Fed Court Rejects Texas' Attempt to Block Syrian Refugees

Fed Court Rejects Texas’ Attempt to Block Syrian Refugees… First Dozen Arrive

Fed Court Rejects Texas' Attempt to Block Syrian Refugees... First Dozen Arrive Click to Tweet

A federal judge Wednesday knocked Texas for offering “largely speculative hearsay” about extremists possibly infiltrating Syrian refugees seeking to resettle in the state, rejecting another attempt by Republican leaders to keep out families fleeing the war-torn country.

U.S. District Judge David Godbey’s ruling cleared the way for the last of 21 Syrian refugees, many of whom are children under the age of 15, to resettle in Houston on Thursday.

The first dozen arrived earlier this week despite Texas mounting the most aggressive campaign of nearly 30 states that have vowed to ban Syrian refugees following the Paris attacks. Texas is the only state that has taken the U.S. government to court in an effort to block resettlements, but Godbey signaled skepticism about the lawsuit filed last week.

“The fact that this Court is required to assess the risk posed by a group of Syrian refugees illustrates one of the problems with this case,” Godbey wrote in a three-page order. “The Court has no institutional competency in assessing the risk posed by refugees.”