Mortensen, a former career foreign service office whom Trump has nominated to be the assistant secretary of state over population, refugees and migration, has been controversial over his ties to an association dubbed a hate group and his anti-illegal immigration rhetoric.
Herbert, through an aide, “let the White House know that our office could not support his nomination in large part because of his hostility toward the principles of the Utah Compact,” Paul Edwards, Herbert’s deputy chief of staff said Monday. “Our office supports the common sense principles of the Utah Compact and would prefer to see them prevail in federal immigration and refugee policy.