With debate raging over who should be allowed into the country, some municipalities in our region are taking steps to welcome refugees from Syria and other locations.
John Friedman is the alderman representing the third ward of Hudson, New York. He has authored a resolution, modeled after one crafted by the city of Chicago, holding out Hudson as a beacon for refugees. "I did it because I was listening to a lot of the political reportage yesterday about Donald Trump and his ludacris anti-American statement about blocking Muslim people from entering the United States. And prior to that, right before Thanksgiving, and then kind of lost after the fact was the debate about whether or not states could properly exclude Syrian refugees from being settled within their borders."
The measure cites Governor Andrew Cuomo's assertion that the Empire State welcomes vetted refugees in line with America's spirit and traditions of freedom and tolerance, as well as the Refugee Act of 1980 that declared it "the historic policy of the United States to respond to the urgent needs of persons subject to persecution in their homelands."
Meanwhile, the city council in Northampton, Massachusetts passed a resolution last week declaring the city to be a sanctuary for refugees.
Jeff Napolitano, is the director of the Western Mass. chapter of the American Friends Service Committee, which is encouraging people in Northampton to sign a public form to express support for refugees and their willingness to take refugees into their home. "We've put out a form that people can sign up in which they can say, 'Hey I have a bedroom or two bedrooms or a basement or something to take in refugees.' This was really borne of a number of people on Facebook of all places, that were saying, ‘Listen, you know, I don't like what we're hearing through the national political conversation and I don't like what Governor Baker said and I'll take in somebody if somebody's looking for a place.' And that's where it started a couple of weeks ago and has translated into this resolution."
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker joined with about 30 other U.S. governors in calling for a moratorium on Syrian refugees settling in their states. They have cited fears that Islamic State terrorists could fall in among the flow of refugees to sneak into the country.
Napolitano doesn't fear that. "The folks who are coming in are vetted and gone through, I believe it's a total of seven security and background checks by the federal government. They are the segment of folks coming into the country who are the most vetted."
Back in Hudson, Friedman says there is no set plan yet developed to deal with refugees, should any wish to settle there. "I'd really have to reach out to the new mayor, the mayor-elect right now, to see what we could put into place. I think the city has pretty good relationships with a lot of the social services agencies, the NGO social services agencies which locate in Hudson because it's the county seat of sprawling Columbia County and also the County Department of Social Services."
The vote is to take place next Tuesday. You can read the Hudson resolution by clicking on the image below.
