‘They'll remember you for their entire life’

By Lily Combs

In the 2023 fiscal year (FY), the U.S. resettled 60,014 refugees — less than 3% of the worldwide resettlement needs for the year. Arizona welcomed just over 6,000 of these refugees from 44 different countries.

Over the past few years, refugee admissions into the U.S. have been at a record low. According to a 2023 report by the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, less than 12,000 refugees were resettled in the country in 2021 and less than 30,000 were resettled in 2022. Meanwhile, worldwide refugee numbers have been rising each year.

The refugee admissions ceiling is determined at the start of every FY by the President in consultation with Congress. During Trump’s administration, the ceiling was set as low as 18,000. In the past three years, Biden raised the ceiling to 125,000. The new admissions cap has yet to be reached, but an influx of refugee resettlement is prevalent — agencies like LSS-SW are seeing it firsthand.

In March, case managers and employees at LSS-SW weaved throughout the cubicles and hurried in and out of offices as they described the busyness they were experiencing. For the 2024 FY, the agency is projected to serve 750 refugees, a 66% increase from the prior year.

In 2022, LSS-SW resettled 261 refugees, and in 2023, it resettled 450. By March 20th of this year, it had already received 373 of 750 resettlements.

“Before the COVID, we used to resettle around 1,000,” said Basim Al Khafaji, who is the case management supervisor at LSS-SW. “That will start to pick up again because the whole process when the COVID started was slowed down.”

Resettlement agencies are contracted with the U.S. government to provide initial services to set refugees on a path to self-sufficiency within 90 days.

“That is the goal, that is the goal to get them sufficient,” Al Khafaji said. “Get all their documents, everything set at school for the kids, set them up with medical resources, then jobs.”

The agencies are nonprofit organizations and rely on public and private funding to support their work. The U.S. Reception and Placement (R&P) program provides agencies with a one-time cash or in-kind payment per refugee — LSS-SW receives $1,325 from R&P. This payment is meant to assist with expenses during a refugee’s first three months of resettlement, but depending on the case, the agency may need to supplement with other funding. Al Khafaji said the R&P fund only covers one month of support for an individual, but for a family of ten, it could cover six months.

After the 90-day resettlement period, the agency is then contracted with the state to provide long-term assistance for up to five years after arrival. The services vary depending on needs.

“Anything related to ongoing needs,” Al Khafaji said. “For example, clients got a job, lost a job, want to change job, housing, issues with moving housing, family issues, immigration, we help with obtaining the green card, citizenship, family petitions, so it's an ongoing service.”

Every individual or family is assigned to a case manager who will work directly with them to provide such services. Wilfrida Maseka is one of these case managers who works on the frontline with newcomers.

Maseka, who is a senior case manager, first connected with LSS-SW when she went through its resettlement services as a refugee in 2017.

“Most of us are former refugees, and it's like a sense of giving back to the community cause when we come to the U.S. we receive a lot of help,” Maseka said. “So many people, so many organizations, they come to help you, they welcome you, so you have that sense of debt that you have to pay back to the community.”

Maseka is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but she was born in its neighboring country, Rwanda, after her parents left Congo in the ’80s to seek refuge from the crises occurring within its borders. Her parents remained in Rwanda until 1994 when they were forced to go back to Congo after the Rwandan genocide. However, two years later, the First Congo War started between the two countries, leaving Maseka’s family seeking permanent resettlement to escape the violence.

Her family gained refugee status in 1996, but Maseka said they were not considered for resettlement until they made an official request, a detail they were uninformed about for 12 years. Once her family requested resettlement, it took nine more years before they were granted entry into the U.S.

“It was very long cause we got discouraged, you know, we were hoping for so many years, and nothing happened,” Maseka said.

Almost half of the refugees LSS-SW has resettled as of March are Congolese. Nearly seven million people in Congo are displaced and more than one million have sought refuge outside its borders. In 2023, 1,200 refugees from Congo were resettled in Arizona.

“There are so many women here that came from regions where they were tortured, they were abused, stuff like that,” Maseka said. “So, I try to help them with compassion, and I try my best to understand what they're going through, especially speaking the same language with them.”

Maseka has been a case manager for almost two years. She uses her experience as a former refugee to welcome others from her country and its surrounding areas.

“I feel what they're going through; I understand what they're going through,” Maseka said.

In her position, Maseka serves clients who are fluent in one of the 10 languages and dialects she speaks. She assists them with different services to set them on track for self-sufficiency. These services include helping with enrollment in public benefits like food stamps and medical assistance, making home visits to assess ongoing needs and connecting them with LSS-SW programs such as employment support and English learning.

LSS-SW case managers are required to visit their clients twice within the 90-day resettlement period, but Maseka said they often see clients more frequently, sometimes weekly. Reasons for her visits might be to drop off a check for rent, take a client to English classes or help them set up technology, such as getting WhatsApp on their phone.

“Just imagine yourself going somewhere where you can’t talk to anyone, you can’t communicate, you can’t even read, you can’t do anything, you can’t even use the phone,” Maseka said. “It's really tough for them.”

Working as a case manager is difficult, Maseka said, as she deals with many people from different backgrounds and experiences. However, she finds value in providing a space for her clients to express themselves, and she experiences joy in seeing those she has served become successful in the U.S.

“It’s a really important job because we are frontline workers,” Maseka said. “Clients see you when they step foot in the U.S., so you're the first face that they will see in the U.S., and they'll remember you for their entire life.”