A Resettlement Mission Upended by the Sweep of a Presidents Pen

[elleng]

The Church World Service has guided many immigrants to Lancaster, Pa. How
can it function, though, after an executive order closing the nation to refugees?

LANCASTER, Pa. — They knew it was coming, of course. But they did not quite believe it, even after watching a broadcast of the signing from their cramped offices. Not until reading the text did they fully accept that their humanitarian work had been halted by executive order of the president of the United States.

Banned, if you will.

The Jan. 27 order abruptly closed the nation to refugees, upending the central mission of resettlement for the Lancaster office of the Church World Service, among other groups. So, that night, one staff member sought music to shout out his thoughts. Another, an Iraqi immigrant, endured a nightmare about federal agents coming to take him away.

And the office’s longtime director, Sheila Mastropietro, 62, found herself having a rare argument with her husband, who had voted for the order’s executor, President Trump.

Their marriage is safe; her husband supports her life’s work, and considers this presidential action a mistake. But Ms. Mastropietro knew what awaited her: budget cuts, layoffs and the anguish of dashed hopes.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/us/lancaster-refugees-trump-travel-ban.html?

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

1. When people say not to let politics interfere with family, this is the sort of thing I think of.

"Politics" is not some abstract concept. There are consequences.

The husband who "considers this presidential action a mistake," had every warning that this was one of the many "mistakes" this pResident would make.