MADISON, Wis (WSAU-Wheeler News) A U-W Madison political science expert says Wisconsin might not be able to stop Syrian refugees if the federal government lets them into the country. Emeitus professor Don Downs says states probably don’t have the constitutional power to restrict travel of refugees who’ve been allowed into the U-S. Downs tells the Wisconsin Radio Network it’s an unusual situation, but the law appears to indicate that state settlement bans would be a “problematic” thing to do.
On Tuesday House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville called for a “pause” in President Obama’s plan to re-settle 10,000 Syrian refugees into the country. Republican Scott Walker is among half the nation’s governors opposing the admission of any Syrian refugees into their states, in the wake of last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris. He wrote the Obama White House to say Wisconsin would not help in any Syrian refugee resettlement effort.
The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union calls the ban “brazenly discriminatory” and a “reflexive over-reaction.”
