By Johanna Hecht
KU Statehouse Wire Service
TOPEKA – Lawmakers are debating a bill that would give the state more authority to monitor refugee resettlement in Kansas.
Rep. Tony Barton, R-Leavenworth, and Christopher Holton, vice president for outreach for the Center for Security Policy, spoke last week to the House Federal and State Affairs Committee in support of House Bill 2612, which would:
- Create a state office for refugees within the Department for Children and Families (DCF).
- Require the governor to appoint a state refugee coordinator.
- Require that state coordinator meet with local agencies to plan and coordinate resettlement of refugees.
- Allow local governments to submit applications for a moratorium on new refugee
resettlements in communities that “lack sufficient absorptive capacity.”
- Allow the governor to suspend resettlement activity for up to a year if it’s determined the community doesn’t have the capacity (education, health care, law enforcement) to handle an influx of new refugees.
- Allow the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to look into crimes committed by and against refugees.
- Create a state database on refugee resettlement and share data with law enforcement.
“There is no adequate vetting process to determine if these refugees are a danger to our citizens. In some cases there are no records and no way to know who the refugees are,” Barton told the committee.
The bill includes the assurance that refugees are not placed or resettled in an area that may not be able to accommodate them, said Holton, whose organization is based in Washington, D.C., and promotes public policy on national security.
The bill would require the federal government to communicate with local refugee settlement agencies and with state and local governments.
“Clearly, the federal government has not been sufficiently consulting with state and local governments regarding the resettlement of refugees, as evidenced by recent executive orders and lawsuits by state leaders,” Holton said.
Part of Barton’s case for the bill includes an article from CNN with a statement from the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
“Clapper warned that ISIS and its eight branches were the Number 1 terrorist threat, and that it was using refugee exodus from violence in Iraq and Syria to hide among innocent civilians in order to reach other countries,” Barton said.
However, Ken Williams, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, opposes the bill because he says the specific idea of establishing a temporary ban on new refugee resettlement activities is impractical in certain communities.
“Imagine being forced to flee your country for fear of being tormented or even killed because of who you are and what you believe,” Williams said in written testimony presented to the committee.
In his statement, Williams said the goal of resettlement is to educate refugees to become self-sufficient in order to lead better lives. If enacted, the bill could make the resettlement process more complicated.
The issue of refugee resettlement and its impact on national security has been a concern for some state governments.
According to a different CNN article, there are 31 states, including Kansas, which oppose allowing Syrian refugees into their states.
Gov. Sam Brownback has signed two recent executive orders on refugee resettlement. In 2015, the governor issued an executive order forbidding state agencies from assisting in the resettlement of Syrian refugees to Kansas. In January, he issued a second executive ordering to prevent state departments and agencies from assisting with the relocation of “refugees that present a safety and security risk to the state of Kansas, until such time as an adequate vetting process is in place with adequate assurances to the state.”
– Edited by Leah Sitz