The Hill: More than half of US governors oppose refugee resettlement
Posted on 11/16/2015 9:47:39 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
"Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values," [Obama] said.
Six Republican governors have announced that Syrian refugees won't be allowed to resettle in their states in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley issued statements Sunday saying that they wanted to prioritize the safety of the residents in their states. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a GOP presidential candidate; Arkansas Gov. Gov. Asa Hutchinson; and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence joined them on Monday.
"Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration," Snyder said, according to the Detroit Free Press. "But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents."
The governor had previously said he was working with the Obama administration on plans to resettle Syrian refugees, with at least 200 already relocated by one agency, according to the newspaper.
Snyder said his state wouldn't allow for any Syrian refugees until the Department of Homeland Security reviewed its procedures for accepting migrants, according to the Free Press.
Alabama currently has a single refugee processing center, in Mobile, approved by the State Department, but it hasn't relocated any Syrian refugees, according to Bentley's office.
“The acts of terror committed over the weekend are a tragic reminder to the world that evil exists and takes the form of terrorists who seek to destroy the basic freedoms we will always fight to preserve," Bentley said in his statement.
"I will not place Alabamians at even the slightest, possible risk of an attack on our people," he added.
"The threat posed to Texas by ISIS is very real," Abbott wrote in a letter Monday urging President Obama to halt his plans, pointing to a foiled ISIS-inspired plot in Garland, Texas, in May, among other incidents.
"A Syrian 'refugee' appears to have been part of the Paris terror attack. American humanitarian compassion could be exploited to expose Americans to similar deadly danger," Abbott wrote.
"All departments, budget units, agencies, offices, entities, and officers of the executive branch of the State of Louisiana are authorized and directed to utilize all lawful means to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the State of Louisiana while this Order is in effect," Jindal wrote in an executive order issued Monday.
"The Louisiana State Police, upon receiving information of a Syrian refugee already relocated within the State of Louisiana, are authorized and directed to utilize all lawful means to monitor and avert threats within the State of Louisiana," he added.
"As Governor I will oppose Syrian refugees being relocated to Arkansas," Hutchinson tweeted.
"Indiana has a long tradition of opening our arms and homes to refugees from around the world but, as governor, my first responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of all Hoosiers," Pence wrote in a statement. "Unless and until the state of Indiana receives assurances that proper security measures are in place, this policy will remain in full force and effect."
A top aide to Obama said Sunday that the Obama administration still plans to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. over the next year despite the Paris attacks.
"We had very robust vetting procedures for those refugees," White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said on Fox News.
"There are women and children, orphans of this war, and I think we need to do our part along with our allies to provide them a safe haven," Rhodes added.
The plan to allow the Syrian refugees into the U.S. has faced fresh criticism after the attack that left 129 dead and hundreds more injured. At least one suspect reportedly slipped into France among asylum seekers.
Obama maintained during remarks earlier Monday at the G-20 meeting in Turkey that the U.S. would continue to accept the refugees, including Syrians, only after "rigorous" security screenings.
"Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values," he said.
What can I do to help change the decision here in Missouri? I’ve been showing the map around to people and the reaction from everyone has been things like “WHAT?!” “ARE YOU SERIOUS?”
I haven't been this happy in a while.
Savor it.
I don’t know what can change Missouri and get it in the “refuse” column. Missouri has such a huge Bosnian population now.
http://www.citylab.com/politics/2013/02/why-are-there-so-many-bosnians-st-louis/4668/
“.......South St. Louis is also the site of a much more recent influx of European immigration. Starting in the mid-1990s, after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the horrific war that accompanied it, Bosnians began to move to St. Louis in such large numbers that there are now more Bosnians per capita in St. Louis than anywhere else outside Bosnia. Formerly German neighborhoods are now home to Bosnian-owned cafes and restaurants with such barely pronounceable names as Grbic.
Nearly smack in the middle of the country, marked by decades of population decline, and hard-hit by the nationwide slump in manufacturing, the St. Louis metro area is not a natural destination for immigrants. It is among the lowest-ranked of large metro areas for percentage of foreign-born population. At the same time, St. Louis ranks among the highest metropolitan areas in terms of percentage of refugees, in part because of its Bosnian population, and it has been resettling an increasing proportion of refugees admitted to the U.S. since 2000.
In a city that otherwise continues to leak population, refugees have a noticeable impact. As reporter D.J. Wilson summarized in a 2003 profile of St. Louis’s Bosnian community:............”
*************************
“Syria, Syria, you’re not alone! Call St Louis your new home!”
On 13 September, hundreds of St Louis-area residents converged in a parking lot in the suburb of University City to demand that the US government raise the cap on the number of Syrian refugees allowed in the country - and settle at least 60,000 of them in St Louis.
The rally, which included speeches from religious leaders, Muslim activists and Syrians, culminated in a march through a University City’s business district, where the streets echoed with a recurrent cry: “Bring them here! Bring them here!”.....
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/14/st-louis-missouri-syrian-refugees
Great. Send them there. Send them there.
bttt!
I saw IOWA on the updated map in post #381!
Go, South Carolina!
The Hill: More than half of US governors oppose refugee resettlement
St Louis... I should have guessed they were the problem. I assume Clair-Bear is the rest of the reason.
Our values aren’t supposed to be a suicide pact, ovomit.
Done deal!!
If Obama goes against this, he will suffer the ire of an enormous segment of the population.
Montana and Virginia are surprises. In Virginia we already have violent Hispanic home invasion gangs and in northern part many Orientals and other new immigrants who vote liberal. Still, I thought there were traces of concerns for this country.
Check out comment # 299.
Way behind and trying to catch up.... again.
Our gutless wonders in Congress both Parties have allowed the imperial Presidency to run ram shod over our rights and the country without challenge.
Perhaps it is past time for the states to create a Constitutional crisis that the President and feds are not operating in the interest of America when it comes to open borders and hoards coming into our country unchecked and out of control. Only when the political elites understand we will not roll over for their anti-American causes, and change will come.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sends letter to President Obama saying he will not accept Syrian refugees - @ZekeJMiller
Read more on nj.gov
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says he supports accepting Syrian refugees and calls New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s comments ‘an embarrassment to this country’ - @thomaskaplan
See original on twitter.com
Hey! Just because our governor hasn’t come out against the invasion doesn’t mean we want it.
November 17, 2015
BISMARCK, N.D. -
Governor Jack Dalrymple plans to send a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to halt plans to resettle Syrian refugees in this country until an exhaustive review of all security and screening measures has been completed and inadequacies revealed by a top administration official have been addressed. Dalrymple's letter cites testimony by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), James Comey, who before Congress admitted to certain inadequacies in the system that would prevent the thorough vetting of the 10,000 refugees the administration has pledged to admit into the U.S.
This afternoon, Dalrymple will join other governors on a call with senior administration officials from the White House, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the U.S. Department of State and the National Counterterrorism Center to express his concerns with the administration's plan to resettle Syrian refugees in this country. Dalrymple will call on the federal government to review the process for conducting background checks on all applicants for asylum and address the gaps acknowledged by FBI Director Comey.
"For generations, our country has welcomed individuals and families seeking safety and asylum within the borders of the United States," said Dalrymple. "However, I am deeply concerned about the recent terrorist attacks carried out in France and the potential for this situation to arise in the U.S., especially given the testimony by FBI Director James Comey revealing gaps in the refugee screening system."
"Ensuring the safety and security of North Dakotans, as well as all Americans, is a top priority for us all, and so I urge the administration to halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the U.S. until the system has been reviewed and we can be assured that our citizens will be safe."
Quite few BLUE states on that list. Isn’t that special?
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