RUTLAND — The leader of a statewide refugee resettlement program said seven Syrian families have been cleared to come live in Rutland by the end of September.
That’s three more families than officials said had been projected earlier this month.
They would join two other Syrian families that arrived in the city in January, ahead of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump that cast doubt about the status of the refugee resettlement program in Rutland.
A presidential order suspended the program for 120 days and reduced the overall number of refugees allowed into the country. However, the order is being challenged through federal courts around the country.
Amila Merdzanovic, Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program executive director, spoke Tuesday in Rutland at the annual meeting of local and state officials and service providers.
“This meeting comes around once a year,” Merdzanovic said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s an annual consultation with stakeholders in preparation for the next federal fiscal year looking at the reception and placement of new arrivals.”
At the meeting, Merdzanovic said, it was reported that seven additional Syrian refugee families have been “assured” to be resettled in the city.
“Assuring a case basically shows our commitment to receive a family or individual,” she said, “but we don’t know exactly when they would be arriving. We get one to two weeks’ travel notification.”
She said those seven families, each with an average of 5.3 people, are expected to arrive before the end of the federal fiscal year, Sept. 30.
Rutland Mayor David Allaire was among those at the stakeholders meeting Tuesday.
He said with litigation pending over Trump’s executive orders, he’s not sure if the families that have been “assured” are definitely coming.
“Until there’s resolution at that level, I’m not sure what happens,” the mayor said Wednesday. “There’s families that have been identified as in the pipeline. … That could mean eight months from now, that could mean a year from now.”
He added, “I didn’t walk away from the meeting thinking there was anything imminent at all.”
Merdzanovic said she is optimistic that even with litigation ongoing regarding the executive orders, the process in Rutland will continue to move forward. She pointed out that refugees are still arriving for resettlement in Chittenden County.
Those attending the meeting also addressed plans regarding the future of the resettlement program in the city.
“We also talked about the upcoming fiscal year, in terms of what we were proposing for new arrivals,” Merdzanovic said. “We are proposing the same number as this year, 100 individuals.”
The plan this year had called for up to 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugees to resettle in the city by Sept. 30, about a year after the city had been designated a resettlement site by the U.S. Department of State.
However, Trump’s executive orders and the resulting legal challenges stalled that effort.
The proposal for resettling 100 refugees in the city next fiscal year, Merdzanovic said, would mean about 25 families, or roughly two families arriving in the city each month.
“That’s a nice flow,” she said.
She said the two families that arrived in Rutland in January have adjusted well to life in Vermont.
“They’re happy,” she said. “They are working, the kids are in school and thriving.”
