What a relief to write about something other than the border crisis!
Action alert below! Help Haynes!
This is an update on another of our favorite subjects—why the Republican governor of Wyoming wants a refugee resettlement program in a state (the only state!) previously smart enough not to get entangled with the federal government by importing third-worlders to the state.
On Tuesday night Republican candidates squared off over that issue (and the perennial public lands controversy) in a debate in Casper.
For background see our extensive archive that began with the Governor actually writing to the feds in September of last year inviting them to set up shop in Wyoming.
Wouldn’t you think that the public lands issue would be enough to keep them from inviting the US State Department and the Dept. of Health and Human Services into the state to assume a role in the state’s business?
From the Caspar Star Tribune (emphasis mine):
Gubernatorial candidates Dr. Taylor Haynes and Gov. Matt Mead disagreed in a Tuesday night debate on refugees in Wyoming and on how to respond to a Wyoming Republican pet peeve – intrusive federal government overreach. [The issues are one and the same!—ed]
[….]
Haynes, a Cheyenne physician, rancher and business owner, opposes refugees resettling in the Cowboy State, after news earlier this year that the state is exploring having a refugee resettlement program. Wyoming is the only state without such a program.
Haynes is concerned about diseases such as HIV, Ebola or drug-resistant tuberculosis, he said. He worries some may have terrorist ties.
“I think they’re groups of people brought in to kill our labor and undermine our culture,” he said.
As a Christian, Haynes said his heart goes out to them, but there are too many refugees in the world. The best solution is to provide aid that benefits them, such as supporting Doctors Without Borders. [Excellent idea–ed]
Mead, a former U.S. attorney for Wyoming who was elected governor in 2010, said the state isn’t importing refugees. The state is exploring the idea of having a refugee resettlement program, he said.
“Count the number of refugees we’ve brought under my administration,” he said. “Zero.”
Mead said refugees may already be living in Wyoming, and he wants to know who they are and what services they use.
One of my favorite articles about the controversy is this one where Governor Mead as much as called RRW and me, your humble blogger—racist!—after we helped educate citizens of Wyoming about what they would be getting into when inviting federal contractors to bring refugees to Wyoming.
And here is something to think about: the contractor the Governor wants to invite in is the Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains which tried to keep the Wyoming plan secret until it was further along. Lutheran Family Services’ mothership is one of the major federal contractors moving ‘unaccompanied minors’ around the US at this moment. So, maybe just on that front alone, Wyoming has dodged a bullet by not yet having formal immigrant/refugee ties with the feds.
Action Alert!
If you want to support a Republican candidate who has the guts to speak his mind on this taboo topic and send the establishment Republicans (squishes, if not down-right open borders, on immigration) a message, send a donation to Haynes! Click here for Dr. Haynes campaign website.