Mike Pence has had a really bad week.
In addition to being forced to defend Donald Trump (and lying about it) on live television last night, the courts have decided that his decisions as Governor of Indiana interfere with the settlement of highly vetted refugees into his state,
A federal appeals court on Monday dismissed as “nightmare speculation” Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s fears that Syrian refugees could commit acts of terror, ... ruling that federal law does not allow a governor “to deport to other states immigrants he deems dangerous.”
The decision also said Indiana’s briefs in the case had provided “no evidence that Syrian terrorists are posing as refugees or that Syrian refugees have ever committed acts of terrorism in the United States.”
“The governor of Indiana believes, though without evidence, that some of these persons were sent to Syria by ISIS to engage in terrorism and now wish to infiltrate the United States in order to commit terrorist acts here. No evidence of this belief has been presented, however; it is nightmare speculation,” the appeals court wrote.
It's also discrimination based on race, a pattern in the Trump campaign.
By the way, Pence clearly accepted Donald Trump's running mate offer in part because he was losing so badly in his re-election race for Governor. That anti-gay measure that obliterated Indiana tourism and convention business made his re-election impossible. And now Pence's hand-picked successor has broken with him on the refugee issue:
Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, Pence's handpicked candidate to replace him on the Republican ticket, said after the gubernatorial debate Monday night he would not keep the ban on aid to Syrian refugees in place if elected.
“I would continue to allow the refugees to come in here and find safe haven," he said.
It was Holcomb's first major policy break with Pence, who appointed Holcomb as his lieutenant governor in March and then backed his bid to fill the ballot vacancy left when Pence became Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate in July. Since then, Pence has poured more than $1.2 million into Holcomb's campaign for governor.
Holcomb's comments came on the heels of a unanimous appeals court ruling earlier in the day that found Pence's effort to block resettlement aid was both discriminatory and lacked evidence of a public safety threat.
