Refugees inside English classes at an Austin church nervously asked teachers what the future holds for them and their family members who are still waiting to come to the U.S.
“Being refugee… it was not easy,” said Kasenga Kizabi. A refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, he arrived in Texas ten days ago.
“I left my country because of the war, people were killed in numbers,” Kizabi said.
He and his parents entered a refugee camp in Zambia in 1999, Kizabi was 15 then and that’s where he spent nearly half of his life.
Now 31, Kizabi is in Texas but his parents are still at the refugee camp back in Zambia—all three started and completed the refugee application process together, he said.
“I wonder why I’m alone here,” Kizabi said, and now he wonders if his family will ever make it to the U.S.
Governor Greg Abbott is threatening to pull Texas from the federal refugee resettlement program, if President Barack Obama does not meet the state’s security demands by next Friday.
The state’s ultimatum comes after the Obama Administration announced a new goal of resettling 110,000 refugees in the U.S. in 2017, that figure includes an unspecified increase in the number of refugees from Syria.
“The Syrian populations who are fleeing Syria are escaping ISIS so now we are doing what ISIS wants, we are closing the doors in their faces,” said Lubna Zeidan, the director of the refugee program at Interfaith Action of Central Texas.
“Why are we victimizing victims?” Lubna answered her own question and said she believes the Governor’s intentions to withdraw from the refugee program is are a “political move.”
iAct canceled an English class that was scheduled to start next month due to funding concerns following the Abbott’s warning to Washington Wednesday.
“Empathy must be balanced with security,” Abbott wrote in a statement, “Texas has done more than its fair share in aiding refugees…”
In the past year, Texas took in more refugees than any other state in the nation—about 67,000 refugees from 40 different countries, according to the Refugee Processing Center.
From Oct. 1, 2015 to Sept. 16, 2016 the U.S. admitted the around 80,000 refugees and more than 9 percent of the people who entered the U.S. were resettled in Texas.
The state’s demands would require national security officials to ensure incoming refugees do not pose a security threat to Texas.
“It’s ridiculous to think that, nobody can guarantee that everybody can be safe forever,” Lubna said.
The Governor’s statement noted, “While many refugees pose no danger, some pose grave danger.” Abbott pointed to the Iraqi refugee arrested on terrorism charges in Houston earlier this year.
The vetting process for refugees is exhaustive—on average the process takes two years—but like Lubna, the Obama administration has said there are no guarantees.
The state’s letter said Texas would continue to provide services and benefits to private and non-profit refugee agencies until January 31, 2017.
Despite the threat, state officials do not have the authority to stop the federal program from resettling refugees in Texas.
If the state withdraws from the program, Texas would no longer administer federal aid to refugees. Federal dollars would no longer pass through the hands of the state but a third party could step up to distribute those funds to organizations that work with refugees in Texas.
Lubna said iAct and other non-profits in the state are in talks about what to do and who could fill the state’s role, if Texas exits the program.
“People are being killed so if there is any opportunity, let them bring them in,” Kizabi said of refugees, “I want to encourage them to take more people.”
