The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Indiana Gov. Mike Pence over his decision to block Syrian refugees from settling in the state.
The lawsuit, filed Monday night, accuses Pence of violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by accepting refugees from others countries but not from Syria, reported The Associated Press.
The ACLU of Indiana filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on behalf of Exodus Refugee Immigration, an Indianapolis non-profit organization that resettles refugees in the state.
John Wernert, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, which oversees refugee resettlement in Indiana, is also being sued in the lawsuit, according to The Indianapolis Star.
"There is no border around the state of Indiana that prevents people from entering our state who may move freely within the United States," ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk said in a statement. "Decisions concerning immigration and refugee resettlement are exclusively the province of the federal government, and attempts to pre-empt that authority violate both equal protection and civil rights laws and intrude on authority that is exclusively federal."
Pence has yet to comment on the suit, but he wrote in a recent editorial that he is "deeply moved" by people trying to escape violence in other countries and seeking refuge in Indiana. However, he said the government must first address "security gaps" in the refugee-vetting process, according to the Star.
"Indiana and the U.S. must continue to serve as a safe harbor for refugees from around the world; however, unless and until the federal government addresses the security gaps acknowledged by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security with regard to refugees from Syria, as governor I will continue to put the safety and security of Hoosiers first," Pence wrote.
Following the deadly Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, the first-term governor joined more than 25 other governors in refusing to cooperate with President Barack Obama's refugee-resettlement program, which plans to bring 10,000 Syrians to the U.S. over the next year.
Individual states are not legally permitted to block refugee resettlement, per the Refugee Act of 1980, which gives the State Department broad authority to determine refugee admission and resettlement, according to Newsweek.
At least one family that had fled the Syrian civil war was already diverted from Indianapolis to Connecticut after Pence ordered state agencies to stop resettlement activities, according to AP.
Falk said the ACLU plans to ask a federal judge on Tuesday to place a temporary hold on Pence's directive.
"These are people who have been vetted extensively by the federal government and have been approved for resettlement. Our lawsuit is quite simple. It argues that the governor has no right to bar refugees because doing so clearly violates equal protection," Falk said during a news conference.
