Santa Clara University School of Law faculty member Pratheepan Gulasekaram has co-authored an editorial for the Washington Post, “The law is clear: States cannot reject Syrian refugees,” examining the legality of states’ limitations on refugee placement.

From the editorial:

Less than a week after the Islamic State’s attack on Paris and the discovery that one of the attackers carried a fake Syrian passport during the incident, more than half of the nation’s governors have announced that their states won’t accept any Syrian refugees. . . .

But now the announcements by state and local officials raise two related questions: (1) can states limit the federal government’s resettlement of refugees, and (2) what are the likely political causes and effects of these refusals?

The entire editorial is available on the Washington Post website.