North Dakota Refugee Resettlement Program is Tabled After Mass Protests
Jose Nino
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Ann Corcoran of Refugee Resettlement Watch reported that Cass County in North Dakota is planning on voting for more refugee resettlement. However, it is facing several obstacles at the moment.
North Dakota Republican Governor Doug Burgum took a lukewarm approach to the resettlement issue by allowing this practice to continue so long as local jurisdictions approve.
With Cass County originally set on approving resettlement, Burgum would have likely let the refugee resettlement go through in North Dakota. As Corcoran notes, “Unless the governor changes his mind, North Dakota taxpayers will be continuing to prop up a 4-decades-old federal program that was never supposed to be a burden on local and state taxpaying citizens.”
However, this move was met with considerable resistance. Citizens of Bismarck “came out in force” to get the county commission to reconsider bringing in more refugees. The commissioners ended up deciding to table the decision for the time being.
The county input was necessary after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in September that requires state and local governments to give consent to whether they will bring in refugees or not.
According to KX News, several North Dakotas voiced their displeasure with this resettlement policy.
“124 people statewide does not have an impact, however, if the 124 do a chain migration that could easily be 1,200. And in a state of 750,000 people, 1,200 is a lot,” said local resident Phillip Cohen, who’s against counties bringing refugees.
Because so many people flooded the county meeting, there was not enough space to fit people inside, So, the commission ended up postponing the matter until they could find a larger venue in the near future.
The chair of the commission, Brian Bitner, said he has reservations about granting consent for financial reasons.
“I haven’t seen anything in this package, anywhere, that tells me that we’re consenting to five or 50 or 500 or anything. So, North Dakota is already the highest per capita state for refugee resettlement in terms of number of citizens, so in the absence of any sort of number, there’s no way we could know the cost to the state or the county, and I simply can’t support that,” said Bitner.
Opponents of this decision claimed that an increase in refugees could strain government services and lead to increases in crimes. The pro-refugee advocates denied these claims.
The U.S.’s mass migration schemes are already taxing many of its capabilities as a nation-state as it is. Bringing in more migrants, won’t make things any better will only exacerbate these trends.
For North Dakota’s sake, let’s hope Cass County officials come to their senses and reject resettlement schemes.
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