Indiana's refusal to accept Syrian refugees violates Constitution, ACLU suit says
Republican Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana violated the U.S. Constitution and federal law when he ordered state agencies to suspend the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the state, according to a federal lawsuit filed on Monday.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and attorneys from the national ACLU sued on behalf of Exodus Refugee Immigration, an Indiana nonprofit that receives federal money to resettle federally approved refugees. The Indianapolis Star and Fox 59 have stories.
The suit (PDF) says the U.S. Constitution grants the federal government exclusive power over immigration matters, and Congress regulates the admission and resettlement of refugees in a 1980 amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act. The law gives the president the authority to determine the number of admitted refugees, and requires states receiving federal refugee resettlement funds to assist refugees without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex or political opinion, according to the suit.
The suit also says Pence’s blocking of Syrian refugees violates the equal protection clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
“There is no border around the state of Indiana that prevents people from entering our state who may move freely within the United States,” ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk said in a press release. “Decisions concerning immigration and refugee resettlement are exclusively the province of the federal government, and attempts to pre-empt that authority violate both equal protection and civil rights laws and intrude on authority that is exclusively federal.”
Pence announced the suspension on Nov. 16 as a Syrian family was about to be placed in Indiana, the suit says. Pence said he was suspending resettlement of the refugees “pending assurances from the federal government that proper security measures have been achieved.”
The Syrian family was diverted to Connecticut after Pence’s announcement. Nineteen other Syrian refugees were expected to arrive in Indiana in the next few weeks or months, the suit says.
The case is Exodus Refugee Immigration Inc. v. Pence.
