Families of Syrian Refugees Settle in Indiana, Texas

A family of Syrian refugees arrived in Indianapolis on Monday night.

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis said in a statement Tuesday that the family — a father, mother and their two small children — “arrived safely” in the city, where they have some relatives.

The Archdiocese said it has been helping the family resettle through its Refugee and Immigrant Services program. It said the family “fled the violence of terrorists” in war-torn Syria three years ago and underwent “two years of extensive security checks and personal interviews” before the federal government cleared the four of them to enter the United States.

The governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, had asked the Archdiocese to hold off on resettling the family until Congress passed legislation that addressed his concerns about the refugee program. But Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin said the church’s refugee program was “an essential part” of its identity and informed Pence that the Syrian family’s resettlement would go on as planned.

In a statement, a Pence spokesman said the governor “respectfully disagrees” with the church’s decision. One of the governor’s main concerns is that one of the Islamic State-linked terrorists responsible for the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris may have been posing as a Syrian refugee.

“The safety and security of the people of Indiana is Governor Pence’s top priority,” the spokesman, Matt Lloyd, said in the statement. “The State of Indiana will continue to suspend its participation in the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Indiana until the federal government takes action to address the concerns raised about this program.”

Pence is among the many U.S. governors who have attempted to block Syrian refugees from resettling in their states since the Paris attacks, touching off political and moral debates about the legality and ethics of their actions. Texas was another state that vehemently tried to prevent Syrian refugees from resettling within its borders, even taking the battle to the courtroom.

But a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee told the Associated Press a family of Syrian refugees arrived in Texas on Monday and resettled near Dallas, where the six of them have relatives. The AP reported 15 more refugees were expected to arrive in Texas this week.

One thought on “Families of Syrian Refugees Settle in Indiana, Texas

  1. The Terrorist are here and been here for sometime and they use of liberty and rights against us. France closed a lot of mosques and found stockpiles of weapons in them so do these mosques in are country have stockpiles of weapons and materials in them too hmmmm !

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