If there is one question people new to the whole refugee process in America ask, it is that sensible, logical question. Below is a letter to the editor from the New Hampshire Concord Monitor from someone who is apparently helping the homeless with a true charitable spirit and not as a paid refugee resettlement contractor.
Hat tip: ‘Pungentpeppers’ (emphasis below is mine).
To the editor:
We have been avidly following the series of articles on the homeless population in Concord.
Living in close proximity and volunteering within the community serving both the homeless and the refugees, it has become sadly apparent that our homeless population consists predominantly of American citizens. Many of them veterans and many without benefits.
Without a valid address or residence, one does not qualify within our system for food stamps or assistance. Why is it that we seem to continue to encourage and subsidize the constant influx of immigrants and refugees for whom we seem to always find living and housing accommodations for? Our food pantries are overwhelmed, supplies are diminished and dwindling.
Thank heavens for our local churches for stepping up to the plate, and providing both food and warm, safe shelter to our most needy, particularly during our cold and harsh winters.
As we continue to not only exist, work and volunteer within the capital city of Concord, we wonder why it is disturbingly apparent and profoundly troubling that the homeless population consists of American citizens.
We have yet to see a refugee sleeping in a tent or under the railroad tracks. Why is that?
EDDIE TORRES
Concord
Concord is a federal “preferred community” for refugee resettlement. I bet most Concord residents did not know they merited that distinction!
Readers ask me all the time what they can do, this is one thing that is easy enough and you should do it while we still have free speech in America—write letters to the editor!