Feds: Texas and other states can’t cut off benefits to resettle Syrian refugees
AUSTIN – A key federal official on Wednesday pushed back on the efforts by Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees — a move that ups the ante in the divisive nationwide debate.
The head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote that states may not deny benefits and services funded by that office to “refugees based on a refugee’s country of origin or religious affiliation.”
“Accordingly, states may not categorically deny ORR-funded benefits and services to Syrian refugees,” the office’s director, Robert Carey, wrote in a letter to refugee resettlement agencies.
The letter was first reported by the Houston Chronicle.
The letter echoes prior rhetoric by the Obama administration, which has said states have more of a “consultative role.” The stance also jibes with the views of immigration experts, who have stressed that states are limited in their ability to stop refugee resettlements.
Read more: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/11/feds-texas-and-other-states-cant-cut-off-benefits-to-resettle-syrian-refugees.html/
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