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PHOENIX -- Seven Republican lawmakers are trying to erect new roadblocks to the federal government resettling Middle East refugees in Arizona.

Rep. Bob Thorpe, R-Flagstaff, the prime sponsor of HB 2370, said his aim is to block plans by the Obama administration to locate in Arizona any of the 10,000 Syrians that will be brought into the country this year. Thorpe said he has no confidence that the federal government is properly screening refugees, a point he said was proven by the San Bernadino terrorist who, with her husband, killed 14 people in December.

"Right now, people are being placed here without even the state's knowledge,'' he said. Thorpe said Arizona needs information from the feds about not just who is here but how they were screened.

"They need to show us they have fully vetted this people,'' Thorpe said.

The issue, he said, goes to the question of state sovereignty.

"I assume the federal government has the jurisdiction to have a refugee program,'' he said. "I don't necessarily agree they have the right to force a state to take those refugees.''

Whether the state can do that, however, is another matter.