Nikki Haley Sued Over Refugee Resettlements

LAWSUIT AIMS TO BLOCK CONTROVERSIAL PROGRAM 

S.C. governor Nikki Haley and one of her cabinet agencies have been named as defendants in a lawsuit aimed at stopping the taxpayer-subsidized influx of refugees in the Palmetto State.

The suit – filed on behalf of Walter “Brian” Bilbro – seeks to put the kibosh on this hugely controversial program, which imposes immediate and long-term financial obligations on South Carolina taxpayers (hence our opposition to the resettlements).

The program also poses legitimate security concerns – as evidenced by the involvement of refugees in the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.

Bilbro’s attorney is Lauren Martel – who filed a cease and desist motion against the U.S. State Department last September on behalf of Upstate, S.C. political operative Michelle Wiles.

Haley and her scandal-scarred S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) are named in the legal action – along with a Lutheran ministry and “World Relief of Spartanburg,” the organization we exposed in this exclusive report last April.

Previous resettlement campaigns couched as “evangelical” efforts have in reality been front groups for liberal campaigns like the National Immigration Forum – a group that’s received funding from organizations affiliated with billionaire liberal financier George Soros.  In fact one of the groups receiving funding from Soros – the so-called “Evangelical Immigration Table” – has a South Carolina presence.

World Relief – whose top executive makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year – received $38.8 million of its $56.8 million budget (roughly 68 percent, according to 2012 data) from taxpayer-funded grants.   Beyond the initial government subsidization of these settlements, taxpayers are also placed on the hook for ongoing expenses related to education, housing, health care and other basic needs.

“We are called and mandated to care for the poor, the helpless, and the vulnerable,” the group says on its website.  “It is not someone else’s job. It is in great part the responsibility and the privilege of God’s people.”

We’re not going to argue that point … however we will continue to argue (strenuously) that this “responsibility” and “privilege” cannot be imposed on taxpayers who are already struggling to get by as it is.

“This website is all for compassion,” we wrote recently.  “And those who wish to come out of their own pockets to provide cradle-to-grave support for refugees ought to be allowed to do so.  But as we’ve noted repeatedly over the last few months, compassion cannot be compulsory.”

And even if it could be made compulsory … this nation (and particularly this state) cannot afford it.

Nonetheless, Haley has been financially supporting these resettlements through the SCDSS budget – even though she was specifically enjoined from doing so by budget writers in the S.C. General Assembly.  In fact she has continued to support the resettlements even in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.

Hopefully that will be corrected in the current version of the state budget.

Bilbro’s case against Haley is already drawing national attention, with one conservative activist citing the “clear and present danger” of the refugee resettlements as well as “the economic burden placed on the backs of hard-working citizens.”

“Mr. Bilbro, in my thinking, is doing the only thing left for him to do when faced with legislators who do not listen or vote in ways that would protect American citizens,” Dr. Rich Swier wrote on his website.  “In fact, after reading this lawsuit, I conclude that any legislator or elected official who isn’t actively seeking to stop the Refugee Resettlement program fails in their Constitutional duty to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for their constituents.”

We concur …

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