This post has been updated.
The aid organization International Rescue Committee (IRC) plans on welcoming two Syrian refugee families to Dallas, Texas, within the next ten days despite a legal threat from the state government, the Dallas Morning News reported on Wednesday.
“We are also hoping to meet with Governor Abbott to do our piece to persuade him and other officials of State of the integrity of the refugee security process,” Lucy Carrigan, a spokeswoman for the IRC, told the Dallas Morning News.
One of the families is expected to arrive in Dallas via plane from the Middle East on Friday, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Officials with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission sent a new letter to the IRC on Tuesday asking the group to suspend its plans to resettle the Syrian refugee families in Texas until the IRC produces more information about the families and the vetting process for refugees entering the country.
“We ask that your organization halt resettlement of any Syrians seeking refugee status in Texas until we have received the requested information and our concerns with screening procedures have been appropriated addressed,” the letter to the IRC reads.
Texas officials also sent a letter to the State Department requesting information on any Syrian refugees set to arrive in Texas in the next three months.
The state commission had already sent a letter to the Dallas chapter of the IRC last week, threatening to take legal action against the group if they proceed with plans to resettle refugees from Syria in Texas.
“Failure by your organization to cooperate with the state of Texas as required by federal law may result in the termination of your contract with the state and other legal action,” Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor wrote in the Nov. 25 letter.
The IRC wrote in a letter to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission that the group will continue to resettle refugees from Syria that have entered the country legally.
“The IRC understands Governor Abbott’s commitment to the safety of the people of Texas. There is no doubt that what happened on the streets of Paris on November 13 was horrific and the actions of a terrorist organization. However it is important not to conflate terrorists with the Syrian refugees who are seeking sanctuary in the United States,” a Monday statement from the group reads. “These are people who are fleeing violence and persecution inflicted by extremist groups and armed actors – some of whom are the same groups who took those innocent lives in Paris, Beirut, and on a Russian airliner, all in the past month.”
Although Texas officials believe they have the authority to block Syrian refugees from coming to their state, the federal government and immigration experts say that governors do not have any authority to keep immigrants from moving to their states.
