(The following column was submitted by State Rep. Bruce Griffey, R-Paris):
Both refugee resettlement and illegal immigration in TN have been a top focus of Representative Bruce Griffey’s (R-Paris) legislative agenda since he was sworn into office in 2019, and now he is one of 5 House members appointed by Speaker Cameron Sexton to a special legislative committee to address refugee issues in Tennessee.
The 10 person Committee consists of 5 members of the House and 5 members of the Senate and was formed to specifically evaluate the number of migrant children being permanently relocated to TN by the federal government, the number of migrant children being flown into Tennessee and then relocated to other states by the federal government, how to increase transparency from the federal government regarding its relocation of unaccompanied migrant children to and through Tennessee, and the impact, financial and beyond, on Tennesseans, as it relates to the federal government’s migrant relocation program.
“The Committee was formed on the heels of at least 4 planes carrying migrant children landing at the Wilson Air Center in Chattanooga in May. Indeed, there are reports that Chattanooga is being used by the federal government as a central location for resettling unaccompanied minors from foreign countries in the United States under a veil of secrecy. Tennesseans deserve transparency. Tennesseans deserve answers, and Tennesseans deserve to have their legislators stand up against the federal government,” explained Griffey.
“I am deeply honored and extremely grateful to Speaker Sexton for appointing me to this important committee to address issues about which I’m particularly passionate. Deterring illegal immigration to Tennessee and ending benefits for illegals in Tennessee was a focus of my campaign platform and has been the subject of a number of bills that I have pursued over my 3 years in office. Just by way of example, I filed legislation to:
· create the Tennessee Lawful Housing Act to make it unlawful for any lessor to rent housing in TN to an illegal alien;
· expand E-Verify in Tennessee to eliminate the employment of illegals in Tennessee;
· prevent the State of Tennessee from registering any birth certificate issued to any child born to a mother who is not lawfully present in the United States unless the father is a U.S. citizen and provides (1) proof of citizenship; (2) a sworn acknowledgement of paternity; and (3) a written agreement to provide financial support to the child until the child is 18 years old;
· support President’s Trump’s efforts to end “birth right” citizenship;
· require courts in TN to inquire into a defendant’s immigration status and to not only consider such status in setting bonds, but to also cooperate with ICE;
· impose fees on money transfers from TN to foreign countries by illegals and to use the over $125 Million Dollars generated annually to increase teacher and law enforcement pay and fund infrastructure projects; and
· stop refugee resettlement in TN.
“Tennesseans recognize the harm caused by both illegal immigration and refugee resettlement in our great State. This is why Tennessee voters overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2016 and overwhelmingly voted for Trump supporters, including myself, in both 2018 and 2020. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, illegal immigration in Tennessee cost Tennessee tax payers $793 million in 2017 alone. This must end, and, in order to bring it to an end, we need to curtail the ability of illegal aliens to obtain jobs, housing or benefits in Tennessee. I want to make Tennessee be the very last place that illegal aliens want to come,” stated Griffey.
“Just as with illegal immigration, numerous reasons similarly dictate against continued refugee resettlement in TN. First and foremost, almost all economists, and simple logic, indicate that adding refugees to Tennessee’s labor pool would have an adverse effect on wages for Tennesseans at the bottom of the economic scale. Since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), both rural Tennessee and rural America has suffered historic losses in good paying manufacturing jobs. I saw firsthand the devastating effects of NAFTA on small town workers, their livelihoods, and how that devastated the local economy. We need to protect and help American manufacturing grow while at the same time protect and try to increase wages for those Tennesseans at the bottom of the economic scale. It is the right thing to do, not just for Tennesseans but for ALL AMERICANS. It is too soon in my estimation to ease wage pressure by importing refugee labor and/or allowing illegal immigration labor to continue to operate in Tennessee unabated. My motto is ‘Tennesseans First’”, Griffey said.
In further explaining his reasons for strongly opposing continued refugee resettlement in TN, Griffey went on to state that:
· Second, the refugee resettlement program costs millions of dollars, which the federal government transfers to the state for absorption and TN taxpayers end up funding the program. Instead of supporting refugees, Tennessee tax dollars should be supporting Tennesseans first and foremost. In TN, we have homeless veterans, who we need to be helping before refugees. We have children living on dirt floors and/or in meth homes, who we need to be helping before refugees.
· Third, refugee resettlement poses not only high costs, but also high risks in relation to security. There are inherent problems with screening and vetting refugees. Electronic footprints are rare or non-existent, and reliance exclusively on hard documents is rife with fraud by individuals seeking to create false identities using counterfeit paperwork.
· Fourth, the toll that refugee resettlement takes not only on TN, but also on local jurisdictions within the state, can expand exponentially due to chain migration policies allowing each refugee to ultimately add to the population multiple new immigrants, who often do not speak English, are uneducated, lack marketable skills and further drain state and local resources. Inevitably, they increase the burden on public schools, social service agencies and emergency rooms and further strain local infrastructure such as roads and public housing.
· Fifth, the lines are often blurred between “humanitarian aid” and financial gain with respect to refugee resettlement programs. The federal refugee resettlement program has spawned a private refugee cottage industry consisting of purported “charitable groups” that lobby for more and more refugee admissions inasmuch as it equates to greater financial gain and more money in their pockets.
· Sixth , although economic integration and self-sufficiency are allegedly the goals of organizations that have developed a profitable refugee industry, refugees are often abandoned shortly after their arrival, leaving the taxpayer subsidized welfare system to take over their support. Refugees are eligible for numerous welfare benefits immediately upon their arrival just as if they are native-born citizens. Relative to native-born citizens, however, refugees are 3-5 times more likely to receive food stamps, SSI, Medicaid, cash welfare and public housing. For example, a 2013 study reflected that 74% of refugees received food stamps.
“For these reasons, I firmly believe that the refugee resettlement program is not in the best interest of Tennessee or Tennesseans. We need to take care of our own first – Tennessee and Tennesseans first! Only when the vast majority of Tennesseans are employed with good jobs and good wages and in a position to take care of their families without relying upon income assistance from the government, should Tennessee even consider allowing refugees to resettle here. Allowing refugee resettlement may help the refugees, the private organizations assisting with their resettlement and businesses in search of low cost labor, but it does not help poor Tennesseans looking for jobs that pay good wages or Tennessee taxpayers. We cannot ignore the burden of refugee resettlement on existing Tennessee citizens, who will face greater competition for jobs and suppressed wages, higher taxes to support new refugee members of their community and who will live with the environmental consequences. I look forward to serving on this important Committee and continuing to fight to put Tennesseans first and end illegal immigration to and refugee resettlement in TN,” Griffey concluded.