Refuge BG, a Bowling Green based nonprofit that helps resettle refugees in Warren County, is pausing, but not giving up on, plans to resettle refugees in the community of Glasgow after a pushback from some citizens in Barren County. The organization planned to help 30 Latin American refugees resettle in Glasgow after coordinating with federal, state and local officials, but some Glasgow citizens raised concerns during a Barren County Fiscal Court meeting regarding the lack of information about the new residents and inadequate public resources for new residents.
R.J. Baise, a coordinator for Refuge BG, said misinformation regarding the legal status, background, and quantity of refugees had circulated within the community. The response from some citizens during several Barren County Fiscal Court meetings regarding the resettlement plans contributed to the decision to reevaluate their decision.
“A lot of misinformation was spread very quickly and so I think that people were just upset about the unknown,” Baise said. “Our intent was never to cause division in any of that. We never wanted to cause an issue, we never wanted it to be an ‘us versus them’ type of thing.”
Members of RefugeBG and Glasgow city council were met with community pushback during a June 24 city council meeting where citizens questioned the legal status of the immigrants and expressed concern over the use of local resources at the expense of current residents. An additional Barren County Fiscal Court meeting on July 8 offered RefugeBG officials and Glasgow citizens a platform to address misinformation surrounding the resettlement plans. Ultimately, RefugeBG decided to pause the resettlement plans.
Baise said the organization would work to build stronger relationships with local leaders in Glasgow and educate the public on the resettlement process.
“We understand that we do no have the final say,” Baise said. “The Department of State gets to make the final decision. We definitely want to continue building good relationships with the leadership in Glasgow so we’ve decided to take a step back and use the meantime to further education of the resettlement process within Glasgow.”
The State Department is responsible for the approval and placement of refugees in the U.S. The federal agency administers a thorough screening process, including security and medical tests before refugees are resettled in the United States. The federal agency then coordinates with state officials and local organizations before placing individuals in communities.
Since the 1980s, thousands of refugees have resettled in southcentral Kentucky through a Bowling Green-based resettlement agency, after fleeing their native countries due to political or religious persecution. Most of those new arrivals have been settled in the Warren County community.
Baise said RefugeBG ultimately wants to foster stronger relationships within Glasgow and potentially revisit a future within Barren County.
“We want to be intentional in hearing people when they say, “we still don't understand this” and we really grasped on to that,” Baise said. “That the majority of people were not putting all the pieces together on how a resettlement process really works and so we just want to let it calm down and potentially re approach that.”
