It seems that the subject of Wyoming possibly getting a refugee resettlement program has worked its way into an election year issue. See all of our previous posts on this hot button issue in Wyoming.
A letter this week in the Casper Star Tribune from Dr. Taylor Haynes questions whether it is a good idea for Wyoming to invite the feds in.
The writer describes problems with Somalis elsewhere in the US (check out our post just yesterday from Minnesota!) and in Europe.
For readers in Wyoming who are asking Dr. Haynes, ‘who said anything about Somalis coming to Wyoming?’ let me emphasize again—-WYOMING WILL NOT CHOOSE THE ETHNIC GROUPS IT WILL RECEIVE. The US State Department and the resettlement contractor will.
In this case it’s contractor Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, which has had a hand in bringing Somalis to Greeley and Ft. Morgan, CO (both cities have had many problems with the influx), that would be the lead agency in Wyoming.
Here is Dr. Haynes:
Did Governor Mead apply to the Office of Refugee Settlement, indicating that Wyoming is interested in establishing a public–private center to help refugees? If this is true, what would it mean for Wyoming?
What it has wrought in Europe from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom is devastating. Most immigrants from war-torn East Africa have few to no job skills and exhibit tremendous language and cultural handicaps. They overburden the social welfare system. That’s the bright side.
The “rest of the story” is honor killings and unbelievably violent gangs, centered on the various clans from the home country. They have been exposed to the horrors of war from birth. Violence is the only coping means they know.
[….]
We must very sternly question the governor’s motive for making this request. Could it be the federal dollars funneled to the “private charities” to manage the re-settlement of these refugees? If so, which charities have been selected to receive the grant? What are their connections to the governor?
We, the “sitting duck” citizens of Wyoming, must demand that Governor Mead withdraw this request immediately if he made it.
I wish I had more time to write about this (heading out of town), but be sure to visit the story about Dr. Taylor Haynes at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Here is one of the many things he says that has motivated him to run:
Haynes said he’s running because he believes Wyoming needs an executive willing to fight against what he sees as federal meddling in business that the state should be responsible for.
The present governor, Matt Mead, has done just that—invited federal meddling in state business—by opening the door to the US State Department and its refugee resettlement contractors.