http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/opinion/sunday/a-judges-message-to-the-xenophobes.html?ref=opinionA Judge’s Message to the Xenophobes
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDMARCH 5, 2016
More than two dozen Republican governors were in a virtual stampede last fall to be first to bar the resettlement of federally approved Syrian refugees in their states. The shameless display of jingoism was prompted by the Paris shooting massacre in November and fears — wildly driven by the Republican presidential rivals — that terrorists could infiltrate the United States as refugees despite a resettlement process that is one of the strictest in the world.
A federal district judge in Indianapolis punctured this fiction last week in blocking the attempt by Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana to cut off federal resettlement funds for Syrian refugees who had passed a vetting process that took up to two years. Mr. Pence’s order was unconstitutional and “clearly discriminates” against Syrians compared with other refugees, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled in a suit brought by a nonprofit resettlement agency. The judge found that Mr. Pence’s move to withhold resettlement funds was “in no way” justified by his claim that his main concern was the safety of Indiana residents.
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