White House reaches out to governors on refugees

After the Paris terrorist attacks, Rauner and about 30 other governors – all but one Republican – called for a temporary halt to Syrian refugees coming to the US, not convinced the layers of screenings, which take more than a year, could root out a terrorist posing as a refugee.

The IRC said that it “would welcome the opportunity to meet with Governor Abbott and other state officials to discuss the resettlement of Syrian refugees”.

More than half the nation’s 50 governors – mostly Republicans – said they opposed taking in any Syrian refugees out of concern that terrorists might infiltrate the wave of people seeking a new home.

But the International Rescue Committee (IRC) chairty has given no indication it will scrap plans to settle refugees in the state. The process can take as long as two years. “It is enabling the hateful rhetoric they want from us so that we can fulfill the narrative that it is America who is marginalizing people from the Middle East”.

The information would only be provided after the refugees are resettled in a state, however, and would not include specific identifying information about them, underscoring not only President Barack Obama’s insistence that the refugee resettlement program continue at full speed despite efforts to slow it down but also the scant role governors have in determining where refugees live in the U.S. Cleveland.com reported recently that 48 of the 3,040 refugees who settled in Ohio previous year were from Syria, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The Senate is set to vote on a House-passed bill that would require more stringent screening of Syrian and Iraqi refugees being admitted into the United States.

Federal officials say governors can not legally reject refugees.

Meanwhile, in many states, governors – including Florida’s Rick Scott – want the resettlements stopped until “extensive evaluation of the risk” is completed.

Instead, the White House is putting its energies behind an overhaul of the visa waiver program, which allows 20 million visitors a year from 38 countries to enter the United States for up to 90 days.

“Texas has shouldered its share in supporting refugees from around the world”, Traylor insisted in his letter to International Rescue Committee Executive Director Donna Duvin.

“It is true that we are not going to know a whole lot about the Syrians that come forth in this process…”

A spokesman for Snyder said Monday that the MI governor continues to engage in discussions concerning background checks and other procedures for accepting refugees.

States, too, have gotten caught up in furor, even though authority for screening, admitting and resettling refugees rests exclusively with the federal government. It has to be remembered that none of the attackers in Paris were Syrian refugees, and that entering the United States as a refugee is a painstaking process.

“We hope that Gov. Abbott and the state of Texas will embrace Faez and Syrians like him, all of whom are ready to embrace the American dream”, the IRC statement said.

“Many refugees – especially those from Syria and other countries where people have relatively high levels of education – we are able to relocate are able to contribute to our economy here in Northern Nevada”, Black said.

“They don’t just accept the refugees, they then provide a whole range of services for the people that are already here”, Rosenthal says.