York County Council to vote on milder refugee resolution Monday

York County Council will vote Monday on a resolution opposing the resettlement of Syrian refugees over security concerns, while also calling on county residents to reject “fear” and “anti-constitutional” ideas.

The language of the resolution was released with the county council’s meeting agenda on Friday.

The draft version to be considered by council calls on Gov. Nikki Haley “to continue to oppose resettlement in South Carolina... until such time as proper safety measures have been implemented.”

The resolution asserts that “federal officials have represented that there is not a proper screening procedure in place to ensure that those who may enter this Country are not members of ISIS or other terrorist groups.”

Haley sent a letter to the U.S. State Department on Nov. 16 asking that Syrian refugees not be sent to South Carolina, citing “gaps in available intelligence for those fleeing Syria.” She later told a Columbia TV station that FBI Director James Comey told her his agency has no background on potential Syrian refugees.

Supporters of the relocation program have disputed that, arguing refugees go through an extensive vetting process that can last up to two years before they are placed in the United States.

Haley is one of 30 state governors to take such a stand since terrorist attacks in the last two months in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.

Earlier this month, two Syrians were placed in South Carolina through a nonprofit agency in Columbia without the governor’s office being informed. The United States currently plans to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees next year.

The resolution also calls on York County residents to “reject with steadfast resolve fear and any anti-Constitutional notion” that refugees should be “shunned or discriminated against solely due to their religious affiliation.”

Comments from the public at several recent council meetings have focused on the fact many Syrian refugees are Muslim, citing this as a reason to bar them from entering the country.

Written by county attorney Michael Kendree, the resolution replaces a version offered by Councilman Bruce Henderson last month that called on the state to suspend resettlement until various state agencies had completed investigations into the program and “Each South Carolina state senator holds several town hall meetings in his or her district ... to determine that there is not substantial public opposition.”

That resolution failed to pass when no other council member would offer a second to the motion.

The latest resolution also calls on the Legislature to “provide assurances to the individual counties that each county will be able to decide on a case by case basis whether state and local funds may be used to assist refugees.”

It’s unclear how the state may be able to stop refugees from accessing public assistance they are otherwise entitled to. When asked by the Greenville News, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services said the agency is “legally prohibited from discriminating in the provision of benefits on the basis of national origin.”

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 6:28 AM with the headline "York County Council to vote on milder refugee resolution Monday."