Regular readers know that Manchester, NH is in refugee overload and its Mayor has been asking the US State Department and its paid contractors to hold off on resettling more refugees in the city that is having difficulty coping with the newly imported impoverished people unlikely to find work at this time (or maybe anytime for years to come).
It seems that the State Legislators were swayed by testimony alleging the unconstitutionality of telling the feds to slow the flow. We know that secondary migrants can move anywhere in the US, but I would suggest the feds have no constitutional right to impose their program involving refugees selected largely by the United Nations (with unfunded mandates) on a state or city. So, if there is any constitutional issue it would seem to be a tenth amendment one in favor of the state.
No more Live Free or Die! state—-it’s more like do what the Feds say and die anyway!
From the Union Leader:
No help with refugees: If Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas and other city officials expected lawmakers to help with the city’s refugee resettlement problems, they were very disappointed.
[,,,.]
Gatsas, Alderman and Rep. Pat Arnold and Manchester Reps. Win Hutchinson and Mike Ball all spoke in favor of the bill which would have allowed a one-year moratorium on refugee resettlements.
Gatsas has pushed federal officials for a moratorium, which he says is needed until the refugees who are here settle into the system, get jobs and become productive citizens. “We need to take a breath, step back and figure out how to do this right,” Gatsas told the committee last month.
Friday, Gatsas called the committee’s action “too bad. They need to understand the people here need to get an opportunity to succeed, but when there are 200 or 300 more refugees every year, there is no opportunity. They don’t know the language, they have a hard time finding a job and they put pressure on the schools, but we still have to test them.”
He noted there are 13 communities in the state designated under the federal resettlement program, and they all could face what Manchester does now.
My suggestion is to get a grassroots campaign going involving those other 13 communities, make lots of noise and bug the hell out of your Representatives in Washington. The State Legislature is always going to wimp out on issues like this—well, except for maybe Tennessee!