Various news outlets are running a story about how bad things are for Somalian refugees in Phoenix Arizona. The refugees are complaining that after waiting for six years in a refugee camp, they arrive in the United States only to find chaos surrounding the Trump administration’s attempt to block Somali immigrants like them from entering the country.
One particular family even explained that they stopped in Houston only to be transferred to Phoenix. Now they are stranded in the urban sprawl without a car. They go on to claim that they have no way to get groceries or go to a doctor. But what they complain about the most is that they don’t know how they will pay the rent after their initial U.S. taxpayer handout comes to an end.
Here is more on this via The Phoenix New Times:
“Contrary to popular belief, refugees who are resettled in Arizona receive relatively little financial assistance from the state. In fact, their main source of cash assistance is the federal government.
Like all refugees arriving in the country, every individual who’s resettled in Arizona receives a one-time payment of $925 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That typically covers their rent in Phoenix for three months, Sheikh says. Larger families receive more money, since the payments are per-person, and sometimes are able to stretch it out to last for six months.
“If that money runs out and they don’t have a job, then there starts to be pressure for them to find a way to survive,” Sheikh says. “There’s not a lot of programs to help them with employment here.”
Meanwhile, assistance from the state is restricted to what Sheikh describes as “limited medical services” and food stamps.
“The one thing that Arizona does very well is making sure that at least these families will not go hungry,” he says. “But sometimes these families don’t get enough help — they come in saying, “Oh, my food stamps have stopped,’ so we have to call DES and ask them why.”