Washington • President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated a Utahn who has railed against illegal immigration to serve as a top official at the State Department overseeing refugees and migration.
Trump tapped Bountiful’s Ronald Mortensen, a former career foreign service officer, to serve as the assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, the White House said Thursday. The Senate must confirm Mortensen for the job.
Mortensen, who backed Trump in the 2016 presidential election, is a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reducing immigrant populations and is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.