MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Governor Robert Bentley on Tuesday officially informed President Barack Obama of Alabama’s decision to not participate in the resettlement of Syrian refugees. Additionally, Governor Bentley urged the President to reconsider the federal plans for resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States because of the growing concerns that the country is not prepared to handle the resettlement.
“The threat posed by the Syrian refugees is real, and as Governor, I cannot expose my fellow Alabamians to the risk of accepting refugees from Syria, whose backgrounds cannot properly be checked to ensure national security,” Bentley said in a statement. “I informed the President of my decision today, and I urge him to reconsider the strategy on Syrian refugees. We must make every effort to protect our country from possible terrorists who want to destroy all that is good about America.”
On Monday, Governor Bentley signed an executive order directing state agencies to utilize all lawful means necessary to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Alabama.
Bentley’s letter to Obama can be read in full below, along with his executive order.
(More after the letter)
Gov. Bentley: Letter to President Obama
Legal experts are split on whether Bentley and other governors have the legal authority to reject refugees.
These governors are backed by armies of attorneys making the case that they are well within their legal right to do so.
The Obama administration clearly disagrees. The president has reaffirmed his commitment to bringing roughly 8,500 more refugees into the country during this fiscal year alone.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Monday said he was aware of the governors’ concerns, but added that the Obama administration “disagrees that these individuals, many of them frankly the most vulnerable from Syria and the region, represent any real threat.”
Florida’s Republican governor Rick Scott penned a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asking them to get involved because he “does not have the authority to prevent the federal government from funding the relocation of these Syrian refugees to Florida.”
David Leopold, an immigration attorney who has represented many refugees and asylum-seekers, told the Washington Post “governor(s) (have) no right to block anyone from coming. Resettlement is determined by the Department of State, and immigration is a completely federal matter.”
Leopold’s opinion is also shared by a handful of refugee agencies Yellowhammer reached out to Monday.
But the Obama administration has since then signaled that it may try to work around the states who have expressed concerns.
“We don’t want to send refugees anywhere where they would not be welcomed,” one official said on a conference call with reporters, according to Politico. The administration’s main concern appears to be maintaining funding for the refugee program moving forward.
“The thing I most fear about this current discussion going on in the United States is that we will lose the bipartisan support … that (the refugee program) has enjoyed for decades,” the official said. “This is a very precious thing. In the current day and age, it’s been a rare thing.”
Speaker Ryan, along with Alabama Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, and other GOP leaders, have expressed a desire to revoke funding for the refugee program, effectively getting the states off the hook by, as Sen. Sessions put it, taking away President Obama’s “blank check.”
MORE ON THE REFUGEE DEBATE (in reverse chronological order)
1. Shelby, Sessions tag-team Obama’s Syrian refugee program, move to revoke its funding
2. Bentley: Use ‘all lawful means necessary’ to keep Syrian refugees out of Alabama
3. Legal experts disagree on whether Alabama has a right to refuse Syrian refugees
4. Map shows Alabama has already received hundreds of Middle East refugees in recent years
5. Sessions moves to revoke funding for Syrian refugee resettlement
6. Condoleezza Rice sums up why allowing Syrian refugees into Alabama is a bad idea
7. Byrne demands Obama halt Syrian refugee resettlement in Alabama, U.S.
8. Bentley refuses Syrian refugees relocating to Alabama
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