Wednesday, 1 May 2024

North Dakota County May Become First in U.S. to Block New Refugees

Commissioners in one North Dakota county are weighing whether to allow more refugees to resettle in the community, an early test of a Trump administration policy that gives local officials more say on immigration.

If commissioners in Burleigh County vote on Monday evening to block new refugees from moving in, that county could be the first place in the country to do so, The Associated Press reported. President Trump, whose administration has already cut refugee admissions nationally, issued an executive order this year requiring state and local officials to consent to new refugee arrivals.

Governors and local officials across the country have in recent weeks contemplated the president’s order, often agreeing to allow more refugees. The North Dakota county commissioners had originally planned to debate the issue last week, but postponed the hearing after a large crowd turned up to speak. The rescheduled meeting was moved to a middle school with more space for residents.

“So many people have been talking to me about it that it’s clear to me how I should vote,” said Brian Bitner, the chairman of the county commission, who planned to vote against additional resettlement. Mr. Bitner added, “We have to be accepting of people from other places, but the question is, ‘What is that costing us and is there an impact, whether it’s financial or otherwise?’ And at this point, we just don’t have that information.”

Burleigh County, which includes North Dakota’s capital city of Bismarck, has roughly 95,000 residents, about 90 percent of whom are white. Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican, said he supported the continued admission of refugees to North Dakota so long as local officials approved. About 200 miles east of Bismarck, the county that includes Fargo has agreed to continue taking refugees, according to local reports.

“We are grateful for the administration’s consideration of states’ rights in determining policies and actions that impact what happens within our own borders,” Mr. Burgum wrote last month in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “North Dakota has had success at integrating refugees who have become responsible citizens and productive members of the workforce. Therefore, with ongoing diligence, North Dakota consents to receive resettlement refugees, in conjunction with the continued assent and cooperation of local jurisdictions in our state.”

Mr. Bitner, the commission chairman, said he expected a period of public comment on Monday evening before a vote of the commission’s five members. He said the result was not certain. Another commissioner, Mark Armstrong, said he planned to vote in favor of resettling refugees. He, too, declined to predict the outcome of the vote.

“To me, it’s not an issue that we should even be talking about,” said Mr. Armstrong, who cited his state’s low unemployment rate as a reason for admitting more refugees. “These are, sometimes, skilled people that we can use. And if they’re not, they take the jobs that are paying above minimum wage in North Dakota right now. I see it as a good opportunity.”

North Dakota is a deeply conservative state that Mr. Trump carried in 2016 with 63 percent of the vote, including support from two-thirds of Burleigh County voters.

A report from Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, which is seeking permission to bring additional refugees to Burleigh County, said that the agency had resettled 124 refugees in the state during the last fiscal year, including 24 in Bismarck. The largest number of new arrivals in the state were from the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by those from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan.

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