Refugee Resettlement Once Again A Hot Topic At St. Cloud City Council Meeting [VIDEO]

ST. CLOUD - The topic of refugee resettlement is a topic that continues to divide the residents of St. Cloud.

During Monday night's city council meeting, council member Jeff Johnson once again introduced his resolution calling for a temporary moratorium on any new refugees coming to St. Cloud. He then asked for a fellow council member to 2nd his motion.

I'll make this real simple, I'd like to make a motion to accept this resolution into the record.  The question is will there be a second?  [George Hontos] I am going to second this, but I have a number of things I'd like to say.

Council member George Hontos went on to say he strongly disagrees with Johnson's resolution, and that he wanted to take the chance to publicly denounce it. However, he does agree with Johnson that there should be more city council involvement with Lutheran Social Services and their refugee resettlement program.

After Hontos' remarks, the council brought Johnson's resolution to a vote, which failed 1-6 with Johnson being the lone yes vote.

In a pre-emptive move two weeks ago, council member Jeff Goerger introduced his own resolution stating that St. Cloud is a "Just and Welcoming Community". That passed on a 5-1 one vote two weeks ago. Last night the council voted 6-1 reaffirming that resolution. Johnson was the lone no vote.

Earlier in the evening, during the open forum portion of the city council meeting, five people spoke on the topic - which is the maximum number allowed. Four spoke in favor of council member Johnson's resolution and one was opposed to it.