New Yorkers not in favor of letting Syrian refugees in: Poll.
AB Wire
Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog, is suing the State Department to obtain documents about its work with aid organizations to resettle refugees in the United States.
Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit months after failing to obtain the records through a Freedom of Information Act request, reported The Hill.
In a statement, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said that the administration’s failure to respond to its request is proof “that the Obama administration has something to hide about refugees, terrorism, and national security.”
“The Obama administration doesn’t want Americans to know about how it places refugees from terrorist states in their local communities,” Fitton said.
In particular, the conservative group is seeking to obtain agreements between the State Department and the 9 voluntary organizations that help to place refugees within the U.S., the Hill reported.
Judicial Watch has also asked for transcripts of hearings about services for the refugees with officials from the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the aid organizations, as well as data about refugees resettled in the U.S. from 2013 to 2015.
Conservatives have grown critical of the Obama administration’s plans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. over the next year, following indications that some of the men who killed 130 people in Paris last month had entered France disguised as refugees. Dozens of states have rejected the plans, and told the administration not to resettle the refugees within their limits, the report said.
Texas sued the federal government over the issue, though a federal judge has rejected its efforts to halt the migrants from arriving.
The move by Judicial Watch comes as most New Yorkers believe Syrian refugees shouldn’t be allowed to enter the U.S. right now, according to a poll conducted by the Siena College.
At the same time 88 percent said they expect terrorists to strike in the state in the near future according to the poll, released on Monday, reported the New York Post.
Fifty-two percent of voters in the Siena College poll say they oppose opening the doors to Syrian migrants, while 39 percent said they would let them in.
That conflicts with the views of both Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio, have spoken out in support of the refugees.
Sixty three percent of those polled say fear of a future attack hasn’t caused them to alter their lifestyle.
Another 20 percent say they’ve changed their lifestyle “a great deal or some,” according to the poll, which surveyed 822 registered voters in the state between Dec. 6-10.