Opt Ed: county votes 'No' to refugees

1/10/2020

The Bemidji Pinorers article "Minnesota county votes 'No' to refugees" written by:  Dana Ferguson | Jan 8th 2020  is a wonderful article and I congratulate the paper for publishing it. After a directive by President Trump to induce local communities to make direct democracy decisions about refugees resettlements, Beltrami county has decided to not welcome any new foreigners from a federally paid program of refugees. This is not an economic issue but an ethical one.

 

This is a 100% switch from the 70s and 80s when I lived in Bemidji as a child and where I still have full-time residency. Growing up going to Central Elementary, my best friend came from Vietnam via Thailand, where her parents fled the Vietcong in the middle of the night. Forcing migration into Minnesota helped by the Lutherans, my friend has now resettled in Virginia as a pretty successful dental hygienist. 

This debacle reflects the changing nature of Minnesota nice and very blue state for many many years into purple. It is also a telling sign for the upcoming 2020 election of who we want to be as a country.

Although I disagree with the outcome of the decision. The debate is wonderful, this is the first time local American communities are working and enabling the aftermath of broken American foreign policy. This effects all US Citizens and our local towns and communities.

What makes America great, far better than any other countries out there, which has guided my life professionally and personally, it is its openness to new cultures and people. We need more debates like this in our local communities, not online, but in the county and city governments and the ballot box with a good representative democracy to reflect the growing changes in American society.