Erie County Legislature Majority Leader Joe Lorigo, whose grandstanding on the issue of the putative threat presented by Syrian refugees coming to this community prompted an admittedly intemperate response from this writer, has submitted a resolution asking for:

• “a public hearing regarding Erie County’s role in accepting Syrian refugees, the costs and public safety concerns involved with accepting Syrian refugees to the county, and where those funds are coming from”;
• “the Erie County County Sheriff’s Office to perform a threat assessment posed by accepting Syrian refugees”; and
• “the Erie County Comptroller [to] provide a report detailing the fiscal implications of an increased Syrian refugee population.”

Here’s the full original text.

We are told that the resolution as first drafted by Lorigo does not have enough votes to pass—that is to say, the resolution does not have the fulsome support of the caucus Lorigo leads. As a result, some legislators will offer amendments to the resolution that might make it palatable to those rejecting its original language: instead of a wide-open public hearing, for example, perhaps a committee hearing in which a few expert opinions are solicited. 

Asked how the Sheriff’s Department might satisfy a request to assess the threat posed by a population that is not yet present in Erie County, a department spokesman said that the department would happily share with county officials the intelligence briefings and bulletins it is provided by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which are in a position to monitor individuals of interest in a way that the Sheriff’s Department is not. That intelligence would have to be shared behind closed doors, the spokesman said, not in a public hearing.

A number of groups plan to rally on the steps of County Hall today (November 19) at 1pm, “to support our local refugee populations, the resettlement agencies, and the resettlement efforts of the many victims suffering from the violence abroad,” according to a press release.