A refugee nonprofit says it will still resettle Syrians in Texas despite legal threats from the state.
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Citing federal law and requirements from the U.S. State Department, the organization said that it would “continue to provide assistance and services to all refugees who have been admitted lawfully to the United States”.
States can not pick and choose which refugees to take in, federal officials with the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement warned in a letter sent out last week.
Thirty state governors have promised to block Syrian refugees from settling within their borders since Islamic terrorists attacked Paris on November 13.
More than half of the nation’s governors have pledged not to allow Syrian refugees into their states following the wave of terror attacks that hit Paris earlier in the month, which left 130 dead and hundreds more injured.
Congress returns to Washington this week facing a potential showdown over Syrian refugees resettling in the US, a battle that could lead to a partial shutdown of the government. Texas has accepted roughly 200 of them, and IRC has been involved with resettling two families – both couples with young children.
In the meantime, the agency is defying the Governor’s orders, according to the L.A. Times, and continuing to assist Syrian refugees in resettling in and around Dallas.
“We have been unable to achieve cooperation with your agency”, Traylor wrote in the letter, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Faez, a Syrian refugee who speaks some English, told the Star-Telegram that relatives now in Jordan are scheduled to arrive in Texas this week.
If the International Rescue Committee does not stop advocating for Syrian refugees, Texas might take legal action.
Almost 20 organizations in Texas work with state health officials to provide services to refugees.
At least two such nonprofits in Texas say they haven’t made a decision about whether to continue settling Syrian refugees. Before being resettled in the United States, refugees must undergo rigorous interviews and background checks conducted by numerous USA government agencies. “States may not deny ORR-funded benefits and services to refugees based on a refugee’s country of origin or religious affiliation”.
“We strongly believe that a failure to cooperate with the state on this matter violates federal law and your contract with the state”, Taylor wrote to the IRC’s Dallas branch.
In a letter to Scott and all other governors, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough defended the vetting process as “extraordinarily thorough and comprehensive”.
And the problem goes way beyond the 10,000 Syrian refugees that Obama is bringing into the United States.
Taylor said that the state’s funding to the non-profit organization IRC would be cut, threatening “other legal action”. In 2016, that number is slated to increase to 85,000 and to 100,000 refugees in 2017.
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“Texas has been incredibly generous”, said Lucy Carrigan, spokeswoman for the national International Rescue Committee, based in NY.
