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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
SUPPORTING REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT IN COOK COUNTY
WHEREAS, Cook County is a home rule unit of local government pursuant to Article VII, Section 6(a) of the 1970 Illinois Constitution; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to its home rule power, Cook County may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, Cook County is dedicated to providing all of its residents with fair and equal access to the services, opportunities, and protection county government has been established to administer; and
WHEREAS, one in five Cook County residents is foreign born; and
WHEREAS, Cook County has been a national leader in recognizing immigrants as integral members of our community and our economy, and in respecting their rights; and
WHEREAS, the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance prohibits discrimination on the basis of immigration status in the provision or distribution of any County facilities, services, or programs; and
WHEREAS, in 2007, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution declaring Cook County a fair and equal county for immigrants; and
WHEREAS, a refugee is a person outside the country of his or her nationality, who is unable or unwilling to return to that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution based on his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion; and
WHEREAS, resettlement is a humanitarian protection tool developed by the United States and other countries as a last resort for refugees who cannot return to their home country and cannot rebuild their lives in the country to which they first fled; and
WHEREAS, the legal basis for humanitarian admissions of refugees and asylum seekers to the United States began with the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980; and
WHEREAS, historically the U.S. resettled more re...
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