Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today released the following statement regarding legislation introduced to the U.S. Senate today by Sen. Ted Cruz that will impose a three-year moratorium on accepting Syrian refugees from ISIS-controlled areas, and give state governors the authority to opt out of refugee resettlement programs:
“As my office continues fighting to ensure Texas has a seat at the table on the resettlement issue, this legislation is a much-needed, critical step, especially given the revelations about terrorist organizations attempting to use our refugee program to gain entrance into the United States. I applaud Sen. Cruz for his leadership in introducing measures that will give states the ability to control the flow of refugees from countries with known terrorist ties. In the meantime, my office will continue our court case, forcing the federal government to provide information on specific refugees that will help us keep Texans safe from international terrorism.”
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) has confirmed that individuals with ties to terrorist groups in Syria have attempted to gain entry to the U.S. through the refugee program. And the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee concluded that “[i]mmediate action must be taken to temporarily suspend the admission of Syrian refugees into the United States until the nation’s leading intelligence and law enforcement agencies can certify the refugee screening process is adequate to detect individuals with terrorist ties.” Yet, the Obama Administration has announced plans to substantially increase the admissions of Syrian refugees into the United States, including admitting at least 10,000 over the course of this fiscal year. Asking that the federal government provide states with basic information about refugees coming to their borders is not only required by federal law, but reasonable.
On Monday, a hearing on Texas’ lawsuit over Syrian refugees resulted in an initial directive that the federal government provide Texas with advance notice of its intent to settle refugees within the state. Additionally, attorneys for the federal government represented that refugees coming to Texas during the week of December 7, 2015 have not been found to possess material ties to terrorism.