You and I are about the same age. Perhaps you actually remember 1975 and the succeeding years, when thousands of refugees from Vietnam were resettled in Houston and elsewhere in Texas. Yes, there may have been some conflicts, especially among Gulf shrimpers, but the very few who said that Viet Cong might be sneaking into Texas among the huddled masses to murder us in our sleep were not taken seriously, and to my recollection, none of them were government officials.

I could also point out that the federal government, by law, determines whether to admit refugees from abroad, how many to admit, and where to place them. But others already have, and you as an attorney should know of this law and its implications.

Instead, I would remind you that our state is already an international laughing-stock, and announcements such as yours are only making the situation worse. True conservatives in European nations are falling all over themselves to welcome those fleeing the chaos in Syria. Only the far-right neo-nationalists, like the ruling bloc in Hungary, are overtly appealing to fear to stem the migrant tide. In the US, Tea Party Dunderheads are gaining governorships and senatorial seats, spraining their muscles trying to outdo each other in absurd, paranoid bloviation contests to capture the Tea Party Dunderhead vote. For the sake of humanity, as the Internet would say, PLZ STAHP! so the motto of Texas, “Friendship,” will actually mean something.