Washington • More than a year ago, President Donald Trump nominated Ron Mortensen to a top post at the State Department overseeing refugee issues, with the White House heralding the Utahn’s work in the Foreign Service and efforts to bring aid to troubled regions of the world.
The nomination drew an immediate rebuke from critics – including Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and the Salt Lake Chamber – over Mortensen’s well-documented, anti-immigration rhetoric that falsely claimed immigrants in the United States commit more crimes than citizens and his affiliation with a think tank labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.