In a lawsuit filed Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton claims the federal government and the International Rescue Committee – one of about 20 private nonprofits that have a state contract to resettle refugees in Texas – are violating federal law by moving forward with the planned resettlement of two Syrian families.
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Texas on Wednesday became the first to take the federal government to court but legal experts called it futile, saying states have no authority over resettlements.
The letter also asks that the program does not exclude any religion or nationality, and that while Christian refugees fleeing war and terrorism should have their quota increased, other vulnerable refugee groups should not be neglected either. Basically, now that Texas knows for sure that the Syrian family and their two little kids totally aren’t terrorists, they’ll let them in; apparently all Syrian refugees are terrorists in Texas’ eyes until proven otherwise. A second family of six, including four children, is scheduled to be resettlement on Monday in Houston, the suit said.
Texas has threatened a funding cut for the relief agency if it goes ahead with the relocation.
She said her non-profit shared with Texas officials a day before the Paris attacks a spreadsheet that listed a proposed number of 200 to 250 Syrians refugees expected this fiscal year.
The state is still seeking an injunction barring resettlement of further Syrian refugees until the court determines that federal officials and the refugee group, “are complying with their statutory and contractual duties to consult with Texas in advance of placing refugees”.
Declining to comment directly on the state’s lawsuit, the International Rescue Committee in a statement noted that it has a long history of serving refugees in Texas. State refugee coordinators are consulted by the federal government and the nine refugee resettlement agencies that have contracts with the government, but that consultation is largely to ensure refugees are settled in cities with adequate jobs, housing and social services.
“It does not create any obligation to provide advance consultation regarding individual resettlement decisions”, it said. Plaintiff has made no showing that these refugees pose any threat, much less an imminent one, to the safety or security of Texas residents or any other Americans.
It was only after the Paris attacks November 13 that Abbott and 30 other governors, all of them Republican except one, moved to block Syrian refugees from relocating to the U.S.
Court documents show that, in all, 21 Syrian refugees are scheduled to be resettled in Dallas and Houston by Thursday. The International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit refugee resettlement organization, counters with the point that securing refugee status in the USA actually takes a long and rigorous vetting process.
ACLU attorneys who filed separately on behalf of the refugee group called the Texas lawsuit “utterly meritless”. A decision on whether to grant Texas a temporary restraining order could come anytime.
The bill would add steps to the process, including a sign-off on each individual refugee by the secretary of Homeland Security and directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and national intelligence, making them liable for any incidents caused by refugees they admit.
“Refugee resettlement invokes two areas of exclusive federal authority, foreign relations and immigration”, the response says.
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Alexa Ura, reporter for the Texas Tribune, has been writing about the lawsuit.
