scientists expect private vehicle usage to surpass pre-pandemic levels.

In May, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) issued an outright ban on public transportation, telling employees they had to take private cars to work. It was an appalling proposal, based on the false impression that public transit spreads coronavirus, and overturned just three weeks later. NYSE is still providing employees with reduced prices on parking, but the stock exchange hasnt conducted any studies or investigations of what increased car usage might have on Lower Manhattan.

Assuming the COVID vaccine eventually becomes widely available this spring or at least distributed at a pace more in line with global standards, employers and employees could have more freedom to set the terms of their return.

Elsewhere, Bloomberg Media offers large reimbursements for commuting into work up to $75 per day, or up to $1,500 in a given month. Its a perk likely meant to encourage the use of private cars. Policies that favor driving to work over mass transit show a disregard for congestion, air qualityand cities' overall livability. If every New Yorker consistently used private cars to commute to work, the city would be unlivable.

An expanding number of businesses, seeing no harm to their profitability from remote work, have arranged to switch to permanent work from home.

Lilac Nachum, a professor of international business at Baruch College, told me in an interview that the knowledge and innovation-based industries actually have the least to gain from working from home permanently. While many components of these jobs are the most straightforward to do online and could remain remote, a significant amount of creativity and innovation is lost without face-to-face interaction.

As Nachum notes, "What we've seen is that the knowledge economy has given a huge boom to the growth of cities. This interaction of people creates the necessary conditions for innovation, exchange of ideasand creativity. So for those kinds of industries, I think that it is extremely important to get back to work."

Considering that even the knowledge-based industries that work remotely need to bring people together, few industries can do well working entirely remotely. "I think we're left with a small number of jobs that can effectively be implemented remotely, which means companies basically have to prepare, should prepare for returning to the office. Fortunately, the vaccine is just around the corner," Nachum said.

Indeed, the knowledge industry has long been aware of the benefits of sustained in-person collaboration. Pre-pandemic, tech companies, including Google and Facebook, developed plans to create onsite housing at their campuses. Merging offices and housing has been hailed by some as the ultimate perk, a new type of "factory town," and a green solution to urban transportation problems by alleviating the burden of commuting.

However, these new company towns have led to new issues and exacerbated inequality. Under the current status quo, large tech companies have a habit of taking over their immediate areas by driving housing up, spurring gentrification, driving out long-time residents and increasing homelessness rates. This was the case in Seattle when Amazon moved its headquarters to the city with many of their workers living in close proximity and local businesses reliant on their more affluent workers patronage.

Regardless of whether such company towns benefit the environment by cutting back on commutes, although fraught with other political problems, the issue is relatively moot because creating a company town is not an option for the vast majority of firms.

By fall, most workers could be returning to traditional offices. Assuming the COVID vaccine eventually becomes widely available this spring or at least distributed at a pace more in line with global standards, employers and employees could have more freedom to set the terms of their return.

This year, public transit use in New York City has dipped as low as 80 percent. Many of us are less than enthusiastic about resuming our old commutes by bus and subway. Even though mass transit creates far fewer emissions per individual per kilometer than cars, people think subways and buses are major carriers for the disease even though no evidence supports this. Cars cause congestion, increase commute times for all and lead to urban sprawl.

Companies concerned with climate change could increase the appeal of transportation alternatives by developing new initiatives to discourage private vehicle use. Under this scenario, our badly under-used public transit might begin to come back from our fiscal deficit. Public, mass forms of high-density transportation are the future our climate relies on. Now more than ever, we need free, comfortable, easily accessible public transit to help us recover from both this health crisis and the climate crisis.

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What's in store for the future of commuting? | Greenbiz - GreenBiz

Douglas Clark|Amarillo Globe-News

On Tuesdayevening, the Refugee Language Project presented the inaugural Amarillo Refugee State of the Union event via a webinar.Organizers said the effort provided local partners with an opportunity to learn about Amarillos refugees in a comprehensive and empowering manner.

"I'm so excited to celebrate with you about the refugees communities of this city," saidRyan Pennington,Refugee Language Project executive director, during thewebinar, extending gratitude to Amarillo College, local churches, volunteers and varied donors. "It is complex. It is interesting and I have a lot to share with you."

