SALT LAKE CITY — Reacting to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, Governor Gary Herbert said Utah has always been a welcoming place for refugees and immigrants.
But Gov. Herbert said there is a proper way to get into the country. Speaking to reporters on Friday, the governor called on the federal government to fix immigration policies.
“I understand the need to have a fence or a wall, but we ought start talking more about the gate and how the gate works,” he said. “We have people that want to come into the country and want to go home. So the gate needs to flow, it needs to work.”
Governor Gary Herbert speaks to reporters on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. (Photo by Ben Winslow, FOX 13 News)
Asked about the “extreme vetting” the Trump administration wants for refugees fleeing predominantly Muslim countries, the governor said terrorists come from all over the world and “are not all from Syria.” Gov. Herbert said everything should be done to screen out terrorists, but then appeared to break from the White House.
“I’m less inclined to say let’s keep people out from where their origin is,” he said. “We have a lot of people in Syria that are probably running from terrorism that aren’t terrorists. More important to me is who they are, what they are as opposed to where they come from.”
