MADISON, WI – As just one of six refugee sites in Wisconsin, Madison’s Jewish Social Services (JSS) is worried about their capacity while resettling Ukrainian refugees. However, that’s not stopping them from taking on the challenge.
President Biden announced Thursday that the U.S. would accept up to 100,000 of the 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Resettlement agencies like JSS are waiting on the federal and state governments to release the details about the replacement plan in order to begin preparing.
During the Afghan refugee crisis, JSS replaced 72 of 75 expected refugees. “I’m really wondering who has capacity…We have already resettled more this year than we typically do in an entire year,” Executive Director of JSS, Dawn Berney, told Channel 3000 “We never want to turn anyone down.”
The Washington Post reports that Biden raised the number of refugees the United States is willing to admit during the current fiscal year to 125,000, but his administration is on pace to receive only 15,000 as a result of processing backlogs and what officials describe as pandemic-related limitations.
For the fiscal year, JSS will be able to resettle 155 from across the globe. Prior to the Afghan refugee crisis in 2017, JSS used to resettle between 17 and 60 a year. Barney said “I really do want to stress that we are here for refugees, no matter where they are from.” Barney expressed concerns over Madison’s housing market and being able to find both affordable and safe housing for refugees in such a short amount of time.
Additionally, Wisconsin has a relatively small Ukrainian population with just 100 refugees who resettled largely in Green Bay and Milwaukee between 2001 and 2019. Wisconsin’s Bureau of Refugee Programs announced Thursday that they had little information on how many refugees would be coming to the state and how soon they will arrive. Conversations at the federal level in the coming weeks will determine how many refugees these agencies can take and how many each state can accept.