Readers impressed by Mary Poole’s February 26th guest opinion, “Facts show Missoula can safely welcome refugees,” might want to learn about contemporary realities in refugee resettlement that Poole, co-founder of Soft Landing Missoula, didn’t mention.
First, refugee resettlement in the U.S. is hardly the work of private, sacrificial charity that one might expect from the names — such as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and Episcopal Migration Ministries — of prominent national “voluntary agencies,” or “volags,” involved. For example, International Rescue Committee [IRC], the volag that Poole says would plant refugees in Missoula, is a $560 million/year organization (2014 financials) whose main support, approximately 80 percent, is grants from governments, including at least $190 million from U.S. taxpayers. . . .
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