Even as Syrian families fleeing the most horrible place on earth began building new lives in Houston and Dallas last week, Texas elected officials still pandered to the panicked. Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott continued to push their lawsuit to block refugees resettling in Texas, despite a ruling from U.S. District Judge David Godbey that talk of extremists possibly infiltrating the refugees was based on "largely speculative hearsay" submitted by Paxton himself.

Paxton and Abbott aren't the only ones. A few days ago, several Texas legislators, including state Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, proposed subjecting the refugees to lie detector tests.

Fortunately, a colleague of Raymond's, a lawmaker representing the most diverse city in the nation, has pushed back. State Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, has sent a formal request to the U.S. Department of Justice asking for an investigation into whether any Texas agency has violated the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980, the U.S. Constitution or federal law by discriminating against a group based on the group's ethnicity or country of origin.

Wu is referring specifically to an order Abbott and his commissioner of Health and Human Services, Chris Taylor, sent to resettlement organizations demanding that they stop accepting Syrian refugees. "Texas has never before interfered with any prior refugee group," Wu said in a statement. "Our nation's highest laws directly protect all people from discrimination based on their race, ethnicity, religion and many other factors. This order to assistance groups may have violated federal law."

As Wu suggests, Abbott's knee-jerk nativism regarding a people in desperate need flouts a Texas tradition of welcome that's as old as the state itself. Refugees from war-ravaged regions, including Syria, built - and continue to build - this state. Houston itself is home to more than 70,000 refugees from 79 different countries; we settle more men, women and children fleeing for their lives than any other city in the United States.

Abbott knows that, but as Wu points out, "our state's leadership has chosen to target Syrian refugees and bully resettlement organizations in order to score political points.

"Targeting families who have already been victimized by ISIS and the Syrian civil war, and who have already been vetted through an intensive two-year federal review, is blatantly politicizing these refugees' plight," Wu added. "I hope that the Department of Justice can put this issue to rest with their investigation."

We understand that Americans are anxious these days about the threat of terrorism. We understand that state officials must be kept informed about the federal government's resettlement procedures. (The U.S. Constitution gives the federal government, not the states, power over immigration.) At the same time, the governor and other state officials have a responsibility to avoid stoking unreasoned fear and anxiety.

Unlike newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, who was at the airport to personally welcome Syrian refugees, Abbott led the fear stampede. His straitened response was unworthy of this great state and its proud immigrant heritage.

"You are home," Trudeau assured the Syrians. Abbott went to court.

The state's immigrant heritage may have fled the Capitol, but it's alive and well in the work of the Alliance for Multicultural Community Services, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Refugee Services of Texas, YMCA International Services, the Partnership for the Advancement & Immersion of Refugees and numerous other organizations around the state dedicated to helping families scarred by war find a new home. Wu's request, we hope, will clear out space for them to continue doing their good work.