I noted yesterday that the Governor's office, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, SD Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the South Dakota and Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce testified against Senator Tapio's SB200 regarding the Refugee Resettlement program. Clearly we had special intersts who benefit from the program bringing to the table financial conflicts of interests. One of the proponents of SB200 was Leo Hohmann who wrote this:
My task Wednesday was to testify before the South Dakota Senate’s Committee on State Affairs in support of a bill introduced by Sen. Neal Tapio that would place a moratorium on refugees entering that state from any country that has been placed on a federal travel ban.
Any time a state pushes back against refugee resettlement it is a big deal, so I dropped everything and flew to South Dakota. This federal program has evolved over the decades from a legitimate humanitarian effort into a fraudulent operation whereby agencies like Lutheran Social Services serve as headhunters for industries looking for cheap Third World labor. The cost for U.S. communities has been devastating in terms of crime, terrorism and welfare abuse but the establishment of both parties will tell any lie necessary to keep the cheap labor flowing.
I saw them in action in South Dakota Wednesday and it left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Here is more on the fraudulent concern:
The Daily Caller uncovered evidence that refugee resettlement programs may be allowing public funds to be pocketed by charities. Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Phillip Parrish says there is little oversight on the refugee resettlement.
Refugee resettlement is setup so that funds are given directly to contractors depending on how many refugees they bring into the country (per head). There are nine primary resettlement contractors, known as VOLAGS who work with over 350 subcontractors known as affiliates. The way these organizations receive funding is through providing matching funds to the money the Refugee Resettlement Office, part of the office of Health and Human Services, is providing them. The VOLAGs must provide $1 for every $2 received for a refugee, receiving up to $2,200. So that would bring the amount donated by the VOLAG to $1,100, with some of this coming in the form of donated furniture, clothes, food and other goods, or volunteer time at a specified hourly rate, (at least a quarter must be cash donation though). The idea is that the vast majority of the money will be used on the refugee.
There appears to be no local oversight and no interest in oversight,” Parrish explained, “The contracted Volunteer Agencies (VOLAGs), which in reality are very well paid subcontractors are pocketing a large portion of the money. Many of the subcontractors only exist on paper and serve to launder money to other organizations. Some of these shell companies are actually funneling money to extremist organizations. This is based on my direct experience with law enforcement investigations.”
Here is where the fraud comes in. Many of the VOLAGs use unpaid volunteers to help refugees in various ways, including accompanying them to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a state id, job hunting, filling out applications, and searching for childcare. Many of these services that the volunteers are providing for free, however, are what the VOLAGs are supposed to be spending the per head funding they are receiving on.
Furthermore, much of the money that is being raised is coming from those who are volunteering. Being that the volunteers also pay for all their own expenses during their time with refugees it is curious where these funds are going.
I will work with Legislators to prohibit Minnesota agencies and programs from coming into contractual agreement with any resettlement persons or groups without legislative action and local consent,” Parish said, “I will end our participation in the Refugee Resettlement Program.”
Here is Finding 2017-004 from page 48 of a November 6, 2017 audit of Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, Inc.:
Passed Through Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
CFDA 19.510, SPRMCO16CA1002, 10/1/2015 – 9/30/2016
U.S. Refugee Admissions Program
Cash Management and Reporting
Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance
Effect: Inadequate documentation of controls over this area of compliance could result in a reasonable possibility that the Organization would not detect errors in the normal course of performing duties and correct them in a timely manner.
This is a similar kind of deficiency found in an audit of Gear Up that was not followed up on soon enough by officials of South Dakota's government. Seems to me it is now time for an Legislative Audit of Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota and immediate actions is needed in order to shed some light on what is going on with LSS of South Dakota in regard to federal and state grants. South Dakota does have a very sad history regarding its handling of federal grants.
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