Texas to become first state to refuse new refugees under Trump’s executive order

Republican governor accused of ‘playing politics with vulnerable peoples’ lives’

Asylum-seekers walk back into Mexico after their immigration court hearing on 9 December in Brownsville, Texas (John Moore/Getty Images)

Texas is to become the first US state to stop accepting refugees, using an executive order signed by Donald Trump.

Republican governor Greg Abbott sparked fierce criticism as he announced the state would opt out of the US government’s resettlement programme, as per Mr Trump’s new order allowing states to do so.

In a letter to secretary of state Mike Pompeo, he described Texas as “one of the most welcoming states for refugees” but argued it had “carried out more than its share” in resettling refugees.

Texas took in 1,697 refugees in the 2018 fiscal year – more than any other state, but a huge drop from the 4,768 resettled in the previous year. Since 2002, Texas has resettled an estimated 88,300 refugees, second only to California, according to the Pew Research Centre.

Mr Trump’s executive order in September decreed that state officials must give written consent for agencies to resettle refugees beyond June 2020. Governors in 42 states have since done so.

Mr Abbott argued Texas instead had a responsibility “to dedicate available resources to those who are already here, including refugees, migrants, and the homeless – indeed, all Texans”.

But this justification saw him accused of “playing politics” with vulnerable people’s lives by American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) legal director for Texas, who denounced the decision as “shameful”.

“Playing politics with the lives of vulnerable people, and scapegoating those seeking asylum on our southern border to cover for his own dishonest and reprehensible decision to end Texas’s tradition of welcoming refugees,” said ACLU’s Andre Segura. “What a disgrace to our state.”

Dallas county judge Clay Jenkins – the county’s chief official – said he had met refugees in Dallas who had previously served as interpreters or aides for US soldiers, adding: “You have people who are fleeing violence, people who are assisting us in the war on terror, who are having the door slammed in their faces.”

A former immigration policy official at the Department for Homeland Security, Amanda Baran, said: “From a brown, Syrian girl who immigrated to Texas in 1987, to refugees: apologies for his abhorrent behaviour, but Greg Abbott is a hatemonger who does not represent Texas values.”

But Mr Abbott complained Texas had “been left by Congress to deal with disproportionate migration issues resulting from a broken federal immigration system”, saying some 100,000 migrants had been apprehended along the state’s southern border in May 2019 alone.

The mayors of major Texan metropolitan areas – in Dallas, San Antonio and Houston – asked Mr Abbott to reconsider, and sent the federal government letters making clear they are still willing to welcome refugees.

“Regardless of where someone is from, who they are or what they believe, there is a home for them in Houston,” said Houston's mayor Sylvester Turner. “Our welcoming spirit has led to our city becoming the national leader in refugee resettlement.”

Mr Trump has introduced a number of punitive immigration policies, including heavily-maligned family separations, and has been accused of trying to backhandedly dismantle the asylum system by signing deportation deals resembling "safe third country agreements" with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, where many people are already fleeing north as a result of violence or poor economic conditions.

He has slashed the number of refugees allowed into the country for the 2020 fiscal year to a historic low of 18,000. Some 30,000 refugees were resettled the previous year.

With Texas the first state to make use of his executive order, it wasn’t immediately clear how Mr Abbott’s decision might affect any currently pending refugee cases.

The governors of states yet to agree to take in more refugees are all Republicans and are from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Wyoming.

In response to Mr Abbott's letter, Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar shared a line from The New Colossus – Emma Lazarus’ 1883 sonnet, which is displayed on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal.

“With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore,’” Ms Omar quoted.

She added: “These are the words that welcomed me and millions of refugees. I still believe in those values. We shall overcome.”

Additional reporting by AP