A federal judge in Dallas said he won’t hold a hearing this week on Syrian refugees, and indicated a decision wouldn’t come until January, said an ACLU lawyer fighting for settlement of Syrian refugees in Texas. 
 
 Meantime, a Syrian family of six, including two small children, was expected to arrive today in Dallas for resettlement by a relief agency known as the International Rescue Committee. That fact alone throws a spotlight on how the weight of the law favors the resettlement of Syrian refugees. 
 
 A total of 21 refugees, fleeing a brutal civil war, are expected this week to lay new roots in Texas. 
 
 “The court held an informal status conference by telephone with parties today, and there will be no hearing on Texas’s motion for preliminary injunction this week,” said Rebecca L. Robertson, the policy and legal director for the ACLU of Texas. 
 
 U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey held a closed-door teleconference with 11 attorneys and asked for more briefs, after a 15-minute session, according to a federal docket report and Robertson. With that time frame for filing and responses, a decision on a permanent injunction may come in January, Robertson said. 
 
 The Texas court fight explores federal supremacy over on immigration matters, civil rights laws and contract agreements. Last week, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission filed a suit asking for a temporary restraining order, citing security issues and a lack of cooperation by the government and the relief agency the IRC. Friday, though, the Texas agency withdrew their request for the TRO, but said they still wanted a hearing on a permanent injunction on or before Dec. 9th. 
 
 Two briefs with extensive attachments were filed in defense of federal agencies and the IRC. Monday, the state of Texas Attorney General Kenneth Paxton filed an amended complaint against the federal government and the relief agency. 
 
 In the new state complaint, Paxton emphasized that the FBI director and the Director of National Intelligence have “recently expressed concern with the federal government’s ability to accurately assess the security risk posed by Syrian refugees.” 
 
 The new complaint highlights nine refugees expected to arrive on December 10, saying the state has only “minimal information” about those refugees. 
 
 Separately, in a Monday morning press call, Michael Chertoff, former chief of the Department of Homeland Security, defended refugee resettlement and its multiple reviews of potential entrants into the U.S. “We do all our vetting of refugees overseas in the theater where they are seeking to leave,” said Chertoff, an appointee of former President George W. Bush. 
 
 Vetting also includes checking databases “when they are available, and also cross comparing interviews when they come together as groups,” Chertoff said. Initial screenings are done by the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees and they send potential refugees for U.S. resettlement to U.S. officials, he said. 
 
 “Nothing is risk free in this world, but we have done an awful lot to keep these systems very, very secure,” he said. 
 
 Security concerns increased after the Nov. 13th Paris attacks. The Islamic State—a faction involved in Syria’s civil war—took credit. A Syrian passport was found near the body of one of the Paris suicide bombers, but its authenticity has been questioned. 
 
 More than two dozen state governors began questioning the resettlement process, zeroing in on Syrians. That quickly raised defenses that the Syrians were also protected by civil rights laws that prevent discrimination against national origins. 
 
 In Indiana, the ACLU was the first to sue Gov. Mike Pence when he argued against assisting Syrian refugees. In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie has also voice opposition and said he is researching legal options. Both governors are Republicans. 
 
 In the interim, Syrian immigrants in the Dallas area have been quick to plead their case, detailing their flight from terrorists and the violence in Syria. 

 Syrian refugees (Photo: WFAA) 
 
 DALLAS -- Six Syrian refugees will arrive in Dallas Monday, despite initial protests by the state that refugees might pose safety concerns. 
 
 The Syrians are part of a larger group of nearly two dozen refugees arriving in Texas this week. 
 
 Last week Texas sued the federal government and the International Rescue Committee, the agency bringing the family to Dallas. 
 
 But on Friday the state said it no longer wanted an immediate order stopping the refugees, but it will push forward with the lawsuit. 
 
 Syrian refugees arrive in Dallas Monday 
 
 Thirty-one governors have said they don't want Syrian refugees in their state after the Paris attacks, but only Texas is suing in federal court. 
 
 Last Wednesday Attorney General Ken Paxton's office asked for a temporary restraining order to keep Syrians from relocating, but on Friday the state backed down after the federal government argued Texas was asking for "unwarranted veto power over refugee resettlement." 
 
