The federal government owes more than $600,000 in overdue reimbursements to the Bowling Green-based resettlement agency serving refugees, the International Center of Kentucky, center Director Albert Mbanfu told the Daily News on Friday.

This includes spent money that, if it remains unreimbursed, will soon cause layoffs and put refugees’ rental payments at risk, he said.

The center billed the federal government for around $300,000 in grant reimbursements on Jan. 10 to cover about one and a half months of agreed-upon services already provided by the center, Mbanfu said.

The federal government typically pays these by the end of a given month, but the center has received no payment for that billing, and the center has received no explanation about why, which has never happened before, Mbanfu said. These are for programs that are ongoing — and that the federal government has not told the International Center to stop working on, Mbanfu added.

The remaining more than $300,000 owed is due to payments the center already made for services it provided as part of the federal Reception and Placement Program with the understanding that the center would be reimbursed, Mbanfu said.

The Trump administration’s January “stop work” order that suspended federal funds for refugees halted that program.

The center is planning layoffs for 15% of its 57 full-time employees due to the Reception and Placement Program’s suspension, Mbanfu said. Its suspension also puts rental payments for 25 families at risk, he added.

If the center doesn’t receive the program’s revenue by the start of March, it would need to begin laying off employees, he said.

Reception and Placement Program

The Reception and Placement Program provides each refugee a one-time payment to cover their first three months of expenses in the U.S., according to a U.S. Department of State fact sheet. Mbanfu added that the funds additionally pay employees for continuing to support refugees to a lesser degree following those first three months.

The Reception and Placement Program was expected to provide a $1,225 grant to agencies per refugee in fiscal year 2023 for “direct assistance to each refugee it sponsors,” according to a U.S. Department of State “Notice of Funding” document. At the International Center, it’s around $6,500 per family of five – and, its being at risk would compromise rent for around 25 families who each share a household, Mbanfu said.

Donations from individuals and foundations have covered rent for March for these families, nearly 150 refugees – but after that, how rent will be covered is up in the air, Mbanfu said.

The other part of the program’s payment is for administrative costs, which agencies were expected to receive around $1,050 per refugee for in fiscal year 2023, according to the U.S. Department of State document.

The International Center of Kentucky supports more than 1,000 refugees with a staff that includes case managers, case aids, drivers, logistics teams, administrators and the accounting team, among others. The average employee assists around 50 refugees a year, though the exact number depends on their role, he added.

Staff at risk of layoffs are those who provide direct services to clients, Mbanfu said. It’s too early to tell who would be laid off, he said.

Layoffs would put more responsibilities on remaining staff, which would increase caseload and lead to a loss in quality of service, he said.

“So, somewhere along the line, the clients will suffer, and the community will likely feel the impact because of the poor (…) or incomplete services the refugees will receive,” he said.

Last February, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a report determining that refugees and asylees had a net positive fiscal impact of $123.8 billion from 2005 through 2019.

But prior to their arrival in the U.S., the average refugee will spend years – and sometimes, decades – living in a refugee camp. The early months of a refugee’s arrival are especially important for their transition to the U.S. – and that’s when they require more intensive guidance, Mbanfu said.

This extends to a range of activities, some as basic as walking along the sidewalk instead of the main road, he said.

“These are the types of services we provide them as they integrate into the community,” he said.

The overdue reimbursements are one of at least two ways the center and local refugees have been impacted in the past month by the federal government. Previously, President Donald Trump had issued an executive order halting refugee arrivals, which grounded flights for more than 50 refugees who would have otherwise arrived in Bowling Green earlier this month, Mbanfu said.