Up to 500 Syrians could be heading to San Antonio next year, but the state’s threat to shut off funding worries Catholic Charities, which is responsible for resettling refugees in the area.

“We want to work with the governor. We have shown we have not broken any laws,” said J. Antonio Fernandez, Catholic Charities CEO. He added, however: “We are not here to judge people coming from Syria, we’re here to help all refugees coming from every single country.”

On Nov. 17, Gov. Greg Abbott issued orders to stop all refugee resettlement agencies from accepting Syrian refugees.

Since then, the state has filed a lawsuit to block a Dallas agency from bringing in a Syrian family this week.

A federal judge in Dallas is expected to rule on the state’s request for a restraining order today, so the family is staying in New York with another refugee agency, pending the court decision. The Dallas agency is fighting the lawsuit.

Like other refugee agencies around the state, Catholic Charities received a letter from the governor advising about his orders.

“We responded back to the governor, telling him that we have to follow our federal contract,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez said Catholic Charities’ goal is to work with state officials, but the agency has to follow its mandate to resettle refugees fleeing persecution, religious discrimination and war.

“For our part, we just want to help people,” Fernandez said. He riterated, “We’re not here to judge, we just want to help.”

Since 2004, Catholic Charities has resettled 8,000 refugees from around the world. Fernandez said the immigrants go through extensive background checks by the FBI and Homeland Security before they’re sent to their new home city.

Three months ago, Fernandez said, the federal Office of Migration Refugee Services asked Catholic Charities how many Syrian refugees it could resettle. After conferring with his staff, he said San Antonio could take in 200 to 500 people.

An arrival date hasn’t been set for Syrian families in San Antonio, nor are there any Syrians currently en route here.

Fernandez said his agency will review its options when the request comes in.

“At that time, we will have to analyze the situation and speak to the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the board of Catholic Charities,” Fernandez said. “We will try to talk to Gov. Abbott, as well as the federal contract, on how to make it happen.”

Erica B. Schommer, clinical assistant professor of law at St. Mary’s University, said organizations like Catholic Charities are in a difficult position.

“The governor is saying you can’t take them,” Schommer said, “when really, as a refugee resettlement organization, they have an agreement with the federal government to resettle people who are approved to come to the United States as refugees. Under the law, they can’t discriminate based on nationality or race or religion.”

Schommer said the problem is funding that’s filtered through the state. The money is needed to help provide services to refugees.

“If Catholic Charities does get families that are Syrians, without those families having access to food stamps and some of the other assistance that’s funneled through the states, there’s going to be a higher burden on (Catholic Charities) to come up with money to help those families make ends meet,” she said.

“Under the law, the Constitution gives the power to regulate immigration to the federal government and, in theory, the state government shouldn’t be able to do anything. Unfortunately, they can make it very difficult,” she added.

Schommer said that in the future, organizations might follow the example of the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the governor of Indiana for his stance on restricting Syrian refugees from coming to his state.

“That’s what I imagine is going to happen,” Schommer said. “If governors dig their heels in and try to make it impossible for these agencies to provide services, we’re probably going to see similar lawsuits filed across the country.”

The Austin Bureau’s Brian M. Rosenthal contributed to this report.

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