Texas Seeks to Ban Refugee Aid Groups from Using Pro-Refugee Speech

After resettlement, refugees are helped by regional non-governmental organizations.

Exodus Immigration has plans to relocate about 20 Syrian refugees to the state in the coming months, and they’ve said they’ll continue with business as usual.

The concerns follow a statement from Gov. Jack Dalrymple, R-N.D., in November that he opposed the Obama administration’s goal of resettling at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S.in 2016. Following terrorist attacks in Paris that were linked with the Islamic State, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott last month joined more than two dozen governors in announcing that he would not allow Syrian refugees to be resettled in the state.

The federal funding flows through the state’s refugee resettlement program within its Health and Human Services Commission.

In a Wednesday letter to aid group International Rescue Committee, Texas health commissioner Chris Traylor took the state’s anti-immigrant rhetoric further.

State officials have upped the ante against groups that provide services for Syrian Refugees.

In response, furious Texan officials suggested they will take legal action against the group if Mr Abbott’s orders are defied. Only one Syrian refugee has been placed in OR since 2012. By contrast, 636 Iraqi refugees and 498 Somali refugees have resettled in OR in that same period, according to data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Texas has resettled about 180 Syrians since the civil war began in 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Earnest said refugees are the “most rigorously screened class of travelers” and added that the administration, in consultation with governors from both parties, agreed to provide more frequent updates on refugees who are resettled in their states, as well as increased information on security precautions. Abbott says the IRC has provided no guarantees about security, and the lawsuit claims that because IRC hasn’t cooperated with Texas, the state can’t exercise “police power to protect the safety of its residents”.

With issues like funding for Planned Parenthood and Medicaid expansion, the state government and the federal government clearly have policy differences, Rosenthal says. “It is the most robust screening process for any category of individuals seeking admissions into the United States”.

“Failure by your organization to cooperate with the State of Texas as required by federal law may result in the termination of your contract with the state and other legal action”, he wrote.

Local government isn’t involved in resettlement decisions, but Jenkins said he’ll do what he can to ensure local agencies can continue to work with refugees from Syria.

Don Kirchoff, spokesman for the San Antonio Tea Party, said, “Refugees may be safe in San Antonio, but San Antonio residents may not be safe from poorly vetted refugees”.

“The facts remain that ISIS used the Syrian refugee crisis to smuggle its terrorists into France and carry out their tragic and deadly acts”, Kirk campaign manager Kevin Artl said in a statement.

“At NGA, we’re very used to distributing information to governors’ offices about what is going on in Washington, D.C., or different activities, so that’s perfectly familiar”, Quam said in an interview.