The Trump administration is creating significant challenges for organizations that support refugees, including local non-profit organization Utah Valley Refugees.
The purpose of Utah Valley Refugees is to assist refugees in their journey to become self-reliant. The organization does this by helping refugees find housing, employment, and health care.
The Trump Administration signed an executive order on the first day the president took office to suspend funding for refugee resettlement agencies.
Nonprofits like Utah Valley Refugees said they find themselves in a state of uncertainty.
"So right now, we are on surviving mode," Leonard Bagalwa, Utah Valley Refugees founder and executive director, said.
Bagalwa said that the organization has lost six employees. They now struggle to fund rent for the refugees
"So they were just left behind and to have those families up to now who are in critical need," he said.
Rakinda and her two daughters are refugees seeking to become self-reliant. It's refugees like them who motivate Bagalwa and the program director, Amanda Nelson, to persevere despite political challenges.
"These real people and families are being dehumanized in some way," Nelson said.
Nelson said that the cuts have left them scrambling to pay rent for the refugees. She said they are now in danger of being evicted.
"I don't think our officials fully understand that these are people that are deserving of safety," she said.
Bagalwa and Nelson said Utah Valley Refugees is restrategizing the program to adjust to the federal cuts.
They said the main way people can help is through community involvement and donations. They said they are determined to keep the organization afloat.