MoreThanTheCurve.com reported on September 19th on a statement from Upper Merion Township’s board of supervisors regarding a rumor about the placement of 5,000 Haitian immigrants in the township. At the time, the township shared that they were investigating the source of the “misinformation” and that a further statement may follow.
From the Upper Merion Township statement:
The Upper Merion Township Board of Supervisors is aware that rumors are circulating about a commitment made by the Township to place 5000 Haitian immigrants in our community. We would like to clarify that this information is unfounded. No such request has been made to the Township, nor has any entity sought to relocate any group of individuals to our community. We are working on identifying the source of this misinformation, and anticipate releasing a more formal statement at a later time.
On the 19th, we scoured social media and the World Wide Web and couldn’t find anything about it. The following day, we were sent a message from a reader who shared a link to a September 12th press release from the Refugee Advocacy Lab titled “Nearly 500 Bipartisan State and Local Officials From All 50 States Welcome Refugee Resettlement in their Communities.”
The organization had sought out elected officials to sign a letter to President Joe Biden encouraging him to ” strengthen the U.S. resettlement program to improve our capacity to welcome, enable our communities to more nimbly provide humanitarian protection, and preserve the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for years to come.”
We scanned the names of the elected officials from Pennsylvania who had signed the letter and didn’t see anyone listed from Upper Merion.
However, later that day, we were in the car listening to the radio, and there was a discussion on The Dom Giordano Program about this letter and Upper Merion. The host, Dom Giordano, mentioned that a township supervisor from Upper Merion named Carole Kenney had signed the letter and that she hadn’t responded to his inquiries.
Once back at our computer, we found that Carole Kenney had indeed signed the letter, but her name was misspelled. There was another issue. While it gave her title as “Township Supervisor,” it stated “Montgomery” and not Upper Merion.
So, is this the same person? Kenney didn’t respond to our inquiry either, but there isn’t another Carole Kenney who is a “Township Supervisor” in Pennsylvania.
Does the “rumor” ring true?
The press release about the letter states, “In the letter, officials from all 50 states and the District of Columbia express their strong support for welcoming refugees in their communities, reflecting the viewpoints of the majority of American voters. Some of the officials come from refugee backgrounds and know firsthand the importance of refugee resettlement.”
It is important to explain the difference between refugees when it comes to the debate about illegal immigration. The United States has specific laws allowing refugees to enter the country for resettlement or asylum. If you are in the country and have been classified as a refugee, you are not here illegally.
The letter signed was specific to the refugee process.
Opinion Coming…
However, the letter ends by referencing that the United States sets a specific number of refugees it will accept each year. According to USAFacts.org, in 2021, President Donald Trump put the number at 15,000, which was historically low. When Biden took office, he raised it to 62,500 and, in 2022, increased it to 125,000 annually.
It doesn’t matter where you fall on the debate about immigration or refugees broadly. The question that needs to be asked is how many refugees Kenney believes Upper Merion should accept, where she thinks they can be housed, where they will work, and what steps the township needs to take to integrate them into the community smoothly.
Or did she sign a letter for social credit?