LSS-SW Connie Phillips on Arizona refugee support system shrinking

By Laura Gersony for The Arizona Republic

Arizona refugee support system shrinks after Trump cuts off funding

President Donald Trump’s order to halt the United States’ refugee resettlement program is already causing a swift contraction in Arizona’s support system for the world’s displaced persons.

Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, one of Arizona’s biggest resettlement groups, last week laid off around 50 people, roughly a third of their refugee workforce. Other local organizations are preparing to significantly scale back their services, too. 

All are at a loss for federal dollars that, until two weeks ago, were set to help people who have recently arrived in the United States.

“These are people who just got here,” Connie Phillips, president and CEO of the region's Lutheran Social Services chapter, told The Arizona Republic. “We can’t have someone work with them to help them find a job. We can’t teach them how to ride a bus.

“I would call it an abrupt stop.”

Phillips’ organization is one of hundreds across the country that help refugees and their families get on their feet when they arrive in the United States. That means finding and furnishing a temporary place for them to stay, helping them pay for groceries and medical care and enrolling their kids in school.

Trump was widely expected to lower the country’s annual cap on refugees, just like he did during his first term. But aid groups weren’t expecting him to block them from delivering money to people who are already here, through contracts that are already in place.

“That was a complete shock,” Phillips said.

Trump’s executive order, signed the day he took office, suspends the country’s refugee admissions program “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”

“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” Trump’s executive order reads.

Refugee resettlement groups also have been affected by Trump’s near-total pause on foreign aid, and his proposed federal funding freeze, which has caused disruptions throughout the nonprofit sector even though it never officially took effect.

Most recent Arizona arrivals are from Congo, Myanmar, Afghanistan

Roughly 900 refugees arrived in Arizona during the last three months of 2024, according to data from the U.S. State Department.

Most are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts is escalating; Myanmar, which has been embroiled for years in civil war; Afghanistan, a country in political turmoil under the new Taliban government; and Syria, which is in a delicate state following the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad.

Phillips’ organization took in the most recent group of refugees on Tuesday, Jan. 21, the day after Trump took office. On Friday, Jan. 24, they received word that their funds were blocked.

In the meantime the group will use private donations to partially fill the federal funding shortfall. One of their parent organizations, Global Refuge, will supply one months’ worth of funds for migrants who arrived in January, using private donations. That covers just a fraction of their operations in Arizona, and staff shortages will limit their delivery of those resources, Phillips said. 

Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest was one of the organizations listed in a social media post amplified by Elon Musk, the tech mogul and Trump ally, accusing the groups of using “‘religion’ as a money laundering operation.” Leaders called those claims unfounded and said they use the federal money to do charity work for vulnerable people.

In an interview, Phillips said people often misunderstand the scope of her organization's work.

“Refugee resettlement is not immigration at the border,” she said.

“We do not go get any refugees. We do not provide people with refugee status, give them that label. We don’t decide whether or not they come to the United States. We have no impact on any of that.”

Refugees' needs most acute for 60 to 90 days

The world’s refugee program is governed at both the national and international level.

Migrants apply for refugee status through the United Nations, which determines whether they qualify. Later they’re screened by American authorities for a security check, face-to-face interview, medical screening, cultural orientation, and a final check at the airport. The United States has historically resettled more refugees than any other country in the world, though its numbers fell during Trump’s first term in office.

On average the process takes between 18 months and 3 years, according to the humanitarian group World Relief.

“When people say, ‘They should do it the right way’: This is the right way,” Phillips said. “People have been thoroughly vetted and are able to work. It’s an economic driver for our country.”

Every year the president decides how many refugees the U.S. will take in. Trump lowered that number, reaching a record low 18,000-person limit in 2020. Biden raised the refugee admission cap to more than 100,000.

Arizona usually accepts a couple thousand refugees per year. In 2024, Biden’s last year in office, around 9,000 refugees arrived in the state, the highest number in decades. In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, that figure fell to about 600.

The government outsources much of its refugee resettlement work to nonprofit groups across the country. Refugees’ needs are most acute during their first two or three months in the United States, Phillips said, and the resettlement program is popular among business owners, who frequently approach her asking for workers.

Republicans growing skeptical of refugee program

The refugee resettlement programs, once a matter of bipartisan support, have drawn skepticism from the Republican Party as it changes into the “America First” image of Trump.

Lately, populist Republicans have pointed to the programs as an example of spending that prioritizes noncitizens over native-born Americans.

In the past, the country’s refugee program has garnered support from both sides of the aisle.

Trump’s newly confirmed secretary of State, former Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote in support of the program in 2019, calling it “part of a diverse American culture and flourishing economy,” a “critical pillar of our national security and foreign policy,” and part of the country’s “responsibility to promote compassion and democracy around the world.”

Now House and Senate Democrats are urging Rubio to undo Trump’s funding pause. In a letter to Rubio in late January they pointed out that the funding freeze affects refugees who have already been approved to get settlement help in the U.S., which includes people who aided the U.S.’ efforts in Afghanistan.