ProgressOhio

I just read several scathing editorials in Ohio’s newspapers about what may have been an off the cuff statement from Governor Strickland on the Bush Administration’s plans to allow about 7,000 Iraqi refugees to settle in the United States over the next year. Governor Strickland was quoted as saying:

"I think Ohio and Ohioans have contributed a lot to Iraq in terms of blood, sweat and too many tears," the governor told the Associated Press last week. "I am sympathetic to the plight of the innocent Iraqi people who have fled that country. However, I would not want to ask Ohioans to accept a greater burden. . . ."

The editorials were bombastic, calling Ohio’s Governor “petty and ill-informed”, “narrow-minded”, and “partisan”, to name a few invectives. The partisan label was attached to Strickland after surmising that his objection to assuming the obligation of resettling Iraqi refugees was due to his own objection to Bush’s Iraqi war. And they make this presumption based upon what?

The Iraqi refugee problem is a large one. Approximately 3.8 million Iraqi’s have been uprooted from their country since the beginning of the Iraq war 4 years ago. And the federal government has done little to nothing. After 9/11, the federal government instituted a ban on Iraq refugees which was not lifted until 2004 or 2005. Since the war began in 2003, the U.S. has allowed only 463 Iraq refugees into the country much to the chagrin of the international community. The Republican-led Congress did nothing to lift the ban or provide enough money to help increased resettlement efforts.

Of the 3.8 million displaced, it is unclear how many are truly political refugees- those whose lives are in jeopardy in Iraq, because of work for the U.S. military or other Americans as translators, drivers, secretaries and aides. The Cleveland Plain Dealer makes the blanket statement that “refugee resettlement agencies can educate the governor on how many refugees from different conflicts and lands already are being resettled in Ohio - mostly with greater benefits than strains.” But is it really that simple?

The federal government sends refugees where the refugee settlement agencies are, and these agencies are not necessarily located evenly throughout the fifty states. They are located where the refugees are most likely to be able to obtain gainful employment. And when the relocation stipend runs out or does not cover the costs, the state picks up the tab.

Political refugees qualify for public assistance when they arrive in the U.S., and the tab is great in areas that have been disproportionately asked to assume the burden of relocated refugees. The large Somali refugee population of little Lewiston, Maine is heavily welfare-dependent. Likewise, Wisconsin's 4,200 Hmong refugees. Immigrants are 50 percent more likely than the native population to live in poverty. Local schools are asked to assume the burden of English as a Second language (ESL) courses and the additional resources to assure that “no child is left behind.”

Does that mean that the federal government should not allow Iraqis or other political refugees to be granted entry into this land of opportunity? Some would say yes. I suspect that Governor Strickland would not, even if these refugees are from an unnecessary war that he did not support or waged by a militaristic ideological zealot that he may not support.

It is easy to hurl invectives at Governor Strickland, but these words do not acknowledge the costs associated with such relocations. Although I do not know Governor Strickland personally, I have heard him speak on several occasions and I was particularly struck by his thoughtfulness and caring of the people who shared their trials and concerns with him. I have heard former Governors Voinovich and Taft speak, and I did not come away feeling that either held the compassion that Governor Strickland exhibits.

I would bet the family farm that he is neither “petty and ill-informed” or “narrow-minded”. Instead, I would hear what he said, “I am sympathetic to the plight of the innocent Iraqi people” and “I would not want to ask Ohioans to accept a greater burden.” I agree.

If the federal government has finally felt the shame of the international community five years from the date of the initial banning of Iraqi immigration, perhaps it is about time. But don’t ask Ohio or any other state to assume further burdens for political refugees that this President has unilaterally created without acknowledging the local burden and sending enough money to support them.