 That clears the way for the family of six -- a couple, their two small children and two grandparents -- to arrive in Dallas. They already have a family member here, who relocated in February. 
 
 Donations from North Texans have poured in for the family, including bicycles for the kids, amid the heated political fight. 
 
 More than 200 Syrians have called Texas home since 2011. 
 
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 DALLAS (AP) — Twelve Syrian refugees were scheduled to arrive in Texas on Monday after the state eased up in its legal fight against resettlement agencies and the federal government. 
 
 The refugees, including six children, were expected to join relatives already settled in Dallas and Houston. Another nine refugees are scheduled to arrive in Houston Thursday. 
 
 State officials fought for weeks to stop them, saying Syrian refugees posed an unacceptable security risk after the deadly Nov. 13 Paris attacks. 
 
 But two days after suing one resettlement agency, the International Rescue Committee, and federal officials, the state on Friday withdrew its request for an order immediately stopping the refugees from entering Texas. The lawsuit remains pending, and a judge could hear arguments in the case this week. 
 
 Texas took in nearly 250 Syrians before the Paris attacks. Federal officials said in court filings that they plan to resettle as many as 250 Syrians in Texas during the current fiscal year. 
 
 Governors in about 30 states since the attacks have said they don't want to accept any more refugees, though none have fought as hard as Texas. Advocates say connecting refugees to fears of terrorism is misguided, and federal officials say states don't have the power to refuse them. 
 
 The refugees expected in Texas include a family of six related to people already settled in the Dallas area. The family arrived in New York on Thursday night and stayed there through the weekend after originally being expected to go directly to Texas. 
 
 The family is expected to take an apartment in the same complex as several other Syrians. The lower-income complex in northeast Dallas is home to recent arrivals from around the world. Volunteers have collected furniture, hygiene products and other items for the apartment — including a bicycle each for the two children in the family. 
 
 Meanwhile, eight Syrians who turned themselves over to immigration authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border have passed their first hurdle to seeking asylum but remain detained in Texas. 
 
 Jonathan Ryan who is representing the two families— two men, two women and four children— says the Syrians have passed their credible fear interviews and have undergone background checks that show they don't pose a danger. However, he says the families have not been released because of "law enforcement interest." 
 
 The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a message Monday seeking more details on the immigrants, who turned themselves in last month in Laredo. 
 
 Ryan, director of San Antonio-based RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, said that the Syrian families should be released on parole and that it's unusual for them to be detained after passing their credible fear interview. The Syrians are Christians who are fleeing the civil war in their home country, he said. 
 
 "Their main goal is to save their own lives," he said. "If they can be freed, I know that is a Christmas wish come true." 
 
 These asylum seekers are not counted among the 85,000 refugees announced earlier this year by the Obama administration, which includes about 10,000 Syrians. For Syrians with means, a lengthy trek to the U.S. border could provide another path to asylum.
– Hide your husbands, hide your wives: A family of six Syrian refugees is arriving in Dallas today as Texas shifts its legal strategy against refugee resettlement, the Dallas Morning News reports. The family—which includes two small children and has a relative in Dallas—came over with a relief agency called the International Rescue Committee. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission filed a lawsuit against the IRC last week to block refugees over security concerns, but a Dallas federal judge refused to make an immediate decision. Now 21 refugees are expected to arrive in Texas this week and the state commission has withdrawn its temporary restraining order, but still seeks a hearing about a permanent injunction by Dec. 9. Texas Attorney General Kenneth Paxton filed a new complaint Monday saying national intelligence officials have "recently expressed concern with the federal government’s ability to accurately assess the security risk posed by Syrian refugees." Paxton also says the state has only "minimal information" about nine refugees. But former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff today disagreed, saying refugees are vetted overseas and databases are checked when possible. "Nothing is risk free in this world, but we have done an awful lot to keep these systems very, very secure," he says. Meanwhile, donations are pouring in for the new Syrian refugees, WFAA reports. And eight Syrians said to be Christian have turned themselves in to officials at the US-Mexico border, the AP reports.