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Resettlement providers want state to step up for refugees in Massachusetts
Resettlement service providers helping refugees and immigrants integrate into their new lives in Massachusetts are eyeing potential state financial relief as agencies scramble to adjust to Trump administration policies and a federal funding landscape marked by uncertainty.
Sen. Robyn Kennedy wants to revive the Massachusetts Resettlement Support Program through a budget amendment (#498) and deliver $500,000 to agencies that are contracted with the U.S. Department of State. The bulk of those state dollars must be spent on direct assistance for refugees and immigrants, including helping them secure their immigration status.
“We are taking up the budget next week. Hopefully, we are going to fight to get this amendment, to get the MRSP funding back into the budget,” Kennedy told leaders of refugee resettlement agencies gathered for a State House event Tuesday. “We’re going to continue that work.”
The account was funded at $500,000 in fiscal 2024. Resettlement agencies say they are now experiencing federally-induced chaos that’s driving their state funding request.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 suspending the country’s refugee resettlement program, as the new administration lamented “record levels of immigration migration” over the last four years. The order, which was temporarily blockedby a federal judge in February, had noted states like Massachusetts and New York “have even recently declared states of emergency because of increased migration.”
Resettlement agencies here are now grappling with stalled federal funding and a stunted flow of new arrivals to serve, which has forced providers to lay off dozens of employees, according to advocates. The agencies offer job training, rental assistance, English for Speakers of Other Languages, and school integration services.
A refugee resettlement program in Northampton run by the Catholic Charities Agency closed this year, with providers citing “federal budget cuts.” The program said in a social media post it served over 1,500 individuals over eight years, such as asylum seekers, humanitarian parolees and unaccompanied refugee minors.
Jeff Thielman, CEO of the International Institute of New England, said Kennedy’s budget amendment would fill funding gaps as organizations struggle to support existing clients, who can receive help for several years after coming to the United States.
Even with federal aid for refugees and groups, families can typically need an additional $500 or $600 each month, Thielman said. To cover the difference, Thielman said his organization either needs to raise money privately or turn to the state for help.
“Otherwise, people will get into the homeless system — we don’t want that to happen,” Thielman told the News Service. “Federal money doesn’t go far enough for new arrivals. We need these new arrivals in our state to build our economy and fill the workforce. Therefore, some subsidy is important to keep them going.”
Rabbi James Greene, CEO of Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, said the organization served about 480 people last year. Greene said JFS was expecting another 300 clients this year, though the last refugee family arrived on Jan. 17 ahead of the presidential transition.
“The administration tore down and fundamentally broke the USRAP, which is the law that allows for resettlements that’s existed in Republican and Democratic administrations since the time of Reagan,” Greene said, referring to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
“What we’re here doing today is to talk with our state legislators and say the federal government is abdicating its responsibility,” Greene continued. “We need the support of our state to step in and step up and be with us in this work because the long-term interests of Massachusetts, of our commonwealth, are served by welcoming people.”
Rep. Jim O’Day called actions at the national level “very troubling” and praised Bay Staters’ willingness to speak out. He also broadly highlighted the House’s track record of supporting an influx of refugees from Afghanistan and Haiti.
Lawmakers funneled $12 million to resettlement agencies in 2021 to support “the evacuees of the crisis in Afghanistan,” as well as $10 million in 2022 to help Ukrainian refugees and immigrants.
“I’m here to tell you all that I’m willing to help. And I know that most of — no, I know that my colleagues are also willing to help,” O’Day said. “I can’t thank enough those folks that work in this field.”
Kennedy, a Worcester Democrat, used her platform to condemn recent federal immigration arrests in the city, which have prompted a wave of protests. Worcester City Hall is closing early Tuesday and a City Council meeting was moved to Zoom over “public safety concerns,” officials tweeted ahead of another protest.
“We have seen some painful moments in the past week. We see the invasion of masked ICE agents that terrorize our communities,” Kennedy said. “We need to make sure that we are standing up, to say that this will not happen in silence, to say that this will not happen in the cover of darkness, that we are grateful that our refugees, that our immigrants are here, and we’re going to continue to support them.”
