APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The case against President Donald Trump’s hold on refugees continues to work it’s way through the court system and as it does, people on both sides of the debate continue to talk.
Wednesday, Appleton’s League of Women Voters held an educational presentation on local refugees.
Tami McLaughlin, the director of World Relief Fox Valley, was there to teach. She spoke to WLUK.
“They are fleeing what we are afraid of. So they are being persecuted and in the midst of the violence that we don’t want in this country either”
According to McLaughlin, there are 25 million refugees the world over, 50% are children, 1% are resettled yearly. The U.S. took in 85,000 last year.
Locally World Relief Fox Valley has been settling refugees for five years.
“Congolese are our largest population, Burmese second and Iraqi is our thid population. And then we have some other ethnicities also that we’re resettling”
McLaughlin did discuss President Trump’s desire to put a 120 day hold on the country’s refugee program.
She said she and her organization have the utmost respect for the President, but they are concerned.
“However we do wish that maybe the executive order wasn’t so severe”
But Republican State Representative Ron Tusler says many agree with the President.
“It’s an issue that President Trump brought up while he was on the campaign trail and his constituents and the people of our country are concerned about who these people are”
Tusler said the executive order is simply about making sure the vetting process for refugees works.
“I think that’s all that’s trying to be accomplished by this order. It’s great to bring people here that we know who they are, they’re hard working, they wanna be Americans”
But according to McLaughlin, the United States’s vetting process for refugees is already very intense. It lasts between one and a half to three years.
“That checks their backgrounds, where they’re from, includes interviews, health screenings, even biometrics, a lot of different agencies. So when they get here we know who they are, we know where they come from”
McLaughlin says the Fox Valley is typically welcoming to refugees.
“For the most part people seem to be very receptive. They want to learn” McLaughlin says sometimes the more people learn about the refugee program, the fewer fears they have.
