Statement on Senate Reconciliation Bill Targeting Immigrants and Refugees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 1, 2025

Baltimore, M.D. —Today, the U.S. Senate passed a sweeping reconciliation bill that includes the most expansive immigration enforcement funding package in modern American history. The legislation would dramatically increase federal spending on detention, deportation, border barriers, and other immigration-related measures while slashing assistance for lawfully present immigrants, refugees, and asylees.

“This bill reshapes our immigration system not through reform, but through restriction alone,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refuge. “It devotes unprecedented resources towards a sprawling human incarceration machine, while stripping support from those who followed legal processes to seek safety through proper channels. Nothing could be more at odds with the balanced approach Americans overwhelmingly favor as it relates to border security and legal immigration pathways.”

The legislation also denies access to basic assistance, barring lawfully present refugees and asylees from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamps, Medicaid, and other federal programs they have long relied on to rebuild their lives as we welcome them to the United States. These rollbacks risk hampering their path to self-sufficiency and threaten to push already vulnerable populations into poverty and adverse health outcomes.

“These are not fringe benefits. This is food on the table. This is healthcare for a child recovering from trauma,” noted Vignarajah. “Stripping away these lifelines sends a chilling message: that even legal presence is no longer sufficient to be treated with dignity in this country.”

In addition, the bill imposes steep new financial barriers to lawful immigration pathways. It introduces for the first time in U.S. history a fee to apply for asylum protections, raises the cost of applying for an initial work permit to $550, and increases the application fee for Temporary Protected Status ten-fold, from $50 to $500. Without the option for fee waivers, these fees could create a cost-prohibitive barrier to humanitarian protections.

“These changes are designed to place lawful relief further out of reach, to punish poverty, and to deter even the most desperate families from seeking safety,” added Vignarajah. “It’s a deliberate effort to turn our humanitarian protections into a pay-to-play system.”

Global Refuge urges members of the House to reject these harmful provisions and calls on the public to speak out in defense of refugee protections and immigrant dignity.

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