The United States government is now distributing thousands of “Syrian” “refugees” all over the country as part of the Refugee Resettlement Program. A lot of small communities are having culture-enrichers dumped on them without having any say-so in the process. The government puts the new arrivals in public housing and hands them their EBT cards, and the feds pay the tab for the first six months. After that the local authorities are on their own, and have to find the money themselves — for more police officers, medical care, interpreters, special needs teachers, whatever their new guests require.

But it doesn’t have to happen that way; it depends on the local government. The feds have to work with the localities in order to resettle the migrants, and it’s up to a local town council or board of supervisors whether or not the opinions of citizens are taken into account.

When Washington proposed sending refugees to Lawrenceville, a small town in Southside Virginia, the local government held a public meeting to get its citizens’ opinions. The townspeople of Lawrenceville made their feelings felt, and the town decided to decline any refugees sent by the feds. So it can be done.

But that’s not the way it happened in Rutland, Vermont. The federal government, through the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, assigned 100 refugees to Rutland, and the town council accepted them without telling the public until after the deal was done.

The following news report discusses what happened, and interviews the head of the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program. Pay close attention to end of the video, when the woman tells the interviewer how really, really glad she is that the town didn’t get to vote on the refugees.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

Below are excerpts from an article at American Thinker about the situation in Rutland:

Remaking Rutland with Refugees by Sonia Bailley The character of the city of Rutland, Vermont is facing major change. Nestled in the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont, it is an unsuspecting city targeted for refugee resettlement. After being kept in the dark since their mayor’s unilateral decision to accept 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugees in October, Rutland citizens should investigate the threatening impact that refugee resettlement has on their own public security, economic stability and community health before it’s too late. The city of Rutland was chosen as the site to place refugees by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), one of the nine major federally-funded refugee resettlement contractors or voluntary agencies (volags), and its local affiliated field office or subcontractor, the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP). According to Ann Corcoran of Refugee Resettlement Watch, once a site is chosen for resettlement, the agency submits an annual resettlement plan to the State Department in order to receive federal funding of nearly $2,000 per refugee sponsored in addition to federal grants of up to $2,200 per refugee sponsored. Refugee resettlement has become a billion dollar industry, according to investigative journalist James Simpson, a former economist and budget examiner for the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Read the rest (and follow the links) at American Thinker.

See also: Refugee Resettlement Watch.

Hat tip: Vlad Tepes.