Refugee Law Needed in Georgia
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, August 23, 2013 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
Good morning, Jim. For two weeks I’ve talked about refugee resettlement in Georgia and the governor’s request for a reduction in the number of refugees sent here. This became a big issue after the tiny town of Clarkston was systematically repopulated before residents knew what was happening. Clarkston’s 1980 population was 90 percent white, but in 20 years it was down to 14 percent. The other 86 percent were refugees from 40 countries sent to Clarkston by the UN and the federal government. It put such strain on the city’s resources, housing and jobs that Clarkston’s mayor asked resettlement officials to reduce the number, but they keep sending 2,500 more year after year.
In 2008 Tennessee stopped administering refugee services through state agencies and appointed Catholic Charities as trustee of the refugee program. Three years later in 2011, The Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act brought local governments into the resettlement decision-making process. That’s a step in the right direction, but over-saturation has already occurred in areas such as Clarkston and won’t be stopped until the federal government and the UN, actually, honor state sovereignty and follow state recommendations.Georgia law should base refugee resettlement on this state’s specifications. For example, Tennessee law authorizes that state’s community social service and healthcare agencies to condition resettlement on (a) whether more refugees would adversely affect current residents, (b) whether low-cost housing is available, (c) whether schools can accommodate foreign students, and (d) whether the local economy can absorb new workers without stripping residents of jobs or unsatisfactorily affecting wages.
The Tennessee Refugee Coordinator and local officials must find and coordinate appropriate resettlement locations BEFORE refugees arrive and the office for refugees must accept moratorium requests from communities that want resettlement stopped until further notice.
After weeks of researching public documents and interviewing state and federal officials, the AJC published, on Valentine’s Day this year, a refugee resettlement report for Georgia. The report said the Atlanta area is ideal for refugees because of its abundant affordable housing, public transportation, jobs and the many refugee relatives already resettled there. However, over-saturation destroys ideal conditions and, inevitably, damages the population, culture, economy and infrastructure, as happened in Clarkston!
According to AJC, Georgia’s Human Services commissioner said, “We asked the State Department to slow down the influx of refugees to Georgia so we could more productively assimilate the ones already here, look at their housing needs, the language needs in schools, etcetera.” Too bad he didn’t make that request before DeKalb County became 16 percent foreign-born. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.