Number of refugees moving to South Dakota accelerating

According to United Van Lines people are leaving South Dakota 52.8 percent to 47.2% inbound but data released by Atlas® Van Lines reflected a 57% outbound trend which is the largest exodus since 2019. No South Dakota cities were even considered in the WalletHub active lifestyle study although Spearditch actually made Outside Magazine's list of best mountain towns in 2022 but was completely outstripped by Taos, Durango, Telluride and Bozeman. 

In 2024 South Dakota dropped to 49th in financial literacy and 50th in financial knowledge and education despite the Republican governor's pathological Pollyannaism. The state is the 43rd best economy in the US, 51st in percentage of businesses owned by women and 50th in innovation potential. Because of talent flight and brain drain in 2023 South Dakota was among the least innovative states, ranked 50th in venture capital spending per capita, 47th in R&D spending and 51st in share of tech companies. Quizzically known as the Land of Infinite Variety the state is 40th in overall innovation, 45th in innovation environment, 50th in share of technology companies and is still 47th in R&D spending per capita. South Dakota is 24th of states where workers are fleeing their jobs, 35th in women's health and safety, 47th in road and bridge infrastructure and 51st in elder protections.

But as young people and Democrats flee South Dakota more people of color are doing the work in the red moocher state. Meat processors and industrial agriculture employ the greatest numbers of Hispanics in South Dakota. Spanish speakers prop up the federally subsidized dairy industry East River but in Huron Karen refugees slaughter and process turkeys. The crony capitalism that keeps South Dakota one of the worst states for the working class decimates lands promised to native peoples by treaty while my home town of Elkton struggles to find enough housing for migrant workers who often live in squalor. 

South Dakota is home to about 39,900 recent immigrants or about 4.3% of the state's population and more than 280 refugees resettled in South Dakota so far in July during the fiscal year 2024 compared to 206 in all of 2023. 

The extreme white wing in South Dakota is losing it not because nearly half of students qualify for free or reduced lunches and some 3,500 students receive special education support but because new residents in South Dakota are migrants from Muslim countries like Afghanistan, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Nebraska and Iowa are also seeing surges in immigration but Brookings and Moody Counties in South Dakota are homes to more people from Guatemala and other Central American nations.