On the evening of 7 January
2020, Beltrami County MN, a sparsely inhabited area surrounding Red Lake MN,
banned resettlement of refugees.
Although Beltrami County is not the first county in the nation to ban
resettlement of refugees, Beltrami County is the first county in Minnesota to
officially ban resettlement of refugees, and they did so by a three to two vote
by their own county commissioners. The
vote was reactionary to President Donald J. Trump’s signature on Executive
Order 13769, titled Protecting the Nation
from Foreign Terrorist Entry which was signed on 27 January 2017 and
subsequently replaced by Executive Order 13780, using the same title, which was
signed on 24 September 2017.
Congress has the power
to overturn an executive order by passing legislation that invalidates the
specific Executive Order. That did not
happen. The president retains the power
to veto such a decision; however, Congress may override a veto, with a
two-thirds majority, to end an executive order.
The annual number of
refugees that can be admitted into the United States, known as the Refugee Ceiling, and the allocation of
these numbers by region are set by the President of the United States after
consultation with Congress at the start of each fiscal year. For FY2019, the worldwide refugee ceiling was
established at 30,000.
Both
Executive Orders 13769 and 13780 makes a vote by citizens to ban resettlement
of refugees emblematic at best and generally serves only to politicize an event
and bring unnecessary attention to the President’s actions intended by the
executive order invoking the ire of .the liberal agenda.
It is believed Beltrami
County banned refugee resettlement in response to an escalation of
violence. Minnesota statistics released
in July 2018 said that incidents of violent crime including murder decreased
compared to 2017, but rape and involuntary sex trafficking rose to the highest
rate seen in almost a quarter-century.[1] Conjecture would also suggest an economic
solution, the following is not an all-inclusive list but a mere smattering of a
list of entitlements available to the refugee:
- Refugee
Cash Assistance (RCA) costs approximately $325.00/month/adult recipient,
- Children’s RCA costs about
$200.00/month/child recipient, and
- Welfare approximately $25.00/day/adult or child
recipient.
Although these programs
do have certain caps, it should be clear how abuses can occur.
Bravo to Commissioners
Richard Anderson of District 3, Craig Gaasvig of District 1, and Jim Lucachick
of District 5 for voting in favor of the motion to not accept resettlement of
refugees within the county. Their
efforts though perhaps well intended were unnecessary at best; executive
orders, once issued, remain in force until they are canceled, revoked,
adjudicated unlawful, or expire on their own terms. At any time, the president
may revoke, modify, or make exceptions from any executive order, whether the
order was made by the current president or a predecessor.
At this point, it might
be worth noting that Ilhan Omar is the congressional representative from the
5th district of Minnesota; although not pertinent to this BLOG, I will mention
Rashida Tlaib is the congressional representative from Minnesota’s 13th
congressional district. Though thought
provoking, useless information.
It might also be
interesting to note that Beltrami County is firmly situated in Minnesota’s 8th
congressional district. More useless
information.
Winston Churchill is
credited with the following point, if you
have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile
driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. One final point of interest might be that a
vote to accept an Executive order is symbolic and has absolutely nothing to do
with the fact that in the United States, an executive order is a directive issued
by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal
government. The U.S. Supreme Court has
held that all executive orders from the president of the United States must be
supported by the Constitution, whether from a clause granting specific power,
or by Congress delegating such to the executive branch.
Minnesota’s House
Majority Leader Ryan Winkler was quick to threaten the county. Tonight
three Beltrami County board members voted to withdraw onto their own island by
denying a home to refugees. If that is
the county’s position, it should be prepared to go without the state aid the
rest of us provide them.[2] Speculative in nature and pejorative by
design; although I am not an attorney for the state of Minnesota, I am just not
comfortable in the belief that Ryan Winkler has the authority to impose
conditions on state funding. He may have
authority to introduce a bill that can impose certain conditions but as far as
I understand that process, it would require a Grant Process Review and that
would need to be reviewed by the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor.
So, what is the point to
all of this? Pretty simple actually:
- The
President of the United States sets the Refugee Ceiling,
- An Executive Order signed by
the President of the United States must be supported by the Constitution
of the United States and grants specific powers,
- Accepting refugees into any
area of our nation can become economically burdensome to the American
taxpayer, and
- The whole voting process was useless from the start; an
exercise in futility.
I guess the bottom line
is that an Executive Order is an edict, you do not get to vote for which one
you will or will not obey.
[1]
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/omar-minnesota-county-refugee-ban-trump-executive-order
[2]
https://www.twincities.com/2020/01/08/after-beltrami-county-banned-refugees-the-reaction-was-swift/
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