Provinces and States starting to say no to Refugees

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall Asks for Suspension of Plan to Bring in Syrian Refugees

   In Canada Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is asking the Federal Government to suspend its plan to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year. In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Wall says he has concerns over fast-tracking refugee claims, because there could be a severe undermining of refugee screening. He is also citing Friday's attacks in Paris as a "reminder of what can happen when even a small number of dangerous individuals make their way into a country."

In a related story……….

Seven U.S. states shut doors to Syrian refugees after Paris attack

   (Reuters) --- Five U.S. governors on Monday said they would not allow Syrian refugees to be settled in their states, joining Alabama and Michigan and contending it is too dangerous to let in people from that war-torn country following Friday's deadly Paris attacks.

   Republican Governors Greg Abbott of Texas, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Mike Pence of Indiana, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Phil Bryant of Mississippi said their states would no longer help support the Obama administration's goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming years.

   "Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees - any one of whom could be connected to terrorism - being resettled in Texas," Abbott said in an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday. "Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity."

   However, it was unclear what authority governors had to stop admitting refugees into their states, legal experts said.

   "The federal government has the power over immigration. If they admit Syrian refugees, they're here," said Deborah Anker, a professor of law at Harvard Law School who specializes in immigration issues. "People aren't going to the (state) border. The federal government is going to bring them in."

   The decisions to stop accepting refugees from Syria came three days after gunmen and suicide bombers believed to be part of the Islamic State militant group killed 129 people in a series of coordinated attacks in Paris, the worst such event in France since World War Two.

   A Syrian passport found near the body of one of the attackers showed that its holder passed through Greece in October, raising concern that the attackers had entered Europe amid the wave of refugees fleeing that country's four-year civil war.

   The United States admitted 1,682 Syrian refugees in the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a sharp jump from the 105 admitted a year earlier. Texas, California and Michigan accepted the largest number of people fleeing the war.

   Secretary of State John Kerry in September said the United States would increase the number of refugees it takes in from all nations by 15,000 per year over the next two years, bringing the total to 100,000 a year by 2017.