In a packed meeting room, County Commissioners in Bismarck, voted 3-2 to ‘welcome’ more impoverished refugees to the county in the coming year—25 total they say.
As the country watched (even the NY Times was watching) the county leaders took a wishy-washy middle of the road position because as far as I know there is no rule or regulation that lets them set a cap.
Once you agree to take in third worlders from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, a county can’t dictate numbers or select refugees by ethnicity or religion.
Here is a brief story from local KFYR-TV:
Burleigh County Commission vote to allow refugee resettlement in 3-2 decision
BREAKING: Burleigh County commissioners vote to allow refugee resettlement with a cap of 25 for next year after a four hour hearing.
Both sides of the issue voiced opinions and addressed the commissioners.
Commissioners include Brian Bitner, Jerry Woodcox, Mark Armstrong, Kathleen Jones and Jim Peluso.
Peluso and Bitner voted no.
The option surfaced after President Donald Trump issued an executive order allowing local governments to make their own decisions.
Cass County recently voted to accept refugees.
For a more complete and incredibly biased report see the New York Times story from overnight. As always there is absolutely no mention that the do-gooder Lutherans who resettle refugees in ND are paid, as federal contractors, to place the refugees throughout North Dakota.
The NYT does point out some pitfalls we see with the President’s approach when he opened this can of worms. (Don’t get me wrong, chaos/confusion is a good thing politically !)
There is one very bright side all of you need to note: the process is forcing state and local elected officials who have been happy to hide behind the mantra—this decision of where refugees are placed is a federal decision—to go on the record for all voters to see who is friend or foe on the issue of our time.
I see the vote for more refugees as a proxy vote for more immigration across the board.
You can read the whole NYT story yourself, here.
LOL! One thing jumped out at me and that was that although the reporter calls the President, President Trump, once at the beginning of the story. In four additional references he is relegated to “Mr. Trump.”
Mr. Obama is referred to as “President Barack Obama” (not former President…).
This post is filed in my ‘Where to find information category’ where all of my recent posts on this make-or-break issue may be found.
See the right hand side bar for the governors who have caved already and told the President that they want more impoverished refugees placed in their (your!) state.
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