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A family of six
composed of two children under age 6, their parents and the
children's grandparents are scheduled to arrive in Dallas.
Another family of six comprising four children aged 2 to 13 and
their parents are set to arrive in Houston, the U.S. Justice
Department said in a court filing.
No plans have been announced for the refugees, who arrived last
week in New York, to speak in public.
The results of the case filed at a U.S. district court in Dallas
could determine whether the governors of about 30 states will be
able to go through with plans to bar the local resettlement of
Syrian refugees.
After the deadly Paris attacks in November, Texas Governor Greg
Abbott, a Republican, was one of the first governors to seek to
block the resettlement of Syrians in their states.
Abbott has said he was concerned that U.S. security screening is
ineffective and could allow people with ties to terrorism to be
admitted.
In its court filing, the U.S. Justice Department said Texas did
not have the authority to act on national immigration policy and
could not bar the refugees from resettling.
The International Rescue Committee, which was also named as a
party in the suit, said in its filing that barring entry to a
state based on nationality violated U.S. civil rights laws.
Texas is seeking a hearing by Wednesday on its request for an
injunction that would bar Syrian refugees from resettling.
Since fiscal year 2011, 243 Syrian refugees have resettled in
Texas, the U.S. filing said, making the state one of the main
U.S. relocation sites since the Syrian civil war erupted about
four years ago.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin and Lisa Maria Garza in
Dallas; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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