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Mayor Domenic J. Sarno has said "enough is enough" after news that several refugee families are expected to arrive in Springfield this week.

(File Photo / The Republican)

SPRINGFIELD -- Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, after learning that several refugee families are expected to arrive in the Springfield area this week, has renewed criticism of local resettlement agencies, saying "enough is enough."

In a prepared release, Sarno raised a series of questions about the arrival, saying he had received no advance communication from the Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, the resettlement agency.

"Once again, these resettlement agencies with no prior contact and/or coordination efforts with our city departments, use our Springfield as their 'designated resettlement site,'" Sarno said. "Yet when these resettlement agencies are asked to assist these families in need in their own cities and/or towns -- they state they do not have the capacity. Maybe they should try to create their own capacity."

Sarno had also been critical of resettlement agencies in 2013 and 2014, urging the federal government at that time to put a moratorium on new refugee families settled in Springfield.

Sarno restated his claims of the past that the resettlement of refugees in Springfield was a situation of concentrating "poverty on top of poverty," with low income people added to low-income areas.

The Jewish Family Service stated that the families are coming from Bhutan and Eritrea, and occur after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's executive order closing America's borders to seven predominately Muslim countries.

Sarno issued a list of questions about the new refugee families coming to Springfield, as follows:

1) How many refugees are actually coming to the City of Springfield?

2) Are these families being housed in condemned units, as has been done in the past?

3) Are these families in need of school and health services?

4) Are there proper translation services being provided?

5) Are there proper long term wrap around services and follow through?

6) Are there proper transportation services being provided?

7) Are there proper employment placement plans?

8) Are there adequate cultural adjustment strategies being provided?

9) Who is paying our city for these additional and supplemental services, which continue to put a strain on our city and school budgets?

"Again, our Springfield is a caring city, but these are basic questions that deserve to be answered," Sarno said. "We have done more than our fair share when it comes to dealing with homelessness, refugees and subsidized housing. As I have continued to state to federal and state government officials, enough is enough."

Advocates for the refugee families had criticized Sarno's stance in the past, with one saying the Sarno administration had a "publicly inhospitable stance" on refugee families.

At the time, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition said the mayor's comments then were a "huge setback" on helping a very vulnerable refugee population.