Chris Traylor, executive commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, has threatened to sue the International Rescue Committee (IRC) for helping Syrian refugees to move into the state. In a Nov. 25 letter to the IRC, he claimed that "security comes first" and that if the IRC did not stop assisting, it would will be sued.
He claims that by continuing to help the refugees, the IRC is defying Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to not accept any refugees into the state - though this was an order made without the appropriate legal authority, according to The Huffington Post.
Omar Jadwat, a senior attorney at ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, says the state cannot legally close its borders and bar Syrian refugees. "That is ridiculous, especially when federal law makes perfectly clear that what the state is demanding is illegal," said CNN.
Thirty-one governors voted to not let Syrian refugees into their states in light of the terrorist attack in Paris on Nov. 13, reported The Huffington Post.
"Failure by your organization to cooperate with the State of Texas as required by federal law may result in the termination of your contract with the state and other legal action," Traylor explained in his letter. "If you remain unwilling to cooperate with the state on this matter, we strongly believe that a failure to cooperate with the state on this matter violates federal law and your contract with the state."
The IRC released a counter-statement and seeks to continue its work and have a discussion with Abbott, reported The Guardian.
"It is important not to conflate terrorists with the Syrian refugees who are seeking sanctuary," the IRC said in the counter-statement. "These are people who are fleeing violence and persecution inflicted by extremist groups and armed actors - some of whom are the same groups who took those innocent lives in Paris, Beirut, and on a Russian airliner."
The statement continued to explain that though the governor does not believe it to be true, "Syrian refugees are the most vetted group of people to come to the United States. Apart from swimming the Atlantic Ocean, the refugee resettlement program is the most difficult way to enter the United States."
