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Texas Files Suit to Block Syrian Refugees

Texas Files Suit to Block Syrian Refugees

Complaint says Feds aren’t meeting their legal obligations to consult with Texas

On Wednesday afternoon, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, on behalf of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (Texas HHSC), filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas seeking to block the resettlement of six Syrian refugees in Texas.

The lawsuit names as defendants various federal entities such as the Department of State, Secretary of State John Kerry, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, as well as International Rescue Committee, Inc., a nonprofit organization involved in refugee resettlement.

According to the the complaint, the Refugee Act of 1980 (8 U.S.C. § 1522) “establishes a framework for collaboration and cooperation” between the federal government, state and local governments, and volunteer nonprofit organizations, and also requires that the federal government and these private groups “shall consult regularly” and work “in close cooperation and advance consultation” with the states about “the sponsorship process and the intended distribution of refugees among the States and localities before their placement in those States and localities.”

The Texas HHSC was told during a phone call with International Rescue Committee that the group intended to resettle two families of Syrian refugees — a total of six people — in Dallas, Texas this week, possibly as early as Thursday, December 3.

However, as the complaint alleges, neither this nonprofit group nor the federal government have met their obligations under the Refugee Act of 1980 to consult with Texas about these refugees. Therefore, Texas is demanding that the court order the federal government and International Rescue Committee to comply with the law by consulting with Texas and providing the requested information, and to block the resettlement of these Syrian refugees until that occurs.

As Legal Insurrection reported last month, Texas was among several dozen states that informed the federal government that they intended to refuse to accept Syrian refugees in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris, France. The letter by Texas Governor Greg Abbott was a prelude to this complaint, raising concerns about the vetting process for Syrian refugees and requesting more information. As we noted then, the states’ legal authority to actually refuse refugees is limited, because immigration is under the purview of the federal government. The states do, however, have the power to withhold their own state funds from aiding in refugee resettlement efforts. If this complaint is successful, we may see more states filing their own similar complaints.

Follow Sarah Rumpf on Twitter @rumpfshaker

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Comments

“I’ve got a pen” isn’t enough? Color me shocked.

or is that phrase rayyyycist now?

Deep in the heart of Texas lies a, man with the backbone of a giant.

The more I see of Greg Abbott, the more I like Greg Abbott.

Abbot gave the best speech at Red State in Atlanta along with almost all of the other candidates but thanks to the idiot Erik Erickson Trump didn’t come. Abbot is a man to watch because even though he is wheel chair bound he has more spine than any member of Congress or the present line up of Republican candidates. Because of his injury and the steel implant in his spine he said “I have a steel spine!”. He was injured while jogging and a tree fell on him. He said the first question people ask him about his injury is “Couldn’t you jog faster than a falling tree”?

These Invaders, Whom Obama is totally mis-representing to the citizens of the USA, don’t really qualify as ” Refugees.” They have no intention to assimilate into our way of life. The Koran & the US Constitution are not compatible. They come as enemy combatants, in the guise of refugees. It is all a trick to overtake the country & turn it into an “Islamic Hellhole.”