Refugee Update from Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest
LSS-SW President and CEO, Connie Phillips, joined the December 15 Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona monthly meeting to provide a status report. Highlights:
"Refugee" is a United Nations designation for persons forced to leave their home country for fear of death or persecution. They must prove via at least 1 of 5 strong criteria (race, religion, national origin, x, or y) that they are unable to return to their home country and unable to integrate into the first country to which they have escaped.
Fewer than 1% of refugees who apply are ever resettled to a third country and that country (except, possibly, if they have a family tie) is not their choice, but the choice of the UN.
Vetting of refugees includes 8 U.S. government agencies, 6 separate security databases, 5 background checks, and 3 in-person interviews.
The U.S. has never before set an annual cap of less than 60,000 refugee admissions. The current administration has set a cap for 2026 at 7500, with the preponderance allocated for white South Africans.
LSS-SW expects to receive 12 refugees to Phoenix in 2026 (in contrast to 776 from January-June 2025, and 1310 in fiscal 2024).
Other immigration statuses are shut down: no humanitarian parole, no temporary protected status, no applications for asylum.
That said, LSS-SW Phoenix is still working with 3000 refugees who arrived here over the past 5 years who remain eligible for support and services. There are, however, changes in eligibility for services as a result of H.R. 1 (The One Big Beautiful Bill Act): Green card holders are not longer eligible for SNAP benefits; housing subsidies, childcare subsidies that allow parent employment, and health care supports are either already cut or under review for cuts; and green card holders, formerly able to travel (for example, to visit family), are travel-curtailed.
The most worrisome among the cuts are the SNAP and health care reductions, likely to impact 80,000 persons including children. Meanwhile, the State of Arizona has a very tight budget for 2026, insufficient (unless state legislators make cuts in previous allocations to other areas) to meet the H.R.1-created gaps. Citizen advocacy could make a difference here, and support of food banks will be especially important going forward.
LSS-SW has reduced paid staff, has received strong short-term donation support, and is engaged in significant planning to be able to adjustron to a (more) volunteer- and philanthropy-driven program as the 2027 components of H.R.1 unfold.
---Kris Bartanen, NJLC's LAMA Liaison