President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January calling for a 120 day halt to the resettlement program. Syria was included on the list of countries affected by that order. Also, the number of refugees allowed into the country in the 2016 fiscal year was reduced from 110,000 to 50,000.
The order was initially blocked by lower courts. Last month the Supreme Court allowed Trump’s executive order to remain in place, including the part involving refugees. Exceptions were provided for those who have close family relationships, as well as business or education connections to people or organizations in the United States.
After the cap of 50,000 refugees allowed into the country this federal fiscal year is reached, estimated to be sometime next week, the new rules will be implemented.
And that has led to the uncertainty for the initiative in Rutland, especially over what constitutes for a refugee a “bona fide” connection to a person or organization. It’s not clear if a refugee’s connection with a resettlement program is enough to allow that person into the country.
The implications of the federal ruling for the city are unclear. Representatives with the resettlement program did not return calls this week seeking comment, and city officials say they aren’t sure now what is happening, or what will happen, to the effort that stirred months of heated debate in Rutland.
“It was an uncertain situation before the Supreme Court decision,” Rutland City Alderman William Notte, a supporter of the resettlement effort, said Friday. “Their decision, especially how it was worded, has thrown even more confusion into the process.”
Rutland City Mayor David Allaire, who opposed the resettlement initiative in his campaign for office earlier this year, said Friday that he isn’t aware how the process will play out from here.
“I don’t know anything more than anybody else,” the mayor said. “As far as I know we’re in a holding pattern.”
When then-Mayor Christopher Louras’ announced in April 2016 the refugee resettlement initiative in Rutland strong debate followed. One group, Rutland Welcomes, formed to support the effort, and another, Rutland First, opposed it.
Louras since {lost his reelection bid} to Allaire, then a city alderman, in March. Louras blamed his support for the refugee resettlement program for his defeat.
Louras the day after: ‘I got smoked’
Last September, before the mayoral election, the U.S. State Department selected Rutland as a Syrian and Iraqi refugee resettlement site, with 100 refugees expected to arrive by the end of this federal fiscal year, Sept. 30.
However, after only two Syrian families made it to Rutland, the program was put on hold by executive orders issued by President Donald Trump shortly after taking office. The orders have been tied up in court ever since.
In June, another Syrian family did arrive in the city. The three Syrian families now residing in the city total 14 refugees, including eight children.
Before the Supreme Court action, at a meeting last month of the Rutland Rutland Refugee and Immigrant Service Providers Network it was announced that eight additional refugee families had been “assured,” or cleared, to travel and arrive in Rutland. Those eight families totaled 46 people, including 30 children.
That would bring the total number of refugees in the Rutland to 60, adding in the 14 who had previously arrived.
However, in an email recapping that meeting sent late last week to Allaire as well as members of that provider network, Denise Lamoureux, state refugee coordinator, wrote, “As of 6/30/17, this needs to be updated taking into consideration the Supreme Court decision. However, we have no further information at this time.”
Lamoureux sent a short email response Friday to a call seeking comment on the resettlement effort in Vermont in light of the Supreme Court’s recent order.
“We have received no further information or guidance from the federal authorities,” she wrote, referring further comment to Stacie Blake, director of government and community relations at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Blake did not return a call this week seeking comment.
Notte, the city alderman, said the many twists and turns regarding refugee resettlement, from when the initiative was first announced more than a year ago to the more recent executive orders and court rulings, have left Rutlanders wondering what’s going to happen next.
“I think both sides, quite frankly, people who support refugees coming and people who feel that it’s a bad idea, I think the process has left both sides a little punch drunk,” he said. “Neither side is quite certain that it’s going to be the result they want.”
Allaire, who took office in March, said refugee resettlement program officials will notify him about a week before the arrival of any new refugees into the city.
“As far I know,” he said Friday, “that hasn’t changed.”
