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Judge Denies Request To Keep Syrian Refugees Out Of Texas... Again

Judge Denies Request To Keep Syrian Refugees Out Of Texas... Again
Reuters

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. judge denied for the second time a request by Texas to bar relief agencies from bringing Syrian refugees into the state, a decision that could have a bearing on the attempts of 30 other governors to block refugees from their states.

U.S. District Judge David Godbey said the Republican leaders who have fought the resettlement have not shown Texas would suffer irreparable harm. The same judge rejected in December the state’s request for a restraining order saying the evidence presented was “largely speculative hearsay.”

“The Court does not deny that the Syrian refugees pose some risk. That would be foolish,” Godbey wrote in the decision. “In our country, however, it is the federal executive that is charged with assessing and mitigating that risk, not the states and not the courts.”

Democratic President Barack Obama has pledged to take in 10,000 people fleeing war-torn Syria and has so far admitted 2,000 refugees. Europe is dealing with millions of refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

After the Paris attacks in November, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, was one of the first of more than 30 U.S. governors who are seeking to block the resettlement of Syrians into their states.

Some legislators fear that Islamic State, which claimed credit for the Paris attacks, will hide militants intent on carrying out more killings among the influx of refugees entering the United States.

The federal government has tightened visa waiver rules for visitors following the attacks in France that killed 130 people and immigration has become a flashpoint in the November presidential election in America.

Since the fiscal year 2011, 243 Syrian refugees have resettled in Texas, a U.S. court filing in December said, making the state one of the main U.S. relocation sites since the Syrian civil war erupted about five years ago.

Since Obama took office in January 2009, the most populous Republican-controlled state has filed suit against his administration 39 times on issues ranging from immigration to the environment to abortion.

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Ivor Prickett/UNHCR
Syrian refugee Nujeen, 16, waits to be carried from the shoreline to the road after landing on the Greek island of Lesbos with her older sister Nisreen. They fled Aleppo with their parents over two years ago and had been living in Turkey before deciding to seek better medical care for Nujeen in Europe. After a rough crossing that left most of the passengers cold and terrified, Nujeen seemed calm and happy. Speaking fluent English, she described the journey: "I enjoyed it. I have never been on a boat before. It was very beautiful. I didn't know if I was going to live or die, but thanks to God we are here."

Nujeen's resilience captured headlines around the world this year, and earned her a shoutout on HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver." It was more than just a mention for Nujeen, however, as Oliver got actors from her favorite American soap opera, "Days of Our Lives," to pay tribute to the teen. Nujeen has since arrived in Germany.
Willa Frej/The Huffington Post
Hajar, Amira and Nabiha Darbi pose in their new living room in New Jersey. The Darbi family is one of many Syrian refugee families already living in the U.S. Read more about their story here.
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A refugee, using a plastic trash bag to protect himself from the rain, walks through the "New Jungle" migrant camp in Calais, France, where thousands of migrants live in the hope of crossing the Channel to Britain, on Oct. 21, 2015.
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Maaesa Alroustom, center, is kissed by her mother, Suha, as her father, Hussam, back, sits with her brother Wesam in their apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey, Sept. 16, 2015. The Alroustoms are refugees from war-stricken Syria.
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Mahmud, 28, and his bride, Firal, 25, both from the Syrian city of Kobane, show their rings as they arrive with other refugees and migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey on Oct. 8, 2015.
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A elderly Syrian man holds his broken arm, an injury he received during his voyage from Syria, at a refugee reception center on Oct. 23, 2015, in Gevgelija, Macedonia.
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A Syrian child holds a watermelon, one of several distributed near the Akcakale crossing gate between Turkey and Syria at Akcakale in Sanliurfa Province on June 16, 2015.
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Refugees who have just arrived by bus queue in the rain at a refugee transit camp on the border between Greece and Macedonia on Oct. 22, 2015, in Idomeni, Greece.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo taken Oct. 2, 2015, Syrian refugee Ali Shaheen, 62, and his wife, Abeer, 52, who came from the countryside of Damascus, Syria, pose for a picture shortly after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos.
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Refugees from Afghanistan and Syria take selfies after arriving in boats on the shores of Lesbos on Nov. 2, 2015, near Molyvos, Greece.
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Ibrahim Ahmad, wearing an inhaler mask, is seen in a Syrian family's room in the Reyhanli district of Hatay Province in southern Turkey, Oct. 28, 2015.
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A Syrian family with 2-month-old triplets, and their relatives with more babies, wait for transportation after disembarking with other migrants and asylum seekers from two government-chartered ferries at the Greek port of Piraeus, about 7 miles from central Athens, on Oct. 21, 2015.
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A Syrian family is seen inside their room in the Reyhanli district of Hatay Province in southern Turkey on Oct. 28, 2015.
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A refugee from Syria, left, and a Kurdish man from Iraq wait to be registered at the central registration office for refugees in Greven, western Germany, on Sept. 22, 2015.
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Halim Rasim, 6, a Syrian refugee boy who fled Idlib with his family, poses with his pet cat at a tent city in the Akcakale district of Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Sept. 24, 2015.
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Syrian refugees sit in the back of a Jordanian army truck as they leave the al-Roqban makeshift camp, on the border with Syria, for the eastern town of Ruwaished, where they will be welcomed and checked by the Jordanian authorities, on Sept. 10, 2015.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo taken Oct. 3, 2015, Syrian refugee Alaaldeen Mohammed, 25, who came from Aleppo, Syria, poses for a picture shortly after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. Mohammed was injured in 2013 in a government bombing that burned his upper body and face.
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