Northwoods Congressman Again Wants Details on Refugee Resettlement in Wisconsin

Tom Tiffany Questions Plan to Accept Refugees

Wisconsin’s Northwoods congressman wants to know the plan from the Evers Administration to bring Afghan and Ukrainian refugees to the state.

Congressman Tom Tiffany on Wednesday sent a letter to Bojana Zoric Martinez, the director of the Bureau of Refugee Programs in Milwaukee, asking about the "resettlement" effort.

"Recent news reporting indicates that a non-governmental organization (NGO) is slated to bring 140 refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine into Marathon County before January 201 – the day President-elect Trump will be sworn into office,” Tiffany wrote in his letter. “This decision is once again being treated as a foregone conclusion, it seems – one that has been allowed to proceed without any public forums for residents to voice concerns or ask basic questions.”

Tiffany also questioned the speed and planning behind an earlier effort to bring 75 refugees from Africa to Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley.

In his letter this week, Tiffany said the new resettlement effort is unfolding in a similar, silent manner.

“In recent weeks, I have once again been contacted by concerned constituents regarding reports of a significant refugee resettlement scheme underway in central Wisconsin. Unfortunately, as has been in the case with past resettlement initiatives, this effort appears to be moving forward with very little transparency or opportunity for local input.,” Tiffany added. “In my last letter, I asked you, as the State official responsible for refugee resettlement, to coordinate open public input sessions before these kinds of resettlement initiatives begin, not to simply provide a cursory notification after these decisions have already been made behind closed doors. I did so because local officials received so little advance notice about plans to house thousands of Afghans at Fort McCoy in 2021 – many of whom went on to commit crimes ranging from theft and assault, to domestic violence and sexual abuse of minors. Others simply walked out of the installation before any basic screening was even conducted.”

Tiffany said in his letter that he wants Martinez to be more open with the people of Marathon County about who is coming to their community, and where they are coming from.

Tiffany added that he doesn’t have faith in past resettlement efforts, and he wants to have faith this time.

“I am also deeply skeptical of the casual claims often made by resettlement NGOs that all refugees undergo 'extensive vetting' before they arrive in our communities. This claim strains credulity at best and is misleading at worst," Tiffany wrote. "The dangerously lax track record of the outgoing Biden administration only heightens these well founded fears. For example, one Customs and Border Protection official told CNN that the White House policy regarding the 'vetting' of Afghan nationals in the wake of the chaotic collapse of Kabul was to 'get as many people on the plane as you can, and we’ll sort out the [immigration visa] stuff later.' The official added that '[s]ome people have landed with no documents whatsoever.'."