Lutheran Social Services is one of the biggest players in the refugee resettlement space. And refugee resettlement is one of the biggest players in the migration and terrorism space. Opponents of national demographic transformation have been regular critics of Lutheran Social Services. But now the Afghans that LSS is supposed to be resettling are also coming forward with some interesting allegations about how the actual organization distributes its resources and services.
More than two dozen interviews with Afghan clients of the agency, current and former employees and volunteers who work closely with the organization uncovered stories about multiple failures to perform services.
Some employees, sources say, have provided inadequate food, housing and other services to refugees and played favorites among clients. They also say some staff have failed to securely store sensitive documents, falsified case notes, skimmed funds from petty cash and paid questionable bonuses to employees.
What US News can’t quite come out and say in its voluminous article is that LSS hired Afghans to do the grunt work of social services and they’re doing what most in a tribal society do, skimming money and helping out their family members.
“You just scratch your head going, ‘Is anybody watching this office? Is anybody auditing them?’” says Ted Vinatieri, a pastor at Pillar Church in Stafford, Virginia, and one of several volunteers who expressed apprehension about the treatment of Afghan refugees by Lutheran Social Services.
Concerns about the agency have already made their way to the federal government, where the Department of State monitors refugee resettlement during the first few months after their arrival. Individuals close to Lutheran Social Services have reached out to the State Department, which is now investigating claims about client mistreatment.
One of those individuals reached out to the FBI with concerns, and the law enforcement agency has contacted at least one former and one current employee to discuss their experiences. The FBI would not confirm whether there is an official investigation.
There has to be some bad stuff going on to justify this level of involvement. The article doesn’t quite justify that. But what it lays out is a familiar story.
In late June, Amir, a Lutheran Social Services client and former member of the Afghan special forces, is sitting behind his coffee table in his sparsely furnished apartment in Hyattsville, Maryland. As his toddler darts in and out the room, he holds up his phone and shows his text message exchanges with his caseworker.
“Hello brother,” he starts out each text, before asking for help with things like rent, a bus card and English-language classes. The caseworker doesn’t always respond, but when he does, it’s with phrases like, “in a meeting” or “will call you back.” The problem, according to Amir, is that he never does.
“Hello brother” would suggest he’s talking to a fellow Muslim and/or Afghan.
One current employee says they saw a caseworker give a family of seven $200 in cash, had them sign a receipt and later wrote on it that the family had been given $700.
Another current employee says they have gone through several audits, including annual financial audits and monitoring by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the parent organization. In the weeks before each audit, which they tell U.S. News are “very easy to pass,” they say some staff members forged client signatures on receipts and other documents to be compliant. Whether or not the services were actually provided to refugees, the employee says, was unclear.
“What they do is they quickly call the families and see what they are missing. They sometimes provide it right before the audit – a day before. … I, myself, dropped off furniture almost in the middle of the night – at 10 p.m. – because the auditor was coming at 8 a.m. to see and check the furniture.”
Whether or not a family receives something as basic as a couch can come down to their position on a hierarchy determined by Lutheran Social Services staff, sources say. Refugees and volunteers say some staff members, who are mostly well-educated Afghans, can be dismissive of Afghan refugees who struggle to read and write or who speak a different first language. Sources say refugees with strong U.S. ties, and those savvy enough to leverage them, are often the ones who get the most attention: prompt responses to their questions, rent paid beyond the required three months, new furniture, funds from the petty cash box.
Current staff members said there’s another factor that can give refugees an advantage: sharing the same last names as staff.
“Some clients who are relatives are getting better services,” one current employee says plainly. They reported seeing relatives get more rent, more cash, better furniture, more job assistance and more Uber trips for transportation.
A member of another organization helping Afghan refugees says they saw nepotism firsthand. Their organization was working with Lutheran Social Services to do home setups, using private donations to ensure families had furniture, basic house supplies, food and other necessities they needed when they first arrived. Lutheran Social Services would flag needy homes for them, but half of the time, they say, the group would show up to find that homes flagged as needy often had more than enough supplies.
“A handful of times, that person would turn out to be a relative of a case manager or employee,” they say. (Lutheran Social Services declined to comment on some of these claims, but said its legal investigators did not find evidence to sustain allegations that its case management team treats clients differently based on their ethnic backgrounds.)
While sources say well-connected Afghans see their complaints addressed quickly, others are said to be ignored, dismissed or even threatened if they share their concerns.
