SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Both Sioux Falls City Council and the Minnehaha County Commission must decide whether to keep the welcome mat out for refugees.
Both are expected to approve continued resettlement at separate meetings on Tuesday, January 14. The public’s invited to weigh in. City Council will also be voting on an anti-hate resolution proposed by Mayor Paul TenHaken’s Administration.
Local governments now have the power to opt-out of refugee resettlement due to a new Trump administration rule.
The Commissioners meet at 9 a.m. at their regular meeting room, 415 N. Dakota Avenue. Council meets at 7 p.m. at Carnegie Hall on W. 10th Street.
Lutheran Social Services will be making the requests for additional refugee resettlement. LSS says that 91 percent of newly arrived refugees in 2019 were in self-sufficient households within eight months.
Governor Kristi Noem has already given the go-ahead for continued refugee resettlement in the state of South Dakota. Texas is the first state in the nation to ban new refugees under the President’s order. Governor Greg Abbot has said that the state’s overtaxed immigration system was one of the factors in his decision.
