In a letter, Alaska’s Speaker of the House Mike Chenault urges Governor Bill Walker to join more than 30 U.S. governors in requesting the federal government not to accept Syrian refugees.
The Nikiski representative’s letter emphasizes that Alaskans’ safety should be priority although he says he has heard mixed opinions about the issue.
Spkr. Chenault: “I’ve heard all the way from don’t let any of them in to make sure that they’re vetted well.”
The letter to the governor also requested further details about how Alaska accepting refugees might impact the state’s already strangled budget.
Spkr. Chenault: “If we bring in folks that don’t have jobs, the chances are that we’re going to expend state funds to get them settled and in the time of the budget issues that we have right now I think the governor needs to make sure that he understands everything that’s going on with that so we don’t have to expend a lot of funds to bring in refugees when we have homeless people and plenty of veterans that are homeless right now.”
Speaker Chenault stated in the letter he believes in Christian charity and acknowledges the federal government’s power to accept refugees, but urges the governor to use his voice to make a political point.
