Syrian refugees in New York await Texas decision

Refugee, resettlement and religious leaders have their eye on the case because it tests whether a state has the legal authority to block an action by the U.S. State Department.

Dallas-based U.S. District Judge David Godbey could rule as soon as today on the request of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for a temporary restraining order.

Bentley last month said he would not accept Syrian refugees into Alabama and ordered all Alabama state agencies to cut support for Syrian refugees.

The majority of U.S. state governors are opposing the resettlement of Syrian refugees on security grounds, justifying their decision with an unconfirmed rumor that one of the terrorists involved in the Paris attacks arrived in Europe as a refugee.

The move set the scene for a high-stakes showdown over the administration’s continued plans to resettle up 10,000 Syrian refugees in the country in 2016.

Texas backed down Friday from efforts to block six Syrian refugees from resettling in Dallas after the Obama administration reiterated in federal court that the state had no authority to do so.

Declining to comment directly on the state’s lawsuit, the International Rescue Committee in a statement noted that it has a long history of serving refugees in Texas.

According to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, all refugees entering the United States must pass a “rigorous” and “detailed” 13-step process before they arrive.

Abbott is one of 31 governors who said they would stop or otherwise oppose the resettlement of Syrian refugees in their states after the terrorist attacks in Paris. “He continues to incite fear in the public, and has found a scapegoat to score political points off of nonprofits who care for refugees”, Manny Garcia, the party’s deputy director, said in a statement.

Texas is home to the country’s second largest population of Syrian refugees, with 242 resettled within its borders since 2012.

The state is still seeking an injunction barring resettlement of further Syrian refugees until the court determines that federal officials and the refugee group, “are complying with their statutory and contractual duties to consult with Texas in advance of placing refugees”. Among them are such notables as former National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership president, Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg, New York Times bestselling author and philosopher Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, and Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the governing body of America’s largest Jewish denomination.

The lawsuit argues that the federal government and resettlement group have not fulfilled their contractual obligations to consult with, and provide information to, state officials. The process takes on average around two years to complete and is to ensure that the refugees will not pose a security risk to the United States.

The refugees coming to Dallas include two children ages 3 and 6; their parents and grandparents.

Other Syrians will be resettled in Houston, including a family of six, a family of eight and 26-year-old Sryian woman whose mother lives in the Houston area, according to court documents.