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Refugee moratorium called unconstitutional
CONCORD — A bill allowing communities to impose a one-year moratorium on refugee resettlements is probably unconstitutional, a law professor told a House committee Thursday.
House Bill 1405 had both its supporters and detractors at a public hearing Thursday before the House Municipal and County Government Committee.
Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has called for a moratorium on refugee resettlement until the “city can catch its breath” after about 300 refugees a year have been resettled in the city over the last few years.
Gatsas supported HB 1405 Thursday, saying the city needs time to allow the refugees currently in the community to settle into the system, get jobs and become productive citizens.
Gatsas said communication with the resettlement agencies, the state and the federal government has been poor.
“We need to take a breath, step back and figure out how to do this right,”Gatsas said at the hearing.
Along with allowing a one-year moratorium, HB 1405 would require more communication between the state, resettlement agencies and the communities where refugees are placed.
The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Laura Pettengill, R-Glen, told the committee the legislation is similar to one passed in Tennessee. She said the bill would be a great step forward in helping refugees assimilate into American society.
But University of New Hampshire Law professor Albert Scheer told the committee the moratorium provision raises constitutional questions because it singles out a particular class of legal residents.
He cited a 1941 U.S. Supreme Court case involving a California law forbidding indigent residents from other states from settling in California.
He also said states cannot pass laws that conflict with the “federal framework.” The refugee resettlement program is under the direction of the State Department.
Scheer said the Tennessee bill did not include the moratorium provision when it finally passed.
Several House members from Manchester backed the bill, including Rep. Win Hutchinson and Mike Ball. City alderman and Rep. Pat Long, who headed a commission to study the refugee problems in Manchester, said he liked parts of the bill, but disliked others.
He said he wasn’t sure the city could tell the State Department “no more,” but was appalled the issue was never resolved until the Executive Council refused to approve federal money for refugee programs late last year.
Representatives of Lutheran Social Services of New England and the International Institute of New Hampshire spoke against the bill.
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House Bill 1405 had both its supporters and detractors at a public hearing Thursday before the House Municipal and County Government Committee.
Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has called for a moratorium on refugee resettlement until the “city can catch its breath” after about 300 refugees a year have been resettled in the city over the last few years.
Gatsas supported HB 1405 Thursday, saying the city needs time to allow the refugees currently in the community to settle into the system, get jobs and become productive citizens.
Gatsas said communication with the resettlement agencies, the state and the federal government has been poor.
“We need to take a breath, step back and figure out how to do this right,”Gatsas said at the hearing.
Along with allowing a one-year moratorium, HB 1405 would require more communication between the state, resettlement agencies and the communities where refugees are placed.
The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Laura Pettengill, R-Glen, told the committee the legislation is similar to one passed in Tennessee. She said the bill would be a great step forward in helping refugees assimilate into American society.
But University of New Hampshire Law professor Albert Scheer told the committee the moratorium provision raises constitutional questions because it singles out a particular class of legal residents.
He cited a 1941 U.S. Supreme Court case involving a California law forbidding indigent residents from other states from settling in California.
He also said states cannot pass laws that conflict with the “federal framework.” The refugee resettlement program is under the direction of the State Department.
Scheer said the Tennessee bill did not include the moratorium provision when it finally passed.
Several House members from Manchester backed the bill, including Rep. Win Hutchinson and Mike Ball. City alderman and Rep. Pat Long, who headed a commission to study the refugee problems in Manchester, said he liked parts of the bill, but disliked others.
He said he wasn’t sure the city could tell the State Department “no more,” but was appalled the issue was never resolved until the Executive Council refused to approve federal money for refugee programs late last year.
Representatives of Lutheran Social Services of New England and the International Institute of New Hampshire spoke against the bill.
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