Politicians in general, and Republican governors, in particular, are caught between immigration hardliners who want to shut the door to refugees and some Christian evangelicals who believe we have a moral obligation to help them.
Then there is the president’s executive order – and most Republicans are afraid of Trump’s anger and Twitter rants being directed at one of them for going against his wishes.
The key issue is that the executive order requires governors to publicly say they will accept refugees. They cannot automatically come to their states, even if cities and counties welcome them. So far, no one has opted to shut out refugees.
Many Republican governors have stayed silent, but a decision must be made by January 21, 2020. States must “provide consent, in writing, to the resettlement of refugees within the State and locality, before refugees are resettled within that State and locality under the Program. The Secretary of State shall publicly release any written consents of States and localities to the resettlement of refugees.”
The gist of the executive order
The president’s executive order on September 26, 2019, slashed the number of people being admitted into the U.S. to no more than 18,000, the lowest number since the US began its refugee program in 1980.
The administration says many of the 18,000 slots have already been allocated, with 4,000 to go to Iraqis who worked with the US military and 5,000 for people persecuted for their religion.
But in a broader sense, this latest cap on asylum seekers is in line with the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration goals – bringing to an end the nation’s refugee program and its status as a leader in accepting people fleeing persecution around the world.
Which states are taking refugees?
Axios is reporting that Republican governors of Tennessee, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Nebraska wrote letters to the State Department or publicly announced they would continue accepting refugee resettlements. They are some of the reddest states in the country.
They join the states of West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, North Dakota, Utah, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Arizona, Iowa, and Oklahoma in accepting refugees. Vermont’s Republican governor said he intends to accept refugees. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California has not publicly consented to accept refugees but plans to do so.
Three states have balked at rejecting the executive order, including Republican governors of Georgia and Missouri, along with Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, Texas will likely become a battleground because the order divides Gov. Greg Abbott, a conservative, and liberal city mayors.
“It’s been striking to see the breadth of bipartisan support for refugee resettlement in the states, with a number of governors writing very strong letters of support,” said Mark Greenberg, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and a former official in the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which includes refugee resettlement. He left in 2017.
