What you need to know about the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (H.R. 1)

This bill could change everything for refugees, asylum seekers and newcomers in the U.S.

Signed into law on July 4, 2025, H.R. 1, nicknamed the “Big Beautiful Bill”, a massive budget reconciliation package that strips essential services from many immigrants lawfully living in the U.S. Refugees, asylum seekers, TPS holders, humanitarian parolees and survivors of violence now face the loss of healthcare, food assistance and legal protections. While green card holders and Cuban and Haitian entrants remain eligible for some programs, millions of others are at risk.

What's in the Bill?

This bill will dramatically increase detention, restrict access to basic health care and food and impose harsh financial and legal penalties on people seeking safety. This isn’t just about policy, this is about people’s lives.

Immigration

Removes protections for unaccompanied children
Adds new, unwaivable fees for asylum and legal status applications — up to $1,000 per form
Pours over $75 billion into additional detention facilities and ICE enforcement
Allows indefinite detention of immigrant children and families, even those who pose no safety risk and consistently attend court hearings
Removes protections for unaccompanied children, ending trafficking screenings by child welfare experts and allowing invasive body searches in custody

Healthcare

Cuts off Medicaid and CHIP for refugees and humanitarian entrants starting October 1, 2026 - ending a decades-long safety net for those with urgent medical needs
Ends Medicare access for eligible refugees and lawful immigrants, despite payroll contributions, with some provisions taking effect immediately
Eliminates ACA coverage and premium tax credits for lawfully present immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, starting January 1, 2027

Food Assistance

What does this mean for Refugees and Humanitarian Entrants?

Under this new law, hundreds of thousands of individuals — many of whom have fled war, persecution and violence — now face:

Loss of healthcare and food access, regardless of need or medical status

Barriers to legal status and protection due to unaffordable new fees

Detention in expanded facilities with few safeguards — including for children

Fear of separation, deportation and long-term instability despite lawful presence

This law punishes people for seeking safety. It dismantles the very systems that help them survive and flourish in our country.

Why Should Christians care?

As followers of Jesus, we are not called to ignore suffering. We are called to respond. Scripture is clear:

"Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”

Exodus 22:21

““Whatever you did for one of the least of these... you did for me.”

Matthew 25:40

Refugees and immigrants are not statistics. They are image-bearers of God. Many are our neighbors, coworkers, church members — even our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This law may be political, but our response must be spiritual. It must be rooted in conviction, compassion and the call to seek justice. The suffering of refugees and other immigrants is a reality that we cannot turn away from.

How you can respond

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This Is a Defining Moment

We cannot be silent as protections are stripped away from our immigrant neighbors and community members. As people of faith, we are called to act — not with fear, but with love rooted in truth and justice.

Let’s respond with courage. Let’s lead with compassion. Let’s show a better way to flourish together.