Elizabeth mayor says city cannot agree to White House request to accept Afghan refugees due to lack of resour - NJ.com

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Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage tweeted Friday that his city could not accept Afghan refugees due to a lack of resources after Tropical Storm Ida displaced hundreds of city residents.

Bollwage, a Democrat, said he received a call from the White House about a nonprofit looking to settle Afghan refugees in Elizabeth after the Taliban regained control of the country. The mayor tweeted that he contacted the nonprofit, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and asked them to find neighboring towns to place them.

“We currently have approx 400 residents displaced & while everyone currently has housing, its been difficult maintaining short-term housing,” Bollwage tweeted. “I listed all challenges to the IRC & requested they reconsider settling Refugees & find neighboring communities to place them in that were not hit as hard as our City was. Hotels have cancelled rooms & placed time limits on stays.”

“The demand for essential resources & immerse cost from the storm remains & though we would like to welcome them, now is not the best choice.”

It’s unclear how many refugees the IRC was considering placing in Elizabeth. The mayor and the IRC did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

Some 64,000 evacuees from Afghanistan had arrived in the United States as of last week, and about 49,000 of those are staying on eight military bases as they await resettlement, according to the New York Times, which cited internal federal documents it says it obtained.

As many as 600 Elizabeth residents were displaced after Tropical Storm Ida hit New Jersey and flooded an affordable housing complex along the Elizabeth River. Union County, which includes Elizabeth, was eventually approved for financial assistance from FEMA to help residents recover.

Afghan refugees have been housed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, which will serve as a temporary location for as many as 9,500 evacuees from Afghanistan for up to a year. Gov. Phil Murphy created a task force to help them settle in New Jersey, but spokespersons for the governor — a Democrat — did not respond to a request for comment Saturday when asked about Bollwage.

The U.S. State Department was giving those who received special immigrant visas the choice to be resettled in more than a dozen locations in the Garden State, including Elizabeth, Highland Park and possibly other places in North Jersey.

A State Department spokeswoman told NJ Advance Media resettlement agencies consider placements based on where evacuees have family in the United States and other factors. Local resettlement agencies provide assistance with housing, school enrollment, food, clothing and furniture during the first 30 to 90 days in their new communities.

“This effort is of utmost importance to the U.S. government and we are devoting significant resources to support the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program and referrals to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and other Afghans at-risk,” the State Department spokeswoman said. “We are allocating new funding to support initial relocation support for those arriving from Afghanistan who are not being admitted as refugees.”

It’s unclear if Bollwage has much of a say in where refugees are placed. Former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, refused to help resettle Syrian refugees in 2016, but the federal government still settled about 275 of them, mostly in Jersey City and Elizabeth, with the help of nonprofits.

NJ Advance Media reached out to all nine city council members in Elizabeth on Saturday asking if they supported the mayor’s statement made on Twitter. Only one — 5th Ward Councilman William Gallman, Jr. — replied and said he supported the mayor’s position.

Kason Little, an activist in Elizabeth, said the mayor’s position on refugees isn’t in line with the sentiments of residents, many of whom are Hispanic or immigrants from a variety of nations. He said it was “disgusting” that Bollwage was using the storm as a reason to not accept the refugees and called the mayor “racist as hell.”

“He’s hiding under the Democratic title but he’s Republican by nature,” said Little. “That’s his values. It’s so inhumane and disgusting how he treats people from different countries.”

Little noted that in 2017 Bollwage refused to give sanctuary city status to Elizabeth. Immigrant groups at the time spoke out against the mayor’s decision not to give the designation, which would mean police wouldn’t cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents looking to detain people suspected of being undocumented. Mayors in cities like Newark and Jersey City gave the designation.

When asked for a response to Little’s comments, Kelly Martins, a spokeswoman for Elizabeth, only forwarded NJ Advance Media a letter Bollwage wrote to the IRC that mirrored what he wrote on Twitter. The governor was copied on the letter.

Bollwage has been mayor of Elizabeth for nearly 30 years. He was elected mayor in 1992 and ran unopposed in last year’s local general election, gaining 26,495 votes in a city with a population of about 128,000. He had two Democratic primary challengers in July 2020.

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Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com.

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Elizabeth mayor says city cannot agree to White House request to accept Afghan refugees due to lack of resour - NJ.com
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