The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Monday sued Indiana Governor Mike Pence over his refusal to allow refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war to resettle in the state, saying his position violates federal authority and the US constitution.
Pence is one of more than 25 US governors, mostly Republicans, who have publicly called on US President Barack Obama to stop resettling Syrian refugees following the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
The governors cited concerns that some refugees could be associated with the Islamic State group.
Photo: AP
In the lawsuit, the ACLU said decisions concerning immigration and refugee resettlement are exclusively the province of the US federal government and cannot be dictated by state officials.
“Attempts to pre-empt that authority violate both equal protection and civil rights laws, and intrude on authority that is exclusively federal,” ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk said in a statement.
Pence could not immediately be reached for comment about the lawsuit, one of the first brought by the ACLU, which has promised legal action in many states where governors have said they would turn away Syrian refugees.
The US Department of State last week confirmed that a refugee family that had been headed to Indiana was relocated to Connecticut, but did not specify the nation from which the family came.
The Obama administration has stood by its pledge to admit about 10,000 refugees into the US over the next year, despite calls by governors and congressional Republicans to stop the entry of Syrians fleeing a civil war in their homeland.
Refugee advocates note that candidates for resettlement go through extensive background checks, taking up to two years, before reaching the US.
The lawsuit in Indiana was brought on behalf of Exodus Refugee Immigration Inc, a nonprofit corporation that receives federal money to help resettle refugees in the US.
The US admitted 1,682 Syrian refugees in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, up from 105 admitted the previous fiscal year.
Legal experts have said governors do not appear to have legal authority to stop refugees from being settled in their states.
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