You know I get alerts each day on a variety of news involving refugees around the world. Honestly I wasn’t planning to post on this news simply because it is frankly ho-hum. But, for some reason the story of the North Dakota legislature’s effort to get to the bottom of the question of what it costs taxpayers to ‘welcome’ refugees, including many Somalis to the state, is being reported all over the place, so I thought I better mention it too!
Here is a report in the Bismark Tribune. If nothing else, the legislature’s effort has an important educational value.
Eight days after a racially fueled confrontation in a Fargo parking lot, North Dakota lawmakers began examining the state’s refugee resettlement program Wednesday.
The interim Human Services Committee’s study was prompted by legislation passed earlier this year that sought an examination of various aspects of resettlement, and the committee was tasked with reviewing the impact on workforce, government services, human services, education and health care.
The study bill received some backlash during the legislative session over concerns it singled out refugees, and didn’t account for the economic and cultural benefit they bring to their new communities. Committee Chairwoman Rep. Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, said the panel should weigh the costs and benefits of resettlement, although some data may be hard to come by.
[….]
The number of refugees resettled in North Dakota every year has roughly tripled over the past decade, according to a Legislative Council memo. Last year, 558 refugees were resettled in the state, down from a recent high of 590 in 2014. In 2006, there were just 182.
Lutheran Social Services runs the show in ND:
The state Department of Human Services moved most refugee-related services to Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota under then-Gov. John Hoeven in July 2010, according to the Legislative Council. LSS is the only federally recognized and approved refugee resettlement organization in the state.
[….]
Wednesday’s meeting came about a week after a confrontation between three Somali-American women and a white woman at a Fargo Walmart parking lot, where a parking dispute descended into an anti-Muslim outburst that went viral. The two sides later made up after Fargo Police Chief David Todd brought them together.
Now, this is what I want to address—the community organizers!
“The state and the city asking for how much it costs to have refugees in the community, while a sensible question from the financial standpoint, it has negatively impacted our image in the community,” Hukun Abdullahi, the head of the Afro American Development Association, said at the Fargo City Commission’s meeting on Monday. “And it also has increased the number of hostile incidents against the refugees.” [Does he have data to back that up?—ed]
I think North Dakota’s Somali community track record with crimes and terrorism might have more to do with the public attitude toward refugees than some financial study!
This is how Leftwing community organizing works!
Here we have one Somali guy (some media reports put him at 21 years old), Hukun Abdullahi, who runs an organization incorporated in 2014 (basically a one man show it appears) that has virtually no funding and he becomes the spokesman for the “community.”
Most people on the conservative side of the political spectrum don’t do this, something George Soros has promoted—create many ‘groups,’ with a handful of people in each one, making it appear that there is widespread support for whatever it is they are promoting.
And, of course, when it comes to Somalis and Muslims generally, there is always a victim theme to their organizing. Simply wanting more answers about the cost of the US Refugee Admissions Program makes one a racist, xenophobic Islamophobe!
Has anyone in the mainstream media ever looked into ‘groups’ like Abdullahi’s to see who is behind it, who helped him incorporate as a 501(c)3? Someone had to pay for the legal work to set up the ‘non-profit’ group.
When I attempted to search for background and a website (I didn’t find one) all I got was this, from Tax Exempt World.
He has no requirement to file a Form 990 because he takes in less than $25,000 a year.
People ask me all the time what they can do—-spend a few hours at your computer and research community organizing ‘groups’ like this one.
You can find their incorporation papers on line, their board members’ names, figure out who was behind creating the ‘organization.’ Research their finances, are any local businesses contributing? Any government funding? And, most of all expose them as Leftwing community organizing grievance ‘groups,’ just so the average taxpaying citizen knows who is being promoted by the media as the voice of the “community.”
I have written many posts on North Dakota, see here.
It was also on my 2016 summer roadtrip to see refugee controversy hotspots firsthand.