State of Iowa is One of a Kind

Former president of the Des Moines Register, Michael Gartner, explains the state of Iowa's unique status as a resettlement agency.

Well, I don't know how many official resettlement agencies there are. I think there were nine a few years ago when I checked. And they are things like Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities or whatever the names are and the Red Cross and things like that. But there is one government entity that is a resettlement agency and that is the state of Iowa. Nothing, there's no other state like that; there's no city like that. I mean, you know, 99 percent of the people in Iowa don't even know this. And it's one of the things we ought to just be immensely proud of. We ought to be publicizing constantly and saying, "Isn't this great? Look at us. Look at our role in the world." No state has ever done anything like we do. No state is an official resettlement agency.