Las Cruces program for Central American refugees ends

A Las Cruces pastor says she was shocked after finding out a local refugee program was coming to a halt.

Although the move comes in wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, the reason for the program’s end is not political.

Pastor Neema LeCuyer of El Calvario United Methodist Church says she got a text message saying Project Oak Tree was being suspended indefinitely. The project, which partners with the Annunciation House in El Paso, allows local families in Las Cruces to temporarily house refugees from Central America while they’re awaiting an immigration hearing.

“I was very upset, I am still upset,” LeCuyer said.

Since October, the program has allowed families across Las Cruces to house more than 200 refugees. LeCuyer and other community members would welcome them as they’d come off the bus. The front room of her church is still flooded with stuffed animals, food and toiletries they’d give them.

“As the families were coming off we would help them by taking their children and actually just embracing them and the women would be in tears,” she said.

Deacon David McNeill, with the Las Cruces Catholic Diocese, told ABC-7 the number of refugees crossing the border has significantly decreased since October, so there’s no need to house them in Las Cruces. The Annunciation House and a few other spots in El Paso have enough room and will still welcome them, he said.

“The Annunciation House is the first one to receive refugees when they’re released by immigration and customs enforcement,” Deacon McNeill said. “At that point if they don’t have enough room they call us and ask us how many we can take.”

The director of the Annunciation House Ruben Garcia tells ABC-7 they will always welcome refugees, and once more come in, Project Oak Tree will start back up. He added the suspension had nothing to do with President Donald Trump’s executive order.