BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Brown County’s board of supervisors voted Wednesday night to continue accepting refugees without any limit.
A September executive order from President Donald Trump is requiring communities to show they are willing to accept refugees if they want to continue to do so.
As a Somali refugee living in Brown County the past four years, Said Hassan felt a duty to tell county supervisors why refugees should be accepted without a cap.
“Refugees are involuntarily leaving their countries. By putting a number on that for me was a worry. I worry about that.”
Like many other refugees, Hassan learned Brown County’s executive committee approved a letter last week stating Brown County consented to accept up to approximately 20 refugees for resettlement.
“We decided to pick 20 to put in a letter knowing that we were going to go to the county board for approval as a debate point,” said Jeff Flynt, Brown County’s Deputy Executive.
The county board never reached a level of debate because the state’s refugee program coordinator, Ben York, told the supervisors a cap wasn’t acceptable.
“Including a number would be an issue because a number could be viewed as a condition and the requirement is the letter of consent must be unambiguous and unconditional.”
“Had there never been a number put in this letter, would we be having this conversation?” said John Van Dyke, a county supervisor.
“I don’t know where the number came from. I guess it’s kind of irrelevant at the moment. It’s being removed.”
The board unanimously approved a resolution with the stipulation a new letter would be drafted without any sort of limit.
“The outcome was pretty good. By voting there is no number attached to it was something that I thought was successful,” said Hassan.
The state says so far no counties have said they would not accept any refugees.
Brown County has averaged 14 refugees each year for the past five years.
The state coordinator says available services typically dictate the amount each community receives.
The belief is Brown County could handle as many as 35 next year, but likely will continue to see a number in the 14 range.
