WNCN | Local refugee advocates consider implication of travel ban ruling

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Organizations that help refugees settle in the United States are considering the implications of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a part of President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

CBS North Carolina sat down with the director of World Relief Durham Wednesday to talk about what happens next for them, and the families they help.

World Relief Durham is one of nine national agencies that works directly with the federal government to help vetted immigrants settle in the U.S.

“We’re receiving refugees from the state department and we provide a few months of services to get them on their feet,” said Director Adam Clark.

Clark says each year they help around 300 refugees settle into the Triangle.

According to federal records, North Carolina has received just over 1,800 in the last year from countries like Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Iran, Yemen and Syria; five of six countries included in Trump’s travel ban.

“Families who were waiting to see if their family would get to travel, if they would be reunited with family members or loved ones no longer have that window of hope,” said Clark.

World Relief Durham makes a commitment to help people moving from other countries.

According to a ruling last week by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, that pledge is enough to allow immigrants from the six banned countries.

But U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy struck down that ruling, re-instating Trump’s original ban.

“There’s a lot of fear and it brings up a lot of past pain I think for a lot of them, because they’ve come from situations where their government was not welcoming of them,” said Clark.

If the Court of Appeals’ ruling had been upheld, it would have made some 24,000 additional immigrants eligible to come to America.

Clark says those people and his organization are now waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to officially take up the travel ban on October 10.

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