Lebanon and Hanover took commendable if symbolic steps last month in actively affirming that they would welcome refugees into their communities. What remains is the hard work of eventually turning that declaration into reality.
As staff writer Tim Camerato reported, both the Lebanon City Council and the Hanover Selectboard signaled that their communities are open to accepting refugees vetted and approved by the U.S. government. “This is as American as apple pie,” said Lebanon City Manager Shaun Mulholland, and he is absolutely correct. It is a proud American tradition to welcome people fleeing persecution in their homelands to a new life in a land of opportunity.
These statements of welcome were necessitated by a new Trump administration rule that requires both states and individual communities to record their willingness to accept refugees. (Gov. Chris Sununu had previously given the state-level approval in New Hampshire, as Vermont Gov. Phil Scott did earlier this month for the Green Mountain State.)
But at least two major obstacles remain before the Upper Valley can become home to refugee families and benefit from the economic, demographic, social and cultural contributions they make to national life. One is President Donald Trump’s hostility to both legal and illegal immigration, which in this case manifests itself in a cap of 18,000 refugees who will be permitted to enter the country during the current federal fiscal year. That is the lowest number in history, down from a cap 30,000 last year and a limit of 85,000 during the final year of the Obama administration.
The small number suggests that resettlement agencies are likely to concentrate new arrivals in the southern New Hampshire cities of Manchester, Nashua and Concord, which have resettled the vast majority of refugees in the state in recent years.
That doesn’t mean, however, that Hanover and Lebanon should not be taking steps to become welcoming hosts when sanity eventually prevails, which we fervently hope will be following the 2020 presidential election.
That brings us to the second obstacle, which, as Camerato has reported, is that the nonprofit resettlement agencies regard Hanover and Lebanon as too rural and too remote from the services they provide to be viable host communities.
But although parts of both communities are rural, they are also vibrant regional population and economic hubs with the capacity to absorb refugees and fully integrate them into Upper Valley life.
The core of the Upper Valley already offers to newcomers a wide and deep assortment of economic opportunities, access to higher education, a relatively diverse population and a reasonable level of public transportation.
On the other hand, the current shortage of affordable housing could deter refugee resettlement, but that is a regionwide problem that is already being addressed, albeit more slowly than one would wish.
Moreover, the distance away from the services resettlement agencies provide — which include employment counseling; coordination of housing, health care and other kinds of assistance; and instruction in English as a second language — suggests that an Upper Valley effort might have to replicate some of those supports in order to convince the resettlement agencies that the Upper Valley is a good destination for the people they help.
In short, Hanover and Lebanon — perhaps in cooperation with Hartford — should look to build the needed social infrastructure. That might seem like a tall order, but we have seen over the years that the Upper Valley is rich in resources and has the ability to put them to good use when the cause is worthy, as this one surely is.
It will take a broad community effort, the cooperation of major institutions such as Dartmouth College and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health system, the participation of local school districts, the support of churches and the willingness of ordinary people to open their hearts and wallets. We urge people of good will throughout the region to come together and figure out how to get this vital humanitarian work done.