Syrian refugees become campaign issue in Illinois as GOP’s Kirk attacks

Elissa Steglich of the University of Texas School of Law Immigration Clinic says that, even if the state ends its contracts with refugee agencies, the resettlement could legitimately continue.

“As part of our mission and mandate from the U.S. Federal government, we will continue to resettle refugees in Texas and other states”, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee said in response to a Reuters email. Scott and some two-dozen other governors have asked that the resettlement program be delayed until the refugees are vetted beyond current standards.

The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement last week warned Abbott and other governors that they do not have the power to reject Syrian refugees, telling them they would be breaking the law if they denied benefits or services to refugees based on their country of origin or religion.

The office spends almost $1.5 billion annually to resettle about 75,000 refugees in the United States.

Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor told the agencies that Texas has taken its fair share of refugees over the years, and wrote that the commission reserves the “right to refuse to cooperate with any resettlement on any grounds and, until further notice, will refuse to cooperate with the resettlement of any Syrian refugees in Texas”.

A mural in Detroit, Michigan, welcome refugees to a blighted area near downtown, November 17, but officials in Texas are less keen to accept refugees from the civil war to their state.

“There’s a heightened level of concern among the nation’s governors” about refugee resettlement in the United States, Brown’s office said. Texas has accepted roughly 200 of them, and IRC has been involved with resettling two families – both couples with young children. Specifically, it would require the Homeland Security secretary, Federal Bureau of Investigation director, and Director of National Intelligence to sign off on any refugees admitted to the USA, holding them personally accountable.

“ISIS disguised as Syrian refugees attack Paris”.

Syrian refugees in the United States have become a political football after the Paris attacks. Fewer than one percent of people given refugee status are then referred by the U.N.to the United States for resettlement.

She also questioned the legality of Abbott’s policy. In the meantime, the agency is defying the Governor’s orders, according to the L.A. Times, and continuing to assist Syrian refugees in resettling in and around Dallas.

“They don’t have much to go on”, Saccone said.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration announced several measures Monday to strengthen the visa waiver program which it says will improve the ability to identify individuals who may have traveled to conflict zones, as well as enhance the ability to thwart terrorists attempts to travel on lost or stolen passports.

Obama’s comments on the thoroughness of the vetting process is opposite of his own Federal Bureau of Investigation director, James Comey, who testified before Congress in October saying it was impossible to properly vet the Syrian refugees because his agency has no data to cross-check the identities and backgrounds on the vast majority of them.