Christopher Coen
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Bill Introduced Into NH State Legislature Giving Cities Ability To Declare 1-year Moratorium On New Refugees
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 10, 2012
Representatives in New Hampshire’s state legislature this month introduced a bill to give cities the ability to declare a one-year moratorium on new refugees. An article at Yahoo News explains:
MANCHESTER, N.H.–With Mitt Romney’s strength in the polls in New Hampshire, the mayor of the state’s biggest city hopes that a resolution to what he calls “the refugee resettlement question” will soon be at hand…
…In July, the city’s aldermen took the unusual step of passing a bill requesting a two-year moratorium on new refugee resettlement… After interviewing city leaders and refugees, the State Department reduced the number of new refugees that would be settled in Manchester during this fiscal year–which began in October–from 300 to 200…
…Leaders in the local Bhutanese community are happy that the moratorium failed, but they remain wary of the mayor’s insistence that the city can’t handle more refugees. This month, representatives in the state legislature introduced a bill to give cities the ability to declare a one-year moratorium on new refugees, suggesting that the debate over their place in New Hampshire is far from over…
…”The moratorium that he is talking about has really created a lot of mental disturbances and tension to the communities who are already here,” Narad Adhikari, who moved to Manchester five months ago and is still looking for work, told Yahoo News…
The article also mentions that USCRI’s International Institute lumped all the refugees in one English class, ignoring skill levels (which has long proven counterproductive):
…many Bhutanese families in Manchester do not speak English, according to Acharya. The English classes provided by the International Institute–and paid for by the federal government–lump together refugees who have never had a day’s education with those who have spent years in a classroom, hampering the progress of both groups, he says.
The students Subedi works with sometimes act out in class because they receive less homework and lighter discipline than they did at the United Nations-run schools in the refugee camp.
“It’s easier here, so sometimes they try to take advantage of it,” Subedi said. Read more here
cory82 said
Could a state law (1 year moratorium) trump a federal agency in this situation?
Christopher Coen said
I suspect so, but I’ll defer to someone with the legal knowledge to answer that.