Michigan town votes to ban Syrian refugees

A town in Michigan, US, has voted to ban the resettlement of Syrian refugees within its borders, Monday.

The Board of Trustees for Waterford Township agreed unanimously on a resolution that their town

will not actively participate in the Refugee Resettlement Program until the Program has been significantly reformed, and until it has been demonstrated that the Townships of Oakland County have the capacity to absorb refugees without diverting funds from needy residents or exposing their residents to unwarranted security risk

Speaking to ABC news one of the township’s seven trustees, Anthony Bartolotta, said

The resolution is sometimes only worth the paper it’s written on, but what we are letting elected officials know in the county, and in the state, is that until you do the vetting process properly we don’t want to allow the refugees into Waterford Township, but when they do the vetting process the proper way, we would welcome them

Bartolotta went on,

It is not the refugees themselves. I know they’re some very good people. It is a shame that you have to feel this way… But I’ve got homeless vets out here, we’ve got senior citizens that have to balance between buying their medication and buying food. We have to take care of our own first… Some of these refugees, bless their heart, they just don’t have any documentation of where they come from

The decision is not legally binding and will not – in fact – prevent the resettlement of refugees in Waterford as such decisions are made at higher levels of government.

Waterford Township votes to stop Syrian refugees from living there. My reports @WWJ950 https://t.co/TPjkFn81SV pic.twitter.com/6563pXGb6C

— Jason Wirgau (@JasonWirgau) October 25, 2016

According to federal officials, refugees resettled in the US are subject to intense vetting in a process that can three years to complete and includes biometric testing and intensive overseas interviews with Department of Homeland Security. These include:

the involvement of the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State and the Department of Defense. All refugees, including Syrians, are admitted only after successful completion of this stringent security screening regime.

However, according to Arjwan Khadoori, a refugee specialist who works with the Lutheran Social Services of Michigan in a nearby town Troy, Michigan, who was speaking with ABC Syrian refugees are already being resettled in Michigan. Reacting to the township’s ruling, Khadoor said:

I am not going to agree with anybody who is against the refugees because the refugees are human beings, and they have their rights. We have to serve the people from anywhere… Christian, Muslim, black, white — no, they are all human.

Earlier this month a federal court criticised Indiana governor – and republican nominee for Vice President – Mike Pence for an executive order designed to make it harder for Syrian refugees to be resettled in the state. In 2015 Pence had directed state agencies to deny federal grant money to organisations who were assisting refugees from Syria.

However, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanmously against Pence and one of its three Judges – Richard Posner – stated that Pence’s actions were based on “nightmare speculation” and not supported by evidence.