After Requests By Texas For Federal Government To Ensure Refugees Pose No Security Threat, the state of Texas has sent a letter to the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stating their intention to withdraw from the program unless they approve their state plan.
The new state plan requires that national security officials ensure refugees do not pose a security threat to Texas. The Department of Health and Human Services has since refused to respond prompting an official letter to their office.
Texas’ withdrawal from the refugee resettlement program will be effective 120 days after the September 30th deadline, on January 31st, 2017.
Governor Greg Abbott issued the following statement on Texas’ intention to withdraw:
“The federal government’s refugee settlement program is riddled with serious problems that pose a threat to our nation. The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Director of National Intelligence have repeatedly declared their inability to fully screen refugees from terrorist-based nations. Even with the inability to properly vet refugees from Syria and countries known to be supporters or propagators of terrorism, President Obama is now ineptly proposing a dramatic increase in the number of refugees to be resettled in the U.S.
“Empathy must be balanced with security. Texas has done more than its fair share in aiding refugees, accepting more refugees than any other state between October 2015 and March 2016. While many refugees pose no danger, some pose grave danger, like the Iraqi refugee with ties to ISIS who was arrested earlier this year after he plotted to set off bombs at two malls in Houston.
“Despite multiple requests by the State of Texas, the federal government lacks the capability or the will to distinguish the dangerous from the harmless, and Texas will not be an accomplice to such dereliction of duty to the American people. Therefore, Texas will withdraw from the refugee resettlement program. I strongly urge the federal government to completely overhaul a broken and flawed refugee program that increasingly risks American lives.”
Good on Texas for holding the Obama administration’s feet to the fire. There is no legitimate reason why each state receiving refugees, or the U.S government, should NOT have a screening program in place. Its negligent and not in the best interest of the American people to let people in without a security process.
The original letter can be found here.