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Monday 9 deceMber 2019

North Dakota county may become U.S.’s 1st to bar new refugees

Continued from Front “What does it say to the voted to reject refugees.
rest of the country when a Panchol, the father of four,
The county postponed a county where your capi- moved to North Dakota in
vote last week when more tal city is located would 2001 as one of the “Lost
than 100 people showed choose not to partici- Boys,” Sudanese orphans
up and overflowed the pate?” who fled thousands of miles
commission’s normal meet- For decades, North Dakota on foot during the civil war
ing space. Monday night’s considered any popula- that ravaged his country.
meeting will be held in a tion gain a good thing. His path wound through
middle school cafeteria to Its population declined Ethiopia and Kenya be-
accommodate public in- by more than 21,000 be- fore he ended up in Fargo
terest that Chairman Brian tween 2000 and 2007 until and later in Lincoln, a small
Bitner said is the most in- an oil boom sparked a rush community outside of Bis-
tense he’s seen in more of workers into the state. marck.
than a decade on the Many jobs remain unfilled “I ran from bullets every
commission. even though the state has day,” he said. “We moved
Though he declined to pre- added nearly 100,000 resi- from country to country not
dict which way the com- dents in the past decade. to disturb anyone’s life but
mission would go, Bitner Though many new arrivals to stay alive.”
said he would vote against work in the oil patch, many Since moving to the state,
accepting additional refu- are also attracted to Fargo, he has earned degrees
gees. which has a burgeoning from North Dakota State
“The overwhelming public tech industry, and Grand University in Fargo and
opinion is so clear to me, Forks, which is an aviation the University of Mary in
that I think if you vote for hub. Bismarck. He works now
it, you’re not going to be Burgum, who has said he’ll at the state Department
reelected if you choose to seek a second term, ac- of Environmental Quality,
run again,” he said. knowledged that Burleigh heading its underground
Trump’s executive order County’s vote could be storage tank program, and
this fall came as he had seen as unwelcoming in a has become enough of an
already proposed cutting state that has about 30,000 Upper Midwesterner that
the number of refugees more jobs than takers. he occasionally drops a
next year to the lowest lev- “It sends a very negative “You betcha” into the con-
el since Congress passed Reuben Panchol is shown Friday, Dec. 6, 2019 at the North signal” if Burleigh County versation.
the Refugee Act of 1980. Dakota state capitol in Bismarck. refuses refugees, he said. Panchol said he under-
He declared that refugees Associated Press The Lutheran Immigra- stands the reservations that
should be resettled only tion and Refugee Service, people may have about
in places where the state an ultraconservative who enrollment, veterans’ which works with Lutheran new arrivals, but he be-
and local governments — took to social media to needs, homeless needs, Social Services, is one of lieves any fear is more po-
counties — gave consent. criticize the program as and Native American three national organiza- litically driven than reality.
Since then, many gover- unrestrained and a pos- needs. tions that is suing to block “Honestly, North Dakotans
nors and counties around sible drain on social service “This isn’t about heart- Trump’s executive order. have been very welcom-
the country have declared programs, schools and law strings, this is about purse The group’s president ing to me and I give North
that they would continue enforcement, though the strings,” he said. and chief executive, Krish Dakota credit for helping
taking refugees. county said it doesn’t track Shirley Dykshoorn, a vice O’Mara Vignarajah, said people like me better their
Republican Gov. Doug Bur- any costs directly related president for Lutheran So- her organization has close- lives,” he said. “It wasn’t my
gum said last month that to refugees. cial Services, which han- ly tracked the response choice to come to North
North Dakota would con- “This isn’t about skin color,” dles all of North Dakota’s and is aware of no other Dakota, but I’m glad I did.
tinue accepting refugees said Becker, a plastic sur- refugee resettlement cas- local government that has Big time.”q
where local jurisdictions geon and former guber- es, said her agency used
agreed, and his spokes- natorial candidate. “In the to handle about 400 cases
man said the governor saw past, nobody had any say per year, but that number
it as a local decision. Soon whatsoever. Now we have dropped to 124 in fiscal
after, Cass and Grand something that should 2019, which ended in Sep-
Forks counties, which are have been in place de- tember. The program has
home to the state’s larg- cades ago. been in existence in North
est city, Fargo, and third- “Now, if they want to ac- Dakota since 1948.
largest city, Grand Forks, cept them, they can, and LSS settled 24 refugees in
respectively, declared they if they don’t want to they Bismarck in fiscal 2019, af-
would continue taking refu- shouldn’t,” he said. ter settling 22 in fiscal 2018.
gees. Fargo Mayor Tim Ma- Bismarck Mayor Steve Bak- Dykshoorn said Burleigh
honey said refugees were ken said the city govern- County had been project-
needed to boost the city’s ment has no say in the mat- ed to get no more than 25
economy, and that 90% ter, but he sides with those refugees annually in the
were fully employed within who want to stop taking in coming years.
three months of resettling in more refugees. “We always look at the ca-
his city. “Right now it’s a blank pacity of a community to
But the idea was quickly check and that equates handle these,” she said.
opposed in more conser- into a lot of questions,” “I’m trying to understand
vative Burleigh County. Bakken said of the number the basis for believing how
Among the opponents of refugees that could be 25 people will dramati-
was Republican state Rep. placed in the area. “We cally change the fabric of
Rick Becker, of Bismarck, have burgeoning school a community,” she said.