RI Politicians Plan Dueling Rallies at State House over Syrian Refugees

Faith leaders representing Christians, Jews and Muslims in Rhode Island and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union are calling on Governor Gina Raimondo to dounce xenophobia and welcome Syrian refugees to Rhode Island.

In an open letter, the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, the RI Council for Muslim Advancement and the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island and the ACLU said that Raimondo must “demonstrate leadership on this critical humanitarian issue by firmly and publicly denouncing the rising xenophobia we are witnessing.”

The open letter comes a day after several state elected officials made public comments about the issue of Syrian refugees, including Hopkinton state Rep. Elaine Morgan, who said ”The Muslim religion and philosophy is to murder, rape, and decapitate anyone who is a non Muslim” in an e-mail she said was inadvertently sent to multiple state legislators.

Morgan told WPRI’s Ted Nesi that she was using voice dictation on a new phone and the message was unedited and was meant to only go to a constiuent. She said she meant to say it was “the fanatical Muslim religion and philosophy.”

But Morgan’s e-mail went far beyond the inboxes of local pols and reporters. It became widespread Internet fodder through the day and the message contents, which included a suggestion that refugees should be interred in closed camps, were denounced by many, including California Congressman Mike Honda, who was raised in a Japanese internment camp.

“We must now stand up and say ‘no’ to failed leadership and condemn the statements of Mayor Bowers of Roanoke, Tennessee state House GOP Caucus Chair Casada, and Rhode Island State Senator Morgan who would make such ill-advised and backwards-thinking recommendations,” Honda said in a statement. “They are perpetuating the messages of hate and fear that fly in the fact of what America stands for in the world.”

In Morgan’s e-mail, she said “If we need to take these people in we should set up [a] refugee camp to keep them segregated from our populous.”

Meanwhile Coventry Rep. Bobby Nardolillo has planned a press conference at the State House to urge the governor to hit the brakes on allowing Syrian refugees in Rhode Island.

That press conference might have played a role in compelling a second rally to be planned for 1:30 p.m. and led by Sen. Joshua Miller of Cranston and Sen. Gayle L. Goldin of Providence.

According to a state house press release, the rally is “to demonstrate support and compassion for refugees fleeing the crisis in Syria.” Nonperishable donations are also being collected at the event to support programs at the Dorcas International Institute.

While Raimondo has hinted that she would collaborate with federal authorities if the state was asked to resettle refugees, the open letter released Thursday said the time has come to make a firm statement.

Yesterday, according to the letter, Raimondo said the debate about refugees in Rhode Island was “much ado about nothing” and that she would “take a look at it” if asked by the federal government to help with resettlement.

“Respectfully, when other public officials in the state are protesting efforts to welcome any Syrian refugees in Rhode Island by holding public rallies and calling for the internment of any refugees that do arrive here, this is anything but a non-issue. Nor is it something to be blithely ignored for now, and only looked at sometime in the indefinite future,” the letter stated. “We believe that it is time for you, as Governor of a state that has welcomed immigrants and refugees from its founding, to forcefully affirm the view – in the same manner as some of your Gubernatorial colleagues elsewhere around the country have done – that Rhode Island is prepared to welcome immigrants and refugees fleeing violence from Syria, and that you reject fear-mongering that undermines our state’s strong commitment to non-discrimination against people because of their ethnicity or religious beliefs. To ignore these troubling strains of prejudice is to only give them force.”

Nardolillo, who has planned his press conference and rally for 3 p.m., said Tuesday that he is “fully aware of the federal government’s prerogative to determine if refugees will be relocated across the country. However,” he said, “there are more than twenty-seven states that have prioritized the safety and security concerns of their residents. We want the same done for Rhode Island residents.”

“Governor Raimondo remarked that there is no need for ‘hysteria’ and the ‘hypothetical,’” Nardolillo said. “There isn’t any hysteria and there is nothing hypothetical about the tragedy of the Paris attacks and the Boston Marathon at the hands of the Tsarnaev brothers. We must be cognizant of the fact that ISIS has a list of potential targets that include Newport.”

Photo: The Rhode Island State House dome was lit in the colors of the French flag shortly after the Paris Attacks. (Credit: Ken Bruno / RIBNS.COM)