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Published 7:16 am Monday, November 16, 2015

SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown has rejected calls by Republicans to take a position on whether Oregon should accept more refugees after reports that at least one one of the suspects in the Paris attacks carried a Syrian passport.

“The governor’s response stands,” said Melissa Navas, a spokesperson for the governor. “I can’t tell you what will happen tomorrow or a week from now.”

Several Republican governors have declared they will block more Syrian refugees from settling in their states following attacks, thought federal law suggests they have no power to do so.

States have no authority to reject Syrian refugees or to act independently in any way concerning the handling of the Syrian refugee crisis, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services.

“It’s kind of easy to pick, but it doesn’t seem anyone is paying attention to the bigger issue on whether governors can close their states to refugees, if that can actually happen,” said Navas of media coverage on Republican governors who say they’re refusing more refugees.

U.S. Congress and the president set policy on accepting refugees. President Obama recently announced the United States would accept 10,000 Syrian refugees, a small fraction of some other countries. So far, only one Syrian refugee has settled in Oregon, an Oregon DHS spokesman said.

Refugees may ask to settle in a particular state where they have social connections, or national volunteer agencies settle refugees based on resources available in different regions, according to Oregon DHS.

The U.S. Office on Refugee Resettlement did not immediately return a phone call from the EO Media Group/Pamplin Media Group statehouse bureau seeking information on gubernatorial authority over refugee resettlement.

State Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, wrote to Brown Monday to ask the governor whether the state plans to accept more Syrian refugees.

“I strongly believe that America, and specifically Oregon, should always be a place where those seeking relief from religious persecution may come and build a new safer life,” Post wrote. “At the same time, I am very concerned that if we take any and every refugee, we may expose Oregonians to acts of terrorism like Paris experienced last Friday.”

Oregon DHS gives refugees up to eights months of cash assistance and employment services. The agency tracks only refugees participating in the short-term Refugee Program.

The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group.