Trump order 'devastating' to local refugees

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order for "extreme vetting" that temporarily halted the flow of refugees to the U.S., a move that was met with dismay and anxiety in Louisville’s large refugee community, whose growth stood to be sharply curtailed.

It banned refugee admissions from Syria indefinitely and included a 120-day pause on all refugees admissions until new procedures can be developed. It also contained a 90-day entry ban on immigration from countries with ties to terrorism that several media outlets including the New York Times and Reuters reported would affect citizens of Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia.

“I am establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States,” said Trump, who made the threat of terrorists posing as Syrian refugees part of his election campaign and also on Friday slashed the overall planned fiscal 2017 intake of refugees from 100,000 to 50,000.

The move, criticized by immigrant and civil rights groups, reverberated Friday in Louisville and Kentucky. Since 2011 alone, the state has resettled about 4,028 refugees from Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Iran and Syria, according to the Kentucky Office for Refugees. Among all refugees, Kentucky last year took in more than double the national average of refugees per 100,000 residents. Louisville has large Iraqi and Somali communities.

►RELATED: Meyzeek teens talk election with French peers

At the Masjid Bilal Islamic Center in West Louisville Friday afternoon, dozens of refugees from Somalia, Syria and Iraq gathered for prayer on green carpeting. They said many were now cut off from ailing or impoverished family members who were trying to join them in the U.S. They told of relatives who had left camps and given away belongings to travel to the U.S. would be left in dire need. Others worried about what some called an atmosphere of “Islamophobia" for those already here.

"It is devastating," said Abanur Saidi, chairman of the mosque who also works with refugees for Catholic Charities and who is among thousands of Somalis in the Louisville region. "These are people that don't have anything to do with terrorism. They are victims of terror, that's why they are leaving their country."

Many of the state’s nearly 450 Syrian refugees resettled since 2011, who became the face of a larger debate about refugees and terrorism, have similar worries about being cut off from family members in refugee camps and scraping by in cities in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The war in Syria has killed more than 400,000 and forced more than 11 million people from their homes, fueling a massive refugee crisis is the Middle East and Europe. Syrians have been subject to high levels of vetting because of the presence of ISIS in that country.

“They shouldn’t close the gates,” Mohamad Alraghban, 30, who came 11 months ago to Louisville after fleeing Aleppo, where he lost a brother to government bombing, said last week.

Last year, the Obama administration ramped up resettlements of Syrians to nearly 13,000, after taking little more than 1,800 from 2012 to 2015. Despite the increase, that’s relatively few compared to countries like Germany and Canada. During the last budget year, the U.S. accepted 84,995 refugees.

The order also included a new policy that states and localities should have a say in determining whether refugees can resettle there, the Washington Post reported.

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, who in 2015 said was joining other governors in "opposing the resettlement of Syrian nationals until we can better determine the full extent of any risks to our citizens," did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

►SEE ALSO: 'Save My Care' bus tour to stop in Louisville

Advocates argue that fears of inadequate vetting and deadly terrorism in the U.S. from such refugees is overblown. The U.S. State Department has said that refugee screening takes up to 12 to 18 months and is among the strictest for any immigrant. A recent study by a UNC-Charlotte professor found that attacks by Muslims accounted for only one-third of one percent of all murders in America last year.

Others said they worried the new Trump directive would be counter-productive.

“This policy seems to be directed at the Muslims – and I’m really concerned that this decision will strengthen terrorists and extremist groups, they will have more material to brainwash people that America is against Islam,” Mohammad Babar, a Muslim leader in Louisville.

Trump, in an interview Friday, also said he would prioritize persecuted Christians from the Middle East in deciding who to admit as a refugee, The Washington Post reported.

On Friday, those at the Bilal mosque were signing a petition organized by a coalition of refugee groups seeking to get 10,000 signatures before a planned rally next month in Frankfort. Leaders are urging supporters to write letters to legislators. Meantime, the Louisville Muslim Community and a coalition of groups said they would host an event Saturday to highlight the importance of dialogue and consider grassroots actions in the face of what they called "increasing Islamaphobia" and other issues.

Also Saturday, a “We Welcome Refugees” gathering was being planned by the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky at Church of the Advent, 901 Baxter Ave, Louisville, at 1 p.m. They planned to walk down the street to Kentucky Refugee Ministries' offices in a show of support, according to a Facebook post.

►READ MORE: Controversial Jessamine road project to begin

“Our president is trying to divide us,” said Farhan Abdi, executive director of Muslim Americans for Compassion. He said refugees and immigrants are “doctors, teachers, lawyers, business owners, factory workers" who will "keep fighting to keep America welcoming.”

Mayor Greg Fischer's spokesman this week said that city "recognizes the value of increasing our diversity and the many contributions that immigrants, including refugees, make in our city. We’re also proud of the work that our city’s refugee resettlement agencies do every day."

Wenda Fischer is a church volunteer who has helped many Syrian families settle into apartments provided by groups like Catholic Charities and Kentucky Refugee Ministries, who also help them find jobs and learn English. She recalled refugee programs shutting down for a time after the 9/11 terror attacks and hoped that this, too, would pass.

“Having lived through that, hopefully it’s cyclical and the pendulum is going to swing back eventually,” she said. “The minute Trump was elected … I knew it was going to be an uphill battle. So I’m sort of resigned."

Reporter Chris Kenning can be reached at ckenning@courier-journal.com or 502-396-3361