Welcome to the new media. Anyone with a computer gets to take a fact, an article, or an executive order and claim that it says something completely other than what it actually says.
Today's exhibit: Pres. Obama Invites Hamas Terrorists to America
This beauty was found in a blogpost that was emailed to me by my mother.*
Let's examine it in detail, shall we?
According to the fine people at the New Media Journal,
The "presidential determination" which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.
President Obama's decision, according to the Register, was necessitated by "the urgent refugee and migration needs" of the "victims."
Few on Capitol Hill took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.
Fortunately for us, they provide a link to the original Presidential Determination.
First things first. What is a Presidential Determination? According to Wikipedia, it is "a document issued by the White House stating a determination resulting in an official policy or position of the executive branch of the United States government. Presidential determinations may involve any number of actions, including setting or changing foreign policy, [1] setting drug enforcement policy, [2] or any number of other exercises of executive power." Basically, it is a way for the President to say "this is what we're doing now."
Next. What does this particular Presidential Determination say?
...that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs, including by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and payment of administrative expenses of Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department of State, related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.
So. Obama is taking $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund. Who are they? This is legitimately difficult to figure out. Googling doesn't give a nice definition, and they're not on Wikipedia. However, after some searching, I found a finance report from the Fiscal Year 2007, which states that ERMA has a "
commitment to provide protection and assistance and to achieve durable solutions for refugees, conflict victims, internally displaced persons (in some cases) and vulnerable migrants... through financial and diplomatic support to key international humanitarian partners, combined with strong performance management."
Translation? They provide money to humanitarian groups to help refugees.
And guess what? that's exactly what the directive calls for.
by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations
Does it say "for the resettlement of Palestian refugees in the United States?" No.
Does it say anything about providing a "housing and food allowance" for these supposed immigrants. No.
Does it say anything about immigration at all? NO. The word "migration," which appears in the name of the Fund, does not mean that we're bringing people here. It means they're moving around. Period.
STOP FREAKING OUT. WE'RE NOT IMPORTING TERRORISTS.
In fact, the State Department clears up this whole mess quite nicely: United States Humanitarian Support to Palestinians
State Department website = reputable source.
The New Media Journal? Not so much.
*Fortunately, I have trained my mother not to blindly pass this crap on. Her email to me said "what is a presidential determination and what does it mean?"