DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) – Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said he believes welcoming refugees helps revitalize a community, and is key to becoming a “global city.”
“Being scared is a natural ability, but God gave us the power to choose courage and our brains to figure out how to balance that,” Rawlings said. “I see it as a sign of strength.” The statements were made during the recent “City Makers Summit” put on by The Atlantic and JP Morgan Chase.
The governor of Texas, however, disagrees with the mayor. Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to President Obama saying the state will not accept any refugees. It was penned in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Paris in Nov. 2015. Gov. Abbott said he was responding to heightened concerns that terrorists might use the refugees as cover to sneak across borders.
“Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees – any one of whom could be connected to terrorism – being resettled in Texas,” the letter read.
“The threat posed to Texas by ISIS is real,” the letter continued. “ISIS claimed credit last May when two terrorist gunmen launched an attack in Garland, Texas. Less than two weeks later, the FBI arrested an Iraqi-born man in North Texas and charged him with lying to federal agents about traveling to Syria to fight with ISIS.”
Gov. Abbott doesn’t actually have the ability to enforce such a ban.
More than 120 Syrian refugees have resettled in Texas since October 2014, according to the Texas Tribune.
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