North Dakota is a Wilson-Fish state whose refugee program has, for about 6 or 7 years now, been run by a non-profit group, a Lutheran resettlement contractor.
This is big news to add to other big news we’ve had over the last few days and weeks about possible challenges to the federal government on how it turns over decisions on who is resettled and where and the resultant expenditure of tax dollars via unelected NGOs. (I am over simplifying, but W-F is all about the availability of welfare dollars to refugees and the job of the NGOs to make sure they get their ‘services.’).
See Tennessee, Kansas and New Jersey for the latest, then this…..
From Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart yesterday:
State Rep. Al Carlson of Fargo, the Republican Majority Leader in the North Dakota House of Representatives, tells Breitbart News he wants the state to sue the federal government over the refugee resettlement program.
As in Tennessee, where the General Assembly recently declared its intent to sue the federal government on Tenth Amendment constitutional grounds, North Dakota is one of fourteen states that have withdrawn from the federal refugee resettlement program where the federal government continues to resettle refugees under the Wilson-Fish alternative program.
“If that Tennessee lawsuit is going forward when the state legislature convenes in January, I would push to do that,” Carlson tells Breitbart News about passing legislation authorizing North Dakota to sue the federal government over refugee resettlement on Tenth Amendment grounds.
“I think the current Attorney General [Wayne Stenehjem] would be behind doing that as well. I don’t know about the other candidate for governor,” he adds.
Gov. Jack Dalrymple, a Republican, could initiate such a lawsuit without waiting for the North Dakota State Legislature to act, but he has given no indication he intends to do so.
Watch the interview by reporter Chris Berg (we mentioned him here previously) with Rep. Al Carlson, North Dakota House Majority Leader (go to minute 8:14). By the way, there is a discussion here about ND expanding Medicaid. Readers should know that if your state does that it becomes a greater enticement for the feds and their contractors to drop refugees off in the state.
Continue reading Leahy’s detailed update on the Wilson-Fish controversy with this latest news from North Dakota.
And, for all of you in ‘pockets of resistance’ in North Dakota, this gubernatorial election (mentioned by Leahy) is a great opportunity to make refugee resettlement an issue in that election! Go out to every campaign event you can find and ask candidates their views on whether the federal government and a non-profit group have the right to change the social and economic character of your communities!
Go here for our complete North Dakota archive.