Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout. 
 
 Texas has gone to federal court in its efforts to keep Syrian refugees out of the state, filing suit against the federal government and a refugee resettlement nonprofit. 
 
 In a lawsuit filed Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton claims the federal government and the International Rescue Committee — one of about 20 private nonprofits that have a state contract to resettle refugees in Texas — are violating federal law by moving forward with the planned resettlement of two Syrian families. One such family is expected to arrive in Texas as soon as Friday. 
 
 The lawsuit argues that the federal government and resettlement group have not fulfilled their contractual obligations to consult with, and provide information to, state officials. 
 
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 It argues that federal officials violated the Refugee Act of 1980, which requires that the federal government “shall consult regularly” with the state regarding the placement of refugees. Texas also alleges that the International Rescue Committee violated a separate provision of the act requiring the nonprofit work “in close cooperation and advance consultation” with the state. 
 
 The suit, filed in the Dallas-based federal court, asks for a temporary injunction barring any Syrian refugees until terms of the contract are met. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey, a George W. Bush appointee. 
 
 “The point of this lawsuit is not about specific refugees, it is about protecting Texans by ensuring that the federal government fulfills its obligation to properly vet the refugees and cooperate and consult with the state," Paxton said in a statement. 
 
 Declining to comment directly on the state's lawsuit, the International Rescue Committee in a statement noted that it has a long history of serving refugees in Texas. 
 
 "Refugees are victims of terror, not terrorists, and the families we help have always been welcomed by the people of Texas," the statement read. "The IRC acts within the spirit and letter of the law, and we are hopeful that this matter resolved soon." 
 
 Refugee resettlement in the United States is completely funded by the federal government, but the state is in charge of contracting with local nonprofit organizations and distributing federal dollars to those agencies. Texas also oversees health assistance to refugees through two federally funded programs. 
 
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 Three days after the Paris terrorist attacks that left 130 dead, Gov. Greg Abbott joined more than two dozen mostly Republican governors in vowing to bar Syrian refugees from their states. 
 
 But the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement last week warned Abbott and other governors that they do not have the power to reject Syrian refugees, telling them they would be breaking the law if they denied benefits or services to refugees based on their country of origin or religion. And the International Rescue Committee's Dallas branch informed the state it would continue aiding Syrian refugees placed in Texas despite Abbott’s orders. 
 
 Abbott and Paxton have cited concerns about security and the adequacy of refugee screening for their opposition. Resettlement leaders have reiterated that the security screening of refugees, administered by the U.S. Department of State, is a rigorous process that can take up to two years and includes background and biometric checks against intelligence databases. 
 
 At least 242 Syrian refugees have been resettled in Texas since 2012. That number is relatively small for Texas — a hotbed for refugee resettlement — but the count of Syrian refugees was expected to increase significantly in the next year as the United States prepares to take in as many as 10,000 Syrian refugees. 
 
 Abbott had directed resettlement nonprofits in Texas to halt the resettlement of any Syrian refugees last month. After the International Rescue Committee informed the state it was planning to resettle two families in Dallas in early December, the state warned the nonprofit that it was at risk of being sued or losing its state contract if it moved forward. 
 
 Reference Material ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid a growing political controversy, the Obama administration on Wednesday reminded state officials across the country that states do not have legal authority to refuse to accept Syrian refugees. 
 
 Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson listens at right as President Barack Obama speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015. Obama briefed the public on... (Associated Press) 
 
 The Office of Refugee Resettlement said in a letter to state resettlement officials that states may not deny benefits and services to refugees based on a refugee's country of origin or religious affiliation. 
 
 States that do not comply with the requirement would be breaking the law and could be subject to enforcement action, including suspension or termination of the federally funded program, according to the letter, signed by the director of the federal resettlement office, Robert Carey. 
 
 The letter came after more than two dozen governors, mostly Republicans, vowed to block efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in their states following the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. The governors said they fear that militants planning a terror attack could enter the country under the guise of seeking refuge from war-torn Syria. In the House, lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to erect higher hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refugees. 
 
 The Obama administration counters that the vetting process is thorough and can take up to two years. President Barack Obama has said the U.S. will remain a welcoming place for refugees from around the world. 
 
 The letter from the federal resettlement office said would-be refugees "are subject to the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States." The screening process is "multi-layered and intensive" and involves multiple law enforcement, national security and intelligence agencies across the federal government, the letter said. 
 
