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Trump's pick for State Department post handling refugees criticized for immigration views
Source: ABC News
Trump's pick for State Department post handling refugees criticized for immigration views
By CONOR FINNEGAN ALEXANDER MALLIN May 25, 2018, 1:15 AM ET
President Donald Trump's nominee for the top State Department position for refugees and migration has drawn fierce criticism over several of his past comments about immigrants.
Dr. Ronald Mortensen, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a former Foreign Service officer, is known for his hardline views on immigration. He's also criticized top Republicans as advocating for amnesty, and he accused Arizona Sen. John McCain of rolling out a welcome mat for ISIS.
The White House formally nominated Mortensen Thursday to be the assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, the agency's top diplomat tasked with solving refugee crises overseas and potentially resettling refugees in the U.S.
The Trump administration has admitted a historically low number of refugees so far this fiscal year, and advocates are concerned he "has been sent to dismantle the refugee protection and resettlement program at the State Department," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigrant group America's Voice.
"This is like Richard Spencer being appointed head of the civil rights unit at [the Department of Justice]," Sharry told ABC News, referring to the white supremacist. "It's not the fox guarding the chicken coup. It's a monster in charge of the chicken coup."
-snip-
By CONOR FINNEGAN ALEXANDER MALLIN May 25, 2018, 1:15 AM ET
President Donald Trump's nominee for the top State Department position for refugees and migration has drawn fierce criticism over several of his past comments about immigrants.
Dr. Ronald Mortensen, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a former Foreign Service officer, is known for his hardline views on immigration. He's also criticized top Republicans as advocating for amnesty, and he accused Arizona Sen. John McCain of rolling out a welcome mat for ISIS.
The White House formally nominated Mortensen Thursday to be the assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, the agency's top diplomat tasked with solving refugee crises overseas and potentially resettling refugees in the U.S.
The Trump administration has admitted a historically low number of refugees so far this fiscal year, and advocates are concerned he "has been sent to dismantle the refugee protection and resettlement program at the State Department," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigrant group America's Voice.
"This is like Richard Spencer being appointed head of the civil rights unit at [the Department of Justice]," Sharry told ABC News, referring to the white supremacist. "It's not the fox guarding the chicken coup. It's a monster in charge of the chicken coup."
-snip-
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-pick-state-department-post-handling-refugees-criticized/story?id=55427780
