DALLAS – Texas gave
notice on Wednesday that it was withdrawing from participating in the U.S.
Office of Refugee Resettlement’s program, citing security concerns after
failing in federal court to halt the inflow of Syrian refugees into the state.

The Texas State Refugee
Coordinator sent a letter to the agency, giving 120 days notice of its
intention to withdraw, charging the program was riddled with problems that
present security risks, Republican Governor Greg Abbott said.

The Office of Refugee
Resettlement said in a statement its services to help integrate newcomers into
U.S. society are only provided after they complete stringent U.S. security
screenings.

“Despite multiple
requests by the State of Texas, the federal government lacks the capability or
the will to distinguish the dangerous from the harmless, and Texas will not be
an accomplice to such dereliction of duty to the American people,” Abbott
said in a statement.

Texas, a bellwether state
for conservative policies, has seen other Republican-led states follow its lead
in challenging the Obama administration’s refugee resettlement plans in and out
of the courts.

“The security
vetting for this population – the most vulnerable of individuals – is
extraordinarily thorough and comprehensive,” U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a joint,
five-page letter to Abbott in November which outlined the process.

Since Jan. 1, 2011, there
have been 1,104 Syrian refugees resettled in Texas, according to the U.S. State
Department-affiliated Refugee Processing Center. That is less than the 1,610
people resettled in California and the 1,515 sent to Michigan.

A Texas withdraw is not
expected to impair the work of private relief groups from resettling refugees
in the state.

The Obama administration
said on Aug. 29 it would meet its goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees
during the current fiscal year a month ahead of schedule and was working with
Congress to increase the target by a few thousand during 2017.

U.S. admission of Syrian
refugees has been a hot button issue in the 2016 presidential race.

The United States has
offered refuge to far fewer than many of its allies. Germany has taken in over
a million refugees from Syria, North Africa and Asia in the last year, while
Canada admitted nearly 30,000 between November last year and May 1.