Seven refugee families from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Eritrea are currently in the pipeline to settle in Delaware.
The state of Hawaii’s stay on Trump’s second travel ban suspends the FY17 cap for refugees – currently set at 50,000.
That opens the door for refugee families from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Eastern African country of Eritrea in line to come to the First State, but none of them have travel plans in place yet.
Jewish Family Services of Delaware Refugee Resettlement Coordinator Sarah Green says that currently, the families are stuck in Jordan and Ethiopia.
“It’s hard to know what’s happening," Green said. "We just have to wait and see. We get a very limited view of what’s happening over there.”
She says her agency is taking the approach that these families could arrive any day – and working to ensure they’ll be comfortable when they reach Delaware.
“We’ve been building new relationships and just functioning under the assumption that we’re going to get some new families soon," Green said.
There’s reason to expect they could arrive soon. According to the U.S. State Department, 900 flights for refugees to the U.S. are being scheduled every week.
Green has reached out to local families who speak Tigrinya – the official language of Eritrea - since she says they’ve never resettled a family from that country before.
“As an agency, especially with the way things are going, if we’re allotted a case, we just want to do everything we can not to say no," she said.
The9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the Trump administration’s challenge to that ruling on Monday. The 4th Circuit heard the administration’s appeal of a similar Maryland travel ban decision earlier this week, but has yet to rule.
