Thread: Trump taps anti-illegal immigrant Utahn to oversee refugee, migration issues at the S

Trump taps anti-illegal immigrant Utahn to oversee refugee, migration issues at the State Department


(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Ron Mortensen, a longtime Utah anti-illegal immigration activist and fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, awaits for the Utah Republican Party Central Committee's Executive Committee to end their closed door meeting. The Utah Republican Party Central Committee meets Saturday, May 19, 2018, to elect a new party vice chairman and debate several potential bylaw changes.

Published: 3 hours ago
Updated: 26 minutes ago
Thomas Burr

Washington • President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated a Utahn who has railed against illegal immigration to serve as a top official at the State Department overseeing refugees and migration.

Trump tapped Bountiful’s Ronald Mortensen, a former career foreign service officer, to serve as the assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, the White House said Thursday. The Senate must confirm Mortensen for the job.

Mortensen, who backed Trump in the 2016 presidential election, is a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reducing immigrant populations and is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He also cofounded the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration, which bills itself as a group working to enact legislation that “addresses the negative impacts of illegal immigration.”

If confirmed, Mortensen would oversee the State Department bureau that provides aid for refugees, victims of conflicts and stateless people around the world.

Mortensen opposed President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was aimed at protecting immigrants — called Dreamers — who were brought to the United States as children, arguing that it rewarded “illegal aliens … for destroying the futures of innocent American children” because the immigrants must have used stolen identities to work.

“Dreamers often are portrayed as sympathetic young people trying to go to school, but that portrayal is often erroneous,” Mortensen wrote in The Hill newspaper last year. “It is important to remember that DACA applies to individuals up to age 31. The result is that many adult Dreamers have long since terminated their studies, and many have committed serious felonies that impact American men, women and children.”

Mortensen celebrated when Trump overturned Obama’s order.

The Trump edict, Mortensen said in a column posted by the Center for Immigration Studies, “destroys the myth of the noble, law abiding illegal alien and forces illegal aliens and their supporters to finally acknowledge that people illegally in the United States routinely commit multiple felonies and other serious violations of American law when they enter the country, get jobs, and obtain benefits reserved for citizens and legal residents.”

Mortensen declined to comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the nomination.

Louis Garza, executive director of Comunidades Unidas, a Utah-based Latino outreach group, said he was shocked Mortensen would be picked for the job.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics...te-department/

NO MORE MIGRATION!

TRUMP PROMISED TO PUT "REFUGEES" IN SAFE ZONE ON THEIR SOIL!!!

WE WANT DACA DEPORTED! ILLEGAL IS ILLEGAL...AND THEY ARE HERE ILLEGALLY UNDER OUR CURRENT LAWS.

DACA IS DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THOSE WHO COME LEGALLY AND THE 2 BILLION PEOPLE ON THE PLANET WAITING TO COME HERE!!!

YOU CANNOT PICK AND CHOOSE WHO TO BREAK OUR LAWS AND THEN REWARD THEM WITH A PATH TO STAY JUST BECAUSE THEY DO NOT WANT TO APPLY TO COME LEGALLY LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!!!

GO HOME AND APPLY FOR YOUR SOIL...NO "TOUCHBACK"!!!