The webinar, which lasted just more than anhour, offered an outline focusing on an introduction; definitions and statistics; the refugees of Amarillo; what organizations are already doing; what Refugee Communities are saying; and recommendations and methods of getting involved.

Pennington said the Refugee Language Project was founded in 2017 and from 2009 to 2016 he worked as a Field Linguist in New Guinea noting the organization's Mission Statement is removing language barriers, building leaders and cultivating community among refugees in the Texas Panhandle.

"Tonight is not about Refugee Language Project," Pennington said during the session. "Tonight is about the refugees of Amarillo, celebrating what all of us are doing together and informing you all so you can be empowered to be agents for change. Today's goals are to equip leaders to effectively engage the complex network of refugee communities in the city. And to amplify the voices of those refugees who shared with us at those meetings."

Pennington said when a person flees across an international border, they must seek official sanctuary by applying for asylum,which, he said,is the right to be recognized as a refugee,receive legal protection and material assistance.He said a refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality or political opinion. Per Pennington, war, as well as ethnic, tribal or religious violence are the leading causes of refugees today.

"Crucially, someone cannot just raise their hand and say 'I'm a refugee'," Pennington said. "It's a legal status. It must be registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. People who cross the southern border of Texas, for example, are not refugees unless they have sought asylum and had their case vetted."

After resettlement, refugees are accorded freedom of movement around the country, just like citizens, Pennington said. When they relocate, he said this is called secondary migration, noting relocation is often for the purpose of finding a job or reconnecting with family.

"The Texas Panhandle's low cost of living, job availability and stabilized population of refugee communities already here will continue to draw secondary migrants from around the USA," he said. "Even if Amarillo settled no refugees, you'd still have incoming refugees or former refugees in the form of secondary migration."

During the webinar, Pennington produced a chart depicting the trend of Amarillo refugees since 2010with a high of 767 in 2010, and in the fiscal year 2020, 113 refugees were settled in the city. He said the resettlementscome from two local agencies Refugee Services of Texas and Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle.

Pennington said more than 50% of Amarillo's refugees come from the continent of Asia and with regard to nationalities that have been resettled here, more than half since 2015 are from the nation of Burma, followed by Congo, Iran, Somalia and Afghanistan. Others include Rwanda, Brunei, Dominican Republic and Ethiopia.He said since 2018, Congolese have taken the lead over the last few years, with more than 50% of the resettlements, 214 individuals have been from the nation of Congo.Burma was represented with 135 individuals.

"I use the term refugee community to refer to specific immigrant communities composed primarily of people who initially came as refugees," Pennington said. "So anexample, locally, would be the Lao community. Even though a majority of the Lao people became citizens long ago and are therefore no longer refugees, their community experiences many of the same language and cultural barriers and social stigmas that current refugees do. So we use refugee community to communicate about those groups of people."

Pennington said resettlement agencies such as Refugee Services of Texas and Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle provide support services that include case management, career counseling, English education and many other social services during the initial five years after resettlement.He also noted the work of Mission Amarillo, Speiro Legacies and Square Mile for mentoring endeavors, as well as individuals making significant contributions.

The following recommendations were offered duringthe webinar:

Local leaders and local partners collaborate to establish a Refugee Community Leadership Council where leaders can address their own overlapping needs; share their specific needs with city leaders; hear from local leaders about programs, initiatives and concerns and raise youth as future leaders.

Local partners collaborate to open a community center where cultures can be celebrated; community gatherings can be held; classes and tutoring can be offered and a handicraft market can be operated to help foster some of the needs of the refugee communities.

New partners rise up to engage refugee communities by forming a business development program where new businesses are incubated; business mentorships are fostered; business English can be taught and new farming initiatives can be explored.

Organizations in Amarillo offer English as a Second Language instruction.

Mother tongue education be promoted wherever possible by providing literacy materials in heritage languages.

Supporting grassroots educational initiatives such as Chin language classes.

Refugee Language Project officials said a recording of the webinar can be access via the organization'swebsite athttps://refugeelanguage.org/state-of-the-union/ or on its Facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/RefugeeLanguageProject/

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Amarillo Refugee State of the Union event presented - Amarillo.com