Ramazan Ali Rezaie and his wife Gullaghai came to the United States as refugees in November 2023, following his sister who had worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan. Three years later, their extended family of 18 in Newport News has lost about $1,800 a month in food assistance, and four adults in the household now qualify only for emergency Medicaid, after federal eligibility restrictions tightened this year.
The family's story, first reported by The Virginian-Pilot, reflects a broader shift reshaping benefits for refugees and other lawfully present immigrants nationwide. A 2025 federal law narrowed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility to green card holders and a handful of other immigrant categories, making refugees and several other groups who previously qualified newly ineligible. A separate provision of that law restricted access to federally funded Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program for many lawfully present immigrants starting October 1, 2026.
Kristen Larcher, director of refugee and immigration services at Commonwealth Catholic Charities, said the changes are hitting lawfully present refugees hard. In Virginia alone, roughly 6,000 lawfully present immigrants lost Medicaid coverage when the restrictions took effect, according to reporting from The Hill. Larcher put the stakes plainly: SNAP puts food on the table, she said, and Medicaid sends sick children to the doctor.
A Family Stretched Thin
The Rezaies came to the U.S. under the refugee admissions program's Priority 2 designation for Afghan nationals, a pathway that started in 2021 but was paused by executive order in January 2025. The extended family has applied for green cards but has so far obtained only one. Larcher said green card processing, which used to take about eight months, now takes over two years — and families who applied back in 2024 still lack them.
With SNAP benefits gone, the family now relies on food pantries, though pantry schedules are inconsistent and the food available doesn't always include culturally appropriate items such as halal meat. Ramazan Ali Rezaie said, through interpreter Ibrahim Maroof, that the family simply buys whatever food it can afford. He said he did not expect so much hardship when he decided to come to the United States, and that the food assistance cuts have had a dramatic impact on his family's life.
The household's fixed monthly costs run about $2,600, covering rent, utilities, car insurance, fees to the Department of State and other expenses. Two of the Rezaie sons have taken part-time jobs to help, and a daughter is working toward a learner's permit so she can work too. Rezaie has called social services several times asking for help feeding his small children, only to be told that without a green card, the family could not get assistance.
Health Needs Go Untreated
Gullaghai Rezaie suffers from severe tooth pain but cannot afford dental treatment that would cost several thousand dollars out of pocket. She is looking for work and has been studying English for about a year; she can write her name and understand some phrases, though she and her husband do not yet speak English and neither has been able to pass a U.S. driver's test, leaving transportation a persistent limiting factor for the parents. Their children, by contrast, speak English and are doing well in school.
The losses facing the Rezaie family are part of a pattern researchers are tracking nationally. The Congressional Budget Office, as cited by KFF, estimates the Medicaid and CHIP eligibility restrictions will reduce federal spending by $6.2 billion while leaving an additional 100,000 people uninsured by 2034. KFF also notes that some people who remain technically eligible for Medicaid may still lose coverage because of administrative barriers.
Virginia's Department of Social Services has said the new SNAP rules do not change eligibility for U.S. citizens, including citizen children in families where other members are noncitizens. Still, about 740,000 Virginians received SNAP benefits in July, the most recent month for which the state had published participation data, according to the Rappahannock News — underscoring how many households statewide depend on the program even as its rules shift under some immigrant families' feet.
Nonprofits Absorb the Strain
Commonwealth Catholic Charities has felt the funding squeeze directly. Federal funding for the organization's refugee assistance program fell by about 80%, forcing it to cut its staff in half, according to WMRA. Larcher said the drop in federal funds has pushed the organization to seek new local partnerships to fill the gap, and she expects additional federal cuts to affect the group's work in 2027.
The pressure isn't unique to Virginia. In Arizona, more than 20,000 people — mostly refugees — no longer qualify for Medicaid under the new rules, according to NPR, which also reported that Arizona is one of 11 states that never applied for a federal waiver to continue Medicaid coverage for refugee children and pregnant women, even though most states did. Meanwhile, Commonwealth Catholic Charities' Newport News office has resettled 69 Afghan refugees so far, with officials anticipating hundreds more in the coming months, WAVY-TV reported; the group helps refugees with everything from employment to healthcare access.
For Ramazan Ali Rezaie, the goal remains the same one that brought his family here: he wants his children to get a better education and go to college, and hopes they'll avoid working as laborers for life, as he now does at a seafood processing plant in Newport News. He and his family say what they want most is good jobs, the chance to pay taxes, and to serve the country that took them in.
