Texas Loses Last-Minute Bid To Block Syrian Refugees

U.S. District Judge David Godbey of Dallas didn’t do a lot of explaining in his order Wednesday denying the Texas Health and Human Services Commission a temporary restraining order to block the resettlement in Houston of nine Syrian refugees. Attorneys for the state of Texas cited statements by U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas) suggesting that the refugee program had already been infiltrated by terrorists.

The problem, according to the court: There’s no proof any refugee is gearing up to wage jihad out west. “The court has no institutional competency in assessing the risk posed by refugees”. They arrived as Texas was mounting the most aggressive campaign of any state against Syrian refugees.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Texas governor appeared with Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday to talk about his proposed State Refugee Security Act, which would require the federal government to give states a 21-day notice before resettling families and also allows states to refuse the families if the federal government can’t provide assurance that the families do not pose a security risk.

“Any claim that these specific refugees imminently threaten the security of Texas is necessarily speculative”, the USA said.

But the second try from Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, filed Wednesday, said there was new “evidence” that refugees pose potential danger. He backed off after the Obama administration responded in court that states don’t have the authority to block resettlements. In Indiana, a couple and their two young children arrived at the invitation of the Roman Catholic archdiocese in Indianapolis, which went on with plans to resettle them despite calls from Gov. Mike Pence not to do so.

Duvin said her agency’s work with the Syrian family was not greatly different from how it regularly helps refugees, though heavy media attention has followed this family’s arrival.

Despite the ruling, Texas’ lawsuit over refugee resettlements is not over. (It generally takes between 18 and 24 months and is organized by nongovernmental organizations in conjunction with federal agencies.) Advocates for refugee resettlement compared the knee-jerk reactions of the states to the early 1930s, when the USA blocked the immigration of many Jews fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany.