"As Governor I will oppose Syrian refugees being located to Arkansas," wrote Governor Asa Hutchinson to his followers. Upset at Republicans on refugees: President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference following the G-20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey. Credit:AP In a statement, Alabama governor, Robert Bentley, said he reached his decision "After full consideration of this weekend's attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris ... I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way." "I just signed an Executive Order instructing state agencies to take all available steps to stop the relocation of Syrian refugees to [Louisiana]," the Louisiana governor and Republican presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal tweeted. "I would say no as of right now," the governor of the traditionally progressive state of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, told reporters on Monday. "No, I'm not interested in accepting refugees from Syria."

It is not clear that the states have the legal authority to prevent the settlement of refugees admitted to America, but they may be able to prevent them from accessing any crucial state support. The idea of rejecting Syrian refugees started with Republican presidential candidates. Credit:AP The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, said in a letter to the president that, "Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity. As such, opening our door to them irresponsibly exposes our fellow Americans to unacceptable peril." The hardening of the governors' positions comes after other Republican contenders spoke out against accepting refugees from Syria on Sunday. "There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror," said the Tea Party senator, Ted Cruz, said at a South Carolina campaign event on Sunday, according to the Washington Post. Senator Cruz's father fled Cuba as a refugee.

Jeb Bush told CNN that America should focus on accepting Christian rather than Islamic refugees. The suggestions provoked an angry response from President Obama as he addressed a press conference at the G20 meeting in Turkey on Monday. "That's not American. It's not who we are. We don't add religious tests to our compassion," he said. "The values that we are defending, the values that we're fighting against ISIL for, are precisely that we don't discriminate against people because of their faith," he said "We don't kill people because they're different than us. That's what separates us from them. And we don't feed that kind of notion that somehow Christians and Muslims are at war."

Apparently referring to Mr Bush's comments, Mr Obama raised his brother, the former president George W Bush. "I had a lot of disagreements with George W. Bush on policy, but I was very proud after 9/11 when he was adamant and clear about the fact that this is not a war on Islam," he said. "And the notion that some of those who have taken on leadership in his party would ignore all of that, that's not who we are." Even as he spoke though another Republican presidential contender sought to one-up his rivals. The former Arkansas governor and pastor Mike Huckabee tweeted that if he did not lead an effort to ban Syrian refugees from America, Paul Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives should be forced from his office. Donald Trump, who has found his way to the top of Republican polls and has joined the calls. "We have no idea who these people are, we are the worst when it comes to paperwork," he told CNBC. "This could be one of the great Trojan horses." He also suggested some mosques should be banned. "Well I would hate to do it but it's something you're going to have to strongly consider," he said. "Some of the absolute hatred is coming from these areas. ... The hatred is incredible. It's embedded. The hatred is beyond belief. The hatred is greater than anybody understands."

Also during his address in Turkey Mr Obama sought to defend his administration's strategy against the Islamic State, insisting it would not deploy US ground troops to the region in effort to look "tough". "It is not just my view, but the view of my closest military and civilian advisors that that would be a mistake," he said. "Not because our military could not march into Mosul or Raqqa or Ramadi and temporarily clear out ISIL, but because we would see a repetition of what we've seen before which is if you do not have local populations that are committed to inclusive governance, and who are pushing back against ideological extremes that they resurface." Instead he defended his administration's current strategy and vowed to intensify it – supporting opposition forces on the ground with training, weapons and intelligence while conducting an airstrikes from above. He said only by finding a political solution to the war in Syria could the chaos be ended and IS stifled, and that there was finally agreement on this course.

"We have the right strategy and we are going to see it through." Follow FairfaxForeign on Twitter Follow FairfaxForeign on Facebook