Texas Governor Greg Abbott has referred to the continued federal acceptance of Syrian immigrants into America as, "irresponsible." He feels that the safety and security of Texans are threatened because the International Rescue Committee "offered no guarantees" as Syrian immigrants continue to work toward resettling in Texas. A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday to try to stop the immigration that is being forced onto Texas.
Because one of the terrorists in the Paris attacks is believed to be Syrian and connected to ISIS, Abbot feels that his concerns are valid. ISIS has already claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, calling them, "the first of a storm." Terrorists have admitted to having plans for similar attacks on Washington and in other countries.
In an open letter to Obama, Abbott says that the FBI director has testified to Congress that "the federal government does not have the background information that is necessary to effectively conduct proper security checks on Syrian nationals." He further references that ISIS has claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack that already happened in Texas back in May.
At least two Syrian families are expected to arrive in Texas within a week. The Texas Health and Human Service Commission has requested a restraining order in connection to allowing them into Texas as a part of the lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court in Dallas. A hearing has been requested before December 9.
Texas hopes to delay the resettlement by at least a week. Before filing the suit, it had requested to have "all information" in connection to all Syrians that would be arriving in Texas over the next three months. Detailed information about the "effectiveness of the screening procedures" was also requested. It's not clear as to whether or not that request was denied or accepted.
Texas is not the only state that is deeply concerned about Syrian immigrants in light of the Paris attacks. About half of US governors are refusing to accept new Syrian immigrants at this time. Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush have suggested only allowing Christian Syrian refugees to settle, but most Syrian Christians who are seeking US asylum are not using the UN to take advantage of immigrating to the US. Much of the reason for that is that they are often perused and persecuted by Muslims even in refugee camps.
In the recent San Bernardino, California attack, there has been some speculation that a terrorist attack could have been the motive. The couple who shot up the facility, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Milak, 27 were a Muslim couple wearing body armor and GoPro cameras.
Even Obama has said that" It is possible that this is terrorist-related, but we don't know."
San Bernardino police Chief Jarrad Burguan said, "These were people that came prepared. There had to have been some degree of planning that went into this."
The FBI has taken over the investigation of that shooting.
