Donald Trump

President Donald Trump shows his signature on one of two executive actions he signed today, dealing with immigration and rebuilding the military, during an event at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The fate of a Syrian refugee family bound for resettlement here hung on the stroke of a pen by President Donald Trump on Friday.

The family -- two parents and four children ages 6 through 15 -- were scheduled to fly from a refugee camp in Turkey on Monday and arrive in Cleveland Tuesday afternoon, according to Danielle Drake, community relations manager for the local branch of the US Together refugee resettlement agency.

However, those plans had to be scrapped after Trump signed an executive order limiting refugee immigration.

The White House hasn't released details of the order, but a draft of that order indicated that all refugees would be blocked from entering the United States for 120 days, and the acceptance of refugees from Syria would be suspended indefinitely.

The order also could block visa applicants from a list of countries including Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, until a new "extreme vetting" procedure is established.

Drake said the agency was notified that the Syrian family was coming on Jan. 13, and went ahead to secure for an apartment for them to rent in a duplex in Cleveland where another Syrian refuge family already lives.

The landlord, Jay Mitre, speaks Arabic and has rented to many previous refugees, according to Drake.

"It was going to be really perfect," she said. "I can't even imagine how the family feels right now."

Danielle Drake of US Together said President Donald Trump's action on immigration affects both the agency and resettlement of refugees here. (Brian Albrecht/The Plain Dealer)

The family fled Syria in 2014 and has been in a refugee camp ever since.

Trump's order will have a significant impact on the agency in that a portion of its funding is based on the number of refugees it resettles, according to Drake.

Drake said that last year more than half the 278 clients that US Together resettled here came from the Middle East, mostly from Syria and Iraq.

"We may not be able to keep staffing as it is right now," she said.

The new restrictions will cancel resettlement of another family from Syria, due here on Feb. 13, and two groups of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Feb. 6.

Drake said the Congolese refugees include a 14-year-old boy whose father, now living in Cleveland, has been waiting four years to reunite with his son.

The fact that Trump's signing came on Holocaust Remembrance Day didn't escape Drake's attention.

"That this can happen on this day is disturbing on so many levels," she said.

"All those times that people said 'never again,' well, we're doing it again. We're turning people away again," she added, referring to U.S. rejection of Jewish refugees prior to World War II.

"Have we not learned from the past?" she said. "It's unreal."