Category: Asylum seekers
Senate bill would give nearly $6 billion to refugee programs despite record-low intake numbers
An appropriations bill could allocate billions in funding to refugee programs after temporary government funding expires.
Congress passed a clean funding extension in November 2025 that expires on January 30, 2026, when new funding allocation could take place.
‘These programs provide a variety of benefits and services to refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants.’
This possibility has conservatives pointing out issues with legislation like a Senate appropriations bill, first proposed in July, for fiscal year 2026.
The bill, which allocates funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and “related agencies,” has garnered significant attention from online researchers regarding its allocation of funds to refugee programs.
“Hey guys, all those insane ‘refugee assistance’ grants I’m always tweeting? The [GOP] is about to supercharge the funds,” wrote Oilfield Rando, an X account with more than 235,000 followers.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Particularly, conservatives online have taken issue with the bill’s recommendations for “Refugee and Entrant Assistance,” for which the committee recommends $5.691 billion.
“These programs provide a variety of benefits and services to refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, immigrants arriving on Special Immigrant Visas [SIV], trafficking victims, and torture victims,” the bill reads.
A whopping $564 million of those funds is recommended for “Transitional and Medical Services,” while providing grants to states and “nonprofit organizations to provide cash and medical assistance to arriving refugees, as well as foster care services to unaccompanied minors.”
More than $300 million is recommended for “Refugee Support Services.”
The Senate committee argued in the document that HHS needs to ensure funding for resettlement agencies so that they can maintain their infrastructure and capacity at a level to continue to serve “new refugees, previously arrived refugees,” and others who are eligible for “integration services.”
Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
According to the Baker Institute, the Trump administration set the refugee cap at 7,500 for fiscal year 2026, the lowest in U.S. history. This is reportedly a 94% reduction from the 125,000 cap that the Biden administration set for FY 2025.
President Trump famously admitted 59 South African refugees into the United States in May; however, there have been no other major intakes by the administration over the course of 2025.
The Senate Committee on Appropriations is majority Republican, with 15 Republicans and 14 Democrats.
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Trump administration limits work permits for asylum seekers following deadly National Guard shooting
Following the tragic shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last week, allegedly by an Afghan national, President Trump has ramped up his rhetoric against foreigners coming into our country. Now his administration is taking action with some important policy changes.
On Thursday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a major slash in the duration of work permit validity, according to the Washington Post.
‘It’s even more clear that USCIS must conduct more frequent vetting of aliens.’
Specifically the new policy affects asylum seekers by changing the work permit authorization period from five years to a mere 18 months.
“Reducing the maximum validity period for employment authorization will ensure that those seeking to work in the United States do not threaten public safety or promote harmful anti-American ideologies. After the attack on National Guard service members in our nation’s capital by an alien who was admitted into this country by the previous administration, it’s even more clear that USCIS must conduct more frequent vetting of aliens,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a Thursday press release.
RELATED: Suspect in Guardsmen shooting tied to Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome
Photo by MANUEL BALCE CENETA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
USCIS stated in the press release that these changes to maximum validity period for Employment Authorization Documents are part of a broader policy update to ensure more thorough screenings of foreigners.
Fwd.us, an immigration advocacy group, told the Washington Post that the move is expected to impact hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers.
The group also estimated that around 1.4 million of the three million asylum seekers currently in the United States are working.
These policy changes come shortly after it was revealed that the suspected shooter is an Afghan national tied to the Biden-era migrant relocation program, Operation Allies Welcome.
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