White House Forces States on Syrian Refugees

A controversy in South Carolina over the placement of Syrian refugees has implications for similar efforts throughout the nation.

The New York Times notes that The Obama Administration has pledged to increase the number of worldwide refugees allowed in the U.S. each year from 70,000 to 100,000 by the year 2017. In September, the Obama administration said it would take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees within the next year.

According to a November 2015 report by Business Insider “a number of immigration-law experts say that even if a state refuses to cooperate with the federal government, governors won’t technically be able to bar the resettlement of refugees in their states.

“States have absolutely no legal authority to bar someone who is granted refugee status from entering their state, since it’s federal law that determines whether someone is a refugee,” Greg Chen, director of advocacy at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told Business Insider.”

That view is partially supported by a Congressional Research Service analysis. “a state likely could not opt to participate actively in the resettlement of refugees from some countries but not others. In contrast, a state lacks the power to prohibit a Syrian refugee admitted into the United States from physically entering or remaining within the state’s jurisdiction… States can be seen to have some discretion as to whether their agencies participate in the federally funded refugee resettlement program. Nothing in federal law purports to require that states seek or receive federal refugee resettlement funds, and the Tenth Amendment proscribes Congress from directly ‘commandeering’ the states to administer a federal regulatory scheme. Thus, a state that previously made provisions for state agencies to participate in the federally funded refugee resettlement program could terminate these agencies’ participation, provided it complies with any conditions as to the time and manner of termination that it may have agreed to as a condition of its funding agreements.”

Basically, while governors cannot bar the refugees, they may not be forced to provide funding for their needs. However, it is unrealistic to believe that governors could effectively bar refugees from benefiting from state educational, health, and other benefits with danger of federal lawsuits being brought.

Originally, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had requested that refugees not be placed in her state due to security concerns, according to the Greenville Online site. Now, however, critics have accused her of changing course and supporting White House plans. In response, a civil action has been filed in the United States District Court, Columbia Division. While the case in question applies only to South Carolina, the points are relevant to any state that has been requested to take in Syrian refugees.

Paul Sutliff is an author and researcher on Islamic terror issues. Recently, he was accepted as an expert witness on the case. We asked him to summarize his affidavit on the legal contest:

“1. It is impossible to know if the South Carolina budget can afford the number of Syrian refugees sent.

Federal funds for refugees in SC has expanded almost exponentially under President Obama, However, there is a history of demanding some of the funds back.

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Federal funds do not cover housing.
Day one refugees are received they are taken to apply for state welfare benefits. This is counted as becoming independent.
Federal funding does not cover the cost of schooling their children which could be a very high expense dependent on familiarity with English and the level of need. It is expected most young girls may not have had much education.
2. Are refugees actual legal refugees under the 1980 Refugee Act?
“The term ‘refugee’ does not include any person who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” (PL 96-212. Sec. 212)
Sunni Muslims are not persecuted in Syria–they are the persecutors of Christians and Jews.
The UN assigns who are to come as refugees. This bad because the UN classifies persons as refugees who do not meet the US definition of refugee.
I list those who are under persecution in this area.
We cannot know if the persons are who they say they are.

[Editors Note: A RedState analysis agrees with Sutliff’s point, noting that the people involved “are not refugees as we ordinarily consider them. The UN High Commissioner On Refugees says 65% are military aged males. The original plan was to import 10,000 job seekers and potential terrorists, but Senate Democrats, deciding that they may not get enough bang for their buck, demand that at least 65,000 be brought into our communities.”]

Refugee Plan places refugees as state dependents costing SC residents.
It is difficult to get persons weaned off from the welfare system.
The cost of refugees is then transferred from the feds to the state.
Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Badadhi has stated he has sent some of his men amongst those who are coming here and to Europe.
Both Muslim sources and American intel sources warn us of this.”

Quick Analysis

China’s Tech Targets

Chinese technology is changing and its leadership is using it, along with espionage, to challenge the West in a number of critical areas. The United States is only one of its targets. Previously, Beijing’s spies primarily sought Western technologies as a way to skip generations of develop cost and time to modernize its economy. Today, its acquisition of advanced technologies, and now also its indigenous development, makes the communist giant a threat to freedom-loving people everywhere. This week Nan Mulchandani, the CIA’s chief technology officer, said Director William Burns is preparing for an “infinite race” with Beijing for artificial intelligence and advanced technologies. He argues the US must pivot toward providing American spies with the latest transformative technologies to outcompete China. Mulchandani says this means updating everything the agency does “from operations to the analytic function, support functions and other piece there.” America, he suggests, needs to alter its thinking toward viewing this not as a race with a finite end point, but as an ongoing competition. Mr. Mulchandani predicted that the next area of competition would “be primarily a software war that is powered by something like AI” rather than hardware fueled by software. That competition, however, is not confined to simply acquiring critical technologies for use in the future. China is also challenging the US in space. China announced today it launched a groundbreaking mission to retrieve samples from the far side of the moon. The space capsule will arrive in four days and collect 4.4 pounds of moon rocks and regolith, or moon dirt. Beijing’s desire to one day become a space power and scientific force is for pragmatic purposes in 2024 a fait accompli. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said during a NASA budget hearing this week, that “while the US remains the global leader in space exploration, we face increasing challenges internationally.” Referring to China’s space station, Lucas said: “We cannot allow China to become the front-runner in space exploration… There are too many consequences for our competitiveness, our national security, and our continued ability to explore space.” A new report released this week by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says that the United States, to further its geopolitical interests and maintain a strong domestic economy, must approach every aspect of economic and trade policy through the lens of global technology competition. The Biden Administration’s approach, it says, discounts the landscape of competition between China and the US and may “jeopardize US advancements in emerging technologies… which could cede the advantage to China….” In particular, the report recommends that the US take action now because quantum and artificial intelligence (AI) need a federal policy to ensure the country can spur the entrepreneurship and R&D efforts foundational to the strength of the technology sector. As China’s Communist Party (CCP) becomes more hostile to the United States and other Western nations, its aggressive activities abroad expand and intensify. Chinese spy cases far outnumber those of Russia and every other nation. CSIS reports that since President Xi took over in 2012 there have been 224 incidents of spying. Estimates of the long -term economic, scientific, and national security cost to the US run into the billions and have “created immeasurable damage to national security with the theft of weapons technology, including nuclear weapons test data… China has added the theft of massive quantities of personal information, political coercion, and influence operations, to its espionage activities.” The CSIS reports says that 49% of incidents of spying in the US directly involved Chinese military or government employees, with private Chinese citizens accounted for 41%. In 29% of the espionage cases the person involved was attempting to acquire military technology, while in 54% of the incidents it was related to commercial technologies. Almost half of the cases involved cyber espionage, usually by state—affiliated actors. No matter where one turns today China is challenging the West, from the depths of our oceans to outer space. The United States cannot count on China to be a good global citizen and refrain from attempting to enforce its vision of world order with Beijing at the apex. The time is growing short for the West to take action. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept.