…..Feds expect Texas to take 25% more refugees in FY2017—a whopping 11,020—and Texas is saying NO!
Texas is the number one state in the nation for refugee resettlement (the goal is to turn red states blue!) and frankly I believe it got that way because previous governors weren’t paying attention, but that is water under the bridge so they say.
You probably saw the news that Governor Abbott’s recent lawsuit was dismissed. But, what the Abbott administration is doing now bears watching.
We’ve told you before (here) that states must submit a plan to the federal government each year about how the program will be run in the state. They can get away with not renewing the plan if nothing has changed.
Most plans are just rough bureaucratic blue prints (that they probably don’t follow anyway). But, back in April of last year, I wanted you to get yours mostly to send a signal that you were watching.
Now we see that Texas is taking this plan seriously and is attempting to use it to keep the US State Department from increasing the numbers to be sent there.
(BTW, a reminder! When hundreds or thousands (like in TX) of refugees have been resettled and the State Dept. is working to bring in their extended family members you can see how the numbers will mushroom exponentially. The DOS wants to get the relatives into the same towns (or at least nearby) where their family members have been placed (seeded!). This is why I say in ‘Ten things your town needs to know’ that once they open an office and bring in the first refugees, your town is cooked!)
From the Houston Chronicle (emphasis below is mine):
AUSTIN – The federal government wants Texas to accept more than 2,000 additional refugees this year. Texas’ response: No thank you.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is putting the federal government on notice that the state will refuse to take in more refugees than it did last year and will accept only those who do not pose a security risk.
Texas on Friday submitted to the U.S. Department of State a 2017 state plan for refugee resettlement, rejecting the federal government’s proposal to increase the number of refugees moving to the Lone Star State by 25 percent.
“Texas continues to have concerns about the safety of its citizens and the integrity of the overseas security and background vetting process of the federal resettlement program,” Executive Commissioner Charles Smith wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of State. “Americans face an undeniable terrorist threat that is imported through new manipulations of our national security protocols each day.”
According to Smith’s letter, the federal government is proposing to place 11,020 refugees in Texas during fiscal 2017, an increase of 25 percent over the projected fiscal 2016 figure. Smith wrote that the proposed funding is insufficient, as well, and concludes the state could accept a maximum of 8,605 refugees. It is unclear how many refugees have been placed this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. [One could easily find out how many refugees have been resettled in Texas this year until just a few days ago. It appears that the Dept. of State has removed its data base that reporters have been using for months from public view.—ed]
Rewriting their plan to add security requirements for the feds!
Smith sent his letter and the state’s 2017 plan for handling refugee settlements in response to an email from Barbara Day, chief of domestic resettlement for refugee admissions at the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration in the state department. According to Smith, the letter to Day outlined the agency’s plan to boost the number of refugees settling here, although the Texas commission could not produce the letter late Friday.
Texas will accept only refugees who can be certified to Congress that they do not present a security threat, according to Texas’ 31-page version of a resettlement plan that would take effect in the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. According to the proposal, the FBI must certify to the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence that potential refugees have received a background check sufficient enough to determine whether the individual is a security threat, and may only be admitted to the U.S. after all three agencies certify to Congress the individual is not a threat.
Very interesting! Continue reading here.
See our complete archive on Texas here.
More on Barbara Day…. Here she is working with National Immigration Forum (Soros!) honcho and Muslim rights activist Ali Noorani where they are teaching Wilson-Fish grantees how to craft a positive message about refugees to make them more accepted in reluctant communities. And, you can watch her here explain how wonderful the refugee program is.