Two of Nebraska's three refugee resettlement agencies are cutting back their staffs in the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration.
Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, the largest of the three, announced Friday that it will eliminate 15 jobs in anticipation of a significant decline in refugee arrivals. Six of those jobs are in Lincoln.Â
Omaha's Refugee Empowerment Center has also experienced cutbacks.
Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska, which resettles refugees in the Lincoln area, said its scheduled arrivals took place early enough in the year to make cuts unnecessary for now.
Trump signed the executive order Jan. 27, and a federal judge suspended it a week later. But the president still controls the total number of refugees allowed into the United States, and local agencies receive funding for each person they resettle.
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Trump's order reduced the overall number of refugees allowed into the U.S. this year from 110,000 to 50,000.
That will have a significant impact in Nebraska, which led the nation in the number of refugees it accepted per capita last fiscal year.
Some 76 refugees per 100,000 residents resettled here during the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. In total, more than 1,441 refugees arrived here during that period.
The state was on pace to exceed that number this year.
Nebraska took in 665 refugees from October through January. At that rate, the state would have topped last fiscal year's total by more than 500, based on U.S. State Department data.
"Based on just pure math, I don't believe that that's going to be able to occur," said Todd Reckling, vice president at Lutheran Family Services.
The agency has resettled 54 refugees in Nebraska since the executive order, including 35 in Lincoln, but has none scheduled after March 3. By then, the U.S. will have already accepted an estimated 39,000 of the maximum 50,000 allowed by Trump.
The president clamped down on refugee resettlement and other travel into the U.S. following a wave of questions, mostly from Republicans, about the vetting process for refugees from Syria and other war-torn Middle East countries.
Gov. Pete Ricketts has said he supports Trump's efforts to "strengthen security screening in the refugee process" but urged the White House to "quickly put new vetting processes in place, so we can continue to safely welcome refugees from all parts of the world."
Critics of the executive order insist the vetting process is already thorough enough to weed out potential terrorists, assailing Trump's travel ban as anti-Muslim.
With the ban mired in legal battles and administrative confusion, the president has said he plans to issue a new immigration order next week.
Refugee Empowerment Center expected to help 350 new arrivals this year, but has no more scheduled after No. 129 lands in Omaha on Thursday, said interim director Kathy Bigsby Moore.
After that, she said, "At the very best I would say they will trickle in."
The agency already cut eight jobs from its staff of 26, in part because of pre-existing financial issues. Trump's travel ban exacerbated those issues significantly, Bigsby Moore said.
Each lost employee also hurts the agency's diversity, making it harder to help refugees who speak various languages and hail from a wide array of regions and cultures.
At Lutheran Family Services, some of those who are losing their jobs are refugees themselves. Seven of the 15 were offered different positions within the organization.
"We have incredibly dedicated and committed staff that weren't just doing a job. This was their life passion and work — to help refugees," Reckling said. "It didn't come as a surprise, but when we had to do this on Wednesday, the reality of what this all meant played out."
While the agency always staffs based on its anticipated number of arrivals, this week's cuts are the most dramatic since 9/11, when the U.S. significantly reduced refugee resettlement.
All three Nebraska agencies stressed the importance of continuing support for refugees who already live here.
"That part of it is equally important," said JD Flynn, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln.
The biggest question for Catholic Social Services is what the resettlement landscape will look like in the next federal fiscal year, which starts in October. Catholic Social Services focuses on family reunification, and Flynn said he hopes the organization can continue to connect refugees with their families in Nebraska.
"It's counterintuitive that you would think you make safer communities by isolating people from their families."