Afghans who assisted the United States during the past 20 years are eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV). There are thousands more non-SIV refugees that the Biden Administration is resettling across the country.
Governor Hogan recently announced he was willing to accept Afghan refugees into the State of Maryland. Maryland residents should be leery on many accounts.
On September 29, Congress held hearings to determine who was to blame for the chaos during the United States retrograde operations from Afghanistan. In the midst of this upheaval, thousands of Afghans boarded planes eventually bound for asylum across the United States. The scenes that unfolded in early September raise questions about proper vetting of those who were admitted onto the planes and reports are already starting to surface of crimes being committed by Afghan refugees currently being housed on military bases around the country.
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reported over 6300 people are homeless in Maryland. So why has our Governor agreed to accept a Federal problem when so many Maryland veterans, families and children are struggling within our city streets?
The Pentagon acknowledges lack of food, clothing, and supplies necessary for the refugees being housed on military bases. Then there are the burdens these encampments are placing on the inter-agency partners and military base commanders for medical care, recreation facilities, child care, and religious accommodations.
So, if an organization as large as a military base is being overburdened, how will our local communities fare with this influx of refugees? The answer is predictable: the influx of refugees will place an undue burden upon the citizens of Maryland and our communities.
The Coronavirus has created many new issues facing the economy, one of which is 10.9 million unfilled jobs in the US while just over 14 million Americans are jobless. Meanwhile, CEOs of large companies are calling for corporations to “open their doors to Afghan talent” to fill these jobs.
In mid-September House Democrats published a plan to increase funding for a number of federal agencies to ensure these refugees are entitled to the same public benefits on refugee status like drivers licenses, medical support, housing assistance, and legal assistance. American taxpayers are billed nearly $9 billion for the resettlement of foreign refugees every 5 year period (that translates to approximately $1.8 billion annually).
It’s past time when we should start taking care of local citizens. Our state's tax dollars should be directed at helping our fellow Marylanders in need. Maryland’s homeless and unemployment woes should begin with filling jobs with Marylanders first.
We should welcome SIV refugees with open arms. However, Biden’s hasty, ill-informed decisions created a predictable fallout from an event that was a strategic and logistical failure. The federal government is reacting to this refugee crisis with fury and chaos. Now, states around the country are feeling the burden of these poor decisions.
Marylanders should demand transparency and only welcome these refugees into our communities when our local governments have a sound plan.
If you are tired of poor decisions from an expansive federal government that burdens your community, then Convention of States has the solution as big as the problem. The mission of COS Action Maryland is to empower Maryland citizens with the ability to enact change on a national level using the powers granted in Article V of the US Constitution. You can sign the petition here to remind our elected representatives that Maryland voices matter.
