"Many refugees when they come, they come with a dream," said Nadin Yousef. "They come to want to do something."
From Iraq to Buffalo, it's a transition refugee Nadin Yousef made two years ago. Now, she says she's scared her mother may not be able to do the same.
"My hope is to one day to se my mom come here," said Yousef. "Now, after this decision it will be never done."
She's referring to President Donald Trump's move to tighten U.S. immigration policies. First, moving forward with his plans to build a wall along the U.S. - Mexico border.
"Our border is protected but it's not secure," said Steven MacMartin, former homeland security agent, who now has a homeland security program in Medaille College. "The state of affairs at the moment is that the border is leaky and that leak needs to be fixed before we can concentrate 100% of our efforts on the internal problems."
And also, working to restrict the amount of incoming refugees.
"It's already been shown that refugees were part of the attacks in Paris, and we're going to face the same problems here," said MacMartin. "It's not a question of whether we could face the problem, it's a question of the prboelm will exist, and we need to deal with it."
But the International Institute of Buffalo, which has supported refugees like Yousef for almost 100 years says immigrants built Buffalo into what it is today.
"To just paint a whole population on a basis of fear is not helpful to anybody, and certainly is not what the American way of life is all about," said Adair Saviola, Director of Development and Communications for the International Institute of Buffalo.
The American way of life... what Yousef, a mother of four, who was working at the West Side Bazaar Wednesday afternoon, came here to look for.
"If he one day meets one or two people that are Muslim that are terrorists, doesn't mean everyone's like this," said Yousef.
A draft executive order obtained by The Associated Press shows that President Donald Trump intends to stop accepting Syrian refugees and will suspend the United States' broader refugee program for 120 days.
The president also plans to suspend issuing visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen for at least 30 days, according to the draft. All are predominantly Muslim countries.
Trump is expected to sign the order this week. It is not clear whether the draft will be revised before then.
The actions follow Trump's orders Wednesday tightening immigration policies, including taking steps toward building a wall on the Mexican border.
