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Ii City Quango candidates who vocally supported pausing the resettlement of refugees in St. Cloud lost their elections last week, just they still received considerable voter support — a strong signal that the outcome remains unsettled.

John Palmer and Liz Baklaich lost to incumbents Dave Masters and Steve Laraway. Palmer, though, received one,650 votes, well-nigh 43 per centum , while Baklaich got two,167 votes, 46 percentage.

Their relative strength in the election comes more than a year later on the metropolis voted in support of being a welcoming community.

St. Deject is habitation to a large Somali-American population that includes people who came as refugees and were settled past Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and other nonprofits. Others moved here or were built-in here. Near are Muslim.

Palmer and Baklaich are part of Concerned Customs Citizens, a group whose members frequently speak at quango meetings, questioning the public costs of refugee resettlement. They sometimes habiliment red hats reading, "Brand St. Cloud Great Again," a nod to President Trump's signature phrase, and fence city officials aren't listening to them.

"I'yard glad they're non role of our urban center leadership, but really, there were thousands of people that voted for them," said Natalie Ringsmuth, founder and director of the grouping #UniteCloud, which works to overcome racial and religious divides.

"If there are thousands of people in St. Cloud who believe the right way to treat their neighbors is to dehumanize them, then we nonetheless accept a lot of piece of work to do," said Ringsmuth, who won a seat last calendar week on the St. Deject school board.

"We're still a divided community."

The divisions run across greater Minnesota.

A 2017 survey past MPR News and its sis organization, the APM Inquiry Lab, institute people in the state'southward largest urban areas tended to say Minnesota was on the right track in welcoming immigrants and refugees. But in rural areas and St. Cloud, feelings were unlike.

In St. Cloud, only 39 percent of those responding believed Minnesota was on the "correct track" with immigrants, while 49 percent said the state was headed the wrong way.

Views on immigration and refugees

David Montgomery for MPR News

Abdi Daisane, a Somali-American business organization owner and graduate student at St. Cloud State University, took some comfort from the election results.

"It kind of shows that a bulk of St. Deject wants some common sense people in there," said Daisane, who ran unsuccessfully for the City Council ii years ago.

Daisane said he doesn't believe that most St. Cloud residents share the view that refugees are bringing problems into the community.

"In that location'due south a lot of great people who we experience that they are really our allies and supportive to our customs," he said.

People hold signs during a St. Cloud City Council discussion on moratoriums related to refugee resettlement Monday, Oct. 23, 2017, at city council chambers in St. Cloud, Minn.

Dave Schwarz | St. Deject Times via AP

A year agone, outgoing council member Jeff Johnson tried to get the city to pass a moratorium on refugee resettlement. The City Council rejected that proposal and instead passed a resolution in support of St. Cloud being a "but and welcoming community."

Daisane said many Somali-Americans were inspired to go out and vote this year in part because of DFL state Rep. Ilhan Omar, who last calendar week became the first Somali-American elected to Congress in the Minneapolis-area 5th District.

But he said there was likewise fear about candidates seen as anti-immigrant or anti-Muslim.

Other statewide candidates voiced support for slowing or pausing immigration and refugee resettlement, including Jeff Johnson, the Republican candidate for governor who lost to Tim Walz.

People hold signs while leaving later a metropolis council meeting Mon, October. 23, 2017, in St. Deject City Hall in St. Cloud, Minn.

Dave Schwarz | St. Deject Times via AP

Palmer said he didn't entrada for St. Deject Metropolis Quango on the refugee issue, but on broader themes like criminal offence and economical development. He said he'due south worried about increased poverty and economic reject in St. Cloud.

"I don't want it to cease up the way I've seen other communities that become core cities that lose tax paying citizens and gain citizens requiring high public service expenditures," Palmer said.

Baklaich declined a recorded interview but has spoken at City Council meetings well-nigh what she describes as the threat of Sharia police on American guild, an argument commonly used past anti-Muslim groups.

Newly-elected council fellow member Paul Brandmire said that while he's concerned Somali refugees accept been resettled too rapidly in St. Deject, straining local resource, he wants to reach out to the Somali-American community and build trust.

"It's going to be something that needs to be dealt with slowly," he said. "Information technology needs to be dealt with with respect and conversations on both sides."

Masters, who defeated Palmer, said he hopes the metropolis tin can motility frontwards and focus on other problems, such equally replacing the jobs that volition be lost when major employer Electrolux leaves St. Cloud.

He knows refugee resettlement remains a divisive issue in the community, but added, "I think that we're working through it. My philosophy is that we come together work together and find solutions together."

November. 2017: MPR News hosted a conversation most clearing with St. Deject citizens

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Source: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/11/12/stcloud-minnesota-somali-refugees-election-division

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