Paxton OKs Texas plan to check refugees
Paxton ruling does not say whether state can refuse Syrians’ placement
Texas’ plan to conduct background checks on refugees coming to the state for resettlement is legal because there is no federal law prohibiting the practice, Attorney General Ken Paxton rules.
AUSTIN — Texas’ controversial plan to conduct background checks on refugees coming to the state for resettlement is legal because there is no federal law prohibiting the practice, Attorney General Ken Paxton ruled Tuesday.
Even so, law enforcement officials said they expect the ruling will have little effect because there is little information on most refugees that can be checked.
In a three-page decision, which carries the force of law until challenged in court, Paxton also said Tuesday that conditions placed by federal officials on federal refugee funding likely are unenforceable “because the conditions do not provide clear notice to the state of how it must use the federal funding.” While the legal opinion appears to clear Texas’ plan to do background checks on incoming refugees from Syria and other countries in the Mideast, it does not address whether the state can refuse the resettlement of those refugees in Texas as top state leaders had called for earlier.
It also notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out certain state laws on the grounds that they are preempted by the federal government’s authority over immigration.
Refugee agencies earlier had decried the state’s plan to deny entry into Texas for some refugees as a violation of federal law, which they said gives the federal government total authority over the resettlement program.
The attorney general’s opinion was requested by state Sen. Charles Perry, RLubbock, who wanted to know whether the state was required to comply with restrictions on the federal resettlement funds that were not specifically found in federal law.
Perry also asked whether the state could do background checks on incoming refugees, a step that Gov. Greg Abbott and other state officials said was a key to determining whether any had ties to terrorist organizations or a past that could pose a security threat to Texans.
Paxton said that while the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement requires states to “meet standards, goals and priorities” to ensure refugees are resettled properly in the United States, “few restric-
tions on refugee funding to the states are found in the text of the federal statute.”
“A court would likely, therefore, conclude that any such conditions that are not found in the text of a federal statute are unenforceable under the law,” the opinion states.
On the question about the legality of background checks by the state, Paxton said “security concerns may provide a rational basis on which a state could distinguish between individuals deemed to pose a heightened security risk and those who do not.”
“While we do not opine on the legality of any specific security verifications that the state may impose, we have not been directed to, nor do we find any law generally prohibiting the state from performing security verifications when allocating refugee funding.”
Refugee Act of 1980
Last December, Texas went to court to keep Syrian refugees out of the state, claiming the federal government and the International Rescue Committee — one of about 20 private nonprofits that have state contracts to resettle refugees in Texas — were violating federal law by moving forward with the planned resettlement of two Syrian families.
The lawsuit alleged the federal government and the IRC had not fulfilled their contractual obligations to consult and provide information to state officials under the Refugee Act of 1980.
The suit was dismissed, and several dozen Syrian refugees since have been resettled in Texas.
Abbott’s office had no immediate comment on the attorney general’s opinion Tuesday.
Late last year, however, Abbott said the issue was one of public safety.
Security checks
Abbott back then asserted that the federal government did not have adequate background information to conduct proper security checks on the Syrian nationals. He cited an attack on a Garland event that hosted a contest to draw the Prophet Muhammad last May.
Two Phoenix men opened fire on security guards outside the event, wounding one. Police returned fire, killing both men. ISIS claimed credit.
Earlier, state officials had acknowledged that conducting background checks on refugees could prove problematic, since they did not have access to overseas files on the men and women from the wartorn region, files that may not even exist. They were insistent, however, that some form of background checks needed to be done to ensure public safety.
The issue flared into political controversy last year when Abbott joined 19 others governors in refusing to take Syrian refugees because of concerns that some could be terrorists. Initial lawsuits to block the admissions were dismissed.
Last fiscal year, nearly 1,700 Syrian refugees were resettled in the United States, including 90 in Houston, among 213 statewide. Brian Black, a spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said 21 Syrian refugees have resettled in Texas since the end of August.
Of the 18,000 Syrians currently being referred by the U.N. refugee agency, about 10,000 are well along in their clearance and expected to arrive in greater numbers in the next few months, federal immigration officials said.
State officials said Texas’ role in resettlement primarily is one of coordination and distribution of federal funds to local agencies and nonprofits for employment, health, education reimbursements and cash assistance.
Related services
White House officials said the refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any travelers to the United States, including an investigation by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center and the departments of Homeland Security, State and Defense.
On Tuesday, state Health and Human Services Commission officials said private agencies continue to work with the federal government to resettle refugees in Texas.
State agencies expect to receive about $68 million this year in federal funds for refugee-related services, officials said.