After attacks in Paris, governors refuse to accept Syrian refugees

[DeadLetterOffice]

Source: USA Today

At least 23 governors, expressing fears about terrorism, are taking action — through executive order, a request to federal officials or some other means — to prevent Syrian refugees from settling in their states.

Their stand in the name of public safety began Sunday and escalated quickly Monday, igniting a debate over whether states even have the power to refuse people based on their nationality.

The governors — in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin — were reacting to Friday’s attacks in Paris and the possibility that Syrian refugees seeking resettlement in the United States might include people with terrorist ties.

Twenty-two of the 23 governors are Republican.


Read more: http://www.kgw.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/16/alabama-refuses-syrian-refugees-paris-terror-attack/75857924/

[mn9driver]

1. Um, I don't think they can actually do that. Because Constitution.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/11/16/3722628/no-state-governors-cant-refuse-to-accept-syrian-refugees/

But it makes their crazy, terrified, eliminationist base happy, so they will continue to shovel bullshit.

[DeadLetterOffice]

3. I know, right?

But fear triumphs over intelligence way too often it seems.

[FLPanhandle]

7. They can choose not to fund housing, living, and relocation costs though.

That they will do. Either the Feds will have to cover the costs or find another state willing to.

[Xithras]

11. Yep. The last paragraph of the article alludes to that. States can make it nearly impossible.

Our current resettlement program basically consists of the Federal government handling resettlement off to various departments in each of the states, and then refunding the states for the cost of those programs. The federal government cannot require the states to participate in the programs. These governors are basically ordering their state level agencies to cease cooperation with the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which IS perfectly legal for them to do.

There's nothing stopping the federal government from settling the refugees directly, but it would take a lot of time and money to build a 50 state federally administered resettlement program out of nothing. The federal government could also pass legislation requiring states to participate in the program under the threat of losing federal funds, but states would still have the option of giving the feds the middle finger and forgoing the funds (as many do with Obamacare), and it would be very difficult to pass a bill like that at the moment anyway. People are freaked out right now, and a LOT of voters would flee any parties or representatives pushing that kind of legislation.

But, if the federal government wanted, it could start landing Syrian refugees at an Air Force base in Texas, hand them the legal papers they need to settle, and send them out the front gates with a check. That would be a pretty shitty thing to do to the refugees though.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. yeah there is that.

Are they planning on setting up immigration control points on their state border crossings?

[femmocrat]

2. Has it been determined that any of the terrorists were from Syria?

I read that the passport found at one scene was either stolen or a forgery. I heard on the news that some were from Belgium and (at least) one was French.

[DeadLetterOffice]

4. Shhhh, your facts will just confuse them...

[femmocrat]

6. Apparently none of them listened to Pres. Obama's remarks today.

His closing statement about the US accepting immigrants regardless of religion, etc. was very moving.

Not surprising though. Wonder who the democrat was? Massachusetts?

On edit: Just found this post that says all attackers were European: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027351480

[DeadLetterOffice]

10. Nah, Baker is GOP in MA.

The lone Democrat is Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire. She's running for a GOP-held Senate seat in NH...

ETA:

Maggie Hassan, the Democrat governor of New Hampshire, said today that the government should stop resettling Syrian refugees in the U.S.

Her spokesman, William Hinkle, told the New Hampshire Union Leader that she currently opposes letting refugees from the war-torn country into the United States.

“Protecting the safety and security of our people is the first responsibility of government,” he told the paper. “And the Governor has always made clear that we must ensure robust refugee screening to protect American citizens, and believes that we must know more of the facts about those who carried out the Paris terrorist attacks and have strong assurances of safety from our intelligence officials before we admit refugees from Syria into the United States.”

Hinkle told The Daily Beast over email that Hassan believes the refugee settlement program should stop immediately.

“The Governor has always made clear that we must ensure robust refugee screening to protect American citizens,” he emailed, “and the Governor believes that the federal government should halt acceptance of refugees from Syria until intelligence and defense officials can assure that the process for vetting all refugees, including those from Syria, is as strong as possible to ensure the safety of the American people.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/11/16/nh-s-dem-guv-says-no-to-syrian-refugees.html

[Warren Stupidity]

18. Hassan is a classic chickenshit Democrat.

Scared of her own shadow, ever willing to take the republican line on controversial issues.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. So shouldn't we be bombing the crap out of Belgium by now?

[PatrynXX]

15. the exact same one was found in um Christian Serbia

face palm. nothing like 24 Gov's all falling for ISIL's trap

[LiberalElite]

9. IMO if he were white and a Republican

he wouldn't have let refugees in, in the first place.

[7962]

12. Thank you. Somebody ALWAYS has to make race the issue.

Ridiculous

[LiberalElite]

14. Excuse me - I was responding to the post above, in which race

was made the issue.

[7962]

19. I know!

That was the post i found ridiculous. I doubt the GOP response would be any different if Bill Clinton were president trying to do the same thing

[blackspade]

13. Cowards, jingoists,

and political opportunists.

[tabasco]

16. Filthy rotten gutless degenerates

Christie even rejected allowing in orphaned children. These people are depraved.

[7962]

20. And thats sad; what threat would orphaned kids be?

Assuming there is a danger allowing tens of thousands of people in, I dont see how children with no parents could be part of that threat. They would just need families!!!