With the wind whipping in off the nearby Niagara River, Ba Zan Lin stepped onto a makeshift stage, his upper half rising above a sprawling crowd of well-bundled onlookers, many gripping homemade placards.

Lin, a leader in Buffalo’s Burmese community who came to the United States as an asylee before becoming a citizen, said that the people of his home country have been coming to America after decades of loss — their family, their homes, their livelihood — a result of the persistent civil unrest and ethnic feuding.

“Most important of all, we lost hope and future,” Lin said. “In the dire situations and in desolation we looked to America. We came here to look for new hope and future.”

The rally was the latest in a series of public gatherings around the country showing support for refugees and immigrants in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries and slashing the number of refugees the nation will accept in the coming year by more than half.

Lin said that the unrest at airports, outside Trump hotels and in Buffalo’s Columbus Park in the wake of the executive order are a sign of the common belief in the ideals America represents to many people around the world, contrary to the disparaging characterizations the President has often made of refugees and immigrants as dangerous interlopers.

“We are the people who really believe that America manifests hope, freedom, justice and democracy,” Lin said, a raucous cheer rising out of the crowd.

While people have been showing up to rallies to support refugees and immigrants across the state, lawyers, resettlement service providers and lawmakers have been working to figure out what the executive order—temporarily suspended under the order of a federal judge—and Trump’s immigration policy agenda more broadly, will mean for newcomer communities.

New York State is among those that takes in the most refugees in the nation, with about 96 percent of newcomers resettled in upstate communities like Buffalo, Syracuse and Utica. In the last five years alone the Queen City has taken in more than 6,000 refugees.

Assemblyman Sean Ryan, one of the elected officials to speak at an informational session for refugees over the weekend, was also on hand for the rally. He said that he has been in contact with legislators in other resettlement hotbeds, where similar efforts to understand the implications of the new administration’s intentions and to inform the affected communities are underway.

In particular, Ryan is concerned about making sure that the designated resettlement agencies, vital to helping newcomers get on their feet and continue to learn to navigate their new surroundings, are not crippled by potential funding cuts from the federal government, which supplies much of their support.

“What we don’t want is for the providers to close down and then have the refugee programs restart,” Ryan said. “There will be no refugee agencies to help resettle them in the future.”

And while the Trump administration has painted refugees and immigrants as potential threats, many Western New York politicians have been talking more about the benefits they bring to the community.

Ryan said his district has seen a sharp decrease in the number of vacant homes and apartments in recent years, a sign of increased economic activity.

“On many levels, we don’t want the cessation of refugees,” he said.

Mayor Byron Brown, who spent much of his time shaking hands and posing for pictures at Sunday’s rally, has often pointed to the stabilization of the city’s long-declining population and the cultural vibrancy immigrants and refugees have brought to many city neighborhoods.

The city recently raised a “Refugees Welcome” flag at City Hall and Brown sent a letter to Trump urging him to consider the benefits that Buffalo has experienced in being a welcoming community.

However, Brown has been wary to enter the fray over what it means to be a “sanctuary city.” a Other mayors, like New York City’s Bill de Blasio, have proclaimed their cities safe havens and vowed to keep their police departments from assisting federal agents in exercises that target immigrants and refugees. A bill that would provide additional protections to newcomers passed the state Assembly, a measure that would effectively make New York a “sanctuary state,” though it is unlikely to go anywhere in the Republican-controlled Senate. Republican figures have already been denouncing the bill, saying it gives special protection to lawbreakers.

Brown said there is no need to make that proclamation, potentially putting a target on the city if the Trump administration decided to go after “sanctuary cities,” so long as his administration continues to welcome and help newcomers adjust.

“We don’t believe that giving ourselves that designation has been necessary, because we have made it clear that we stand up for the rights of all members of this community, that we welcome immigrants and refugees and we will continue to represent immigrants and refugees,” he said.

As the rally began to disperse Asseil Hussein and his cousin, Adam Shaby, were walking toward the center of the crowd, the flag of Yemen, Hussein’s native country, flying above his head.

“We wanted to support our communities, get together with everyone,” he said.

Hussein, who came as a refugee in 2008 and is now studying to be a dental hygienist at Erie Community College, said he has not experienced any outbursts or verbal attacks, but in the midst of months inflammatory rhetoric and hate toward Muslims, he has sensed that some people are uncomfortable around his family.

“It’s really hard,” Hussein said. “This is a tough moment.”

And with Trump vowing to continue on with pledges from the campaign that would severely restrict immigration, more turbulence surely lies ahead.

But the show of solidarity over the weekend gave Hussein comfort, seeing so many from different races and backgrounds banding together to speak out against Trump’s policies, he said.

“I believe we have the right to be here, because we put in as much effort,” Hussein said. “We work, we pay our taxes. We feel we are part of this nation. We support them. I’m willing to do anything for this country in return.”