Representative Olszewski discusses state's stance on refugees
<p>Dr. Al Olszewski, Republican representative for House District 11, talks to the Pachyderm Club during a meeting at the Polson Rural Fire Hall Friday afternoon. The gathering was to address the state's stance of refugees.</p>
A group of 40 people gathered Friday morning for a Pachyderm Club meeting to listen to Rep. Al Olszewski speak about the possible resettling of Syrian refugees in Montana.
He began with a short introduction speech then segued to the Montana governments’ position on refugees at this time.
“We are doing as minimally as possible,” Olszewski said. “Which is essentially nothing.”
Olszewski emphasized that refugees already have been migrating to Montana, with the exception of any Syrian refugees. He discussed kindness instead of fear as the position Montanans should take with refugees.
“I have a kill them with kindness philosophy,” Olszewski said.
He continued on to talk about America being a melting pot, emphasizing an active approach, meaning engagement, to any possible immigrants Montana may receive. He clarified that Montana has few immigrants moving to the area currently, none of which have been Syrian.
Many concerns were raised over the possibility of Sharia Law taking over as the dominant form of government.
Olszewski addressed that but emphasized the education of the Constitution and that our laws, if applied to all people, “should be able to handle anybody, whether citizens, non citizens, immigrants or natives. The process of applying the law should be done evenly,” he said.
Olszewski mentioned that local communities can do very little to prevent any immigrants from moving to their area because once they are vetted and brought to the country, they have the ability to choose where they want to go. He emphasized that many of them go to places where they have family, friends, or social programs that would assimilate them into the communities.
There were more questions raised about the possibility of Islamic refugees not following United States laws because of concerns of the Koran taking precedence over the constitution. Olszewski acknowledge those beliefs but continued to discuss how Montana would address those issues, saying Montana should “have no fear” and would consider amping up the police forces and called for more jails if necessary.
Frank Delgado, President of the Pachyderm Club in Lake County, said the presentation was informative and he appreciates that it brought about discussion. “I think he’s presenting the state’s point of view, which is all he can do,” Delgado said. “The laws are there, unless we do new laws, we are stuck with what we got and we have to work with them.”
Olszewski sits on the Interim Committee for Children, Family and Human Services which oversees the refugee resettlement in Montana and is running for State Senate in District 6.