Khup, a refugee from Myanmar, first arrived in Oklahoma with his wife and 10-year old daughter in December 2024. Getting access to food stamp benefits and Medicaid was an enormous help for his family after they escaped a war in their home country, he said.
The resettlement group assisting Khup asked that the Frontier only use his last name as he’s waiting for his green card application to be processed.
The benefit programs helped him stay nourished enough to work as an assembly worker and allowed his family to go to regular doctor’s appointments.
He recently learned that his family could be part of about 4,000 immigrants in Oklahoma, including refugees and victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, set to lose Medicaid coverage soon under new federal eligibility changes. Some immigrants, including Khup, could also lose access to food assistance.
The new restrictions are part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law last year by President Donald Trump. The bill includes provisions that eliminate Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid eligibility for refugees and immigrants with other humanitarian statuses. People in those categories will only be able to access a more limited Medicaid benefit that covers life-threatening medical emergencies and childbirth.
Losing access to public benefits would be devastating for Khup and his family, he said in an interview translated from Zomi and Burmese by Sang Rem, a staff member at the Spero Project, a local refugee resettlement agency. Khup said he’s the only member of his household who can work now, so they have to stretch one income to cover his family’s expenses.
“We can’t really afford healthcare, so it would be really stressful,” Khup said. “Because the money that we earn from our workplace is gone just for food and living costs.”
If Khup’s green card application is approved, he could eventually get access to benefits again. The Trump administration announced a pause late last year on immigration applications and green card processing for nationals from 19 “high-risk” countries, including Myanmar. But in early June, a federal judge ordered that the federal government put an end to the halt.
Nearly 2,000 Afghan refugees resettled in Oklahoma after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in 2021. Many Afghans evacuated by the U.S. military entered the country on humanitarian parole visas, which Spero Project executive director of programs Kaitlyn Ritchie said has led to longer processing times. Ritchie said her team worries the pause could affect the work authorization of people seeking asylum, in addition to their benefits.
State agencies are working to develop processes for evaluating public benefit enrollees to comply with federal changes. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services implemented the new federal eligibility definitions in November, agency spokeswoman Nazarene Harris said in an email.
Harris said the agency has been connecting community members to food banks, nonprofits and other resources regardless of immigration status. She also said the department uses a telephonic translation service to help staff communicate with people who don’t speak English fluently. The agency also works with partners like Hunger Free Oklahoma, which she said supports a network serving people with different backgrounds and native languages.
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which manages SoonerCare, the state’s Medicaid program, uses a federal database to check for eligibility. Rebecca Sheppard, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in an email that after a verification request, enrollees who are ineligible will lose coverage on Sept. 30. She also said the agency sends information on eligibility changes in Spanish to members who request it, and it’s still working on a plan for collaboration with refugee resettlement groups.
Local resettlement groups say they are short-staffed and have seen devastating funding cuts under the second Trump administration, but are still trying to help their clients navigate the uncertainty.
The Spero Project in Oklahoma City began acting as the refugee support services agency for the western half of the state after receiving federal contracts in 2023, said director of partnerships Skyler Taylor. She said her organization provides support to clients starting 90 days into their resettlement and extending through five years.
Taylor said the Spero Project has lost about 84% of its federal funding since the start of Trump’s second term and is set to lose an additional $600,000 in state dollars next year. She said that money went to support resources like adult education, employment support, case management and youth programming.
“We feel like we’ve promised neighbors that we’re going to offer those programs,” Taylor said. “And so that’s where the really tricky part comes in. We want to be really intentional about maintaining as much staff as we can.”
The Spero Project’s community navigation team helps refugees apply for food stamp benefits and Medicaid and ensures they stay up-to-date with program requirements, Ritchie said.
“Those are pivotal supports that are in place, that neighbors need, and that are vehicles toward self-efficacy and toward sustainability that families really need when they first arrive,” Ritchie said.
Ritchie said her team is always looking for low-cost or no-cost clinics and service providers, but the demand for those resources is growing. With the loss of benefits, many of the families the nonprofit serves have needed to find a second or third income-earner, which could include older children. The Spero Project has an employment team that works with refugees on job applications, resume building and sourcing ideas for additional income.
Ritchie said the Spero Project team is aiming to give their clients as much information and time as possible to prepare to make difficult decisions.
“‘Does our limited amount of resources go to having health insurance for our kids, or does it go to putting food on the table for our family and being able to make rent?’ There’s a lot of factors and a lot of variables that make it additionally hard,” Ritchie said.
YWCA Tulsa lost $6.5 million in federal funding last year and learned in March that more refugee funding cuts were coming, said senior director of programs Molly Bryant. She said the organization had to undergo significant layoffs, slashing its number of case workers from 18 to 5. They also cut the number of refugees they served from close to 2,000 to around 450 of their highest-needs clients.
“It’s just been a time of shifting,” Bryant said. “How are we going to support people in the best way we possibly can with very, very, very limited funding and a much smaller staff?”
In the past, Bryant said refugees were immediately eligible for food stamp benefits upon arrival if they met the program’s income requirements. She said this ensured that people who had recently escaped war and persecution had a basic foundation for rebuilding their lives in the U.S. But her team has always tried to prevent clients from depending on the government program, and Bryant said they focus heavily on helping families find employment.
Bryant said while she’s concerned about families losing food assistance, the loss of Medicaid coverage is even more worrying. She said she believes the benefit eligibility changes, combined with another federal change that will bar many of the same groups from accessing Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, will leave a significant portion of clients uninsured.
YWCA Tulsa has a refugee health team that has been preparing clients for upcoming eligibility changes and talking them through saving up for insurance premiums, Bryant said. She also said her team works closely with Morton Comprehensive Health Services and Community Health Connection, two federally qualified health centers in Tulsa. But she said free and low-cost clinics must balance uncompensated care with insured patients to remain financially viable.
Bryant said she thinks policies like the federal benefit eligibility changes are designed to make refugee and immigrant lives harder, and she fears that lawmakers are accomplishing that goal.
“I have worked in immigration services and refugee services for quite a long time, and I have never seen so many people grapple with the decision of, ‘Is it safer and better for my family to stay here in the United States, or to return to a place that we escaped because of war (and) religious persecution,’” Bryant said.
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Ari Fife interned at The Frontier and was hired by the outlet in 2023. She covers politics and social issues. She can be reached at Ari@readfrontier.com
