US state backs down from blocking Syrian refugees

This week’s terror attack in San Bernardino, California, where a woman who had been screened by counterterrorism group in the Department of Homeland Security prior to receiving a visa participated in the mass murder of 14 people, brought even more emphasis on the need to properly screen refugees.

The U.S. government and an global humanitarian organization have asked a judge to reject attempts by Texas to block Syrian refugees from resettling in the state.

The International Rescue Committee filed a separate motion at the U.S. District Court in Dallas, saying Texas could not discriminate against refugees based on nationality as this would violate U.S. civil rights laws.

Since the Paris attacks on November 13, at least 29 USA governors have vowed to keep new Syrian refugees outside their state borders.

The White House says states don’t have the legal authority to block refugee placement.

Lacking the authority to block refugees directly, the state asked nonprofits that work with refugees to halt their resettlement process for Syrians, according to court documents, and demanded detailed information from the State Department on all Syrian refugees scheduled to arrive in Texas.

As a group of Syrian refugees prepares to arrive in Texas, government officials are locked in an intensifying legal battle over whether the families can be blocked from resettling in the state.

“We think it is a very good first step toward ultimately getting back on track to get Syrian refugee families settled in Texas”, she said.

On Friday afternoon, Texas attorneys withdrew their request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked Syrian refugees from moving into the state until next Wednesday.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday withdrew a request for a temporary restraining order that sought to stop six Syrian refugees from coming to Dallas.

Paxton, however, said he is not entirely dropping the lawsuit. Texas and the US government are now clashing in court over the issue. “Our state will continue legal proceedings to ensure we get the information necessary to adequately protect the safety of Texas residents”, he said in a statement. The federal government insists refugee vetting is thorough and can take up to two years. The spreadsheet said that IRC and state health officials had received “some anti-Muslim communication” and that was being “closely monitored”, without elaborating. On Thursday, Abbott tweeted a link to a story about the shooting and added, “Another example of why Texas is taking a strong stand”. That number is relatively small for Texas – a hotbed for refugee resettlement – but the count of Syrian refugees was expected to increase significantly in the next year as the United States prepares to take in as many as 10,000 Syrian refugees. The family is staying in a NY hotel after its arrival in Texas was delayed for four days.

“The harm to the national interest as determined by the president, and to the interests of the individual refugee families in question, outweigh (the state’s) speculative and uninformed fears about security”, the filing says. The state “made no showing that these refugees pose any threat, much less an imminent one” to Americans, the Obama administration wrote.