In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, Gov. Bill Haslam asked federal officials Monday to stop sending Syrian refugees to Tennessee.
The statement from the Republican governor comes amid similar calls from other GOP lawmakers representing Tennessee at the state and federal level.
“While screening, acceptance and placement is legally under the authority of the federal government, they have said in the past they would be open to cooperating with receiving states,” Haslam said in the statement issued Monday afternoon.
“Today I’m asking the federal government to suspend placements in Tennessee until states can become more of a partner in the vetting process.”
Haslam joins more than 13 other Republican governors in calling for a temporary ban on sending Syrian refugees to their states. Most of those are asking for the federal government to stop sending refugees to their states, as opposed to declaring they won’t accept additional Syrian refugees.
A state has “absolutely no constitutional power” to unilaterally stop accepting people into its state, Stephen Legomsky, a Washington University in St. Louis law professor and former chief counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Obama administration, told USA TODAY.
Holly Johnson, state refugee coordinator at the Tennessee Office for Refugees, said Monday refugees can’t enter the U.S. without passing a (continue reading at The Tennessean)