As Governor Greg Abbott continues to ratchet up his fight to keep any Syrian refugees from setting foot in the state of Texas; the western nation impacted the most by ISIS terrorism said it will continue to welcome the refugees.
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One group helping with resettlements in North Texas, Catholic Charities of Dallas, announced after Abbott’s declaration on Monday that it would no longer accept Syrian refugees.
The protest comes after a November 16 announcement by Gov. Abbott, who wrote in an open letter to President Obama that the state would not welcome Syrian refugees, claiming welcoming Syrians poses a terrorism threat in the Lone Star State.
“It felt in some ways threatening”, said Quinn, who estimates it could cost local refugee service providers 40 jobs and $2.9 million.
Cornyn supports legislation passed by the House to halt the Syrian refugee program pending additional oversight, but not a “religious test” as advocated by some of his colleagues, including presidential candidate Sen. “Imagine you being outside in the cold, not having food”, Al-Ghraowi said. “You are welcome here”.
Gov. Abbott joined 30 other state governors in the rejection movement- although, constitutionally, their requests are far from doable.
The Syria refugee protest began at Wooldridge Park near the Travis County Courthouse and briefly moved to the front of the Governor’s Mansion a couple of blocks away. Texas Governor Greg Abbot did just that last week when he sent a letter to volunteer agencies telling them not to provide aid to Syrian refugees or potentially face consequences.
When asked if he understood what the Governor was asking for McCraw said, “I’m quite certain what he’s asked us to do…and quite certain that we will be able to fulfill his requirement’s, but as for the how, why and when and where, we’re not going to discuss that publicly”.
Neal Mehrotra, first year law school student, said he thinks Abbott is justified in worrying about security concerns regarding the refugees.
“The FBI director testified to Congress that the federal government does not have the background information that is necessary to effectively conduct proper security checks on Syrian nationals, Director Comey explained: “‘We can query our database until the cows come home, but there will be nothing show up because we have no record of them”.
“Being Syrian today means being terrorized by violent, sociopathic individuals and then being blamed for their actions”, she said. “The threat is not real”.
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Numerous demonstrators said they were embarrassed by the policy, calling it a knee-jerk reaction to the Paris attacks. “We can not be afraid”.
