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Executive order blocks refugees planning to resettle in Charlotte

By Brittney Johnson, wsoctv.com
By Brittney Johnson, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Donald Trump’s executive order impacts more than 30 refugees who were vetted and cleared to settle here in Charlotte.

Eyewitness News learned the vast majority are from countries not included in the president's ban, but rather are from Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and Nepal.

Refugee resettlement groups have been preparing to welcome some families as soon as this week, and now it could be months before some of these families are reunited.

Bhutanese refugee Man Tamang has waited more than three years for his daughter, Prem Tamang, who is a single mother, to travel from a refugee camp in Nepal to Charlotte.

"I had a hope she would come here any day, any moment," Tamang said through translator and case worker Thakur Mishra.

Tamang's daughter's flight was supposed to arrive Feb. 16, but early Monday morning the family learned it had been canceled.

"It's frustrating. I'm really sad," Tamang said.

Prem is their final relative waiting to join her entire family of Bhutanese refugees, and now she's one of 30 refugees coming through Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency who are being blocked due to the president's executive order.

The order put the entire refugee resettlement program on hold for 120 days.

"It is adding extra burdens and extra pains on refugees across the world," Mishra said.

David Hains, director of communications for the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, told Channel 9 the diocese has apartments waiting for two families who were set to arrive this week but who are no longer coming due to the executive order. One family is from Syria and the other is from Somalia.

"We are very disappointed at the presidential order and we are strongly opposed to closing our doors," Hains said.

Tamang worries that during the four-month wait, his daughter's security clearance could expire and the process could take even longer.

"I really wish that the U.S. government brings her here as soon as possible," Tamang said.

Mishra says Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency has received an outpouring of support, donations and offers of employment for the refugees from people in Charlotte.

Hains said the Catholic Diocese has a lobbying group that is trying to work out solutions with the Trump administration in Washington, D.C.

Local groups who help refugees left scrambling after president’s executive order

The Catholic Diocese of Charlotte was preparing to help three refugee families settle in the Charlotte area, but the president’s controversial executive order has changed that.

President Donald Trump’s order on Friday places restrictions on immigration to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries for a three-month period. The order also bans all refugee admissions for 120 days. It also bans Syrian refugees from entering the country indefinitely, and cuts the U.S. refugee quota for 2017 by more than half.

The diocese told Channel that two of the families will no longer be coming to the U.S.

Coverage of the president's executive order: 

Director of communications David Hains said the church is very disappointed the executive order puts the refugee resettlement process on hold for four months.

The diocese helps an average of 400 refugees a year get acclimated to life in Charlotte after years of living in war zones.

“You’re almost where you want to be and where you’ve dreamed of being for years and literally the door is closed in your face,” Hains said. “On a personal level, you can understand the anguish these people are going through.”

The diocese has a contract with the State Department where the government sends refugees that have already been vetted.

The church agrees that safety is critical. It has a lobbying group in Washington hoping to work toward a long-term solution with the Trump administration.

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