Maine refugees fear permanent separation from families under Trump
President Donald Trump’s plan to suspend the flow of refugees to the United States has refugees already settled in Maine fearful they will be separated indefinitely from their family members still living abroad, the Portland Press Herald reports.
The president signed executive actions Wednesday to move forward with the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and cut federal funding to sanctuary cities, which refuse to obey federal requests to turn over undocumented immigrants for possible deportation.
On Thursday, Trump is expected to halt the arrival of all refugees to the U.S.
Anna Welch, who is the head of the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic at the University of Maine School of Law, told the Press Herald the president’s actions are confirming the community’s fears that they will be permanently separated from loved ones still living overseas.
“It could be any day that some of the family members could literally die,” she told the newspaper. “They’re horrified.”
Faysal Kalayf, who arrived in the United States as a refugee from Iraq 10 years ago, told the Press Herald his family has been stranded in Jordan for three years and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever see them again.
“I do have four brothers and my mother waiting to be admitted, but I don’t think this will happen with the new president,” Kalayf told the paper.
More than 3,200 refugees were resettled in Maine by the federal government between 2011 and 2016, according to the Press Herald. A spokeswoman for Catholic Charities, which administers the local resettlements, told the newspaper 623 people, most of whom are originally from Iraq and Somalia, are scheduled to settle in Maine in 2017.
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