Obama gives Muslim refugees loans without tracking repayment: Jim Kouri

In the midst of Islamic terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States, and despite Americans’ apprehension over large numbers of Muslim refugees being resettled in American cities and towns, the Obama administration is doling out taxpayer money to refugees to help them start their own businesses, according to a well-respected watchdog that specializes in government fraud and corruption at the top levels.

According to officials at Judicial Watch, under President Barack Obama, the administration provides refugees who collect public assistance special loans for as much as $15,000 each. The loan is meant for the newly arrived migrants to start their own businesses.

However, one problem that is never addressed by either the Obama White House, the news media or immigration and refugee advocates is that the tracking of loan defaults is almost nonexistent which translates into big financial losses for American taxpayers, records obtained by Judicial Watch reveal.

The cash is distributed through a program called Microenterprise Development run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement. Some of what the refugees receive is shown on their government web site.

The majority of the recipients are already receiving financial, housing and healthcare assistance or subsidies from the federal or a state’s government, according to the Microenterprise Development Program.

“It’s a risky operation that blindly gives public funds to poor foreign nationals with no roots in the U.S. and there’s no follow up to assure the cash is paid back. The idea behind it is to equip refugees with the skills they need to become successful entrepreneurs by helping them expand or maintain their own business and become financially independent,” Judicial Watch officials claim.

“This program should outrage the nation, but the news media are keeping it quiet as part of its disinformation and deceit operation on behalf of Obama and Hillary Clinton, who wants to do even more for Muslim refugees. U.S. military veterans are sleeping in alleyways on dirty, rat infested neighborhoods while unknown Muslims are being given millions of dollars,” said former U.S. Marine and retired Police Detective Leonard Clarence Brown. “I’ll bet the Muslim refugees don’t die waiting for healthcare appointments like our vets,” he added.

In early 2016, Judicial Watch attorneys submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to HHS for records related to the refugee business loan program.  JW asked for information that included the number of loans that are written off per year and the amount of the write-off per defaulted loan. While commercial banks or other lending institutions keep track of default rates on loans, HHS doesn’t seem to bother.

“This is astonishing considering that these are taxpayer dollars being furnished in the form of loans to foreign nationals granted refuge in the United States,” state JW officials.

HHS officially told Judicial Watch that the agency doesn’t have a tracking system in place to provide figures involving loan defaults. However, the agency is “preparing to collect this information in the future,” according to the records obtained by JW from the agency.