South Pima News

Gov. Doug Ducey recently told the Trump administration that Arizona will continue to allow the resettlement of refugees into the state.

The Republican governor has sanctioned the legal resettlement of those fleeing countries experiencing severe crises, saying he is doing so under the terms of President Trump’s executive order, which permits states and cities to prohibit the entry of refugees.

"Regardless of their background, refugees are human beings made in God's image, with inherent dignity and potential, and we have been blessed by their arrival in Arizona," Ducey wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, the Arizona Republic reported. "(W)e desire to continue to be able to extend love to these new neighbors as an exercise of our Christian faith."

Historically, Arizona has embraced the resettlement of vetted refugees before they enter the country, Ducey wrote in the letter, according to the Tri-City Herald.

“I have consulted with the Secretary of State and determined that, with limited exceptions, the Federal Government, as an exercise of its broad discretion concerning refugee placement accorded to it by the Constitution and the Immigration and Nationality Act, should resettle refugees only in those jurisdictions in which both the State and local governments have consented to receive refugees under the Department of State’s Reception and Placement Program (Program),” President Trump said in a September press release issued by the White House.    

Several states have indicated they will authorize the resettlement of refugees and no governors have announced they will ban them, the Tri-City Herald reported.