Trump prepares for office

As Trump prepares for office, are there concerns for the refugee program in ND?

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live): “We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties,” says President-elect Donald Trump to the media during a meeting with President Obama.

This was the first meeting between the current President and the new one, where once again policies were discussed, including immigration. It’s been two days since the election and protests and riots are breaking out in cities nationwide. Many organizations are preparing for a Republican President and Congress to make sweeping changes. That includes to the refugee resettlement program.

Trump and members of Congress have said they would stop it, or at the very least, slow it down. So what does this mean for North Dakota’s resettlement program?

Just last week, our new President-elect was stumping for your votes in Minnesota.

“When I'm elected President we will suspend the Syrian refugee program and we will keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country,” a worked-up Trump tells a crowd in an airport hangar.

And huge cheers erupt.

“If Congress and the President ends funding, ends federal funding for the program, will you be able to continue the program here?" asked Reporter Bradford Arick.

"Refugee resettlement is a federally funded program so it is work the federal government does through organizations like ours. So if the United States decides to you know withdraw from participating in refugee resettlement then there won't be resettlement work that happens in the United States,” replied Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota CEO Jessica Thomasson.

North Dakota is a Wilson-Fish state, meaning the state has handed off the duties of resettling refugees to the third-party non-profit Lutheran Social Services. So the federal dollars come to the state, the state says here you go LSS and then they appropriate the money in turn.

"LSS determines the number of refugees and the more refugees they get the more money they make. I don't know what for sure will happen but there will be changes that are going to be made. The Legislature I believe will be addressing this issue so it won't be in our hands much longer,” said Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn at the most recent City Commission meeting.

At least one member of the Fargo City Commission is still asking questions about the program, and top state legislators have already said they would support ending the program in North Dakota.

Click the links next to this story for our previous coverage of this issue.