Here & Now

Look Ahead: Refugee Program Director On Trump Order

Frederica Freyberg:

President Donald Trump says his administration is writing a new executive order on travel bans that is tailored to address the court decision that blocked it. Tonight, we hear from a group trying to help refugees who are caught in the middle of presidential action on travel into the U.S. Mary Flynn oversees immigrant and refugee programs for Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Thanks very much for being here.

Mary Flynn:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

So as we’ve just described, the president says that he will issue a new executive order sometime early next week having to do with this travel ban. But in the midst of all of this, what has been the impact of this ban on your organization and the people you serve?

Mary Flynn:

Well, the impact has been two-fold. First of all, as of January 27 there was a great deal of uncertainty put into our work and that is that there was a complete halt of refugee arrivals for at least 120 days. Every arrival who comes to the United States and comes to a resettlement agency, we receive a relatively small amount of funding to serve the refugees. And that’s what we pay staff with and pay rent and operations. So that income stream has effectively been cut off for the time being. The other thing that’s happened has been really positive and we’ve seen this happen again and again. When there is an outpouring of what appears to be national sentiment against immigration and refugee resettlement, actually the community steps up in a really big way. So we’re seeing a great outpouring of support and concern and volunteering and donations. So very positive.

Frederica Freyberg:

What number of people did you have that you were helping to resettle that might have been coming from some of these countries that were pinpointed in this executive order that might have had to not arrive as scheduled?

Mary Flynn:

We actually get about two-weeks notice before a case arrives. So as of the date of the executive order, we were expecting upwards of about 30 people to arrive. So that effectively stopped. We were particularly concerned about one young man who was from the Sudan and he was 24 years old and had been in the camps for already six years. So, you know, he had arrived there at age 18, which tells me that he was probably in flight for a very long time, fleeing. And he was also alone. So who knows what happened to his family. He was probably a very young boy when he had to flee for his life. And he was supposed to arrive on the Monday after the executive order. So he was literally in transit on the way to the airplane when the executive order took hold, and his travel was cancelled at that time. So that was just one of the examples that we have of people that really needed to be here and were stopped.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you know what his status is now, or is he back in the camp, or what happened to the people who were in transit or very soon going to be in transit that were turned back?

Mary Flynn:

Once again, there’s been a lot of instability, uncertainty. So we really are making efforts to cautiously and thoughtfully do our work each day. A week after the executive order took place, a court put a hold on it for a while. And so the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration, also known as PRM reinstituted all of the valid visas and travel that was already scheduled. So there’s a happy ending to this, because he was the first person to arrive.

Frederica Freyberg:

Oh.

Mary Flynn:

And he arrived about a week ago. The other 30 people we were expecting to receive have also arrived. But that’s been very changing thing for our office. Are they coming? Are they not coming? Yes, they are. Are we sure? And so they have. But we have no further travel scheduled for anybody in the near future.

Frederica Freyberg:

Especially because it’s unknown exactly what the new executive order on this might say.

Mary Flynn:

Yes.

Frederica Freyberg:

And so these people that were turned back or held but then arrived, what is their demeanor now, now that they’re here, and what did they describe that was like, that uncertainty?

Mary Flynn:

We are really lucky to welcome people to the United States, because when they arrive, they are so grateful to be here and they are so excited about the opportunity of the United States. Part of our job is to really set forth a new life for them, help them take their next steps. We don’t really ask them a lot of questions about what they’ve been through, and we actually have no influence on pre- arrival anyway. So we really want to help them maybe put that hardship and hard feelings behind them and really be hopeful, because that’s why they came here. They often will tell us what happened. But that will take a few days for that to come out. So we haven’t heard any stories quite yet.

Frederica Freyberg:

Just very briefly, with less than 30 seconds left, how well-vetted were these people that arrived?

Mary Flynn:

Extremely well-vetted. They go through a preliminary vetting process when they register with the U.N. Again when they’re put on a travel list for any country in the world and again, once again, that very thorough, comprehensive vetting when they reach the United States travel list and before they’re allowed into the United States.

Frederica Freyberg:

We need to leave it there. Mary Flynn, thanks very much.

Mary Flynn:

Thank you.