OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — After DOGE eliminate federal funding of the refugee resettlement program, Lutheran Family Services announced it would have to layoff some members of its staff. However, the 133-year-old social service agency remains committed to supporting the refugee community in Iowa and Nebraska.
- Before the funding cuts, the organization welcomed 75 to 100 new refugees each month, employing former refugees to assist in the resettlement process.
- Jamal, a refugee on a Taliban kill list for working with Americans, hadn't seen his wife and eight sons in three years since coming to the U.S. at the government's invitation. This January, they were the last family reunited in Omaha.
- "It's traumatizing to lose a job regardless, but to lose it because of the fact that the funding's not there and most of the people that do this work, they don't do it for the significant paycheck that they get," said LFS President and CEO Chris Tonniges.
WATCH KATRINA'S STORY BELOW
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
Anchor:
Lutheran Family Services defines itself as the largest human care organization in Nebraska and Western Iowa. On "X" in February, General Michael Flynn and Elon Musk accused it of using religion to launder money. Musk confirmed then that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, would shut down federal payments.
Here's Katrina Markel with this exclusive story.
Katrina Markel:
I sat down with Chris Tonniges, president and CEO of Lutheran Family Services. Before its abrupt cancellation, LFS employed former refugees to help newer refugees, welcoming 75 to 100 new refugees a month.
"It hurts because no one wants to see someone that's gone through a bunch of suffering just to get here then to turn around and have to suffer even further," Tonniges said.
There were layoffs, due to the loss of the refugee program, and reunifying refugee families stopped. KMTV was there for the very last family to be reunited.
"It's traumatizing to lose a job regardless, but to lose it because of the fact that the funding's not there and most of the people that do this work, they don't do it for the significant paycheck that they get," said Tonniges.
Jamal was on a Taliban kill list for working with Americans. Like all refugees, he is here at the invitation of the U.S. government. He hadn't seen his wife and eight sons in three years.
"All boys! So bless her for all those boys," said Tonniges, laughing.
A three-year wait isn't rare. Tonniges said he's seen it take 20 years.
LFS Assistant Vice President Nizar Rasho was a lawyer in Iraq. He and his wife waited five years to come to Nebraska.
"We went through, I think, three interviews and medical requirements and things like that. Everything was very, very intense," Rasho said.
Katrina: How do you explain that, to people who are still skeptical, that we need to be investing in folks from other places?
Chris: "There's a humanitarian component of it ... the majority of the people that we're settling are individuals who have been alongside us in conflict of some sort."
Now a citizen, Rasho loves Nebraska.
"When you're a U.S. Citizen, it's a new chapter in your life and in some ways you're just kind of reborn," he said.
Tonniges says LFS will keep providing social services to refugee families who are already here, and hopes that family reunifications, at the least, can resume.
I'm your neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel.
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