The state was founded by refugees fleeing religious persecution – now support for refugees is widespread throughout the state

Amid many blows to the US refugee system, Donald Trump issued an executive order in September that said state and local governments must give written consent in order to receive refugees.

Refugee advocates say the order has put another hurdle on a system that has been crumbling under the Trump administration. In September, alongside the executive order, Trump set the cap for refugees entering the United States annually at 18,000 – a devastating cut to a system that has had an average admission ceiling of 95,000 since 1980.

But while many of Trump’s Republican allies have remained silent on the cuts and the executive order, one Republican governor has been exceptionally outspoken about his support of refugees being accepted into a state that has been historically red.

Gary Herbert was one of the first US governors to send a letter to the Trump administration indicating that his state is eager to take in more refugees.

“We have historically accepted and resettled more than 1,000 refugees each year from a variety of troubled regions in the world. Unfortunately, that number has dropped for the past two years and is on track to decrease more this year,” Herbert wrote. “We know the need has not decreased and are eager to see the number of admittances rise again.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Utah’s governor, Gary Herbert. Photograph: Cayce Clifford/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Herbert’s letter, dated 24 October, was sent to the president less than a month after Trump announced the executive order. He was one of the first governors, Republican or Democratic, to act, and it came despite a majority of Republican and Republican-leaning voters believing the United States does not have a responsibility to accept refugees, according to a Pew poll.

Herbert particulary and Utah in general have been known to be exceptionally welcoming to refugees – despite the state’s more conservative stance on other issues. The state has taken in about 65,000 refugees since 1980.

In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015, Herbert was one of two Republican governors who issued a statement of support for refugees while 30 other Republican governors encouraged barring them from the country. “We will work to do all we can to ease their suffering without compromising public safety,” Herbert said in a statement.

When reiterating his support for refugees, Herbert has emphasized the state’s history as one that was founded by refugees fleeing religious persecution.

In his letter to Trump, Herbert alludes to the plight of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, otherwise known as Mormons. The church was founded in upstate New York, but its members pushed westward until a large number of members settled in what is today Salt Lake City. Today, nearly 50% of Utahns belong to the Mormon church.

“Our state was founded by religious refugees fleeing persecution in the eastern United States. Those experiences and hardships of our pioneer ancestors 170 years ago are still fresh in the minds of many Utahns,” Herbert wrote in his letter to Trump.

Advocates say support for refugees is widespread across Utah and throughout its various religious communities. Refugees are afforded a host of support systems when they are resettled in the state. Most notably, refugees in Utah get a case manager who is assigned to a family for two years. The case manager helps the refugees find employment and housing and integrate into their local community. Other states, Democrat and Republican, tend to provide similar services for just under a year.

Aden Batar, the immigration and refugee resettlement director of Catholic Community Services of Utah, which partners with the federal government, said refugees also have access to language learning and skills classes, and are paid to go through such courses.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in downtown Salt Lake City. Photograph: George Frey/Getty Images

“All these things make for the refugees a better place for them to quickly integrate into,” Batar said.

Batar, a refugee himself who resettled in Utah with his family from Somalia in the 1990s, said Utahns have been welcoming to refugees for as long as he has been in the state. Batar recalls how when he first arrived in a small Utah town, where there was no one from his home country, his neighbors were warm and friendly.

“I made a lot of friends from the local community, and everyone was coming to our home, welcoming us, asking us: ‘Are you OK? How can we help you? Do you have everything you need to start a new life here? What can we help you with?” Batar said. “I mean, you don’t find that everywhere.”

Recan Fallah, a refugee from Iraq who resettled in Utah with his wife and four children in May last year, said that the transition to a new country, while intimidating, has been smooth largely because of the help of organizations like Catholic Community Services and local families.

“I think the Utah community is very welcoming. I love the smiles. I love the way they support foreigners, especially immigrants,” Fallah said. “If we [had] any questions, we could go ask them. They were very helpful.”

So far, about two dozen governors, including nine Republicans, have sent letters to the president consenting to receiving refugees or have indicated that they are in the process of doing so, according to World Relief, a Christian humanitarian not-for-profit that has been tracking public statements and letters.

Three religious organizations are suing the Trump administration for the executive order, saying that the letter requirement is an extra hurdle to resettling refugees and violates the Refugee Act of 1980, which created the modern-day refugee system. The groups have requested a temporary halt on the order.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Monument Valley, Utah. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

“Current policy already requires intensive consultation with state and local governments before refugees can be resettled. This is just an unnecessary administrative burden that costs a lot of time and money, but doesn’t get us anywhere,” said Melanie Nezer, senior vice-president of public affairs for HIAS, a Jewish humanitarian aid organization that is one of the organizations suing the Trump administration.

While it is unclear how the executive order will impact the resettlement system, the cuts the Trump administration made on the overall refugee system can be felt on a local level.

Utah has built a system that can support over 1,000 new refugees a year, said Natalie El-Diery, the executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Salt Lake City. In 2018, the state resettled just 472.

“From the school districts to the healthcare system, to the workforce services and training programs, and all of these different programs who have enjoyed supporting and welcoming of refugees and have leveraged their own resources to be able to provide programs,” said El-Diery. “They also feel the impact.”