A refugee outreach organization that helps families settle in the Gainesville area will stop that aspect of its work as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to slash funding for refugee resettlement.
“Gainesville has a long history of standing up for those being oppressed,” said former Gainesville mayor Lauren Poe. “But we are no longer doing refugee work.”
Poe is the president of the Greater Gainesville International Center, a refugee outreach organization that provides various services to international families seeking to settle in the Gainesville area.
On Trump’s first day as president, he signed an executive order called “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program.” The order states that the U.S. “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans.”
That order, along with a stop work order that halted all federal funding for services for refugees in the United States, have put Poe and his nonprofit’s refugee resettlement program on hold.
Refugee resettlement groups have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration to protect their funding, and a recent decision by the Supreme Court could allow groups like the Greater Gainesville International Center to recover some federal funds for its resettlement services issued after the stop work order.
But the International Center may not get that money back.
“A lot of the work we’ve been preparing for and executing over the last 18 months has stopped overnight,” Poe said.
Poe said he disagrees with many of the actions taken at the federal level, including Trump’s comments that he’s “looking at” revoking temporary legal status for 240,000 Ukrainians.
“In four years, there will be someone new in the Oval Office,” Poesaid. “I hope whoever that is sees the value in being a beacon of light to the rest of the world.”
One of the Greater Gainesville International Center’s responsibilities is supplying refugees with a home-cooked meal upon entering the United States.
Sara Puyana, 43, a member of Gainesville’s Downtown Advisory Board and owner of La Cocina de Abuela and two other area restaurants, said she shares Poe’s sentiment.
Puyana said she is motivated by her Colombian roots and feels obligated to help locals and foreigners alike.
In January, right before Trump’s inauguration, Cocina de Abuela collaborated with the Greater Gainesville International Center to provide home-cooked meals to a Venezuelan family of five.
This was the final effort the International Center made toward the refugee community in Gainesville.
“It feels like our own way of giving back, feeding life into the community,” she said.
Puyana said she supports the Gainesville area by helping ensure it remains a “safe place to live” for refugees.
“But the wrong people are in charge,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like a safe place anymore, and we’re seeing the changes already.”
Dalyla Santos, 40, founding attorney at the Santos Law Offices PA, said she sees firsthand the effects of the federal government’s new agenda for refugee resettlement.
“So many of our clients are constantly calling us, very scared for their family and friends,” Santos said.
Santos, a Cuban native, said she’s very concerned about the 600,000 Venezuelan nationals who will be stripped of their Temporary Protected Status, but noted that legal challenges have been filed against their deportation.
While the threat of more mass deportation looms, Puyana, Santos and Poe said they worry their efforts may be for naught.
Poe said he believes it’s important to keep International Center’s promise to Gainesville’s international community. On the program’s website, its mission states: “To celebrate, elevate and empower our diverse international community and to better connect Gainesville with the rest of the world.”
“I’m still trying to remain hopeful,” Puyana said.