WASHINGTON, D.C. — Texas is standing up to the federal government saying officials will not agree to a 25 percent increase to the number of refugees placed in the state.
Texas officials responded to a notice from the federal government saying 25 percent more refugees would be placed in Texas than had originally been planned. The number of refugees would be increased to 11,020. Texas leaders also said the state will only accept refugees who have been fully vetted.
Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Charles Smith sent a letter on Friday to the U.S. Department of State concerning refugee resettlement in Texas. His letter sets out in very clear terms for the federal government that Texas will not agree to increase the number of refugees coming into the state. Moreover, guidelines have been written to ensure that Texas only accepts refugees who do not pose a danger to Texans.
The intent of the “2017 State Plan for the Refugee Program” is to ensure that Texas only accepts refugees who are fully vetted and do not present a security threat.
Breitbart Texas reported a week ago, on June 11, that just as to Syrian refugees in the U.S., that number has skyrocketed. The Obama administration has created a “resettlement surge center” which produced the pouring of 100 Syrian refugees into America every day. The article discussed the very real risk to Americans – the lack of proper vetting of these individuals by the quick processing that is being done, and that almost all of them are reported to be Muslims.
Over 100 Syrian refugees have been admitted every day in June according to the federal government’s own database from the Refugee Processing Center. More than 1,000 were admitted in May. The rate of those admitted has surged when compared to the 3,755 accepted in fiscal year 2016.
“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,” Commissioner Smith wrote in the letter. “Americans face an undeniable terrorist threat that is imported through new manipulations of our national security protocols each day.”
The 2017 State Plan was developed to reflect that Texas will only accept refugees who the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and director of National Intelligence can certify to Congress do not pose a security threat to the state.
As reported by Breitbart News on Thursday, CIA Director John Brennan testified before Congress that terrorists are attempting to move their operatives into the U.S. through the refugee resettlement program. “In fact, as the pressure mounts on ISIL, we judge that it will intensify its global terror campaign to maintain its dominance of the global terrorism agenda,” Brennan warned.
The CIA Director said ISIS is “training and attempting to deploy operatives for further attacks.” They already have a “large cadre of Western fighters,” and are looking for ways to get more operatives into America and Europe, “including refugee flows, smuggling routes, and legitimate methods of travel.”
Brennan also testified that terrorists are “taking advantage of the liberties that we’ve fought so hard to defend” by using social media like Twitter, Telegram, and Tumbler to recruit their fighters.
A video excerpt from an October 2015 House Homeland Security Committee hearing shows the lack of vetting of refugees by the U.S. government, as reported by Breitbart Texas. During the hearing on “Worldwide Threats and Homeland Security Challenges,” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) asked FBI Director James B. Comey, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson, and Nicholas J. Rasmussen, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, about the security risk that refugees pose to Americans.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, the directors of these security and law enforcement organizations essentially acknowledged that unless a refugee has a criminal history, the federal government essentially has to take a refugees’ word for the representations they make in their application.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.
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