Two refugee families told U.S. News they’d been instructed by the same caseworker not to complain to the media about their treatment by Lutheran Social Services. A father with a young child was so worried during his interview with U.S. News that he closed his window blinds, nervously peeking outside to see if anyone was watching. One of the families said the caseworker also told them they would be deported by the State Department if they complained.
I don’t know what anyone else expected. This is Afghanistan. And most of the Muslim world where everything operates around clan/tribe/family. Corruption and theft are routine. We couldn’t run anything in Afghanistan because of this sort of thing. Why did anyone think that putting a lot of money into the hands of Afghans to resettle Afghans would work any differently?
Beyond Afghans being Afghans, Lutheran Social Services was enthusiastically throwing a lot of taxpayer money around.
It was, in fact, common for staff to receive thousands of dollars in bonuses, even in a single two-week pay period, Floyd says. She says she processed one paycheck in which a single employee earned a $9,000 bonus. Over three months, she says she processed more than $100,000 in the surge stipends. She recalls an employee who was so confused by her pay bump that she called HR just to make sure there hadn’t been an error.
Floyd also expressed concern about an issue several other current and former staff members mentioned to U.S. News: insufficient accounting of community donations, which, like refugees, were flowing in at levels not seen in decades.
“Everybody wanted to be a part of the cause, and not just with the money, but with the physical donations,” she says. “They had everything: cribs, laptops, iPads, gift cards of $5,000.”
The problem, she says, was that there were no records of how many donations were received, or who ended up receiving them. Theoretically, in other words, anyone could have taken the items home.
One employee of Lutheran Social Services says that they did indeed see theft, albeit on a small scale. A handful of employees, they say, sometimes took home donations meant for refugees, including gift cards, backpacks, toys, home items and hygiene supplies. They say some staff used the Uber account meant for refugee transportation for personal errands.
The same employee says a senior staff member in one office treated the petty cash box like his own “personal cash box,” taking money out to pay for his wife’s shoes.
Don’t worry, they’re just modeling the behavior that they learned from the best.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is led by Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, a Washington insider who previously served as policy director for Michelle Obama and as senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry.
Hillary Clinton is the best role model that anyone could ask for.
Infidel says
Are there any Christian denominations that don’t take “Love your enemy” to its most ridiculous conclusion?
somehistory says
Yes, there are some, but I’m not going to name them. They wouldn’t want the attention.
CogitoErgoSum says
Obviously there are Christians who don’t even know who the enemy is. We assume that the keeper of the inn to which the Good Samaritan took the robbed and wounded man was a decent person and used the money he was given for the purpose intended. The story does indicate that the Samaritan would return later with more money if it was needed. We don’t know whether the innkeeper was an honest person or not or what happened when the Samaritan returned. It’s left to us to assume that the innkeeper was an honest and trustworthy man.
To go along with this story of the Good Samaritan I would keep in mind something else Jesus told his followers. He mentioned not giving a snake to a little child when the child is hungry and in need of a fish In this case the Christians do not recognize the difference between a snake and a fish. Another thing that Jesus said is that man shall not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Those who call themselves Christians should know these things but many have neglected their own souls to the point of starvation and they are now of no help to others at all.
somehistory says
Yes, the first obligation of a Christian is to “seek first the Kingdom,” and if one does this, “all other things will be added.”
Jesus also said not to give what is “holy to dogs or throw pearls before swine.”
Christians are to preach the Kingdom and do good…:first to those ‘in the Lord.”
but, as you say, most don’t know and understand the basics of being a Christian. Many see themselves as “Good Samaritans” without even knowing what Jesus was trying to make us understand.
CogitoErgoSum says
Yes, it does no good to gain the world and lose your soul … but it seems to me most Christians focus their attention on the things of this world alone. It still amazes me how few Christians understand the Bible, let alone how few Muslims understand the Koran. I can’t say I myself understand everything, but I do know when somebody is trying to hand me a snake instead of a fish and telling me to eat it.
somehistory says
Too true. And no one of us understand everything. that is one reason we are told that the “light grows brighter until the day is firmly established.” It’s kind of like taking a drive where one has never been before, seeing something in the distance, and when close, it begins to become clearer; but until one has actually passed by and seen all sides can it be truly understood as to what it is.
It might appear to be a big red barn, but when seen on all sides, it’s only a sign advertising a barn builder.
