Gov. Nathan Deal’s administration has sided with Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson in opposition to resettling 150 refugees there in the coming months, according to records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In a letter sent to the U.S. State Department last week, Georgia Human Services Commissioner Keith Horton said he does not want the International Rescue Committee’s refugee resettlement plan to “go forward at this time.”
“The degree of cooperation, communication and consultation is not where I would like for it to be,” Horton wrote. “It is my hope that the community of Athens/Clarke County and the IRC will continue to work together to resolve the issues and concerns that have been raised.”
The U.S. State Department had no immediate comment.
Horton’s letter follows one Denson sent Deal’s administration two days before. In her letter, the Democratic mayor complained that the IRC did not reach out to enough people in her community early enough about its plans. She also raised concerns that the refugees could strain public resources in Athens-Clarke County, which is home to about 120,000 residents.
The IRC has proposed resettling refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Myanmar and Syria in the region over the next fiscal year. Denson said she wants the IRC to delay its efforts and to “present a formal refugee integration plan” to local elected officials and others.
J.D. McCrary, the executive director of the IRC in Atlanta, said in an email that he was disappointed with Horton’s response to Denson, “especially after working so closely over the past year with the state refugee office in developing this program.”
“The Athens program was designed from inception in consultation with the commissioner’s office and in response to the geographic diversification request made by (the Department of Human Services) and Governor Deal,” McCrary wrote. “The IRC has gone to great lengths to openly share its consultation work with the state office but was unfortunately excluded from the decision to ‘not go forward.’ ”
McCrary added that his organization “is surprised at this decision given that DHS has openly acknowledged the extensive cooperation, communication and consultation it has had with IRC since consultations began in 2013.”
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