Traylor noted that some organizations had agreed to work with Texas to “identify alternative outcomes for refugees from Syria who might otherwise relocate to Texas”.
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“Upon receipt of a Governor’s request, the State Department would compile a tailored report for the individual state submitting the request”, McDonough said in a statement.
“The Governor has advised me that his foremost obligation is to keep citizens safe”, Traylor wrote.
The Governor does not actually have the authority to close Texas’ borders to Syrian refugees, but the state could possibly cut funding to local refugee aid groups resettling Syrian refugees or entangle aid organizations in costly lawsuits for failing to follow Abbott’s directive.
That same day, Texas health officials sent their own letter, warning legal action against the International Rescue Committee if Syrian refugees are resettled in the state. “We met with his policy staff, they gave us a polite reception and we made the points that the statement was not very well advised and we urged the governor to maintain the state’s tradition and long-standing policy of allowing refugees in from across the world”.
“Gov. Brown appreciates the White House’s responsiveness in providing a thorough explanation of the vetting process and working to address concerns governors have expressed”, Kristen Grainger, Brown’s chief press secretary, said Monday. In the House, lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to erect higher hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
State officials have upped the ante against groups that provide services for Syrian Refugees. The IRCs Dallas branch expected to settle about 15 Syrians this year.
“That’s why most people who understand refugee resettlement are arguing that it doesn’t make sense to target refugees not to come in a country where we have so much immigration and so many people coming in and out”, she said.
The letter, however, was unlikely to satisfy other governors who, in several cases, suggested they would instruct key agencies and departments in their states not to work with the resettlement program or oppose them outright, though it was unclear what practical effect those instructions would have. “These are people who are fleeing violence and persecution inflicted by extremist groups and armed actors – some of whom are the same groups who took those innocent lives in Paris, Beirut, and on a Russian airliner”. He said the refugees were a security threat.
“We also invited the governor to meet with Syrian refugees to find out what exactly the families have been going through in fleeing the civil war in Syria and other turmoil in the Middle East”, Tsao added.
Quam said Monday’s letter was “directly” in response to the governors’ request for more detailed and current information on refugees.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, has maintained its intention to resettle some 25,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S.by October 2016 and reiterated that the refugee resettlement process – which can take years – is comprehensive and robust.
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A spokeswoman in the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the resettlement office, said 49 states and the District of Columbia have refugee resettlement programs.