Jesus said we need to “seek” and that involves actually looking, thinking, searching and that takes time and energy most people don’t want to expend. And many don’t know how it’s to be done.
gravenimage says
Yes–all too many Christians hoping to be charitable are importing the most violent thugs, a danger to us all.
somehistory says
This is just more insanity from a whole world going insane. Putting mozlums in charge of money that is labeled with a name associated with Christianity is way too insane for anyone to expect things would go right or smoothly.
People pocketing money or items meant for another is theft Theft is not only against the laws of the land, but is against Christian commandments. Lying, deceit, and other things these people are doing, are also going against Christian commandments.
mozlums are not taught Christian commands or even the principles of Christianity. Principles teach a person to make **right** decisions when no actual command against something or in favor of something is laid out in plain language.
the news would be that no corruption is happening; but with mozlums…and others without scruples. or morals…there will be no real news. Only this kind of thing happening.
gravenimage says
Resettling Afghans in America is a Dirty, Corrupt Business
…………………………….
Yes, it is. And all too many of these dangerous Afghan Muslims are being settled just south of me in Fremont, California, which has the largest “Little Kabul” in the nation.
milo minderbinder says
This is from a newsletter that I receive from the Christian Law Firm, Liberty Council, a Law Firm that is on the front line, fighting the “good fight.”
“HR 8404—the bill that will expand child-bride, same-sex and pedophiliac “marriages” in every state—is at the top of Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) “must pass” bills as senators return to Washington TODAY.
Sen. Schumer is chomping at the bit to pass a bill so perverse that serial child sex abuser Alfred Kinsey would be proud.
First published in 1948 (Sexual Behavior in the Human Male) and 1953 (Sexual Behavior in the Human Female), Kinsey’s books launched the perverse “sexual revolution.” Kinsey documented repeated rapes of children to normalize pedophilia and sexual perversion. His work was used to justify “sex ed” in our schools, and even teaching kindergarteners about masturbation.
My late friend, Dr. Judith Reisman, wrote about “The Children of Table 34,” referring to the sickening sexual abuse of infants and children that Kinsey documented in his first book. Some of these children are now speaking out.
HR 8404, purposefully misnamed the “Respect for Marriage Act,” is classic Kinsey—a gross perversion of human sexuality designed to destroy a society and undermine belief in God. Just as Kinsey thought it perfectly fine for infants to be sexually stimulated, this bill, too, will allow states with no age limit on marriage to set the standard for the nation.
Could this bill have something to do with the resettling of Muslims in the USA?
somehistory says
Demonic inspiration….”out of the mouth of the wild beast, out of the mouth of the false prophet, out of the mouth of the dragon”…”unclean inspired utterances”
This is all leading to Armageddon where God will wipe out all of this evil filth and those who practice and promote it.
Until He does that, we must endure and realize from where it all comes….the end is in sight.
gravenimage says
Chilling stuff, Milo.
Walter Sieruk says
If it wasn’t for Joe Biden who created that total catastrophe in Afghanistan there wouldn’t be a problem of Afghan refugees in the first place.
Furthermore, that Biden scheme to settle all those Afghan refugees in the different States in American is a recipe for disaster.
Take England for example, The United Kingdom has already experienced many vicious and malice-filled murderous Muslims terrorists attacks, as those, for example, those different malicious and deadly jihadists attacks in London and that horrendous mass murder jihad homicide bombing in the city of Manchester in which so many innocent young girls died.
Another way to illustrate the folly of foolish and reckless kindness is by the fable of Aesop which of a kind old farmer who saw outside a poor helpless viper that was freezing to death in the winter cold. The compassionate but foolish farmer felt sorry for that creature, so he went outside and put it in his vest pocket to warm it up and therefore save its live. The viper revived in the warmed of vest, felt better then bit the farmer through the vest and the kind but foolish farmer died a slow and painful death from that viper’s bite.
So it might be in America by Afghan jihadists playing the part of a desperate “refugee” from Afghanistan who claimed that he was just fleeing the Taliban. For no amount of caring and kindness will change the murderous and destructive nature of a violent /jihadist/Muslim because such a man has been infected with an evil and deadly nature because of the evil and deadly religion.
The duty of any genuine President of the United States is to protect the safety, security and lives of the American citizen.
That duty President impostor Joe Biden completely refuses to perform, for by allowing all those unvetted Afghan/Muslims into America is a recipe for disaster.
For some of them might be secret jihadists just waiting and scheming for a specific US city or large town to engage in a murderous and destructive jihad Islamic terror attack in.
Some of the other Afghan refugees might be criminals. In both cases Biden will have the blood of many innocent Americans on his wicked hands.