12/27/2019 - Refugee Resettlement Watch

When Tennessee Governor Lee foolishly caved to pressure from Leftwingers and asserted that Yup! Tennessee would welcome a fresh batch of refugees in the coming year, many Republicans who elected him felt betrayed.

TN Gov Bill Lee joins ‘religious Left’ in opposition to the President on refugee resettlement!

In other states where your Republican governor has turned against the President on refugees, you might feel betrayed too, but in Tennessee passions are apparently much higher.

During the term of Tennessee’s previous governor, the state filed a Tenth Amendment lawsuit against the feds over the refugee program there and Lee said, while campaigning for his new job, that he supported that case still winding its way through the courts.

Now, Lee (dubbed ‘Biblical Bill’ by a Tennessee-based website), conservatives feel has double-crossed the people who put him in office.

Breitbart reporter John Binder reported late last night that action against the governor is underway.

Exclusive: Tennessee Counties Consider Rebuking Gov. Bill Lee’s Approval of More Refugee Resettlement

About a third of Tennessee’s 95 counties, thus far, are considering rebuking Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s approval for the State Department to resettle more refugees in the state next year, Breitbart News has exclusively learned.

[….]

Last week, Lee gave official approval to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to resettle more refugees in the state of Tennessee next year despite a high-profile Tenth Amendment lawsuit that questions the constitutionality of the refugee resettlement program.

Now, at least 31 counties in Tennessee are considering adopting a resolution that rebukes Lee’s approval for more refugees and demands that refugees not be resettled in non-consenting counties. The resolution contends that even if some counties do not consent to refugee resettlement, neighboring consenting counties will be allowed to resettle refugees in those non-consenting counties’ borders.

That reference to non-consenting counties potentially receiving refugees refers to the US State Department rule that contractors may place refugees within a one-hundred-mile radius of their local subcontractor’s office.

The Dailyrollcall.com published this map to show how the 4 federally contracted resettlement offices operating in the state in fact are allowed (according to the feds!) to spread refugees in almost the entire state!

I reported on the map here.

Breitbart continues….

Breitbart News exclusively obtained the resolution, which reads:

BE IT RESOLVED that [County Name] does not want to be forced into participating in the federal refugee resettlement program due to either Governor Lee’s consent and/or being within the permissible placement radius of a resettlement agency office. [Emphasis added]

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that [County Name] requests that Governor Lee retract his consent for initial resettlement in Tennessee for both the one year period of time as stated in his letter and/or the actual consent period required by the Funding Notice. [Emphasis added]

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that [County Name] requests that in the event Governor Lee does not retract his consent for initial refugee resettlement, that [Lee] submit a revised letter of consent to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and to Lt. Governor Randy McNally and House Speaker Cameron Sexton exempting non-consenting counties from forced participation in the initial resettlement of refugees in Tennessee. [Emphasis added]

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that [County Name] requests that Governor Lee by written notice inform the resettlement agencies which maintain offices and operations in Tennessee that they may not place arriving refugees in non-consenting counties. [Emphasis added]

Read it all.

Whether you live in a Democrat run state or in one of the 15 states where the Republicans have turned on the President, you too could use this resolution model where you live. Obviously change the names and some of the facts.

I wasn’t going to list the states where Republican governors have gone against the President until they appeared on the US State Department’s official list, but since the DOS is dragging its feet getting its list up-to-date, below is the list of Rs who are welcoming more poverty to your state.

You might well characterize these Republicans as particularly dumb for consenting long before they have to according to the Funding Guidance, but I suspect they thought they might get brownie points from the Open Borders agitators led by the refugee resettlement contractors in their states.

I’m hoping that you won’t hold back in telling them what you think!

BTW, I should have made it clear above that according to the Funding Guidance, counties must opt-in as well as the governor. If the governor is out, than that settles it for a small portion of FY2020 (from June to end of September), no refugees would be permitted placement (with a few exceptions).

From Daniel Horowitz here yesterday: