A group that settles refugees in western Massachusetts said the future of the program is unclear, even with the change at the White House.
From October 2019 through September 2020, social services agency Ascentria placed 61 refugees in West Springfield.
That's down from 90 in the previous period and 400 at the end of the Obama Administration. Ascentria's Amy Marchildon said the drop was driven by Trump Administration policies and by the pandemic.
"We did have cases that were scheduled to come to West Springfield and unfortunately, those flights were canceled," she said.
Marchildon said she anticipates there may be some increase in refugee placements with the Biden Administration.
But she said it's not a simple fix because as resources for preparing refugees overseas have been diverted.
"Those resources would need to be put back in place to ramp up overseas processing and have a caseload be travel-ready," she said.
Marchildon said a family of five from Ukraine was able to make it in this past November, but no other settlements are scheduled.
