Branstad wants more openness on plans for Syrian refugees

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad said he hopes the Obama administration is more forthcoming with information regarding plans to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States than it was when unaccompanied alien children from Latin America were resettled in Iowa and other states last year.

President Barack Obama recently announced the U.S. will take in around 10,000 displaced refugees from war-torn Syria over the next year in a process that will include thoroughly screenings where the possibility of terrorist infiltrators is a top concern. After they're processed, administration officials say they'll be resettled in communities across the country starting sometime after Oct. 1.

'I hope that they're going to be a little more open and transparent and work with us on these things,” Branstad told reporters Wednesday, after returning to Iowa from a trade mission to South Korea and Japan.

'When we had this situation previously, they were very secretive and refused to give information” to his office or officials within the Iowa Department of Human Services, Branstad said. 'Many governors, including myself, were very disappointed. We think the federal government ought to be working with us and not doing these things in a clandestine way.”

Last year, the Iowa governor spoke in opposition to allowing unaccompanied, undocumented immigrant children to locate in Iowa without adequate notice of details from the Obama administration. Branstad said he was empathetic to the plight of the thousands of children from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador who entered the U.S. illegally but he did not regard them as refugees due to their illegal status.

At that time, he called it 'outlandish” that media outlets were able to confirm that at least 139 Central American minors who had crossed the U.S. border illegally were placed with sponsors in Iowa while no federal official has provided any notification to the governor's office or any state agencies.

Earlier this week, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds said the Branstad administration has not ruled out Iowa hosting Middle East refugees, but expressed hope that the federal government would communicate with state leaders if that happens.

Reynolds said the state of Iowa has not been in contact with the U.S. government regarding refugees. She said she hopes if the federal government accepts refugees and sends any to Iowa, it will communicate that with state government, which she said it has not done in the past.

'Iowa, I think, is known for being welcoming for refugees,” Reynolds said. 'We would hope that (the federal government) would keep the communication open and transparent and have us be more of a partner. And then I think it's extremely important that we are mindful of Homeland Security and their ability to handle the refugees as they come in while we're protecting Americans.”

Reynolds said the state administration has not declared an opposition to accepting refugees in Iowa.

'We hope to have a conversation with State Department and the president's office,” she added.