ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Even though refugee programs were repeatedly cut back by the Trump administration, there were still people being resettled in the U.S. And they've been arriving at a perilous time. Fleeing home to escape war, now they face COVID lockdowns, isolation and, for some, fear of eviction. NPR's Deborah Amos reports on efforts to help them, including by other refugees.
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: The scariest part of coming to America is those first few months. That's how 28-year-old Mustafa Nuur remembers it. He's a Somali refugee. He came in 2014.
MUSTAFA NUUR: So yeah, I'm a former refugee myself.
AMOS: COVID makes it so much harder now, he says, as he works with newly arrived refugees in Lancaster, Pa.
NUUR: The main areas we focus on right now is mental health and groceries. It's becoming very dire and very real how much need there is.
AMOS: And how much isolation there is, says caseworker Maha Kolko, who works for Kentucky Refugee Ministry in Louisville. Even the welcomes are far apart - just a wave from the front lawn.
MAHA KOLKO: Just to make them feel that they don't need to worry, that they have enough support in the community.
AMOS: She knows the uncertainty of resettlement after arriving from Syria a few years ago. Now she organizes church volunteers, distributes donations, especially during the holidays.
KOLKO: Christmas trees with all the ornaments, food cards, also some clothing - a lot of faith community groups are doing this. I'm really proud of Louisville.
AMOS: Still, she says, it's not enough considering the need. In Virginia at George Mason University, academic Bethany Letiecq tracks immigrant communities. She charts the stress on refugee families in this COVID year, the pressure when government benefits run out just three months after they arrive.
BETHANY LETIECQ: If you're a refugee coming here with very little, the job opportunities can be very limited. Trying to just meet your family's basic needs - that can be essentially a full-time job.
AMOS: There's long waits at food pantries, lines at COVID test sites and, she says, applying for rental assistance programs that are only short-term.
LETIECQ: Maybe just a month of rental support - but we've been in a pandemic (laughter), as you know, for so many months. There's only so much these agencies or individuals can do per family.
AMOS: And the agencies that resettle refugees have been decimated by staff and budget cuts as the Trump administration slashed the refugee program. Krish O'Mara Vignarajah heads one of those agencies, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. She says the cutbacks have limited services to refugees, even though the numbers have plummeted.
KRISH O'MARA VIGNARAJAH: Our clients have been hit hard.
AMOS: It's hard to resettle even in normal times, but how do you get to know a new country when the schools, government offices, banks and places of worship are closed? Private donors have stepped in with rent relief, but even that money is dwindling.
O'MARA VIGNARAJAH: Far too many families are holding on still by a thread. And in the absence of additional federal assistance, we're struggling to keep more of these families afloat because we are seeing that slowdown in donations compared to previous years.
AMOS: In this COVID year, donations still pay for homes and heat for newcomers, but normal is still a long way off.
Deborah Amos, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE COMET IS COMING SONG, "THE SEVEN PLANETARY HEAVENS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
