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Wisconsin will begin enforcing new federal eligibility restrictions for FoodShare and Medicaid this week, cutting off thousands of refugees, asylees and other legally present immigrants from public benefits they were previously eligible to receive.

The state’s refugee services providers warn that fallback options are already stretched thin.

The Trump administration narrowed eligibility for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps low-income households purchase groceries. The Wisconsin program, called FoodShare, is federally funded but administered by states. The new rules —  which President Donald Trump last July signed into law as part of his “big beautiful” spending bill — exclude many noncitizens previously eligible for the program, including refugees, asylees and victims of human trafficking.

Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services (DHS) will begin enforcing the FoodShare eligibility rules on July 1, barring immigrants who fall into one of the now-excluded categories from enrolling in the program or renewing their benefits. The state will implement the Medicaid eligibility restrictions beginning Oct. 1, with some exceptions. DHS estimates roughly 7,200 people will lose access to one or both programs, nearly two-thirds of whom live in greater Milwaukee.

Neighboring states have already begun enforcing the new SNAP restrictions. Illinois, for instance, began barring refugees and asylees without green cards from the program in April. DHS spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsitt attributed Wisconsin’s slower rollout to the state’s “complex, combined eligibility system” and effort needed to “design and implement” changes.

Refugee services providers spent months bracing for impact, receiving formal notice of the cutoffs at roughly the same time as affected refugees and asylees. To ensure language barriers didn’t leave families in the dark, Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan refugee program director Omar Mohamed said his team is checking in with affected households individually. 

Those with green cards will retain access to the programs, but Mohamed noted that a recent barrage of visa restrictions leaves green cards out of reach for many recent arrivals. Refugees can typically apply for green cards a year after settling in the U.S., but the Trump administration in January froze green card processing for anyone from 39 countries — including Myanmar, the largest source of refugees resettled in Wisconsin in recent years. Of the nearly 170 people Lutheran Social Services resettled in Wisconsin between October 2024 and September 2025, only one has secured a green card, Mohamed said. 

Ongoing legal battles over the visa restrictions have yet to clear the path to legal permanent residency. 

Without access to legal permanent residency, refugees and asylees face what amounts to an  “indefinite ban on the eligibility” for SNAP and Medicaid, said Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy for refugee services nonprofit World Relief, which has offices in Appleton, Eau Claire and Oshkosh.

Food pantries may be many refugees’ and asylees’ best backup when they lose access to SNAP, but advocates say donated food cannot directly replace lost benefits. Milwaukee food bank Hunger Task Force has seen pantry traffic increase by 50% in the past two years, said public policy and advocacy director Reno Wright. 

The nonprofit is helping other food pantries prepare for the cutoff, but those programs are “meant to provide supplemental assistance and not long-term ongoing assistance,” Wright said. 

What families should know

Mixed-status households should still apply for benefits for the members of their families who still qualify, Wright added. U.S. citizen children of refugee parents, for instance, will remain eligible for nutrition assistance — albeit only for their own needs, not their parents’.

Children who lose access to FoodShare can turn to Milwaukee’s summer meal program, organized by Hunger Task Force and a coalition of school districts and community organizations. The program provides free meals to children ages 18 and under at more than 100 locations in greater Milwaukee. 

Alternatives to Medicaid benefits are even harder to find. Free clinics often operate at capacity, Soerens said, and while refugees may still qualify for emergency medical coverage through  Medicaid Emergency Services, the program sets a high bar for eligibility and does not cover preventative care or ongoing treatment for chronic conditions. 

While some Milwaukee-area clinics are mulling subscription-based alternatives to Medicaid, Mohamed said many of the families his organization supports can’t fit a health care subscription into their budgets.

For now, Lutheran Social Services and its counterparts elsewhere in Wisconsin will rely on donors and community partners to shore up the assistance they provide to refugees and asylees. That need has grown since the Trump administration largely suspended refugee admissions last January, cutting off funding tied to new arrivals and forcing agencies to lay off staff.

But refugee arrivals haven’t ceased entirely. At least 218 refugees have resettled in Wisconsin since last January, all from South Africa.

Wisconsin to cut FoodShare, Medicaid for thousands of refugees under new federal rules is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.