State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) says it's "infuriating" and a "travesty" that the federal government is dumping Haitian migrants into small communities across the state like Cullman, Albertville, Athens and Sylacauga.
During an interview on Huntsville WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show," Orr called into question why Haitians were being dumped into red state communities "that don't want them" and don't have the proper facilities to handle an influx of people.
"[I] t's a travesty what the federal government's doing, bringing all these people in and dumping them in communities that don't want them," he told host Dale Jackson. "Heck, I'd say take them to these sanctuary cities that do, you know, hey, you come one, come all and dump them, put them there. Because these smaller communities, they can't handle them."
"And, you know, if you've got sanctuary cities and the local government has opened the doors for any and all, then let them go there. But no, they want to pick, you know, in these particular instances, communities in red states and put them there," Orr added. "And, you know, again, they don't have the facilities, the hospitals for the free care, the schools for the, you know, to absorb all the children that may be coming, the law enforcement for those that would break the law. I mean, the list goes on and on. And it's, you know, it's infuriating. And people ought to be outraged."
Orr was asked if the state legislature could do anything to provide economic incentives for companies to hire Alabama citizens rather than relying on cheap immigrant labor. The North Alabama Republican lawmaker suggested such a move was not allowed.
"I don't think we can include that in our agreements because sometimes these companies bring obviously people from out of state to come here," Orr explained. "We, I think, we do put in there about - we used to - about preferences for Alabama workers, but I don't know that that's allowed in our economic development agreements."
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