The city council voted 9-0 last night to sign a letter of consent allowing The Refugee Center to continue their work resettling refugees in our area.
Because of an executive order signed by Trump back in September, state and local governments must provide official consent; Governor Pritzker already has at the state level, and now both Champaign and Urbana have followed suit.
However, it remains to be seen how many families The Refugee Center will see in the future, as Trump has also limited the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. each year to 18,000, down from 30,000 the previous year, and 100,000 during the Obama administration. Because, yeah, that’s where we are. Sigh. But hey, it’s impeachment day!
You can read more about all of this here.
Pro tip: I’d stay away from the Facebook comments of all local news sources reporting on this. Your “yay for our community!” vibes will quickly be replaced by “oh shit, we live in a city with a whole bunch of racist assholes” vibes.
Photo from the City of Champaign Facebook page