Texas dropped the temporary restraining order just hours after the US Justice Department filed papers in federal court, asserting the state had no legal grounding to act on immigration policy and could not stop refugees from resettling.
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Texas is hoping a judge will stop the federal government from resettling refugees in the state.
Texas sues State Department to block Syrian refugee resettlement A Texas agency has sued the US State Department and Secretary of State John Kerry, among others, seeking to prevent refugees from being resettled in the state.
Texas “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”, the Obama administration told the court.
In a brief filed with a federal court Friday, the International Rescue Committee declared its opposition to the injunction filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office on behalf of the state’s Health and Human Services Commission.
“The harm to the national interest as determined by the President, and to the interests of the individual refugee families in question, outweigh Plaintiff’s speculative and uninformed fears about security”, Obama administration lawyers wrote in the federal court filing.
The state withdrew its request for a restraining order nearly immediately after the federal government filed the response.
“Attempts to close Texas’s doors to Syrian refugees run counter to our laws, our values and our conscience”, Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, said in a news release.
Also Friday, the agency bringing the refugees to Texas – the International Rescue Committee – urged Godbey to allow resettlement efforts to continue, saying Abbott is “acting without any lawful authority … to interfere with refugee resettlement”.
Texas this week asked a federal court to block the arrival of Syrian refugees, citing concerns about whether new arrivals are sufficiently screened for security.
“The mayor said he believed it would only be temporary and scolded Texas for not letting the refugees into the state”.
Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton said that action was taken after federal officials “provided additional requested information regarding the first group of refugees set to arrive in Texas”.
A local relief group called the National Rescue Committee will help them join family members already living here.
The Obama administration’s plans to resettle Syrian refugees fleeing that country’s civil war have sparked controversy following the Paris terror attacks. The U.S. Department of State is responsible for refugee admissions, processing applications received through the United Nations and conducting security screenings – a process that can take up to two years.
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She said that a day before the Paris attacks, her nonprofit provided Texas officials with a spreadsheet that listed a proposed number of 200 to 250 Syrians refugees expected this fiscal year.
