On May 22, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a multibillion dollar reconciliation package that dramatically expands funding for immigration detention and deportation and slashes funding for key benefits and services that strengthen families, communities, and local economies.
If signed into law, the bill would restrict access to health care benefits and food assistance for many otherwise-eligible humanitarian arrivals. It would strip life-sustaining benefits from many refugees, asylees, humanitarian parolees, victims of trafficking, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients and others whose eligibility Congress has previously explicitly authorized.
The following sections of the bill limit access to certain benefits to Lawful Permanent Residents, sometimes with exceptions for those seeking visas under certain circumstances or Cuban nationals and certain Pacific Islanders. The following provisions would cut off tens of thousands of humanitarian arrivals from benefits:
Section 10012 – Alien SNAP Eligibility (page 27) would make many categories of humanitarian arrivals ineligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that 120,000 to 250,000 immigrants would lose their SNAP benefits if the bill as written becomes law.
Section 112101 – Permitting Premium Tax Credit Only For Certain Individuals (page 1042) would exclude many humanitarian arrivals from eligibility for the Premium Tax Credit (PTC) which helps people who are insured via the Health Insurance Marketplace cover the cost of their health insurance premiums. For more information on immigrants who currently qualify for Affordable Care Act coverage and the PTC, see this HealthCare.gov resource.
Section 112104 – Limiting Medicare Coverage of Certain Individuals (page 1051) would strip many otherwise-eligible immigrants from their access to Medicare. Under current law, people who are older than 65 or living with certain illnesses can apply for Medicare if they or their spouse have spent ten years in the U.S. labor force, and immigrants lacking the work history otherwise required can apply after five years of lawful presence in the U.S. See this KFF fact sheet for detailed information on Medicare eligibility provisions in the reconciliation bill.
The measures drew skepticism in the House, with Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) pushing to limit restrictions on SNAP eligibility and Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) describing a “need for conversation” around provisions curtailing benefits eligibility for refugees and other humanitarian arrivals.
Should Congress pass the bill with the above provisions intact, many people who came to the U.S. seeking safety from violence and persecution who do not hold Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status will become newly ineligible for the above benefits. For example:
- Refugees who enter the United States via the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program are not eligible to apply for LPR status until at least one year after their arrival.
- Asylees – individuals granted protection after a judge determines that they would face persecution if they returned to their country of origin – cannot apply for LPR status until a year after their asylum determination.
- Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients – who fled countries the Secretary of Homeland Security has deemed unsafe to return to – are generally ineligible to apply for lawful permanent residence unless they qualify for other humanitarian, family, or employment pathways.
- Humanitarian Parolees – including those who fled violence in Afghanistan and Ukraine – lack a clear path to LPR status unless they qualify for other humanitarian, family, or employment pathways.
Most federal benefits programs are already unavailable to undocumented immigrants, and in many cases, even immigrants with legal status are barred from access for their first five years after obtaining a “qualified” immigration status like lawful permanent residence.
The bill would also render 4.5 million U.S. citizen children ineligible for the Child Tax Credit (CTC) – which has lifted millions out of poverty – based on the immigration status of one or both of their parents.
As the Senate takes up the reconciliation bill for consideration, CWS urges Senators to reject restrictions on benefits eligibility for people fleeing persecution and instead work to strengthen the programs and services that help communities thrive and flourish.