Texas to Obama: We’re Not Taking Your Refugees

If congressional Republicans have been a thorn in President Obama’s side for the last eight years, Republican governors have become his arch enemies. Particularly the governors of North Carolina and Texas, who have opposed this president in both rhetoric and litigation. In many ways, we have Texas to thank for putting a stop to Obama’s immigration orders.

Now the Lone Star State is turning its attention to another out-of-control Obama administration policy: refugee resettlement. And while Texas isn’t suing the administration on behalf of the country this time around, Gov. Greg Abbott is telling Obama that as far as his state is concerned, the resettlement program is finished.

“The federal government’s refugee settlement program is riddled with serious problems that pose a threat to our nation,” Abbott said in a statement. “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.”

Texas sent a letter to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in conjunction with the public statement. The letter informs the federal government that Texas will be withdrawing from the resettlement program on January 31 of 2017.

Abbott reached this point when the administration rejected his state’s request for a more in-depth security screening. Specifically, the Obama administration refused to have national security officials sign a pledge of assurance for the refugees, affirming that they were not terrorist threats.

Just think about that for a second. This administration wants us to risk our lives to welcome these people into our communities, but they aren’t even willing to risk their reputations. They won’t put their name to it. That tells you something.

“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,” Abbott said. “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.”

While Abbott’s withdrawal has symbolic merit, it won’t keep Obama from resettling refugees in Texas through private organizations. Still, this is the groundwork. Eventually, the American people will demand a stop to this. Let’s pray we don’t have to watch many more people die before that happens.