The issue of what status the Haitians would have must have been brewing in an already overloaded North Carolina refugee program for the question to have come up.
We’ve had extensive coverage of the turmoil in Greensboro recently with refugees living in substandard housing, church leaders angry with resettlement agencies and with refugees trying to figure out how to get out of Greensboro and North Carolina where the unemployment rate is one of the top ten highest in the nation.
This is from Star News:
North Carolina has been resettling increasing numbers of refugees, from about 1,200 in 2006 to nearly 2,300 in 2008, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
It’s the 10th-largest state for resettling refugees, accepting about four percent of the national total, according to Marlene Myers, the state refugee coordinator.
Someone must have been asking if NC was bringing more refugees—the Haitians.
Myers said that it was not yet determined how many Haitians might come to North Carolina, or where in the state they might go. But they would be classified as “evacuees,” not refugees, so a different agency in the N.C. Division of Social Services would be in charge of placing them. Since Interfaith Refugee Ministry deals with political refugees intending to settle permanently in the U.S., it will not be dealing with Haitian refugees.
Refugee or evacuee doesn’t really matter—either one is cared for by the taxpayers. The only difference, as Myers makes clear, is it will just be different agencies spending your money.