Texas Drops Losing Fight Against Resettling Syrian Refugees

The surrender comes days after an appeals court chastised Indiana Gov. Mike Pence over a similar policy.
A child is silhouetted against a U.S. flag at a rally in support of immigration rights in Irving, Texas October 13, 2007.
A child is silhouetted against a U.S. flag at a rally in support of immigration rights in Irving, Texas October 13, 2007.
Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters

Texas has given up a legal dispute challenging efforts by the federal government and a refugee aid organization to resettle Syrian refugees in the state.

The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on Friday withdrew its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which had been set to review the case. The Obama administration and the International Rescue Committee, which Texas had named as defendants, did not oppose the motion. This means the court will dismiss the case altogether.

A federal judge in June ruled that Texas had no legal recourse against either party. The state had alleged it had a right to be consulted before the U.S. government and the refugee organization entered into a contract to resettle Syrian refugees.

Texas’ change of position comes days after a conservative three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago chastised Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) over his attempts to bar Syrian refugees from his state.

Paxton, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on dropping the appeal. After his case was dismissed in June, he said Texas was acting to protect “the safety of Texans from domestic and foreign threats.”

Cecillia Wang, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, seemed surprised Paxton wouldn’t comment on withdrawing the appeal. The ACLU represented the refugee organization in the litigation.

“Whatever was in the attorney general’s mind, I hope that other states take these lessons to heart,” Wang said. “They’re just wrong in the law ― their mean-spirited and ill-informed efforts to block Syrian refugee families from resettlement have gone nowhere.”

Donna Duvin, the executive director of the International Rescue Committee’s Dallas office said in a statement that the state’s decision is in line with the lawfulness of refugee resettlement in Texas.

“The move also aligns with what’s actually happening in Texas communities where refugees typically are warmly welcomed and supported as they rebuild their lives here,” said Duvin, who renewed her organization’s call for Texas to reconsider withdrawing from the federal refugee resettlement program.

Syrian refugees go through extensive vetting before coming to the U.S. ― including interviews, research through multiple intelligence agencies’ databases, health checks and social media screening. Intelligence officials have said that it’s difficult to vet people from a war-torn country, and impossible to guarantee a risk-free process, but that the screening system is better than ever.

At the vice presidential debate this week, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) reminded Pence about the court ruling against him, which essentially accused him of discriminating on the basis of national origin.

“The governor of Indiana believes, though without evidence, that some of these persons were sent to Syria by ISIS to engage in terrorism and now wish to infiltrate the United States in order to commit terrorist acts here,” the court wrote in that ruling. “No evidence of this belief has been presented, however; it is nightmare speculation.”

In July, a federal judge in Alabama dismissed a similar lawsuit brought by that state against the federal government over Syrian refugee resettlement. Alabama is appealing.

So far, no state has won a legal challenge to refugee resettlement efforts.

Elise Foley contributed reporting.

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