I have been in the photography business since 1973 in a town called Rancho Cordova, California. It is a suburb of Sacramento. We do not need any more refugees in our community. We have been the destination point for over 150,000 alleged religiously persecuted refugees from the former Soviet Union. It is nothing more than a scam against taxpayers. It continues to operate under the Lautenberg Act of 1989. There is no religious persecution in Russia. And if there was, is it our duty to support them?

The churches are behind it in order to receive free money for putting phony refugees on public assistance. It is hard to describe in words the feelings of my customers who work in the banks, grocery stores, and in the medical field who are extremely resentful of this largesse.

The women who work at the banks and grocery stores are witnesses to the scams and the fraud that are committed on a daily basis. As my friend who works at the bank states, if I cash one more social security check for someone who has never paid into the system and is drawing more than my parents who worked all of their lives, I will scream. The resentment is palpable.

Particularly when the community found out there is no religious persecution in Russia. That it is nothing more than a scam to obtain a middle class life on the backs of someone else.

I have proof it is all fraud and not even my congressman [Dan] Lungren will discuss it out of fear of being destroyed politically. I have brought the fraud to the attention to ICE. They responded that they know it is fraud but said they would be sued if they dare try to stop it.

I am a Vietnam Veteran as is my brother via the law in those days. My brother’s neighbors from Cambodia never worked a day while they lived next to my brother. He and his wife worked to support them. How can you justify that? The nice folks from Cambodia received Section 8 housing and their kids went to college at my brother’s expense.

If we took that money and spent it on the black community, maybe there would not be cities full of ghettos.

We cannot afford it period. We need to follow the original law. Meaning they cannot be a burden on taxpayers. They are supposed to have sponsors who support them. It is shameful that the only reason the churches are interested in resettling is money for themselves.

You forget the domino effect in our community, such as crime and gangs in the Russian community. I had a Russian friend who worked for me, by the name of Alex Sukonof, tell me, “Who would not tell a white lie in order to get everything for free”?

Alex also told me that he thought it was okay that his inlaws claimed religious persecution like the others. That they only receive about $1,300 between them, including free health care that we pay for. Apparently, as alleged refugees, they are entitled to SSI for seven years. If they become citizens within that time, it is now a lifetime entitlement. Even though they have never worked a day in their life here.

The really sad part is that according to Alex they are allowed to take the citizenship test in their native language. I know for a fact his inlaws do not speak a word of English, as I have called at their house looking for him several times.

The bottom line is: by telling a little white lie about religious persecution, they are allowed an income for life that they did not earn. That is persecution of hard-working taxpayers. This entire refugee program is an upside-down cake.

Furthermore: even if it was all real, as there are others that are real, this directly affects Americans who are in need of a job. We need to shut it down totally until we become flush with cash again as a country.

We need to eliminate the entire program and operate it on an individual basis with true volunteers.

The reason you do not hear from the public is fear of losing their jobs or being demonized as racists.