Greg Abbott’s effort to keep Syrian refugees out of the state, a federal judge dismissed Texas’ lawsuit against the federal government and a refugee resettlement agency over the resettlement of the refugees.
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U.S. District Judge David Godbey, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, had previously knocked Texas for offering “largely speculative hearsay” about extremists possibly infiltrating Syrian refugees.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a statement which said, “I am disappointed with the court’s determination that Texas can not hold the federal government accountable to consult with us before resettling refugees here”.
Texas has been trying to stop the organization from bringing refugees into the state since December, when it filed its first suit in federal court in response to the group’s plan to resettle six refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war.
But the judge said that existing U.S. law does not support the state’s petition, a ruling that was cheered by the plaintiffs.
State officials, however, lack the power to enforce the U.S. Refugee Act’s “advance consultation requirement”, Godbey ruled.
The lawsuit had been filed on December 2, 2015, in the aftermath of the November terror attacks in Paris, when many state officials, primarily Republicans, announced opposition to the resettlement of additional Syrian refugees in their respective states.
The Texas attorney general’s office was not immediately available for comment.
He was referring to Capitol Hill testimony in which Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan warned that ISIS “is probably exploring a variety of means for infiltrating operatives into the west, including refugee flows, smuggling routes, and legitimate methods of travel”. The state also asked the IRC to temporarily halt resettlement of Syrian refugees in Texas. “It sends the clear message to other states that such attempts are not only un-American, they are contrary to the law and will fail in court”.
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump – who has attacked Muslims in his stump speeches and proposed to ban them from entering the US – says refugee resettlement is essentially a Trojan horse. “We are considering our options moving forward to guarantee the safety of Texas from domestic or foreign threats”.
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Godbey’s dismissal follows a previous ruling in which he said Texas was unlikely to succeed in the lawsuit because it had “no viable cause of action” against the federal government.
