Our county commissioners are wrong to reject resettlement of Syrian war refugees in our community. Far from providing moral and political leadership, they choose to echo the irrational fear and stinginess expressed by some, including the bitterly anti-Muslim group, Act for America, which recently staged an anti-immigrant rally here. The Inter Lake’s front page of March 11 featured a large photo of self-satisfied people cheering the exclusion of desperate refugees.

If any refugees were resettled in this valley, they very likely would number fewer than 100, made up mainly of mothers and couples with children. No good deed is without risk, but the likelihood of being victimized by a Syrian refugee is less than that of being killed or injured by a homegrown misfit with a gun, which itself is very small. (On average, however, more than 100 gun-related deaths occur in the U.S. every day.) The probability of being assaulted by a refugee is less than that of being injured or killed by a motor vehicle (another 100 or so every day).

This country needs immigrants to augment our slowly growing labor force. The unemployment rate in Montana is well below 5 percent, although higher in Flathead County. We are beginning to see labor shortages, and many immigrants would come with skills and education. Commissioner Phil Mitchell is quoted as being “very worried about the costs of schools, social security and safety.” The home-grown student population grows each year, however, and fewer than 50 refugee children scattered among the schools and the grades, can be accommodated. When refugees go to work, moreover, they contribute to Social Security via payroll taxes and would not receive benefits for decades. Immigration bolsters the finances of Social Security and Medicare. As for safety, of course we must be vigilant, and we are.

Is our community really so inhospitable and stingy? The U.S. has taken in millions of refugees since World War II but few from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, where our own government’s policies bear heavy responsibility for bloody upheavals occurring there. As Americans and simply as compassionate people, we must do more to relieve this suffering.

There always are naysayers who oppose people of unfamiliar cultural backgrounds, but Lady Liberty will weep if naysayers become dominant. I for one am ashamed of our county commissioners and of the crowd that applauded their letter.

—Bill Cox, Kalispell