Republican lawmakers from Texas on Friday condemned the Syrian refugee resettlement program, and warned that the Obama administration is failing to consult with state authorities about the resettlements.
The group said the administration is required by federal law to “consult regularly” with state authorities about refugee resettlement, but that it “is not living up to this standard.”
“We insist that you work with the state of Texas to reform your administration’s refugee resettle policies and procedures,” wrote the group, which was headed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and House Homeland Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul.
“It would be a mistake to continue surging Syrian refugees into our communities without explaining how the administration will live up to its obligations to engage state and local government.
“The Islamic State … has threatened to use the global migrant crisis as a Trojan Horse, and now they are doing exactly that,” it added. “ISIS fighters are exploiting the refugee process to infiltrate the West to conduct terrorist attacks.”
The group, which included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and all 25 of the state’s Republican U.S. House members, noted the administration is hoping to resettle at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the country before the end of the fiscal year. A total of 4,700 have been approved, while 7,900 are awaiting a security review.
“U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies are still worried they cannot confidently root out terrorists from these groups,” the letter said. “We are not reassured that these security weaknesses have been fully remedied, and we believe the surge of admissions of Syrian refugees posed a high security risk to our country.”
“We hope you will agree that we need to work together to keep potentially dangerous individuals from infiltrating these programs to reach our territory,” it added.
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The letter comes a week after the state lost a legal challenge to the resettlement program, when a federal judge in Dallas ruled that Texas lacked standing to sue the federal government over the issue. However, state attorney general Ken Paxton said the state would look for options to continue pursuing the issue through the courts.
