Gov. Bruce Rauner says the state of Illinois will temporarily stop accepting new Syrian refugees in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Rauner said Monday that Illinois will consider all of its legal options pending a review of U.S. Department and Homeland Security's acceptance and security processes.
Rauner is one of several U.S. governors who say they will stop allowing Syrian refugees into their states after the Friday night attacks in Paris left at least 129 people dead.
Rauner says Illinois has to balance its tradition of welcoming refugees while ``ensuring the safety and security of our citizens.''
It's unclear if this move is legal under federal law.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner says the agency's lawyers don't know yet if states can usurp federal immigration law and close their borders.
"We take their concerns seriously. We disagree that these people...represent any kind of real threat."
Deb Hlavna, co-director of the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center in Urbana, says the governor’s move is a "knee-jerk reaction" to a threat that isn't there.
"They have to go through criminal background checks, you can count on it that it doesn't matter that the country's in chaos. Until you jump through all these hoops, they're not coming...It's not like the people who are fleeing Syria right now are going to get here any time soon. It's years."
About 130 Syrian refugees have been resettled in Illinois this year. Many of the Syrian refugees coming to the U-S will land at Chicago's O'Hare airport, and be resettled to other regions from there.
