Brownback’s executive order on Syrian refugees is discriminatory and wrong

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Late yesterday, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback issued Executive Order No. 15-07, which prohibits all state agencies or organizations receiving grant money from the state from participating in or assisting in any way in the relocation of Syrian refugees in Kansas. The following statement on the governor’s action may be attributed to Micah Kubic, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kansas:

“It is unfortunate that Gov. Brownback has capitulated to the craven politics of fear mongering on this issue. When he served in the U.S. Senate, Gov. Brownback was a champion of the cause of refugees – consistently arguing for the United States to welcome individuals escaping from humanitarian and human rights crises, including those in Darfur and North Korea. Sadly, Gov. Brownback has turned his back on an issue in which he was once a leader, choosing instead to be complicit in the fabrication of a link between the awful tragedy in Paris and the resettlement of Syrian refugees.

The governor’s decision to issue this executive order is badly wrong – because it blames refugees for the terror from which they are fleeing, because it betrays Kansas values of hospitality and compassion, and because it is flies in the face of the laws of this country. The openly, blatantly, brazenly discriminatory nature of the executive order raises grave legal concerns, and should be abhorrent to all Kansans who believe in the values on which our country was founded.”

The ACLU of Kansas is the statewide affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU of Kansas is dedicated to preserving and advancing the civil rights and legal freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For more information, please contact Micah Kubic at (816) 994-3314 or visit our website at www.aclukansas.org.