State leaders in Texas on Wednesday sent notice to the federal government that it will be withdrawing from its refugee resettlement program unless conditions are met.
In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, Texas’ State Refugee Coordinator Kara Crawford told the Office of Refugee Resettlement that her state will withdraw from the federally-funded Refugee Assistance Program unless demands for refugee screening are “unconditionally” met by Sept. 30.
In the state’s proposed refugee plan, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission would mandate that refugees “may only be admitted to the United States after DHS, with the unanimous concurrence of the FBI and the DNI, certifies to Congress that he or she is not such a threat.”
If the state’s plan is not approved by the Refugee Assistance Program by Sept. 30 and Texas opts out of the resettlement program, their partnership would end on Jan. 31.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement the federal government’s refugee program is “broken and flawed” and “increasingly risks American lives.”
Texas had filed a lawsuit in December following the Paris terrorist attacks in an attempt to keep out Syrian refugees, but a federal judge rejected that effort in June.
The White House announced this month that the U.S. will attempt to take in 110,000 refugees from around the world in 2017.
Abbott noted that “Texas has done more than its fair share in aiding refugees, accepting more refugees than any other state between October 2015 and March 2016.” However, “empathy must be balanced with security.”
