Regarding Refugees

Along with others, I attended a rally on Feb. 1 in Missoula protesting the bringing of un-vetted refugees to Montana. I intended to write a letter to the editor but after reading this article by Leo Hohmann (a writer for wnd.com), it occurred to me that it might work better. Mr. Walling has agreed to play along by running the following excerpt. To read the article in full, visit mobile.wnd.com/2016/01/plan-to-infuse-small-towns-with-muslim-migrants-meets-resistance/#ORBH2vu6xGHY0FIU.99.

– Dave Pippin,

Glasgow

“Rural folks in Montana are pushing back against plans by urban elites to plant hundreds of Muslims from the Third World into Helena and Missoula.

Here in ‘Big Sky Country,’ local politicians in Missoula, working with pro-immigrant NGOs, are inviting the federal government to begin sending Syrians, comparing them to the Hmong refugees who fled Vietnam’s communists in the late 1970s. They have not been deterred by the fact that 98 percent of Syrian refugees are Sunni Muslims, the vast majority of whom FBI Director James Comey admits are impossible to vet for ties to terrorism. Despite Comey’s warnings, the Missoula Board of County Commissioners sent a letter on Jan. 13 to the U.S. State Department requesting Syrian refuges. ‘We look forward to seeing approximately 100 refugees per year resettled in Missoula,’ the letter states.

Since the controversy erupted last fall over Syrian refugees, Secretary of State John Kerry’s top refugee lieutenant, Anne Richard, has repeatedly said states have ‘no authority’ to stop the flow of refugees. Yet, the Jan. 13 letter shows a stunning lack of knowledge on the part of the Missoula County commissioners, said Paul Nachman, who lives in Bozeman. The commissioners seem to believe they can simply put their order in for a specific number of refugees. ‘They are practically begging’ for 100 refugees per year, says Nachman, a 67-year-old retired physicist. He came to Montana from Southern California in 2005 where he was involved in that states pitched battles over illegal immigration. But the ‘inclusiveness’ only extends to those who are willing to jump on board with the program, say opponents. Caroline Solomon lives in the city of Big Fork in Flathead County, which is tucked away in the northwest corner of Montana. She said rural Montanans are getting stirred up and frustrated by the bare-knuckle approach of the refugee-resettlement groups.

Solomon is a member of the local chapter of ACT For America, an organization that educates the public about the dangers of creeping Sharia law. She is originally from Belgium and lived near a section of Brussels that is now infested with jihadists, several of whom were recruited by ISIS to take part in the Nov. 13 Paris terror attacks. She and her husband retired to Kalispell, Montana, in 1993 and quickly fell in love with the community. ‘We have had 23 years here, and I tell you I cannot describe the way the people are here,’ she said. ‘You get airlifted to Spokane with a medical problem, and before you know it people are in their cars driving to visit you. I could not understand that as a European. It’s like one big family. Everybody is nice. When you go shop, everybody talks to everybody. When I go back to the big city, I think I must look like a country bumpkin because I have a smile on my face. That’s why people come here.’

Contrast that with the no-go zones in Europe, or the growing enclaves in Minneapolis, Minnesota, or Dearborn, Michigan, and you can see why Solomon and others aren’t warming up to the changes proposed by liberals in Missoula. ‘This subject (of refugees) is now a very hot topic here,” she said. ‘We had over 100 people at our last meeting, and the one in December we had over 300. They all say not in Montana. Well it’s time to wake up because they are coming to Montana,’ Solomon said. ‘They are asking the government to send them.’”