HELENA — The Helena Area Refugee Resettlement Team (HARRT) is continuing to work with other non-profits to fulfill the promise of refugees with Special Immigration Visas to resettle in the United States despite a new administration.
"Our goal is to resettle refugees that are fully vetted by the International Office of Migration and several U.S. agencies to resettle in the United States and here in Helena," HARRT director Valerie Hellermann said.
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Since HARRT's start, it has welcomed and settled 17 refugee families from across the globe with nine of those families still residing in Helena.
The community gained two new families from Qatar and Islamabad last week and worked with the U.S. government through Special Immigration Visas.
"The issue with these folks with this kind of visa because of their work with the U.S. government and the government's promise to take care of them, if they get repatriated, it is literally a death sentence for them," Hellermann says.
Another concern is expectations of a Trump administration travel ban that would impact Afghans entering the United States.
"The new administration has not only canceled refugee resettlement across the board but it has also rescinded all financial help. So we as a nonprofit, we no longer get any money to help resettle refugees," Hellermann says.
A federal judge on Monday ordered the administration to reinstate agreements with refugee resettlement agencies.
Hands on Global and HARRT are grateful for the community's continued help and need it more than ever.
"The community continues to support these folks with helping them with jobs, and teaching them English, and giving them friendships," Hellermann says.
HAART anticipates one more refugee family joining before the possible travel ban begins.
If you would like to support refugee families in the Helena Area you can donate here.
