Professor Geoffrey Hoffman, director of the immigration clinic at the University of Houston, said “the state’s attempt to prevent or block Syrian refugees could reasonably be interpreted as an attempt to interfere with the federal executive power to regulate and enforce immigration”.
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In November, the Obama administration railed against the group of states (which now hovers around 30) that said they were unwilling to harbor Syrian refugees, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement sent a letter to states saying they would be breaking the law if they continued to do so.
The state’s decision to back down – at least temporarily – was welcome news for Rebecca Robertson, the legal and policy director for the ACLU in Texas. Both said the state had no authority to stop the refugees from coming.
The state’s Republican Governor Mike Pence said that, in the wake of the attacks in Paris, he could not justify making an exception for the family.
Three Syrian refugee families have arrived in New York City after Texas sued to try to stop their resettlement there. Breitbart Texas also asked if the attorney general is confident that these Syrian refugees have been properly screened and pose no threat to the security of Texas and Texans.
Amid a legal battle that has delayed the arrival of Syrian refugees in Texas, a suburban Houston church held a rally in support of its neighbor – a mosque – as well as local Muslims. The family plans to join other family members who have been in north Texas for ten months.
The International Rescue Committee filed opposition this morning to a state of Texas agency’s request to halt resettlement of a Syrian refugee family of six and others, arguing the state didn’t show “irreparable harm”.
However, Paxton is still going forward with the lawsuit.
Paxton said in a statement that the change was prompted by the federal government’s willingness to provide more information about the incoming refugees – not by the Justice Department’s brief. That set off a war of words between Christie and de Blasio. The state “made no showing that these refugees pose any threat, much less an imminent one” to Americans, the Obama administration wrote.
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Many are children younger than 13 and the group includes grandparents and a single woman trying to reunite with her mother who already lives here. State officials warned the International Rescue Committee that failure to comply could result in being terminated from the state’s resettlement program. “While we remain concerned about the federal government’s overall refugee vetting process, we must ensure that Texas has the seat at the table that the Refugee Act requires”.
