Editorial: Ted Cruz’s absurd refugee bill

Maybe Sen. Ted Cruz sees that fear-mongering and demagoguery are working for Donald Trump. That’s the only explanation for the ill-conceived bill the Texas Republican proposed in the Senate on Tuesday to impede the resettlement of refugees seeking shelter in the United States.

Cruz’s State Refugee Security Act of 2015 would amend the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act to require the federal government to notify a state’s governor at least 21 days before it resettles a refugee in that state. If the governor is not satisfied with assurances by the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement that the refugee “does not present a security risk to the state,” the governor can bar the placement.

That is absurd. For one thing, setting immigration policy is a federal prerogative, and it’s unclear whether the Constitution would permit the delegation of such responsibility to a governor. And even if it did, do we really want to allow governors’ political views — and let’s not kid ourselves, these decisions would be political — to determine whether new arrivals are welcomed or treated fairly? The Cruz bill would set the stage for an unworkable patchwork of rules for integrating new refugees who have fled persecution and been vetted by the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies.

Besides, what knowledge or resources would a governor have to second-guess the assurances of the federal government that a refugee has been properly vetted by the Department of Homeland Security and other U.S. government agencies that review refugee petitions? The nation faces very real threats to its national security, but expanding the power of politicians to determine who can live in their states addresses no defined problem and encourages NIMBYism on a grand scale. The Senate’s Republican leadership should let this bill die a quiet death.

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