Montana immigration experts say their work is under siege following President Donald Trump’s growing list of immigration-related executive orders and policy changes.
Soft Landing Missoula, a local nonprofit providing supportive services for hundreds of people from over 30 countries, held a briefing Thursday to outline the impacts of these sweeping changes.
Executive Director Mary Poole says it’s taking a significant psychological and emotional toll on local refugee families.
“Even those refugee families here with some of those more durable statuses, less vulnerable, they are still trying to piece together what’s going on for them and also piecing together what’s going on with their families abroad that were on their way here and now are not,” Poole says.
Among some of the latest changes: refugee arrivals to Missoula have been halted, including family reunification cases. Refugees in Missoula with temporary protective statuses could now be deported. Federal funding to assist newly arrived refugees with basic services is also threatened or suspended outright.
Advocates say they’ll continue to offer immigrants and refugees financial and legal assistance during these changes whenever possible.
