Burleigh County — home to North Dakota's capital city of Bismarck — could become the first local government to do so since President Donald Trump issued an executive order making it possible.
Republican state Rep. Rick Becker, of Bismarck, an ultraconservative who took to social media to criticize the refugee resettlement program as unrestrained and a possible drain on social service programs, schools and law enforcement, though the county said it doesn’t track any costs directly related to refugees.
Bismarck Mayor Steve Bakken sides with those who want to stop taking in more refugees.
Republican state Rep. Rick Becker, of Bismarck, an ultraconservative who took to social media to criticize the refugee resettlement program as unrestrained and a possible drain on social service programs, schools and law enforcement, though the county said it doesn’t track any costs directly related to refugees.
Bismarck Mayor Steve Bakken sides with those who want to stop taking in more refugees.
“Right now it’s a blank check and that equates into a lot of questions,” Bakken said of the number of refugees that could be placed in the area. “We have burgeoning school enrollment, veterans’ needs, homeless needs, and Native American needs. This isn’t about heartstrings, this is about purse strings,” he said.
Shirley Dykshoorn, a vice president for Lutheran Social Services, which handles all of North Dakota’s refugee resettlement cases, said “I’m trying to understand the basis for believing how 25 people will dramatically change the fabric of a community,” she said. “What does it say to the rest of the country when a countty where your capital city is located would choose not to participate?”
Her agency used to handle about 400 cases per year, but that number dropped to 124 in fiscal 2019, which ended in September. The program has been in existence in North Dakota since 1948. LSS settled 24 refugees in Bismarck in fiscal 2019, after settling 22 in fiscal 2018. Dykshoorn said Burleigh County had been projected to get no more than 25 refugees annually in the coming years.“We always look at the capacity of a community to handle these,” she said.
For decades, North Dakota considered any population gain a good thing. Its population declined by more than 21,000 between 2000 and 2007 until an oil boom sparked a rush of workers into the state. Many jobs remain unfilled even though the state has added nearly 100,000 residents in the past decade. Though many new arrivals work in the oil patch, many are also attracted to Fargo, which has a burgeoning tech industry, and Grand Forks, which is an aviation hub. Cass and Grand Forks counties, which are home to the state’s largest city, Fargo, and third-largest city, Grand Forks, respectively, declared they would continue taking refugees. Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney said refugees were needed to boost the city’s economy, and that 90% were fully employed within three months of resettling in his city. Burleigh County has about 30,000 more jobs than takers.
Republican Gov. Doug Burgum said, “It sends a very negative signal” if Burleigh County refuses refugees.
No comments:
Post a Comment