Nov 22, 2016 — The Utica experiment is a decades-long effort to bring refugees from around the world to central New York. Local government leaders and advocates and many immigrants say it's been a success, stabilizing the population in Utica and sparking economic growth.

But the program has come under fire from conservatives. There are big questions now about what happens to Muslim refugees and families once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Mohamed Gabril, age 22, works at a Somali grocery in Utica. He's a refugee who became an American citizen. He's convinced that the U.S. Constitution will protect him from any severe backlash once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. "Living in America is not so bad, it's pretty good," he said. Photo: Brian Mann

Helping refugees from a war-torn world adapt to America

Shelly Callahan runs the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees. Photo: Brian Mann

Shelly Callahan looked in on a class of refugees studying that most mysterious of skills, how to drive on icy roads in Upstate New York. "Looks like they're getting winter driving tips," she said.  

For decades, this is the kind of thing Utica’s refugee resettlement experiment focused on, the nuts and bolts of moving thousands of people from crisis to some kind of stability. That meant jobs, housing, and transportation.

But President-elect Donald Trump changed all that during the campaign, recasting Muslim immigrants as a danger to America, importing terror and crime. "I’m putting the people on notice that are coming here from Syria as part of this mass migration, that if I win, if I win they’re going back. They’re going back, I’m telling you. They’re going back."

President-elect Donald Trump told supporters he would change America's refugee policies

What now?

Utica is a rust belt city that has tied its fortunes to refugee resettlement.

Donald Trump, obviously, did win. Callahan, who runs the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, said she’s not sure what happens next, but she’s worried. and is watching warily for what she describes as danger signs. "I think if he were to decrease the number of refugees that the U.S. takes in. If he uses religion or some other measure as some litmus test for entry, if he starts deporting people."

In the weeks since the election, Trump’s advisors have floated the idea of re-instating a registry for immigrants and refugees coming from specific countries, most of them Muslim.

A document revealed inadvertently this week by a member of the president-elect’s transition team described “extreme” vetting measures for what it described as “high-risk aliens.” The questions focused on things like Islamic Sharia law and jihad. The document also suggested reducing the number of Syrian refugees allowed into the US to zero. These are the kinds of ideas that frighten people here in Utica. 

Watching nervously from Bleecker Street

Bleecker Street in Utica was once an Italian business district. Now it’s a mix of Bosnian, Iraqi, Somali and Vietnamese, a neighborhood transformed by Utica’s forty-year effort to attract refugees. In a Somali grocery, asked about how the President-elect’s views of Muslim refugees, the men fell into a quiet debate. 

Given the uncertainty following the election and a rash of hate crimes across the U.S., they weren’t sure it’s safe to talk to a reporter. But Mohamed Gabril, who’s 22 has lived here most of his life. He’s an American citizen and decided to speak.

"What concerns me is the way he sees Muslim people. He thinks all Muslims are terrorists. I heard him saying something about the Somali population when he was in Minnesota, I think, and that’s pretty offensive. You know?"

Trump spoke often about Somali refugees during the campaign, suggesting that new immigrants are being imposed on rural communities that don’t want them. "They’re coming from among the most dangerous territories and countries anywhere in the world. Right? A practice which has to be, has to stop, has to stop," Trump insisted.

Refugees are already vetted far more aggressively than other immigrants to the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of refugee immigrants have entered the U.S. over the last fifteen years — many from Muslim countries — without causing disruptions or violence.

Critics of the refugee program point to rare cases of criminal behavior. A Bosnian immigrant from Utica was arrested last year for allegedly aiding another man who was trying to support ISIS. That case is still pending.

Counting on the Constitution

Mohamed Gabril, the grocer, was skeptical that Trump’s warnings about refugees will change life for Muslims already living here. "Being in the United States, having the Constitution backing us up, I don’t think he can do anything like that anyway."

Gabril also questioned whether Trump plans to follow through with policies targeting Muslims: "He probably just said it just to get those ignorant people out there in the United States that think Muslims are terrible people out there to get their votes. And it worked, I guess, for him," he said.

You hear this a lot in Utica, a debate over how much of Trump’s campaign talk about refugees will be translated into actual policy. But there’s also growing talk of resisting federal changes that might derail the Utica experiment.

"What happens throughout the country, I can’t control," said Mayor Robert Palmieri. "We certainly can control what happens in Utica New York. I don’t think you’ll see anything differently that where we are at this point. We’re a very warm community.

In a speech on Sunday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo echoed that idea, saying that his government would resist policies targeting Muslim immigrants and promising that New York will establish new legal protections for refugees and immigrants. 

Governor Cuomo promises to defend immigrants and refugees in New York

While it’s still unclear how this will all move forward and what tensions will grow between policy-makers in Washington and refugee resettlement programs here in New York, some advocates in Utica say one impact is already being felt.

"One very important vital part to resettlement here is acquiring jobs," said Chris Sunderlin, who runs the Midtown Utica Community Center, part of the support network for immigrants here. 

He said many of the businesses that hire Bosnians, Somalis and Syrians are located in small towns around Utica. Those business owners are hearing troubling messages about refugees from the President-elect and conservative media. "Their perception of immigrants and refugees is definitely affected by what’s being shown on Fox News," he said. 

Sunderlin thinks Utica is a place where people will rally around the generations of Muslim refugees and immigrants who have settled here. He said, "You know as soon as they start making Muslims register, we’re going to be registering. We’re not Muslim, but we’ll be wearing the crescent along with everyone else."