White House to update governors on refugees in their states

Meanwhile, the Northern Nevada International Center in Reno recently applied to become an affiliate refugee resettlement agency of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, said Black, the executive director of the International Center.

“There’s a heightened level of concern among the nation’s governors” about refugee resettlement in the United States, Brown’s office said.

The State Department said that out of the 85,000 refugees to be accepted in fiscal year 2016, 10,000 of the slots will be reserved for Syrians.

“The Governor has advised me that his foremost obligation is to keep citizens safe”, Traylor wrote. Legal specialists allege in that while the states can’t close their borders to refugees, they will complicate efforts at resettlement in the event in that they decide to withhold some funding.

The Obama administration has said states don’t have the legal authority to deny services to refugees.

Although more than half of USA governors have objected to plans to resettle Syrian refugees in the United States, with some declaring that they won’t allow resettlement in their states, the federal government controls resettlement programs.

Shortly after the ICIRR’s meeting, Tsao explained, “The governor put out a statement that said his office would ask community leaders to call on the White House to share the information that they are looking for regarding which refugees are being resettled and when and other information regarding screening policies for these refugees”. It is also unclear where the “abundant evidence” Traylor mentions in the letter pointing to the screening process’ ineffectiveness is, since there has not been a terrorist attack on American soil carried out by a foreign terrorist organization since September 11, 2001, as Vox points out.

The White House has stressed that it conducts rigorous, multi-layered security checks with refugee applicants, and enhanced checks on Syrian applicants.

An aid group attempting to resettle residents of war-torn Syria is being threatened by officials in Texas who warn that relocating refugees there would give way to a federal lawsuit. The IRCs Dallas branch expected to settle about 15 Syrians this year.

“As part of our mission and mandate from the U.S. Federal government, we will continue to resettle refugees in Texas and other states”, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee said in response to a Reuters email. However it is important not to conflate terrorists with the Syrian refugees who are seeking sanctuary in the United States.

These developments come as the Senate prepares to vote perhaps later this week on a House-passed bill that would make it harder for Syrian refugees to enter the U.S. Forty-seven House Democrats supported the bill, including New York Reps.

A bipartisan group of senators rightly says this is a greater security threat than refugee resettlement.

He noted that the administration has provided the governors with a detailed description of the process for vetting refugees, and that officials with the departments of State and Health and Human Services are available to brief the governors the next time the association convenes in February in Washington.

Applauding refugees in San Antonio, City Councilman Ron Nirenberg said, “I’ve gotten to experience the sense of optimism and hope that is strong in San Antonio’s refugee population”.