Judge sharply questions defense of Indiana's Syrian refugee ban:'Oh, honestly, you are so out of it'
"Wait, wait," Judge Frank H. Easterbrook said, taking a tone of dry incredulity. "The governor of Indiana knows more about the status of Syrian refugees than the U.S. State Department does?"
On Wednesday, a panel of three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit lashed into Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's attempted ban of Syrian refugees resettling in the state.
Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher explained that Pence was concerned that the U.S. cannot properly screen Syrian refugees for potential terrorist threats, based on a statement from the FBI. That's why the Pence administration said he tried to cut off resettlement agencies from state grants, which flow through the federal refugee program, for refugees coming to the state from Syria.
The state was challenging an injunction by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt that blocked Pence's order and deemed it unconstitutional discrimination. The state is being sued by Exodus Refugee Immigration, which has resettled more than 130 Syrian refugees in Indiana this year despite Pence's directive.
Read more: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/15/most-heated-exchanges-us-appeals-court-judges-indiana-syrian-refugee-ban/90417880/
