Why the next seven weeks? Because fiscal year 2015 ends on September 30th and the settlers in the US State Department and in their contracting agencies want to hit the Obama target of 70,000 for the year and they have (as of July 31), 18,470 more to go!
Actually that 70,000 figure that Obama announced in his Presidential Determination Letter to Congress last September is meant to be a ceiling, not a goal that they necessarily have to hit. However, since the contractors are paid by the head and they have salaries and office overhead to pay, they always try to shoot for the highest number they can haul in as possible.
Here is the news from WDAY-6 News (hat tip: Deb). You will see that the school system is sweating it! I know from my own experience that the local health department will also have to work overtime to get all the kids ready for school — our poor kids and the new poor kids coming in!
Anyone out there forming a ‘Pocket of Resistance’ in North Dakota? I’m guessing that ND is getting more than usual because there is no resistance to colonization there while some other locations are seeing citizen pushback.
Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) – Local aid organizations and schools say they’re going to be very busy the next couple of months. More refugees than usual are expected to be coming.
As of July, 215 refugees had been resettled in Fargo-West Fargo and Jamestown, 21 in Moorhead and 64 in Grand Forks.
By September 30th, Fargo and West Fargo could increase to 350 new residents and the number in Grand Forks could be bumped to 100.
Jessica Thomasson/CEO, Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, “In an ideal world, it would be spread evenly over the 12 months of that year, but we know that in a lot of years you’ll have ups and downs.”
Jessica Thomasson, the CEO of Lutheran Social Services, says the projections the next couple months are 10 to 20 percent higher than usual in North Dakota. The whole year is about 10 percent higher. She says their organization usually gets about two weeks notice of new arrivals during which they have to set up housing, furnishing and other things to prepare for a new life in a new place.
[….]
Overall, the U.S. plans to resettle 7,500 refugees this month and over 10,000 in September to meet it’s commitment of 70,000 for this fiscal year. Most of the arrivals here in metro will be Bhutanese, Somali, Iraqi and Congolese. About 75 percent have family connections here.
By the way, this last bit is what I was telling you about when I wrote about Lancaster, PA the other day. Once you have been targeted as a resettlement site and the refugees are coming, there is no stopping the importation of the family members!
How many have you gotten in your state so far this fiscal year? Go here and check out data on arrival by nationality and state. As of July 31, they are at 51,530 for the year so far.
See all of our previous posts on problems with refugees in North Dakota by clicking here. They were supposed to get Syrians this year, wonder what happened to them?