An aid organization that wants to start placing refugees in Asheville, North Carolina has been meeting with the local chamber of commerce and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation according to the Asheville Citizen Times.

North Carolina already ranks 9th when it comes to the number of Syrian refugees resettled in the United States.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation became an affiliate of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in 1962. The UUA, and it’s affiliates like the one in Asheville, have been involved in backing Moral Monday throughout the state of North Carolina, including busing in protesters to various Moral Monday events through the UUA offshoot called ‘Standing on The Side of Love‘.

The organization wishing to place refugees is the International Rescue Committee (IRC), based out of New York.  IRC is also present in 20 countries in Africa rebuilding communities and also, shipping off refugees almost exclusively to the United States. The organization apparently does do work in the Middle East as well.

According to the company’s IRS 990 filings, IRC had a revenue total of $456,122,865 in 2013. In 2014, gross receipts leapt to over $600 million. The 2014 filing included a grant of over $51 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), over $40 million from Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and over $31 million from the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).

In short, IRC is a federal contractor. The outfit is paid with American tax dollars via multiple ‘grants’ to place refugees in as many states as possible, including in North Carolina.

Nestled in the Citizen Times article, is the revelation that the expanding hotel industry there needs staff.  Excerpt:

Available, affordable housing might be the greatest hurdle to a resettlement, he said. There are jobs here. Some 1,700 new hotel rooms are coming in the next year and those hotels need workers. Housing, on the other hand, is more limited and expensive than expected, he said.

The key is to find sites that are safe and affordable with available housing, economic opportunities and public transportation, McCrary said. The IRC strives to provide refugees with furnished homes or apartments upon arrival. The goal is for households to gain economic self-sufficiency within four-six months.

Residents during the meeting Wednesday discussed potential community partners such as local schools, Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College, the Literacy Council of Buncombe County, the YWCA of Asheville and the YMCA of Western North Carolina.

Some worried how a local resettlement would impact Asheville’s already marginalized African-American and Hispanic communities. Others wondered if Asheville could meet the needs of a resettlement.

As it turns out, IRC is in the midst of an investigation into multiple  aid organizations for bribery and bid rigging.  According to the UK Telegraph, “The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of three international groups to have had millions of pounds in funding withdrawn over alleged bid-rigging and bribery.“

Heat Street reported more details on USAID pulling U.S. funding from the outfit:

USAID, which distributes federal cash to projects around the world, pulled the plug on Miliband’s IRC after unearthing “bid-rigging and multiple bribery and kickback schemes” allegedly linked to the non-profit.

The body stands accusing of letting corrupt operators in Turkey and Syria embezzle US taxpayers’ cash under the guise of helping victims of the region’s devastating civil war.

The IRC receives enormous quantities of federal money – in the 2015 fiscal year it was given in excess of $225 million. Miliband himself brings home a salary in excess of $570,000.

[…]

The IRC was named in a report by USAID’s Inspector General’s office alongside two other charities.

They are thought to have been implicated in a scam whereby aid workers swapped humanitarian supplies for inferior knock-offs, and kept the difference in price as a kick-back.

The CEO of IRC is David Miliband and was installed in the position in early September of 2013. Miliband is a former British politician who, from 2007 to 2010, served as the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Miliband was also a member of the Labour Party  and the Member of Parliament (South Shields) from 2001 to 2013.  In 2010, Miliband’s younger brother beat him out for head of the Labour Party.

Mr. Miliband also made headlines back in early April  for equating anyone wishing to vote for Brexit would be committing “an act of arson on the international order”.  Ironically, Miliband doesn’t even live in the UK anymore, but instead apparently now lives in New York according to the Telegraph UK.

Just after Miliband’s ‘arson comments’, it was reported that Hillary Clinton apparently was eyeing Miliband for her administration. Allegedly the two of them, as well as Bill Clinton, are great friends. IRC’s fundraising has been promoted by the likes of Samantha Power and George Soros as well, according to the NY Times.

Both in 2014 and in 2015, Miliband and IRC called for the United States to take tens of thousands Syrian refugees. During that same time period, President Obama began pushing the states to take more refugees.

The states pushed back, citing the FBI, who said that there are ‘gaps’ in the screening process and that it is likely ISIS terrorists are among the refugee population.

Related Article: Report: 44 Syrian Refugees Already Here, Possible 270 More Coming