Public domain Public domain Texas just isn’t backing down from its pledge to try to dam Syrian refugees from its borders.
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If the IRC does not end its campaign for refugee resettlement in Texas, Traylor says the state might cut funding or take legal action against the group. “That responsibility starts with a generous policy of admitting those Syrian refugees to the United States who are vulnerable to the most horrific mistreatment – including murder, rape, torture, and enslavement”.
In an effort to stop Syrian refugees from settling in Dallas, the state of Texas filed a lawsuit on the federal court against the U.S. government. The International Rescue Committee – one of about 20 nonprofits that have a state contract to resettle refugees in Texas – had previously informed the state that it would resettle two families in the Dallas area in early December. The letters had opposite messages.
Traylor wrote that other refugee agencies in the state expressed willingness to cooperate with the Texas government to find alternative options for refugees from Syria, and he threatened legal action against the IRC if the group does not comply with the state’s demands, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“We continue to seek guidance on the ramifications of the federal and state of Texas Health and Human Services Commission requirements in light of the state’s request to discontinue resettlement services for Syrian refugees in the future”.
The head of that agency has backed up Abbott’s rhetoric with a stern warning to state agencies with a different outlook on the refugee issue.
The White House sent new refugee information to all 50 governors, and a chart explaining how refugees are vetted before entry to the U.S. Governors can now regularly receive data on Syrian refugees, such as their nationality, age, race and sex, but not their names.
She says if the judge grants Texas anything, a scenario she calls “almost impossible”, it would be an order that directs the IRC to share more information but doesn’t block the refugees.
Texas is home to the country’s second-largest population of Syrian refugees, with 242 resettled here since 2012.
Texas officials are taking their opposition to accepting Syrian refugees to another level. “States may not categorically deny ORR-funded benefits and services to Syrian refugees”, wrote Robert Carey, the office’s director.
“It is the most robust screening process for any any category of individuals seeking admission into the United States”, McDonough said in his letter to Brown.
Anne Marie Weiss-Armush, president of DFW International, a network of internationally focused groups in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, said her organization’s Refugee Support Network has helped furnish the apartment and stock the kitchen.
Scott’s spokesperson, Jeri Bustamante, said the office is reviewing the letter. He notes an ABC report that the administration suspended resettlement of Iraqi refugees for six months in 2009, after two refugees in Kentucky were found to have al-Qaeda ties.
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The Obama administration has planned to bring at least 10,000 Syrians into the United States this year.
