Based on the past actions and statements from Virginia’s Democrat Governor Ralph Northam, President Joe Biden’s controversial executive order increasing refugee resettlements is likely to find support in Virginia.
After a 2019 executive order by former president Donald J. Trump giving localities autonomy over refugee resettlement, Northam wrote a letter to then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying the state would happily continue accepting refugees.
“Virginia’s lights are on and our doors are open, and we welcome new Virginians to make their homes here,” Northam wrote.
“In recent years, as the federal government has lowered the number of refugees accepted into the United States, Virginia’s refugee number has dropped,” Northam’s letter continued. “We have the capacity to accept and help more refugees than we currently have.”
He was referencing the Trump administration’s policy that capped refugee resettlements at 12,000 annually.
Thursday, Biden unilaterally upped that number to 125,000 this year, a 960 percent increase.
“The United States has long presented itself as a haven, a place of stability and economic prosperity,” Northam’s 2019 letter said. “We promote the ideals upon which this country was founded, of liberty and freedom. But to uphold those ideals abroad, we must allow access to them here at home. We must practice what we preach.”
Northam also specifically noted that Virginia was open to refugees who worked for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who might want to live in the Commonwealth because of its proximity to Washington, D.C.
“These are people who no longer have a home,” he said, “History shows us that this could happen to any of us. “We must all imagine ourselves in their shoes, and treat them as we would wish to be treated.”
The order comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced many Americans to shelter-in-place, and stretched the federal government’s resources thin.
Paradoxically, Biden is simultaneously opening the floodgates to refugees from around the world, but has banned travel to the United States from those who have spent time abroad, including in Europe.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
