Before we get to the blatant emotional manipulation from The Pulp and the pre-election retraction demands from Harvard Mayor Davis about refugee numbers, I want to remind readers how far back I saw the problem with turning Missoula into a hub for refugee resettlement efforts by linking to this 2016 piece I wrote, titled Housing Refugees Amidst Skyrocketing Housing Prices. Here’s a paragraph from the prescient piece:
When I mention scarce resources for the disadvantaged already struggling in our community, I am told all the funding is from different pools and will have no negative impact. But the one resource that supporters of bringing 100 refugees a year to Missoula don’t have an adequate retort for is one of the most crucial: housing.
Yes, back then the estimate was that roughly 100 refugees would be resettled each year, starting in 2016. Doing the kind of basic math that seems to terrorize our Harvard-trained Mayor, that puts the number of refugees at 900, which is 400 hundred more than the claim at Soft Landing’s website, which clearly states the following about refugee numbers:
Over 500 people have arrived in Missoula as refugees since 2016, when Soft Landing Missoula started. Since then, our work has expanded to include creating a long welcome, not only for people who arrive through the refugee resettlement process, but also through any other immigration pathway. We look to engage everyone from early English-language learners to proficient speakers and new arrivals to people who have been in Missoula for quite some time.
Does Soft Landing actually track those “other immigration pathways”? This is an important question because, before the election, a much higher number was offered to Harvard Mayor Davis that she didn’t immediately shoot down, leading to Ginny Merriam (the Mayor’s communication bulldog ) having to do some heavy-handed damage control by demanding that Western Montana News do the bidding of the Mayor’s office. If you didn’t click the link to the Western Montana News’ post above about this political drama, here it is again, along with an excerpt:
The City of Missoula is demanding corrections to a Western Montana News opinion piece, claiming “misinformation” about Mayor Andrea Davis acknowledging migrant placement numbers—but city officials refuse to provide actual figures when pressed for transparency.
Communications Director Ginny Merriam sent a Sunday afternoon email at the mayor’s request, demanding Western Montana News retract statements from a March opinion piece that accurately reported Mayor Davis acknowledged “over 3,000 alien migrants had been placed in Missoula over the last four years.”
Merriam characterized the reporting as “disinformation” and claimed the mayor “has never met with the Montana Veterans Association,” citing safety concerns about social media comments targeting the mayor during election season.
However, Montana Veterans Association President and CEO Samuel Pascal Redfern contradicts the city’s account, confirming that Mayor Davis did meet with MVA members at the December 13 Pachyderm Club meeting where she publicly acknowledged the ~3,000 migrant placement figure.
Safety concerns? What a joke. I’ll believe the Mayor is serious about safety when she stops playing the victim card while also saying stupid shit, like equating what happens to flags vs. what happens to actual people in this town, especially when the threat of political violence is much more plausible when coming from the left (at least during this current moment in our country’s history).
Davis issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the behavior, saying she opposes any form of harassment, intimidation and vandalism.
She adds she’s disappointed by the divisiveness that’s overtaken our country, citing other acts of vandalism like theft of pride flags.
She wrapped up by saying the incident at the fair is the county commissioners’ jurisdiction.
These are the words of a pathetic political coward who will do ANYTHING to maintain the perception of moral high ground. And who can blame her when “award-winning” media upstarts put out shit like this about the safety net unraveling for refugees in Missoula:
When Abeer Naji and her husband arrived in Missoula in 2023, they didn’t have much. Clothes, some headscarves, $50 and a beautiful, timeworn silver watch Naji received as a gift from a friend in her home country of Yemen. That watch had traveled with her for years and across multiple countries as she and her family sought safety and permanence, eventually finding themselves in the snowy, welcoming corner of the Northern Rockies.
As a newly resettled refugee from a small war-torn country on the Arabian Sea, Naji relied heavily on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known as SNAP — federal benefits made legally available to refugees and asylum seekers alongside the millions of native and naturalized U.S. citizens who rely on them. Now a lawful permanent resident, or green card holder, Naji continues to depend on those supports to complement her meager retail wages and help her care for a husband who faces significant health issues. The freedom to no longer worry about such essentials has allowed Naji to build a reputation in Missoula as an advocate and informal advisor for fellow refugees, and as a consummate gifter of food and homebrewed chai among the staff of Soft Landing, the local resettlement nonprofit that helped her begin her life here.
Do you see from this quote why nothing in Missoula will change? When privileged white liberal women get home-brewed chai delivered to them by their social justice pets, all is right in the world. The rest of us can just fuck right off with our pesky inquiries, like proof of what basic math is telling us. I don’t think the following meme has ever felt more appropriate:
The answer to the question posed in the title of this post is pretty straight-forward: NO! You do NOT deserve an accurate refugee count, Missoula, and the reason is because accurate facts might help the bads, like me and scary Veterans who make cowardly politicians with Liberal White Woman syndrome quake, so just accept the pretend number of 500 and move on already!
For an example of how I’ve been covering this issue over the last 9 years, here are some additional posts to peruse. Isn’t funny that I used to be a progressive?
Housing Refugees Amidst Skyrocketing Home Prices in Missoula (August, 2016)
On Resettling Refugees And Schismogenesis (March, 2021)
Friday Briefs: Homeless Camps, Refugees And Convention Centers (September, 2021)
The Unstated Competition Between YWCA Homeless Families And Refugees In Missoula (September, 2021)
Do Teens Visiting From Countries Like Afghanistan Need Anti-Rape Classes? (October, 2021)
Because Refugees Won’t Get All Uppity Like Disgruntled Locals (March, 2022)
Are Refugees Easier To Manage Than Uppity Locals? (July, 2024)
Do Immigrants Have A Hotline To Missoula’s Mayor? (September, 2024)
Teaching Refugees And Immigrants In Missoula A New Word: Schismogenesis (September, 2024)
Don’t think the irony of this post coming a day before Thanksgiving is lost on me. In fact, to help with tomorrow’s feast, I suggest keeping an axe around in addition to a sharp knife. I mean, we can’t accept EVERYONE into our homes, can we?
Thanks for reading! (gobble, gobble)
