Right stance on refugees
An Associated Press story Monday in The
Oklahoman focused on how several Republican governors across the country are wrestling with whether to stop accepting refugees. We're glad to see Oklahoma's Republican governor isn't among them.
An executive order issued this summer by President Trump gave states the right to refuse refugees, but Gov. Kevin Stitt announced last week that Oklahoma would continue to allow them to settle here in 2020.
Trump announced in September he was reducing to 18,000 — a historic low — the number of refugees who would be allowed into the United States during the new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. During the previous fiscal year, 30,000 refugees were accepted into the United States; the year before, the total was 45,000.
The reductions are part of the Trump administration's attempt to reduce legal and illegal immigration. The page has long supported calls for Congress to strengthen and improve the country's broken immigration system, and thus its national security, but doing so on the backs of refugees is the wrong approach.
The vetting process for refugees is extensive and involves several agencies. And, it's important to remember that the United States has been the world's greatest beacon of hope for these people, who are fleeing oppression in their home countries.
This was a point Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, and members of Congress from both parties made after Trump announced his reduction in late September. Lankford and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., joined other senators in a letter sent to three Cabinet secretaries urging the administration to increase the refugee cap.
The letter said in part, “America has a responsibility to promote compassion and democracy around the world through assistance to vulnerable and displaced people.” Amen to that.
Stitt says Oklahoma faith leaders factored in his decision.
Those men and women “reached out requesting the state continue its history of accepting refugees facing dire political or religious circumstances in their home countries,” Stitt said. “… I appreciate Oklahoma churches who have assisted these individuals, and stand ready to continue to do so, to ensure the success of refuges in our communities.”
And, Oklahoma isn't overrun with refugees. According to figures from the U.S. State Department, just 206 refugees wound up in the Sooner State between Oct. 1, 2018, and Aug. 31, 2019 — fewer than 1% of all refugees who resettled in the United States. Most of those resettling in Oklahoma in recent years have fled Myanmar.
We trust they have found Oklahoma and its people to be welcoming, helpful and sympathetic. Stitt is doing the right thing by allowing other refugees the opportunity to experience the same.