Texas Joins Alabama In Refusing To Take Any More Syrian Refugees
AUSTIN, Texas (CBS/AP) — Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered state health officials in charge of Texas' refugee resettlement program not to accept any more Syrians following the Paris terrorist attacks.
In a letter Monday to President Barack Obama, Abbott also urged scrapping federal plans to accept more Syrian refugees into the country as a whole. He said the federal government can't perform "proper security checks" on Syrians.
Texas joins Alabama, where Gov. Robert Bentley announced Sunday that he would refuse Syrian refugees relocating to his state.
In Michigan, fellow Republican Gov. Rick Synder is postponing efforts to accept Syrian refugees until federal officials review security procedures.
And Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, sent a letter to Obama demanding more information about how Syrians are resettled in his state.
Back here in Sacramento, relief organizations say they're seeing a spike in the number of refugees attempting to resettle here.
As Syria's civil war rages on thousands of miles away, Pastor Raed is fighting the crisis in Sacramento.
"You're fighting an ideology that is 1,400 years old, ideology that we'll kill somebody if they are not the same movement same religion," he said.
Raed, who prefers to keep his last name private, fearing ISIS retaliation, left Syria many years ago for a piece of the American dream. His sole mission now is helping dozens of new Syrian refugees resettle in Sacramento.
"Families have different needs. Somebody to help them do doctor appointments, enroll kids in school," said Raed.
He says the U.S. is not doing enough to help desperate Syrians, but says the shocking image of a drowned Syrian boy washing ashore in the Mediterranean Sea is a wake-up call.
"It's difficult to say, but that's the fact they all could end up the same way," he said.
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