Last week Donna Duvin of the IRC claimed her staff in office in Dallas, Texas were prepared to receive refugees under current federal guidelines.
Advertisement
The writer is addressing the question, “The governors of 31 states say they won’t take Syrian refugees”. Opponents of taking in the refugees cite fears that the federal government’s screening process may fail to weed out extremists, a concern the HHS letter addresses.
These nine agencies get paid by the head with taxpayer-funded grants for every refugee they bring to the United States.
Health and Human Services Commissioner Chris Traylor said: “Your agency insists on resettling certain refugees from Syria in the near future”.
“We have been working diligently with the International Rescue Committee to find a solution that ensures the safety and security for all Texans”, said Bryan Black, a spokesman for Texas’s health commission, in a press release, “but we have reached an impasse and will now let the courts decide”. “However, we have been unable to achieve cooperation with your agency”.
Under the “new” program, the State Department would compile a state-specific report on refugees resettled the prior month and prior fiscal year to date, upon the request of any governor. The Obama administration says states do not have the legal authority to block refugee placement.
“Failure by your organization to cooperate with the State of Texas as required by federal law may result in the termination of your contract with the state and other legal action”, he wrote.
In the wake of the Paris attacks on November 13 that killed 130 people and injured hundreds more, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Republican-backed legislation on November 19 to suspend President Obama’s program to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees to the country.
The Dallas branch of International Rescue Committee (IRC) said on Tuesday it “believes wholeheartedly in its refugee resettlement program”, and has already reached out to Texas Governor Greg Abbott to talk through the issues. “Refugees from Burma, Bhutan, Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan and, very recently, Syria, have all found sanctuary here, and the opportunity to live a productive and law-abiding life”, IRC officials said in a Monday statement.
A relief agency said Monday it plans to resettle Syrian refugees in Texas despite a threat from the state to cut funding to the nonprofit organization if it tries to do so.
That’s partly because the U.S. Constitution delegates all immigration policy-a broad category that includes refugees and asylum seekers-to the federal government, not the states.
Abbott’s dubious ability to reject refugees has encouraged groups like the IRC to continue pushing for refugee resettlement in Texas. He fled Syria after he was held at gunpoint by a group of armed militants in his hometown of Daraa and resettled in Dallas in February with his wife and infant daughter. He said his problem is not so much with the process, but rather the lack of verifiable data personal data that the Syrian government has and has shared with the USA and its screeners.
Advertisement
The memo was signed by former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, Conservative Action Project Chairman Becky Norton Dunlop, former House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, and former U.S. Ambassador Ken Blackwell among many others. The measure was approved on a vote of 289 to 137, with 47 of Obama’s 188 fellow Democrats breaking with the White House to support it.