 A spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees refugee resettlement in the state, said the letter will not change the state's position of blocking Syrian refugees. 
 
 The commission will continue to follow the directive of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has called for Texas not to participate in the resettlement of Syrian refugees, said Bryan Black, a spokesman for the Texas commission. A spokesman for Abbott declined to comment. 
 
 The letter sent Wednesday, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, largely tracks with what legal experts have been saying since Abbott and other governors said they would not accept Syrian refugees due to security concerns fueled by terrorist attacks in Paris. Abbott has cited a specific part of the law that he says gives him authority to block Syrians, but experts largely have disagreed. 
 
 Roughly 2,200 Syrian refugees have been allowed in over the last four years. Obama has outlined a goal of bringing 10,000 more Syrian refugees to the U.S. during the current budget year. 
 
 The House bill would add a requirement for the Homeland Security secretary, along with the head of the FBI and the director of national intelligence, to certify that each refugee being admitted poses no security threat. 
 
 A spokeswoman in the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the resettlement office, said 49 states and the District of Columbia have refugee resettlement programs. Wyoming does not have a refugee resettlement program. 
 
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 Follow Matthew Daly: http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC ||||| Texas officials sue to block family of Syrian refugees set to arrive Friday 
 
 AUSTIN -- Texas state officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to keep out a family of Syrian refugees that have been given seats on an flight scheduled to arrive in Dallas from the Middle East on Friday. 
 
 The state Health and Human Services Commission filed the lawsuit in a Dallas-based federal court, arguing the risk of "irreparable injury" necessitated a temporary restraining order to block the move. 
 
 The state "possesses reasonable concerns about the safety and security of the citizenry of the State of Texas regarding these refugees that may seek resettlement within the State of Texas," according to the suit. 
 
 The move made Texas the first state in the country to sue to block Syrian refugees. 
 
 RELATED: Feds tell Texas resettlement agencies that state cannot block Syrians 
 
 Earlier, the state had threatened to sue the nonprofit coordinating the move, the International Rescue Committee, and demanded that the group not allow in the family until it provided an array of information about the background checks that were conducted. 
 
 Read the full lawsuit below. 
 
 The International Rescue Committee responded by saying it would move forward. 
 
 "We will continue to abide by the terms of our agreement and continue to resettle refugees, including Syrians, in Texas," the group wrote in a response to the health commission Wednesday. 
 
 The frantic back-and-forth marks a sharp escalation in the battle between the federal government and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has vowed to block all Syrians refugees due to security concerns. 
 
 RELATED: Dallas mayor says he fears white mass shooters more than Syrian refugees 
 
 The family set to arrive Friday -- a man named Tamman and his parents, wife and two young children -- currently are staying in Jordan and are planning to board a plane on Thursday with tickets purchased by the U.S. State Department, according to Anne Marie Weiss-Armush, an aid worker assisting with the move. 
 
 "It's kind of nerve-wrecking because it really is a test case," said Weiss-Armush, president of DFW International, a Dallas nonprofit that helps residents from other countries. "It's like, is Gov. Abbott going to meet them at the airport and send them away?" 
 
 DFW International already has obtained two apartments for the family on the border of Dallas and the northern suburb of Richardson, Weiss-Armush said. 
 
 RELATED: Texas to refugee groups: If you let in a Syrian, we might sue you 
 
 The International Rescue Committee already had drawn widespread media attention earlier this week when it was reported that the group had received the lawsuit threat over the Thanksgiving holiday. 
 
 Abbott, a Republican, is among more than 30 governors who have said they will block Syrian refugees due to security concerns inflamed by the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, which were carried out by terrorists with ties to the Syria-based Islamic State. 
 
 President Obama has stood by his plan to resettle up to 10,000 Syrian refugees in the United States, saying there are strict protocols and that turning them away would be un-American. Legal experts largely have agreed that the president has the power to place refugees directly with refugee resettlement agencies. 
 
 RELATED: Abbott says Texas has done more than its share on refugees 
 
 An Abbott spokesman said only that the governor "has been very clear on this issue and fully expects all agencies to comply with his directive." 
 
 The International Rescue Committee is among several refugee resettlement groups that have announced that they will not change its plans to resettle Syrian refugees, however. 
 
