Brooks co-sponsors bill empowering states rights over refugee resettlement

Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks has been one of Capitol Hill’s most outspoken critics of the President’s refugee resettlement plan. He says local governments deserve to have more control over those who are placed in their state. Now, he’s signed on to a bill that would grant states the power to approve refugee resettlements.

The Allow State Sovereignty Upon Refugee Entry Act (ASSURE) responds to an Obama Administration order that would allow an additional 110,000 new refugees into the country over the next year. Already, the President has reported that 324,000 have been admitted into the United States throughout the past five years.

Rep. Brooks says the President’s action is costing taxpayers billions each year, and believes Congress must push back.

“Unsurprisingly, this Administration has shunned and disregarded as irrelevant all thought to how its dangerous policies impact local communities, threaten American lives, and drive up our nation’s exploding $19 trillion debt,” Rep. Brooks told Yellowhammer.

Pointing to a study from the Center for Immigration Studies, he says that each refugee from the Middle East will costs American taxpayers $64,370 within the first five years of their resettlement.

“That amounts to 12 times what the UN estimates it would cost to care for one refugee in neighboring Middle Eastern countries,” he added.

More than a being a threat to America’s pocketbook, Rep. Brooks believes refugees could also pose a security risk.

“This Administration has shown a pattern and practice of discriminating against peaceful Christian and other non-Muslim immigrants in favor of unvetted and potentially dangerous Muslim immigrants,” Rep. Brooks said. “Remarkably, so far this year more than 99% of the Syrian refugees admitted to the United States have been unvetted Muslims.”

If passed, the ASSURE Act would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to submit a report to each state with detailed information about proposed refugee resettlements, as well as the cost of housing, education, health care, and more.