Editor’s note: As we mentioned here just recently we do publish important comments and guest commentary from time to time.
This is a message from one of our regular readers and an energetic researcher and advocate for our cause, Mr. Bob Enos of Willmar, MN. We have all been encouraged by the national media attention to the problem of refugee resettlement which we’ve known about for a long time. The abrupt turnaround by governors, many of whom hardly had any idea that refugees were being resettled in their states in the first place, is heartening. But, it isn’t time for us to let up because, as Bob quotes Yogi Berra, “it ain’t over till it’s over.”
From Bob Enos:
In the aftermath of the most recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Russia, and Lebanon, I have received phone calls and emails from numerous, fellow activists who have been fighting the good fight against unbridled, forcible refugee resettlement in the United States. To be sure, it’s been tough sledding for us. The reaction from over 20 US governors and many state legislatures, demanding the Syrian refugee resettlement program be halted amidst security concerns, is a long-overdue validation of our concerns.
That said, this is not the time for us to become self-satisfied, smug, or complacent.
(Watch and listen to Mr. Enos making a presentation to a county council, here, last summer—just one example of what citizen activists have been doing to educate their fellow citizens and elected officials.)
The US refugee resettlement industry – and it IS an industry – has been knocked back on its heels for a moment, but let’s not forget, this is a multi-million dollar money-maker for “non-profit” organizations, meatpackers and various low-wage employers, and the United Nations. The Mob has killed adversaries over smaller stakes than this! These human traffickers – and that’s what they are – will reset, recallibrate, adjust their plans and p/r, and resume their business with renewed vigor; count on it.
We must keep up the pressure, on as many fronts as possible. The resettlement of Somali refugees in my home state of Minnesota continues unabated, even though recent studies indicate that the resettlement of ONE Somali family cost the taxpayers in the neighborhood of a half million dollars for five years. Just yesterday, an activist sent me an official document from the Stearns County, MN Family Services Department, indicating that its annual budget for Emergency General Assistance programs – primarily for housing – has been exhausted in three months. Stearns County contains the second-largest concentration of Somali refugees of any county in Minnesota.
We cannot continue to finance resettlement with a blank check issued by taxpayers, for a program they never asked for.
So remember: as the late Yogi Berra once said, “it ain’t over till it’s over.” Continue to press local, county, and state officials for complete transparency in refugee resettlement financing.
Contact your state legislative representatives – particularly those led by Republican majorities in states whose governors’ offices are held by Democrats – and remind them of the opportunity that these tragic attacks have provided. This is a way to honor the memories of those innocents who have died from acts of terrorism.
One final thought. In 1958, a book hit the shelves, called “The Ugly American.” It became a benchmark in political literature. It depicted the failure of American diplomats to be sensitive to the local customs, language, and traditions of host countries in which they worked. The term was later applied to American tourists visiting foreign countries who behaved obnoxiously, waving their money, running their mouths, making demands of their hosts.
Doesn’t it seem that the tables have turned?
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