A freeze on federal government funding has left more than 200 newly arrived refugees to Metro Detroit in financial uncertainty.
Melissa Goodson is with Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County, a resettlement agency that works with the State Department to support hundreds of refugees each year make the transition into the United States. She says a January freeze of previously approved funding has led to immense confusion on the ground.
“It’s kind of no man’s land if you want to look at it that way,” Goodson said. “Our constituents refuse to let people just be left without any kind of support. Private funding that we have been seeking has been able to supplement that for the moment. We’re having conversations with our representatives across the board and are not getting answers on what the future looks like near and far. No clear answers from just about every source that we work with”
Goodson notes that of the more than 200 immigrants currently impacted by the funding freeze, all had previously passed a multi-year vetting process. Plus, the funding to support them had already been approved by Congress.
