Resources for refugees who reside in Houston dwindling after government revokes funding

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Home for Qais Shahbaz is now a sparse apartment in southwest Houston.

He and his family arrived in Houston on Jan. 16.

Four days later, President Donald Trump took office and immediately signed an executive order stopping all refugee admissions.

"I was very happy when I came to the United States and we feel very safe and proud that we can get a better life," he said through a translator.

Shahbaz is still learning English, but was a pharmacist back home in Afghanistan. His wife was a doctor. They have three young children.

"Life was getting harder, and since we were working with the government and the Americans, the foreigners, the Taliban government disliked us," he said.

It took the Shahbaz family two years to apply for and receive legal refugee status in the United States.

But days after they arrived in Houston, the federally funded case manager assigned to help them was laid off. They were on their own.

Nonprofit resettlement groups in Houston, which has one of the highest refugee populations in the country, are struggling to fill the void in funding.

On Wednesday, the county attorney announced a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for freezing more than ten million dollars in funding to the county's refugee health clinic.

The clinic serves more than 17,000 people a year, providing vaccines and health screenings.

The Galveston-Houston branch of Catholic Charities recently laid off 120 employees, mostly from its refugee services program.

"We were struggling where to start our work, how to enroll our kids to school," Shahbaz said.

Agencies that serve refugees have closed across the country.

The Shahbaz family has found some help with Connect Community, a nonprofit funded by donors that serves immigrants in the Gulfton area of southwest Houston.

Ahmad Sultani works as a job coordinator there.

He came to Houston from Afghanistan in 2017 and sees the difference between then and now.

"They were expecting the same assistance, same benefits from these agencies, but all these services are being cut," Sultani said. "They are struggling with their life."

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