Posted on 07/26/2014 5:50:03 AM PDT by RKBA Democrat
DOVER — Misinformation has surfaced this week regarding the relocation and settlement of Congolese refugees to Tri-City communities; however, one aspect of the program through the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success is true — the communities of Dover, Somersworth and Rochester will have no say in the matter.
Dover Mayor Karen Weston said Friday that the notion of 3,000 refugees being resettled in the Garrison City is not accurate and also the GraniteGrok.com report by Skip Murphy that a meeting scheduled with ORIS Aug. 13 will not allow for residents to ask questions is a total fabrication.
What is known is that no more than 100 Congolese families would be resettled throughout Tri-City communities and as a community, Weston said, there is no authority on whether to accept or not.
How the families will be chosen or denied is a method unknown, as is whether individuals in the program may be mentally, physically, or chronically ill.
“We need to have that meeting to ask these hard questions,” she said.
That meeting she said is not only public and will allow for questions through a citizens forum, but is also one she's extended invitations to for Somersworth Mayor Dana Hilliard and Rochester Mayor T.J. Jean along with their respective councils.
Hilliard said officials are eager to learn more information as there are many concerns from the communities. Weston said gaining answers to those concerns is exactly the intention of the meeting.
She also said this is not a program, federally operated through the state, that Dover is embracing.
Dover City Manager Mike Joyal said he was contacted by a director at ORIS who was interested in the Garrison City as a relocation community. Weston, along with Planning Director Chris Parker and Economic Development Director Dan Barufaldi, met with a representative from ORIS. Joyal was unable to attend that day but said the three city officials who went were able to raise concerns.
“As a result of those questions and also wanting to make sure the public was informed, we asked that they would come back and address the city council as a whole,” he said. “We're looking for some data on what exactly is the success rate, what the impacts are on local community services, and where will financial assistance come from after the support from the agency runs out.”
The goal of the program is to promote self-sufficiency with the refugees.
Very little is known at this time as far as details into who would pick up financial and educational responsibility after the eight-month commitment of support ends from the program.
Once refugees have lived in the community for a certain length of time, they will also be able to sponsor additional family members to join them.
The refugees, she said, are not immigrants, though there is yet another rumor surrounding the proposal indicating that some of the illegal children crossing the Mexican border may be given refugee status. That fact has not been confirmed at this time.
Calls to ORIS on Friday were not returned by deadline.
“We have not endorsed these folks and we do have major concerns of the financial and educational impact on each of our cities,” Weston said.
Hilliard said the idea that the community would legally have to support the refugees through both social services and education once the assistance from the state runs out is totally unacceptable for the Hilltop City. And while he said he could not speak on behalf of Dover and Rochester, he knows each community shares the same concerns.
“It certainly isn't going to be acceptable to the city of Somersworth and I can bet it won't be acceptable to Dover or Rochester,” he said.
Jean said he has the same concerns with the welfare and needs of residents of the Lilac City being his number one priority.
“I really see this as really taxing the resources of the Tri-City communities for years to come if it's not very clear up front how many refugees will be coming and where it's capped, if at all,” he said.
The state is very clear, he said, on what municipalities must do to provide for residents in need of assistance and meeting those needs is already a challenge.
Like Hilliard and Weston, he hopes to learn at the Aug. 13 presentation from ORIS, what the true obligation will be in terms of providing all services.
“From a humanitarian standpoint my heart goes out to them and I certainly understand the difficulties they might be facing,” he said, but added that the needs of residents in his community have to come first and not be compromised.
Hilliard, who acknowledged his ancestral roots in Somersworth as being a result of immigration, said all three Tri-City communities were built on immigration.
“Our country was founded on immigration and it's through the hard work of immigrants that we move forward,” he said. “However, with that in mind and, again, knowing very little of what the intent is other than just through some brief conversations with Mayor Weston, there is a balance between the intentions of the federal government and relocation programs and then ensuring that they are going to meet the needs of the community where the people resettle.”
He noted the federal government doesn't necessarily have a positive track record when it comes to making good on promises of assistance.
“Short term promises do not equal long term solutions,” he said.
Beyond his concern for Somersworth, he is also concerned for what actually happens to the refugees, many of whom may have come from crises and travesties in their native homes.
Leaving local communities to provide for the refugees, including English as A Second Language resources for children who will have to be integrated into local school systems, is not fair to the families relying on promises of opportunity, he said.
“Neither one of our communities are about dampening hopes and spirits. We are dedicated to the success of those who move to our area. It's not fair to the community and it's not fair to them. It's not fair to the human beings you are giving the hopes and promises to,” he said.
The presentation will be held Wednesday, Aug. 13, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall.
The grandees will never ask your views on immigration policy.
They did not go to Washington to represent you. You can be replaced and they are determined to do it in one decade.
I knew a congo refugee when i was in Atlanta. This is purely anecdotal, but her english was so good that i had known her for months before i discovered she was not a native American. Her french was outstanding, too.
It turns out she was imprisoned after being forced to watch her children and husband hacked to death. Yep.
A human right’s group paid a ransom to get her here.
I was proud to know her and to have her here. Last time i saw her she was close to getting her citizenship.
As i said, anecdotal, but first person contact.
Why aren’t they being relocated to Chicago? Or Washington DC?
Better Hmong than Somalis.
In fact, better Hmong than liberals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.