This week Kansas Governor Sam Brownback announced he’s pulling out of the federal government’s refugee resettlement program. The move comes after Brownback expressed repeated concern about the program for months. The governor said he had failed to get satisfactory answers, so the state is done, reports The Washington Post. The resettlement program has placed more than 2,000 global refugees in Kansas over the past four years.
The first shot in the battle was fired last November. That’s when Brownback signed an executive order barring state officials from helping the federal government in its efforts to settle Syrian refugees in Kansas. Back then, he cited the recent Paris terror attacks as his reason for resisting the federal government’s wishes.
In response, at least 35 United Methodist congregations in Kansas and Nebraska said they would sponsor a Syrian refugee family once they were allowed into the United States.