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Iowa governor declines to help house migrant children

Immigration Migrant Children
Posted at 4:32 PM, Apr 08, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-08 17:32:45-04

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says she has rejected a federal request to accept migrant children into the state, saying the need to find homes for them "is the president's problem.”

Reynolds told WHO radio on Tuesday that her priority is the health and safety of Iowans and that the state doesn’t have facilities to house migrant children for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Reynolds’ stand on accepting immigrant children contrasts with her willingness to accept refugees coming into the United States in 2019 when then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order giving states the right to refuse to take refugees. Reynolds was among more than 30 governors who said they would.