Indiana Governor Mike Pence is the target of a lawsuit that challenges his authority to block Syrian refugees from being resettled in Indiana.
The suit was filed Monday night and claims that Pence violated the Equal Protection Clause by accepting refugees from other countries but not Syrian refugees. The litigation follows Pence and other governors suspending the resettlement in wake of the terror attacks in Paris.
The complaint was filed Monday night in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of Exodus Refugee Immigration, an Indianapolis nonprofit organization that resettles refugees in Indiana. John Wernert, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, which oversees refugee settlement in the state, is the other defendant named in the lawsuit.
Pence's office did not return a request for comment on Monday night but has written that he is not unsympathetic to the Syrians, writing that he was "deeply moved" by their plight. However the governor wants the federal government to address some "security gaps" regarding the incoming refugees.
"Indiana and the U.S. must continue to serve as a safe harbor for refugees from around the world; however, unless and until the federal government addresses the security gaps acknowledged by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security with regard to refugees from Syria, as governor I will continue to put the safety and security of Hoosiers first," Pence wrote.
Another claim in the lawsuit is the Pence violated Title IV of the Civil Rights Act because the refugees were being singled out "solely because of their national origin."
"Decisions concerning immigration and refugee resettlement are exclusively the province of the federal government, and attempts to pre-empt that authority violate both equal protection and civil rights laws and intrude on authority that is exclusively federal," ACLU of Indiana's legal director, Ken Falk, said in a news release.
The ACLU is asking a federal judge to prevent states from blocking resettlement of the Syrian refugees.
The decision to suspend or block refugees comes after reports that one of the Paris terrorists may have been a Syrian refugee. Governors from other states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio and Texas have also refused to allow resetttlement of the refugees in their states.