Texas Becomes First State to Block Refugees, Putting Opposing GOP Governors in the Spotlight

Recently President Trump signed an Executive Order giving states the right to block refugees from moving in if they so choose. Up until recently, no states had taken Trump up on the offer. In fact, 18 Republican Governors had signed on to accept new refugees for 2020. Texas Governor Greg Abbott who is considered a moderate by some, has shocked the nation and taken President Trump up on his offer to deny refugees entry.

Democrats, of course, are outraged, and now some Republicans will likely have to re-examine their situations as well in light of this. Texas House Representative Joaquin Castro (D), brother of failed presidential candidate Julian Castro tweeted out in fury at Governor Abbott, saying that he has “submitted to bigotry and xenophobia”.

Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, on the other hand, says “God forbid there be just one – ONE – governor in America willing to actually stand for #AmericaFirst instead of #OpenBordersInc !” This is in reference to the appearance that many states were pressured or lobbied to allow for refugees under the premise of a need for more workers. See the tweet below:

God forbid there be just one – ONE – governor in America willing to actually stand for #AmericaFirst instead of #OpenBordersInc ! @JoaquinCastrotx doth protest and project too much, methinks. https://t.co/8we45UDzRi

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) January 10, 2020

Governor Abbott wrote a letter to the State Department Friday based on President Trump’s executive order. He stated that while Texas has historically welcomed more refugees than any other state, it will not resettle any additional refugees in the 2020 fiscal year. This will not affect refugees who have already moved into the red state, which is becoming increasingly less red due to mass immigration and other factors over the years. Vox reports on how this could affect other Republicans who haven’t signed on one way or another but it’s unclear if any who already have signed up for refugees would consider or even be able to change their minds at this point.

So far, 42 out of 50 states with both Democratic and Republican governors have agreed to resettle refugees in 2020. But Texas’s move could embolden the remaining states to follow suit in refusing to do so — including Georgia, home to the city of Clarkston, which has been dubbed the “Ellis Island of the South,” attracting thousands of refugees.

The remaining states face a January 21 deadline to request funding from the State Department for resettling refugees.

See the letter below:

NEW: @GregAbbott_TX sends letter to @SecPompeo declining consent to initial refugee settlement for FY2020.

My state will likely be slammed by the MSM, but here's the truth… 1/ pic.twitter.com/CgOg6pTkW9

— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) January 10, 2020

The 18 Republicans, according to Breitbart News, are already facing backlash from conservatives for signing on to accept refugees, even with Trump’s executive order in place. The list of those Governors are as shown below:

• Mike DeWine of Ohio
• Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas
• Kim Reynolds of Iowa
• Charlie Baker of Massachusetts
• Gary Herbert of Utah
• Doug Burgum of North Dakota
• Chris Sununu of New Hampshire
• Doug Ducey of Arizona
• Eric Holcomb of Indiana
• Bill Lee of Tennessee
• Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma
• Pete Ricketts of Nebraska
• Kristi Noem of South Dakota
• Jim Justice of West Virginia
• Mike Parson of Missouri
• Brad Little of Idaho
• Larry Hogan of Maryland
• Mike Dunleavy of Alaska

Now, after backlash from state legislators and counties, a handful of these Republican governors have released statements in an effort to defend their decision to bring more refugees to their states.

Breitbart’s piece linked above goes into greater detail on which Governors and how, are doing the damage control. This move by Texas Governor Abbott comes as Democrats are getting more and more bold with things like giving illegal immigrants driver’s licenses in New York City, in addition to many illegal immigrant sanctuary cities across the country.

Also, failed presidential candidate and fellow Texan, Democrat Beto O’Rourke was even so bold as to say that if he had the choice he would go as far as to tear down border walls at the southern U.S.-Mexico border. Although refugee settlement, immigration, and illegal immigration aren’t the same thing, they are still closely related and all have statistically shown to be favorable things for Democrat vote. Liberal cities and other groups in Texas are likely to be furious but the Governor has the final say on this matter.