Here & Now

Divisions Loom Over Refugee Resettlement in Chippewa Valley

Frederica Freyberg:
Turning to western Wisconsin, the Chippewa County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution this week calling for a pause on plans to bring refugees to the Chippewa Valley. While the resolution is nonbinding, it sends a message that mirrors some of the division within the community. Marisa Wojcik reports.

Matthew Soerens:
We began just an exploratory process.

Marisa Wojcik:
Last spring, World Relief began looking for a community where refugees could find a new home.

Matthew Soerens:
And we began a process of consulting with local leaders, governmental leaders, as well as school boards, law enforcement, potential employers, apartment — you know, landlords, local churches and other faith and nonprofit organizations and really came to the conclusion that this is a community that is really eager to welcome refugees and we proposed that to the federal government, which has the ultimate authority on where refugees are resettled.

Marisa Wojcik:
In the fall, they held a public hearing and local news began covering plans to resettle roughly 75 refugees in the area.

Karen Hurd:
I started to get many, many calls, emails, emails, calls.

Marisa Wojcik:
Representative Karen Hurd’s district includes the east edge of Eau Claire.

Karen Hurd:
Are we prepared? Do we have the infrastructure in place? We would like our city officials to be able to evaluate it.

Marisa Wojcik:
She said not being aware of the plans made her unprepared to address questions and concerns.

Karen Hurd:
It was just that the public wasn’t aware of it, because 75 people coming in from Minnesota and another state, they’re coming here on their own. They have the money to come here on their own. They’re moving their families here and they get a job. They’re people like you and I. But these are people that most likely are going to be dependent upon services.

Marisa Wojcik:
World Relief says that’s typically not the case.

Matthew Soerens:
There’s a very strong focus on the federal refugee settlement program to help refugees find work within the first 90 days after they arrive and be economically self-sufficient as quickly as possible and western Wisconsin has a lot of job needs, actually right now so that we can provide people who are authorized to work. It’s actually a win-win.

Karen Hurd:
I am supportive of people coming to our country as long as they are coming legally, so, yes, absolutely, let them come.

Marisa Wojcik:
She says her issue is proper public notice and input. World Relief says they did have conversations with local stakeholders, as is required in the Federal Refugee Act of 1980. It says agencies like World Relief must work in close cooperation and advance consultation with state and local governments. The law also outlines criteria, ensuring a refugee is not resettled in an area highly impacted. But this doesn’t go far enough for Representative Hurd. She authored a bill that outlines specifics for contacting local elected officials. Is what you have in your mind the equivalent of permission?

Karen Hurd:
Not at all. Input. That’s all this is. Could we be at the table too?

Matthew Soerens:
The reason we’re opposed to this bill is we think it is not necessary. We think there’s already a robust process for community consultation. We went through that process very carefully.

Marisa Wojcik:
The proposal says if a local official connects with a federal or nonprofit agency relating to refugee resettlement, it must be reported to every city, village, town, county, and school district touching a 100-mile radius from where a proposed refugee would be placed. Each local body contacted must take it up as a meeting agenda item and take public comment.

Matthew Soerens:
It’s very conceivable that every single preliminary conversation about the possibility of refugee settlement would need to trigger more than a thousand meetings, followed by follow-up meetings that would be required, followed by potential resolutions in communities that are unlikely ever to see a refugee resettled into their neighborhood or community.

Karen Hurd:
I don’t think it’s a burden at all. It’s actually very minimal because they just have to be notified and if they want to be a part of the discussion, they can send a representative. So it would be those interested parties that want to.

Marisa Wojcik:
But representatives in Congress take issue with more than just notice. In a letter from Congressman Tom Tiffany to the Eau Claire City Council, he wrote, plans by a controversial NGO to resettle a large number of refugees potentially from Somalia, Syria, and other unstable countries in the Eau Claire area have raised understandable concerns among local residents. Given the dangerous conditions in these conditions and the Biden administration’s alarming track record when it comes to vetting newcomers, it is inconceivable that the local community would be kept in the dark in this way.

Matthew Soerens:
There’s been a lot of questions. What countries people are coming from. Our view is that’s the federal government’s job to figure out, is to determine if these people have indeed fled a well-founded fear of persecution, which is the legal definition of a refugee. Have they been thoroughly vetted by our federal government. I think a lot of the concerns people have are based on confusion, which is really understandable because the dynamics at the border, which are really important, are in the news every single day.

Marisa Wojcik:
And Representative Hurd agrees.

Karen Hurd:
I would say there is confusion, unequivocally. There is a huge difference. A refugee is vetted by our government and it’s a very rigorous process they go through that takes years and years for them to finally be approved.

Marisa Wojcik:
Because of this and other steps outlined in the 1980 federal law, World Relief worries about the message this bill sends.

Matthew Soerens:
Is it stigmatizing refugees? It implies that we need this notice and potential resolution process about the arrival of a small number of people from these countries.

Man in meeting:
The narrative in the press and in the community has been dominated by a small minority opposed to the planned refugee resettlement.

Marisa Wojcik:
In January, the Eau Claire City Council unanimously passed a resolution affirming support of refugees making Eau Claire their new home.

Matthew Soerens:
I think the vast majority of people in Eau Claire have been very enthusiastic about this idea of welcoming a relatively small number of refugee families to the community.

Marisa Wojcik:
Earlier this month, the first family arrived in the area, coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo. For “Here & Now,” I’m Marisa Wojcik.