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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana made national headlines again when Gov. Mike Pence joined several other governors in announcing their states would not accept refugees from Syria in light of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed the federal lawsuit Nov. 23 on behalf of Indianapolis-based nonprofit Exodus Refugee Immigration, accusing Pence of violating the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by accepting refugees from other countries but not from Syria.
Pence“These are people who have been vetted extensively by the federal government and have been approved for resettlement. Our lawsuit is quite simple. It argues that the governor has no right to bar refugees because doing so clearly violates equal protection,” ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk said during a news conference.
Falk added that he expects similar lawsuits to be filed against some of more than two dozen states – most with Republican governors, like Pence – that have taken actions similar to Indiana’s in suspending programs to resettle Syrian refugees.
Pence has said that the state is confident it has the legal authority to suspend the resettlement program relative to Syrian refugees in the state of Indiana and he believes it is “the proper course.”
Pence’s decision caused Exodus to reroute a family that was to settle in Indianapolis to Connecticut. Exodus announced in December it had resettled another Syrian family in Indiana despite Pence’s objections.
Exodus has settled 892 refugees, including some from Syria, in the past fiscal year in Indiana, according to the ACLU. The group is projected to settle about the same number during 2016, including 19 Syrians approved for refugee status by the federal government who are expected to arrive in the next few weeks or months, the ACLU said.•
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