Kansas needs a resettlement floor.
Here’s how we can generate support in The Sunflower State.
Kansas’s refugee program—alongside the broader U.S. Refugee Admissions Program—remains suspended.
The Sunflower State’s five resettlement agencies are at risk: two operated by Catholic Charities (Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas in Kansas City and Catholic Charities of Southwest Kansas in Garden City) will be withdrawing from the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program permanently come October, decreasing the State’s resettlement capacity by 40%.
Two of Kansas’s other resettlement offices opened only last year: the Bethel Neighborhood Center was only approved to start resettling refugees last October and Mission Adelante only began resettling refugees in January of 2024. These agencies are uniquely vulnerable to declines in arrivals; Mission Adelante has already laid off their resettlement staff.
At least 50 jobs for Kansans have been eliminated due to funding cuts—likely with more to come. Following the federal funding freeze, Mission Adelante had to seek donations to provide severance pay to their resettlement staff and deliver promised services to 22 newly arrived refugees in Kansas City.
This is nothing new: closures plagued Kansas during the Trump Administration’s first term, with the Neighborhood Learning Center–a refugee support services hub–closing in 2019 and The International Rescue Committee’s Garden City office closing in 2018.
Kansas needs a resettlement minimum. Absent guaranteed refugee arrivals and steady funding, Kansas’s resettlement program will struggle to survive. Kansans will continue losing jobs. Refugees–including our military allies–will remain stranded overseas. There’s no place like Kansas–but no new refugees will make Kansas home anytime soon.
Click here to see what we can do to advocate for a resettlement minimum in Kansas.
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