Lynn bracing for even more new arrivals

LYNN – The flow of refugees and unaccompanied minors into the United States is not just a border problem, said Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy.”I’m grateful for all the attention being paid to this,” she said Monday from her office. “But places 1,500 miles away and more, places like us are being impacted. We need to be part of this conversation.”An unconfirmed report that 100 unaccompanied minors were flown into the state, coupled with a projection compiled by the state’s Office for Refugees and Immigrants that 28 percent of new refugee arrivals will be coming to Lynn, have caused new waves of concern for Kennedy and Lynn schools Superintendent Catherine Latham.Kennedy is trying to schedule a meeting with the Center for Immigration Studies in August, when she will take part in a panel discussion on the tide of refugees and unaccompanied minors. She is also quick to point out that there is a difference between refugees and unaccompanied minors, “but the impact on the city is the same.”Health Department Director MaryAnn O’Connor sat in Kennedy’s office Monday with four separate manila folders. Two dated March 2013 and April 2013 were each about a half-inch thick and two dated March 2014 and April 2014 were each nearly five inches thick. O’Connor said every page represents a new child coming into the district in need of immunization, and the growing thickness of the files pretty much tells the story.”I would say there’s been a 200 percent increase in vaccines,” she added.O’Connor said she’s had to hire additional staff members to administer the state-supplied vaccines, which is done as a free service. Kennedy said they have borrowed from various line items within the Health Department’s budget to cover the staffing cost, but, eventually, she will have to find the money for a more permanent solution.Latham knows this story well.More than 600 new students entered the Lynn School District during the 2013-14 school year, and 248 were Guatemalan youths relocated from border crossings in the Southwest, 108 came from the Dominican Republic and the rest from Congo, Iraq, Bhutan, Nigeria and more than a dozen other countries.While officials in places like Nogales, Ariz., are asking the federal government for financial help to house the influx of refugees and unaccompanied minors, Kennedy said Lynn could use also use funding to cover the financial impact of when they relocate to Lynn.”Maybe they could send some money our way so we could do something about overcrowded classrooms or trash pickup, because our tipping fees are going up because there is more trash with so many more residents,” she said. “Lynn is a microcosm of what the U.S. will look like – filled to capacity, and we can’t take anymore refugees or unaccompanied minors without the rest of the people here suffering.”