Texas Governor Orders Nonprofits Not To Help Syrian Refugees
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Governor Greg Abbott may be violating federal law by sending a letter to nonprofit groups to stop serving Syrian refugees.
A letter from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission went out to several local non-profits this week asking the organizations to comply with the Governor’s request by Friday afternoon.
However, some say it comes across as an ultimatum: comply or risk funding.
“It puts them in a situation that I think is very uncomfortable,” said immigration attorney Gordon Quan regarding the letter. “This is basically saying, ‘Don’t do resettlement. If you do resettlement of these Syrian refugees, you may be endangering the whole program that you have’.”
The letters could affect programs at organizations like Interfaith Ministries, Catholic Charities and YMCA International Services just to name a few.
Quan explains that programs could be endangered by losing funds to keep them running. Although refugee resettlement costs are funded by the federal government, Quan says the state has the ability not to accept the funds; essentially that could cut these organizations off at the knees.
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