Republican governors in several predominantly red states announced this week that they plan to continue to accept refugees — despite President Trump’s executive order allowing state and local governments to block refugee resettlements.
The big picture: While Republicans widely support Trump’s restrictive immigration policies, local and state officials have been unwilling to push out those who have been forced from their homes and gone thorough stringent vetting processes required to become a U.S. refugee.
- Presidents have previously tried to uplift refugee resettlement programs with “bipartisan pride,” and to generate goodwill domestically and internationally, the Washington Post writes.
- Trump has already capped the number of refugees the U.S. will accept at a historic low of just 18,000 from a high of 110,000 in 2016.
What’s happening: This week, 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 almost two dozen other states that plan to continue taking in refugees, according to Axios' compilation of news reports, press releases and public statements.
- Not one governor has taken up Trump’s offer to block refugees from being resettled in their state — at least not yet.
- But not all states have released their decisions.
What to watch: Texas will likely become a battleground as Trump’s executive order divides Gov. Greg Abbott, a conservative, and liberal city mayors.
- Abbott has previously withdrawn Texas from the national refugee resettlement program and has sued for the right to block Syrian refugees from settling in the state, the Texas Tribune reports.
- Meanwhile, Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price have both called on Abbott to continue to allow refugees to settle in Texas.
Both Tennessee and North Dakota have also sued for the right to refuse refugee settlements, but have now both said they plan to continue accepting refugees.
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