Ignoring anti-refugee rhetoric, Texans rush to help in resettlement

Interest has grown partly because the organization has made more targeted requests but also “because people just want to help,” said Martin Cominsky, the group’s president and CEO, who suggested that even more Texans would volunteer if state leaders offered a more welcoming tone.

A healthy portion of the volunteers come from faith communities, and many have been moved by images of life inside Syria, which has been torn apart by a civil war that, by some estimates, has killed 500,000 people and forced millions to flee.

One photo came last month: a 5-year-old boy sitting dazed and bloodied after being pulled from a bombed out building in Aleppo. Another emerged in September of last year: The lifeless body of a three-year-old Syrian refugee who washed up on a Turkish beach. That’s what prompted Ann Brown to sign up with Refugee Services of Texas.

“I saw that on the news, and just thought that we had to do something,” said Brown, who with a team from Covenant Presbyterian Church has helped resettle five refugee families in Austin. One of those families fled Syria.

“They’re people — people who have needs, and are gracious, loving thankful and appreciative,” Brown said of the Syrian family.

She and other volunteers are trying to drown out the message coming from the Capitol, where officials suggest that accepting refugees is too risky unless the federal government adds more safeguards to its lengthy vetting process.

U.S. State Department officials process applications received through the United Nations and conduct background and biometric screenings — an effort that can take up to two years. Once refugees are cleared, one of nine national resettlement organizations places them in communities across the country, where local nonprofits contracted by the state use federal dollars to help them find jobs, learn English and enroll children in school.

“I feel like it’s political grandstanding and taking advantage of people who haven’t taken the time to understand this issue,” said Merinda Cutler, who started volunteering about a year ago — also spurred by images of Alan Kurdi, the toddler on the beach.

Following terrorist attacks in Paris in November that killed 130 people, Texas Republicans raised concerns about refugee screening. Though each of the suspects in those attacks was identified as a European national, one was carrying a forged Syrian passport, according to media reports.

In November, Abbott directed resettlement nonprofits in Texas to stop accepting Syrian refugees — a move federal officials said exceeded Texas’ authority. The state sued to block further Syrian refugees from crossing its borders, but the case was dismissed. Texas has appealed the ruling.

Last week, Abbott threatened to withdraw from the refugee resettlement program altogether without more screening.

“Despite multiple requests by the state of Texas, the federal government lacks the capability or the will to distinguish the dangerous from the harmless, and Texas will not be an accomplice to such dereliction of duty to the American people,” Abbott said in a statement at the time.

His office did not respond to requests to comment for this story.

Anti-refugee rhetoric has accompanied the state’s policy push. Miller, among the most outspoken leaders on the issue, has gone as far as comparing refugees to dangerous animals.

“Can you tell me which of these rattlers won’t bite you?” a November post on his Facebook page asked — juxtaposing photos of twisting mass of snakes with an apparent crowd of refugees. “Sure some of them won’t, but tell me which ones so we can bring them into the house.”

Miller says he has refugees’ best interests at heart.

“I think the compassionate thing to do is let them stay right where they are,” he said in an interview last week. Reminded that Syrians are fleeing violence that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, Miller said: “They need to be close enough to their home countries, where they can return to their homes and families.”

If Texas follows through with Abbott’s threat to withdraw from the federal resettlement program, refugees would likely still come here; the feds would instead distribute money directly to the nonprofits.

“It’s a lot of disruption that’s unnecessary,” said Cominsky, of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. “But maybe in the end, we’ll come to a better plan.”

Jim Malewitz primarily covers energy and the environment for the Tribune.Alexa Ura contributed to this story. This story is published courtesy of the Texas Tribune, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues.