North Dakota County Votes to Take Limited Number of Refugees

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- A North Dakota county on Monday voted to accept no more than 25 refugees next year, after initially signaling it would be the first to ban them since President Donald Trump ordered that states and counties should have the power to do so.

The 3-2 vote by the Burleigh County Commission, which included a provision for further study of the issue, came a week after a vote was postponed when the audience overflowed the county's usual meeting space.

If commissioners had voted no, refugee resettlement groups say they believe Burleigh _ home to about 95,000 people and the capital city of Bismarck _ would have been the first local government to do so since Trump's executive order in September.

Last Tuesday also on a 3-2 margin the Kandiyohi, Minnesota County Board voted to continue to allow refugees to resettle in that county.