“The governor of Indiana believes, though without evidence,
that some of these persons [refugees] were sent to Syria by ISIS to engage in
terrorism and now wish to infiltrate the United States in order to commit terrorist
acts here. No evidence of this belief has been presented, however; it is
nightmare speculation.” So
says a recent federal appeals court opinion, written by Judge Richard Posner
(appointed by Pres. Reagan).
A federal law allows money to be spent by state agencies to
fund social service agencies that assist refugees with resettlement. Indiana
has such a program, and funds a private group named Exodus.
But Gov. Pence ordered his state agency not to reimburse Exodus
for resettling any Syrian refugees.
The appeals court’s ruling prohibits Gov. Pence and Indiana
from this type of discrimination, reasoning:
“He argues that his policy of excluding Syrian refugees is based
not on nationality and thus is not discriminatory, but is based solely on the
threat he thinks they pose to the safety of residents of Indiana. But that’s
the equivalent of his saying (not that he does say) that he wants to forbid
black people to settle in Indiana not because they’re black but because he’s
afraid of them, and since race is therefore not his motive he isn’t
discriminating. But that of course would be racial discrimination, just as his
targeting Syrian refugees is discrimination on the basis of nationality. A
final oddity about the governor’s position is how isolated it is. There are
after all fifty states, and nothing to suggest that Indiana is a magnet for
Syrians….”
Here is the court’s summary on the vetting process for
Syrian refugees: “all persons seeking to enter the United States as refugees
are required to undergo multiple layers of screening by the federal government….
The process can take up to two years.” Sounds like “extreme
vetting” is the current policy.
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