Should Utah accept refugees from Syria? That’s the question we’ll address on Thursday’s Access Utah. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah's members of Congress want to stop Syrian refugees from entering the country until new security checks are implemented, a process that could take years. Senator Orrin Hatch says “It's irresponsible, particularly after [the Paris] attacks, to reduce this issue to one of mere compassion."

  In contrast to 27 fellow governors, Governor Gary Herbert says Utah will continue to accept Syrian refugees at this time. And he’s asked the Utah Department of Public Safety to review security checks used by the federal refugee-resettlement program.

We’ll talk with Governor Herbert’s communications director, Jon Cox; University of Utah Associate Professor of Political Science, Claudio Holzner; Gerald Brown, Director of the Refugee Services Office at the Utah Dept. of Workforce Services; and Adam Paul Steed, a Utah County resident and advocate for refugee aid, who has assisted Syrian refugees in Greece.

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