INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has declined to meet with Syrian refugees at an event organizers hoped might change his mind about trying to bar such refugees from settling in the state.
Pence spokeswoman Kara Brooks tells The Indianapolis Star (http://indy.st/1TFCimA ) the governor “graciously declined'' to meet with the refugees Friday due to a prior commitment.
The state's chapter of the Syrian American Council had invited Pence to attend a Friday evening event to meet Syrian refugees in Indianapolis in the hopes that it might persuades him to reconsider his position on settling Syrian refugee families in Indiana.
Pence is one of more than 30 governors, all but one of them Republicans, who have sought to block the resettlement of Syrian refugees over security concerns following last month's deadly Paris attacks.
