SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Refugees will still resettle in Sioux Falls after the city council signed off on the program Tuesday night.
Local government needs to approve of the United States’ refugee resettlement program due to a recent executive order from President Trump.
“No refugee wants to be a refugee,” Councilor Rick Kiley said just before the vote. “I can only imagine what it would be like if the shoe were on the other foot. How would I want somebody else to treat me?”
The council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the program after a lengthy meeting. Numerous members of the public spoke before the council, most of whom urged the resolution’s passage. Many of the speakers were refugees themselves.
Clara Hart’s family was forced to leave Mozambique when she was eight. She spent 20 years in Kenya hoping to return home before she moved to the US in 1989.
“As the mother of two daughters,” Hart told the council, “I never wanted my daughters to go through what I went through.”
Speakers came from other areas of the Sioux Falls community. Dr. Julie Ashworth, an education professor at Augustana University and former South Dakota Teacher of the Year, spoke to the value of refugee resettlement in schools.
“My grandchildren are the most blessed kids and have more empathy, compassion and wisdom at their ages of 10, 11 and 15 because a majority of their friends come from a different culture and a different country,” Ashworth said.
The largely serious meeting wasn’t without moments of levity. Kooper Caraway, the president of the Sioux Falls AFL-CIO, joked about how unusual it was that both he and the Chamber of Commerce enthusiastically agreed on the proposal’s adoption.
“As a union man that makes me a little uncomfortable,” Caraway said. “I might have to organize a general strike on the way home.”
There was one amendment to the resolution passed at Tuesday’s meeting. Councilor Christine Erickson proposed striking a condition that would have allowed the city to revoke consent at any time out of concern it might violate federal rules that prohibit conditions on refugee acceptance. The amendment passed unanimously.
The council’s vote means the city, county, and state have all signed off on continuing the program. Both the county Both the city and the county signed off on resettlement because it’s unclear which local authority has the power to say yes or no.
The number of refugees expected to settle in Sioux Falls is not expected to be higher than 100 people, according to Betty Oldenkamp with Lutheran Social Services. The refugees are also put through a rigorous vetting process before being allowed to come to the United States.
“Refugees are the highest-screened and most vetted category of entrants into the United States because that process is so thorough,” said Rebecca Kiesow-Knudsen, Vice President of Community Services for LSS.
The resolution authorizes refugee resettlement for the next year. If current rules stay the same, the council will need to pass a similar resolution in 2021 to continue the program.
