OLYMPIA — Washington state will welcome Syrian refugees if the federal government ultimately decides the state will receive any of the 10,000 people that President Barack Obama’s administration has pledged to resettle over the next year, Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday.
In a statement, Inslee criticized other governors who have threatened to stop accepting refugees following last week’s terror attacks in Paris.
“We have been and will continue to be a state that embraces compassion and eschews fear-mongering,” Inslee wrote.
Sarah K. Peterson, the state refugee coordinator, said that between October 2014 and September, nearly 3,000 refugees arrived in the state, with most from Iraq, Ukraine, Somalia, Republic of Congo and Myanmar.
Twenty-five of those refugees came from Syria, eclipsing the seven from that nation who arrived from 2005 to 2014.
Millions of Syrians have fled their war-torn homeland. Leaders from more than a dozen states have expressed concern about accepting any of them following the recent attack in Paris.
Some officials have called for a complete halt to resettlement. Others are seeking temporary delays or more information from federal officials on the vetting process.
“I stand firmly with President Obama who said this morning, ‘We do not close our hearts to these victims of such violence and somehow start equating the issue of refugees with the issue of terrorism,’ ” Inslee wrote.
Republican state Rep. Jay Rodne wrote on his Facebook page that the governor’s comments were “utterly irresponsible.”
“Governor Inslee should be worrying about protecting the residents of Washington state rather than following lockstep Obama’s policy of allowing unvetted Syrian migrants in,” Rodne wrote. “We know that ISIS is infiltrating the ranks of these migrants.”
Bill Bryant, the Republican Seattle port commissioner who is running for governor, also criticized Inslee.
“We should not let our compassion blind us to legitimate public and personal safety concerns and to those who might take advantage of our generosity and openness,” he said in a statement, adding that refugees should be closely screened.
The Homeland Security Department says refugees already face the highest level of security screening of anybody entering the U.S., and officials will work to allay further concerns by states.
