Dayton would welcome refugees
City Commission passes informal resolution to support, find home for those fleeing Afghanistan.
The Dayton City Commission DAYTON — has approved an informal resolution to support and roll out the welcome mat for refugees from Afghanistan.
“Dayton, as a Welcome City, hopes to be a home to refugees from the war in Afghanistan and will work with local partners, communities and governments to make this possible,” the resolution states.
The U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan means thousands of Afghan citizens who supported the American and allied forces are at risk of retaliation and violence by the Taliban, the resolution says.
Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph said Dayton would happily resettle some Afghan refugees if the state department or other agencies need to find them a home.
“We did take our role as leaders in the welcoming community seriously,” he said.
Dayton was the first certified “welcoming city” in the nation, Joseph said, and Dayton would be a good landing spot for Afghanis fleeing threats of death and violence for helping the U.S. and opposing the Taliban.
Dayton is a military community and many community members want to make sure that interpreters
and other Afghan citizens who aided the U.S. armed forces can move to a safe place to live, he said.
Accepting refugees is the right thing to do, Joseph said, but Dayton also wants to grow its population and every new resident helps.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said so far the city does not have any Afghan refugees coming its way.
She said city staff are in touch with resettlement agencies, but Cleveland is the only city in the state that she knows of that has received refugees from Afghanistan.
“I think it’s great to be supportive but we don’t have control over how that’s decided,” she said.
Some groups estimate there could be more than 400,000 Afghan refugees who will need to be resettled.
Joseph said it is still early in the resettlement process and it’s impossible to know whether or not Dayton could receive some refugees from this humanitarian crisis.