Catholic archbishop decides to bring Syrian refugees to Indiana despite Pence

In denouncing the move, Pence pointed to the Paris terror attacks as rationale for keeping Syrians out of his state, which he said “involved a Syrian refugee as one of the attackers”. The archdiocese said they had enough private donors to pay for the family to be settled even if Pence didn’t drop the order blocking state agencies from distributing federal funding for such refugees.

Tobin says he considered Pence’s request but made a decision to help the family settle in IN because such assistance is an “essential part” of the Catholic church’s identity. “The State of IN will continue to suspend its participation IN the resettlement of Syrian refugees IN IN until the federal government takes action to address the concerns raised about this program”.

IN continues to welcome refugees of other nationalities and resettled 28 from Burma and the Congo in the past month.

In addition to IN, on Monday, Texas became home for a family of six from Syria despite opposition from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).

“The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion”, Lloyd said in a statement.

On Monday night, the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis facilitated the arrival of a Syrian refugee family to the city, openly challenging Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s call to halt the arrival of refugees from Syria.

However on Tuesday the governor tweeted in response to Trump’s Muslim ban, “Calls to ban Muslims from entering the US are offensive and unconstitutional”. The decision came just days after the Paris terrorist attacks and reports that one of the perpetrators may have posed as a refugee to get into France.

“In the wake of a recognition now by the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee that ISIS terrorists have attempted to infiltrate the Syrian refugee program, I think common sense says that we ought to put security first”, Pence said. Perhaps it’s time for the American government to reach out to Christian ministries who already have numerous needed connections outside of the United Nations, let them fill in the government’s gaps, and let the church be the church.

Pence asked Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin last week to not resettle the family in Indiana. She described the family as relieved and eager to start a new life in the United States.

Legal experts around the country maintain that there is nothing governors can legally do to block charitable organizations from taking in Syrian refugees that have been approved by the federal government.

Texas’ health commissioner sent letters to refugee resettlement agencies threatening them with the loss of state cooperation if they continued to bring in Syrians.

Carrigan declined to identify where the family was living due to safety concerns.

A similar case is playing out in Texas, where on Friday the state withdrew its request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the resettlement of 21 Syrian refugees into the state, saying the US government had provided it with the information it sought on the group.