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Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday that Texas will no longer consent to resettling refugees, making it the only state so far to opt out of the federal program that for years has sent the most refugees in the country here.

The decision puts Abbott in the minority, even within his own party: 42 states, including 17 led by Republican governors, have agreed to continue resettling refugees as part of a new Trump administration requirement that state and local authorities opt into the federal program.

The new veto power is unprecedented in decades of U.S. resettlement and comes as the White House has slashed the number of refugees allowed into the country to a record low of 18,000 for 2020 down from 30,000 in 2019 and an average of 102,000 annually during the programs peak in the 1980s.

In his letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Abbott wrote that since 2010, more refugees have been sent to Texas than any other state and about 1 in 10 are resettled here. At the same time, the governor wrote, the state has been the focus of immigrants crossing the southern border.

At its peak last May, more than 144,000 people mostly Central American families and children were apprehended or turned themselves into Customs and Border Protection agents to ask for asylum across the southern border. But that number has since dropped every month to just 40,600 in December after the Trump administration implemented a new policy requiring migrants to wait in Mexican border cities for their U.S. court proceedings.

In addition to accepting refugees all these years, Texas has been left by Congress to deal with disproportionate migration issues resulting from a broken federal immigration system, Abbott wrote. At this time, the state and non-profit organizations have a responsibility to dedicate available resources to those who are already here, including refugees, migrants, and the homeless indeed, all Texans.

Resettlement organizations said they were devastated by the Friday afternoon announcement.

Its gut wrenching, said Jen Smyers, director of policy for Church World Service, one of nine national resettlement agencies in the country. Its an abdication of everything Texans claim to stand for: freedom of opportunity, freedom of religion, pulling yourself up by your boot straps.

They said Abbotts suggestion that the state had been exhausted by a refugee influx makes no sense when the number of those allowed to come here has plummeted to the lowest in history.

About 2,500 refugees were resettled in Texas in fiscal year 2019, a 70 percent decrease from the 7,800 admitted during 2016, the last year of President Barack Obamas administration. Fewer still were expected this year even before Abbott pulled out of the program.

Since the beginning of the fiscal year in October, 259 refugees have come to Texas, more than half from Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Its a political gesture that is going to backfire, said Mark Hetfield, chief executive of the HIAS, a Jewish nonprofit refugee assistance organization. Now Abbott is going to be known as the governor who has slammed the door in the face of refugees when there are governors clamoring to admit more.

Among them is Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican who supports President Donald Trump on most issues. But Herbert said Utah, founded by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fleeing persecution, is seeking to resettle more refugees.

We empathize deeply with individuals and groups who have been forced from their homes, and we love giving them a new home and a new life, he said. They become productive employees and responsible citizens.

Other Republican governors of conservative states including Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, Arkansas and Idaho have also consented to continue admitting refugees. Even Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, whose state has litigation pending against the federal government over forcing it to resettle refugees, overrode disapproval from his state legislative leaders to permit more this year.

In a statement, Lee, a Republican, said Tennessee and the U.S. have always been a shining beacon of freedom and opportunity for the persecuted and oppressed, particularly those suffering religious persecution. He said his commitment is based on his Christian faith.

Pastor Tim Moore, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Leander who is on the Evangelical Immigration Table, a national Christian group, said he was disappointed that Abbott is wrongly conflating the issues of border security, illegal immigration and refugee resettlement.

When you tie the recent history of immigration and illegal or undocumented people coming into the country primarily from our southern border and refugee resettlement as one issue they are not at all related, he said.

He noted that refugees are the most stringently vetted entrants to the United States, going through extensive security screenings and multiple interviews in a process that can take up to three years.

It is possible to articulate a generous position towards the worlds most vulnerable people while at the very same time remaining committed to our national security and our upholding of laws, Moore said.

Abbott did not comment Friday on his decision. But in 2015 when he led opposition to allowing Syrians into Texas, the governor, a devout Roman Catholic, explained his stand.

If you want to just be pure biblical about this, it is the role and I respect the role of individuals to treat their fellow men with the charity that the Bible speaks of, Abbott told the San Antonio Express-News. Similarly, the Bible speaks of the role of government, which is among other things focused on protecting the safety and security of its people. My hope is that people understand that I am thinking solely about doing everything I can to keep them as safe and secure as I can by making the decisions that I do.

In 2016, Abbott said Texas would accept only refugees who security agencies could certify to Congress do not pose threats, but the Obama administration argued it is impossible to guarantee none could ever be a problem.

Only a handful of the 31 states, including Texas and Kansas, ultimately pulled out of the resettlement program that year. Practically, it made no difference because the federal government instead contracted with local resettlement groups to disburse funding for refugees, rather than going through the state government as a middle man. The state has no direct expenditures on refugees; the program relies entirely on federal money.

Abbotts decision does not prevent refugees from moving here on their own. Now, however, they would do so without the services resettlement agencies provide to help them integrate.

Krish Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a national resettlement agency, said some refugees will now be forced to choose between receiving the aid they qualify for and moving where their families already live.

Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said Abbott may be calculating that not accepting refugees will curry favor with voters who want resources spent on Texans and fear immigrants from different cultures and religions. But Jones thinks it will backfire.

It is far more likely the main impact will be to further erode support for Republican candidates within immigrant communities and among Latinos and Asian Americans, he said.

Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said the move could fuel a perception of intolerance within the Republican Party, which could turn off independent voters in the 2020 election.

But immigration and border security remain top issues for GOP voters. Firing up the base ahead of the next election could draw them as Republicans face competitive races in Texas.

Democrats are seeking to flip at least nine seats in the Texas House to seize control of the chamber for the first time in two decades, and there are several competitive state and congressional races in San Antonio and Houston, especially in Fort Bend County, one of the most ethnically diverse in the nation.

If the governor can connect this issue to concerns about legal and illegal immigration, then he may keep the issue juiced up for conservatives, Rottinghaus said. No Republican has ever lost political support from Republicans by being too tough on border security issues.

Abbotts decision will have tremendous consequences not only on the national resettlement program, but on organizations working with refugees in the state many of which could be dismantled after losing funding.

Several have sued the federal government over the Trump administrations requirement for state and local consent, arguing that it violates a federal statute giving the executive branch near unilateral power over immigration. If the judge halts the consent requirement, it could make Abbotts decision moot for now.

Mayors and county leaders of all Texas biggest cities including Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin sent letters opting in to resettling refugees, but Abbotts decision supersedes their wishes.

In a statement, Mayor Sylvester Turner cited Exodus 22:21: Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner.

I deeply regret Gov. Abbotts opposite decision and would respectfully ask him to reconsider, he said.

Ali Al Sudani, who came here as a refugee from Iraq a decade ago and is now senior vice president for programs at Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, remained stunned late Friday.

I honestly need to process this, he said. This is about who we are as Texans, and this is not the Texas that I know which welcomed me as a refugee.

Allie Morris contributed reporting from Austin.

lomi.kriel@chron.com

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Gov. Abbott says Texas wont admit refugees, making it 1st state in nation to opt out of federal program - Houston Chronicle