 In addition to Tamman's family, the group is working to resettle another family of Syrian refugees, spokeswoman Lucy Carrigan said Wednesday. That couple and their young children are expected in Texas next week, Carrigan said. 
 
 RELATED: Obama offers governors data on Syrian refugees 
 
 The spokeswoman added that the the family serving as the first test case has ties to another Syrian who was resettled here in February -- that man, Faez al Sharaa, 28, is Tamman's half-brother, she said. 
 
 Faez, who told TIME Magazine that he fled Syria in early 2013 after being detained at gunpoint, has been very happy in Texas, Weiss-Armush said. 
 
 "Like most of the Syrian refugees we serve, he works at Wal-Mart," Weiss-Armush said, although she added that he is looking for another job. "All he has ever asked me for is a job." ||||| DALLAS (AP) — On a sofa in their small apartment, Bashar al Jaddou's three children climb on his lap and speak in quick, soft Arabic as a photographer takes their picture. They smile and mug for the camera. 
 
 In this photo made Monday, Nov. 29, 2015, Syrian refugee Maryam al Jaddou, center, looks on as her children twins Maria, left, and Hasan, sit with her at their apartment in Dallas. The 30-year-old al... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo made Monday, Nov. 29, 2015, Syrian refugee Bashar al Jaddou, center, answers an interview question while sitting with his wife Maryam, second from left, and their children twins Maria, left,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo made Monday, Nov. 29, 2015, Syrian refugee Mohammad word al Jaddou, front, stands in front of his siblings twins Maria, right, and Hasan at their apartment in Dallas. The 30-year-old al... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Nov. 25, 2015 photo, Nabil Kalo, of Syria, talks with a reporter about his wife and four sons, who are living in Turkey waiting for a decision on their refugee applications in Richardson, Texas.... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Nov. 25, 2015 photo, Nabil Kalo of Syria, talks with a reporter about his wife and four sons, who are living in Turkey waiting for a decision on their refugee applications in Richardson, Texas.... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Nov. 25, 2015 photo, Nabil Kalo of Syria, prepares a pot of Turkish coffee in his apartment in Richardson, Texas. Kalo has a wife and four sons, who are living in Turkey waiting for a decision... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo made Monday, Nov. 29, 2015, Syrian refugee Bashar al Jaddou, second from right, poses for a photo with his wife Maryam, second from left, and their children twins Maria, left, Hasan, center,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Nov. 25, 2015 photo, Nabil Kalo of Syria, sits in the living room of his apartment as he talks with a reporter about his wife and four sons, who are living in Turkey waiting for a decision on... (Associated Press) 
 
 The 30-year-old al Jaddou decided to leave Syria in 2012 after his family's home in Homs was bombed and there was nowhere safe left to live. Five months after arriving in Dallas, he works at a local Wal-Mart and takes weekly trips to parks with his wife and children. 
 
 "We moved here because of our kids," he said through a translator. "We want a good future for them." 
 
 In the last five years, Texas has taken in more refugees than any other state, including 243 Syrians, according to the U.S. State Department. Two more families from Syria were to arrive in Dallas in the next 10 days, even as Texas continued to oppose their arrival. 
 
 After the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, which were linked to the Islamic State group, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican governors said they didn't want new Syrian refugees. But Texas has fought the hardest of any state, threatening one refugee aid group, the International Rescue Committee, with loss of funding and suing that organization as well as the U.S. government on Wednesday. 
 
 The IRC said earlier this week that it was "important not to conflate terrorists with the Syrian refugees who are seeking sanctuary in the United States," and vowed to continue its work. 
 
 Syrians, like all refugees, undergo rigorous screening, the federal government has said, and states lack the legal authority to block funding for such aid groups. In the weeks since the Paris attacks, about 200 Syrian refugees have settled in the U.S. — including in states whose governors resisted, according to the State Department. 
 
 Refugees in Texas have found a mixed reception — some residents have warmly welcomed them even as a series of incidents over the last year suggest growing anti-Muslim and anti-Syrian sentiment. 
 
 Two weeks ago, anti-Islam protesters carrying long guns marched outside a suburban Dallas mosque, and the protest organizer later posted the names and addresses of Muslims and "Muslim sympathizers" on Facebook. The organizer, David Wright, said in a Facebook interview that people who are afraid to oppose Islam publicly are part of a "fantasy that will come crashing down around them," and that "the Syrian refugees are part of that strategy." 
 
