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INDIANAPOLIS — A federal appellate court in Chicago ruled Monday that Gov. Mike Pence cannot prohibit Syrian refugees from entering Indiana or deny them access to federally funded services.

In a 3-0 decision, the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s injunction against Pence’s anti-Syrian refugee policy by finding it violates a prohibition on refugee discrimination based on nationality.

The court rejected Pence’s claim that there exists “a well-documented threat of terrorists posing as refugees,” finding instead that “no Syrian refugees have been arrested or prosecuted for terrorist acts or attempts in the United States.”

Moreover, even if Syrian refugees did pose a legitimate threat, Pence’s wish to bar them from Indiana only would endanger residents of other states, the court said.

The court likened Pence’s argument that his Syrian refugee ban isn’t discrimination to a hypothetical Pence ban on black people settling in Indiana: “Not because they’re black but because he’s afraid of them, and since race is therefore not his motive he isn’t discriminating.”