What a sixty-percent decrease in refugee arrivals means for Nebraska—and how we can ensure it never happens again.

Nebraska Needs a Resettlement Floor

Only six months into the second Trump Administration, Nebraska’s Refugee Program faces a shrinking number of resettlement offices, staff layoffs, and a steep decline in refugees welcomed.

At least one of the Cornhusker State’s seven resettlement offices will cease resettlement operations by this fall. Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska, one of three resettlement offices in Lincoln, has been forced to withdrawfrom the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska has resettled refugees to Lincoln and the surrounding areas since the late 1940s; their withdrawal ends an almost 100-year tradition of Catholic-supported resettlement in Nebraska.

Nebraska’s other resettlement agencies face similar challenges. Lutheran Family Services, which operates resettlement offices in Lexington, Lincoln, and Omaha, laid off 17 people by early March—over 20% of their staff.

Following the Trump Administration’s initial suspension of resettlement, The International Council for Refugees and Immigrants reported that they “may shut down…We don’t know what to do. It’s a panic situation for everybody.”

Recently, The Council’s funding for several AmeriCorps positions—a team of Youth Specialists “who provide mentorship, academic support, and after-school STEM programming” to 300-400 refugee and immigrant youth across Omaha—has yet to be disbursed, placing these roles at risk.

Under the Trump Administration’s continued suspension of resettlement, refugee arrivals to Nebraska have decreased by nearly 60%. Over 800 refugees arrived in the state from January to June of last year, while only 285 have arrived during that same period this year.

Hundreds of refugees scheduled to arrive in Nebraska had their flights canceled in January. Allies to U.S. operations in Afghanistan remain stranded overseas—and in immediate danger. Refugees in Nebraska are no longer able to reunite with their loved ones.

Over the past decade, Nebraska has welcomed more refugees per capita than any other state. Without a resettlement floor, Nebraska’s nationally-recognized Refugee Program will remain at risk of more closures and cuts—and the state’s tradition of resettlement will remain an uncertain promise to Nebraska’s future.

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