Last week, Gov. Mike Pence met privately with the archbishop of Indianapolis to request the Catholic Church not defy his directive to block Syrian refugees from settling in Indiana.
Archbishop Joseph Tobin told the governor he’d consider the request but eventually decided to bring the family into the state.
The family boarded a plane in Jordan on Sunday evening and arrived in Indianapolis on Monday.
The resettlement went against Pence’s decision to block additional Syrian refugees from coming to Indiana. Citing terrorist concerns after last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris, Pence joined more than half the country’s governors in refusing Syrian refugees.
Almost immediately, Pence’s authority to do so was challenged.
The Refugee Act of 1980, which reformed the way refugees are brought to the U.S., grants no specific authority to state governments.
The Obama administration called refugee resettlement a federal issue.
Calling his decision an “unconstitutional bluff,” the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of an Indianapolis-based refugee agency.
Pence’s spokesman told the Associated Press the governor’s directive would continue to stand.
“The governor holds Catholic Charities in the highest regard but respectfully disagrees with their decision to place a Syrian refugee family in Indiana at this time,” spokesman Matt Lloyd said.
The family joins about 30 Syrian refugees already settled in Indiana and about 2,000 throughout the country.
Alden Woods
