Constitutional crisis brewing over Obama plans for admitting Syrian refugees as 27 governors say they’re not welcome in their states

(Freedom.news) Constitutional experts and scholars see a crisis brewing on the horizon over President Obama’s push to accept thousands of Syrian refugees into the U.S. in the wake of the recent Paris attacks, as more than half of state governors have now said they don’t want refugees resettled in their states.

That’s a problem, experts note, because the final say ultimately rests with the federal government; while Congress is charged with making rules governing immigration under Article I, Sect. 8, the conduct of foreign policy traditionally falls under the purview of the Executive Branch

That hasn’t stopped 27 governors from announcing that they won’t accept any of the refugees, who could number at least 10,000 next year if the president has his way.

States protesting the admission of refugees include Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Maine and New Hampshire, among others. Among these, all but one state has a Republican governor, CNN reported.

The announcements came after authorities revealed that at least one of the suspects allegedly involved in the Paris terrorist attacks last week came into Europe with the current wage of Syrian refugees. He falsely identified himself as a Syrian named Ahmad al Muhammad and was permitted entry into Greece in early October.

Some governors said they oppose taking Syrian refugees outright or demanded that they be particularly scrutinized as possible security threats.

Thus far, some 1,500 Syrian refugees have been accepted into the U.S. since 2011. The Obama Administration announced in September that 10,000 Syrians would be permitted entry in 2016.

Some experts told CNN that while governors don’t really have the authority to refuse refugees, they can certainly make it more difficult to have them placed in their states.

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“When push comes to shove, the federal government has both the plenary power and the power of the 1980 Refugee Act to place refugees anywhere in the country,” said Kevin Appleby, the director of migration policy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which resettles more people in the U.S. every year than any other group.

“Legally, states have no authority to do anything because the question of who should be allowed in this country is one that the Constitution commits to the federal government,” added American University law professor Stephen I. Vladeck.

However, Vladeck added that without a state’s participation the federal government would have a much more difficult time.

“So a state can’t say it is legally objecting, but it can refuse to cooperate, which makes thing[s] much more difficult,” he told CNN.

Meanwhile, House Republicans are moving to cut off funding for Syrian resettlement, Foreign Policy reported, but there is not much chance that Obama would sign the legislation, even if it makes it to his desk.

The magazine reported that GOP leaders want certain conditions met before any Syrian refugees are admitted into the country. The bill, which is still being drafted, would prevent funding for the resettlement of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa until authorities adopt “processes to ensure that refugee and related programs are not able to be co-opted by would-be terrorists.” When those processes are in place, details of the security checks must be given to Congress in both classified and public forums, and the administration would have to establish a “longer-term monitoring process” to track refugees in the U.S., FP said, citing a draft of the measure.

House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul has sent a letter to Obama, asking him to “suspend” plans for Syrian resettlement in the U.S. following the Paris attacks.

“The high-threat environment demands that we move forward with greater caution in order to protect the American people and to prevent terrorists from reaching our shores,” McCaul said.

Obama administration officials told FP that all Syrian refugees undergo careful scrutiny before being admitted.

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See also:

CNN.com

ForeignPolicy.com