Update December 5th: Texas already backed down, here.
On Monday we reported that Texas was planning to sue the federal government and the International Rescue Committee, now they have done it.
Everyone wants to know if states have any rights under the federal Refugee Act of 1980, but since, as far as we know, no governors have even tried to test their rights, we can’t answer that.
We need more lawsuits like this one from other governors exploring different legal angles.
The consultation process required by the original Act is an important angle.
From The Hill:
Texas on Wednesday sued the Obama administration and an organization that resettles refugees over plans to bring six Syrian refugees to the state later this week.
In a filing, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission accused the two of violating federal law with its plans to bring the family to Dallas on Friday.
The state asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to block the resettlement and to order the defendants to “comply with their statutory and contractual duties to the state.”
Instead of working with the state to resettle refugees, as the law declares, the federal government and the International Rescue Committee “have left Texas uninformed about refugees that could well pose a security risk to Texans and without any say in the process of resettling these refugees,” the state said in its lawsuit. Texas on Wednesday sued the Obama administration and an organization that resettles refugees over plans to bring six Syrian refugees to the state later this week.
[….]
In its lawsuit, Texas points to the 1980 Refugee Act, which claims that the federal government must “consult regularly” with state and local governments about refugee resettlement plans before the refugees are placed within a state.
For more on Texas, visit our growing archive here. See our David Miliband file by clicking here.
