A federal judge is permanently barring Indiana from withholding money from an Indianapolis-based organization that helps resettle Syrian refugees.
The case dates back to Vice President Mike Pence's tenure as governor, when he directed state agencies to stop making payments to organizations that resettle Syrian refugees. Pence cited safety concerns, following attacks in Paris.
With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, Exodus Refugee Immigration filed a lawsuit challenging the state's stance, arguing Indiana was discriminating against Syrian refugees.
Earlier this week, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt approved a judgement permanently stopping Indiana from withholding payments of federal grant money to Exodus.
Pratt previously temporarily blocked Pence's efforts to keep Syrian refugees out of the state. A federal appeals court affirmed that decision.
In a blog post on the ACLU of Indiana's website, Executive Director of Exodus Refugee Immigration Cole Varga calls this week's judgement bittersweet.
"Bitter because we now know that this discriminatory policy was a just preview of what the Trump-Pence administration has tried to implement on a nationwide scale with the Muslim Ban and draconian restrictions on refugee arrivals," Varga writes.
He says Exodus will continue challenging the Trump administration's efforts to scale back refugee resettlement.
"There is hope and I think it's going to take a lot of advocacy from people across the country and definitely here in Indiana to make sure that our elected officials hear from us," he says.
And Varga says the ruling is significant for all Hoosiers, not just refugees and those who work with them.
"So not only are we helping people who have had their lives turned upside down by persecution, injustice and war, we're also actually making our communities more diverse by welcoming them," he says. "Cities across the country are richer because of the refugees that we've added, the culture, the language, the vibrancy that they bring."