 The mosque protest in Irving followed the highly publicized case of a Muslim teenager, Ahmed Mohamed, who was arrested in the same town after bringing a homemade clock to school that a teacher feared was a bomb. He and his family moved out of Texas, and his attorneys have threatened to sue the city and school district. 
 
 And in May, a provocative Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in another Dallas suburb ended in gunfire when two Muslims who drove from Phoenix tried to storm the building and were killed by police. Many Muslims consider any depiction of Muhammad, revered in Islam as God's final prophet, to be offensive. 
 
 Following the Paris attacks, some state lawmakers also explicitly denounced Muslims and Syrian refugees. 
 
 Texas agriculture commissioner Sid Miller posted two photos on his Facebook page, one of snakes, the other of apparent refugees. "Can you tell me which of these rattlers won't bite you? Sure some of them won't, but tell me which ones so we can bring them into the house," he wrote. 
 
 Such rhetoric worries those who work with refugees and officials trying to help them. 
 
 "When you have this sort of political speech from the leaders in the state, and you have armed militias that stand outside mosques, it gives a powerful tool to those who wish to radicalize weak-minded, susceptible people," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, a Democrat and the county's top administrator. 
 
 He met recently with an 8-year-old Syrian girl and has said Dallas is open to taking in additional refugees. 
 
 The IRC planned to settle six Syrian refugees with relatives in Dallas later this week, and another family of four within the next 10 days. Volunteers have been collecting donated furniture and other supplies for an apartment for the first arrivals, said Hala Halabi, who works with the nonprofit Islamic Circle of North America. 
 
 Halabi said she had to assure one Syrian mother of five that she would not have to leave Texas. 
 
 "She was really, really scared," Halabi said. "They felt like they're going to deport them." 
 
 Al Jaddou's experience has been much different, however, and other Syrians agree. 
 
 Al Jaddou, who installed security cameras for a living in Syria, said he's found the United States to be a friendly, safe country. He showed off photos he's taken with people he met at parks and on the street. His children, two 4-year-old twins and a toddler, are "too young to feel what's going on." 
 
 Another Syrian refugee, 46-year-old Nabil Kalo, stocks shelves at Wal-Mart and sends checks back to his wife and four sons, who are living in Turkey waiting for a decision on their refugee applications. 
 
 The former electrical engineer shares an apartment in northeast Dallas with two other Syrians, one a former graduate student, the other a former pharmacist who has spoken to the United Nations about a mass killing he witnessed in his hometown outside Damascus. 
 
 They live in a lower-income complex of multinational residents, where many other recent arrivals live. Others are resettled in the nearby suburb of Richardson. 
 
 Kalo worries about growing apart from his sons, ages 4 to 14, and hopes his family can soon join him. But he's thankful for the opportunity to support them from afar and said he has not encountered any problems with neighbors or people he meets. 
 
 "American people are really helpful people," he said. "Really. I feel that, and I see that." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Reese Dunklin in Dallas and Emily Schmall in Fort Worth contributed to this report.
– Texas could suffer "irreparable injury" if three generations of a family that fled the Syrian civil war are allowed to fly to Dallas from Jordan on Friday, according to the state's lawyers. Texas has filed a lawsuit to prevent the refugees—a man named Tamman, his wife, their two young children, and his parents—from being resettled in the state, reports the Houston Chronicle. The lawsuit, which names the federal government as well as the International Rescue Committee nonprofit, says state officials have not been consulted about the resettlement or given enough information on background checks, the Texas Tribune reports. Texas is one of around 30 states trying to block Syrian refugees, which President Obama says they don't have the legal authority to do. Texas first threatened the lawsuit days ago, arguing that under federal law, the resettlement group is required to cooperate with the state. Aid worker Anne Marie Weiss-Armush tells the Chronicle that two Dallas-area apartments have already been obtained for the family, who have a relative that was resettled in Texas earlier this year and now works at Walmart. "It's kind of nerve-wrecking because it really is a test case," she says. "It's like, is Gov. Abbott going to meet them at the airport and send them away?" The AP reports that Texas has taken in 243 Syrians over the last five years, and the IRC plans to bring in another family of four next week. "Refugees are victims of terror, not terrorists, and the families we help have always been welcomed by the people of Texas," the group said in a statement. "The IRC acts within the spirit and letter of the law, and we are hopeful that this matter is resolved soon."