In the state of New York, the city of Buffalo is the top refugee resettlement destination.

This is according to the Immigration Research Initiative, but a new study from the University at Buffalo finds refugees are facing serious challenges when it comes to finding better paying jobs long after resettlement.

“They’re having a lot of successes, but they’re also facing a lot of challenges over the years and even decades at times,” said Abigail Cooke, associate professor of geography at the University at Buffalo.

Cooke is the corresponding author of a published study that examines the long-term employment barrier Buffalo’s refugee community is experiencing.

She says spoken and written language barriers, and difficulty navigating the job market are two key hurdles.

“This is showing up in reaching out and asking for help from various kinds of people either service providers who they may have had contact with at resettlement, or from community leaders from their own ethnic or regional communities,” said Cooke.

According to the University at Buffalo from 2002 to 2019, approximately 16,000 new refugees resettled in the city. They’re from various regions around the world including:

43% from South/Southeast Asia
39% from Africa
14% from the Middle East
4% from other places

Since the establishment of the Refugee Act of 1980, sitting presidents have set the annual cap on the number of new refugee arrivals in the United States in consultation with Congress.

The Trump administration set the annual cap for the 2026 fiscal year to 7,500, which is the lowest in the program’s 45-year history.

For comparison, according to the Migration Policy Institute, it was 38,102 in 2025 and 100,034 in 2024.

Cooke says these historic cuts are also playing a role. Study authors suggest more investments may be needed to help support economic integration.

“That has really harmed the sort of fabric of support for not only new arrivals, but also the sort of spill over into these networks of support of refugees who have been here for a while,” Cooke.

According to organizations who track these changes, in addition to the number of arrivals being dramatically reduced, so has funding, and applications have stalled.

For those who are being allowed to resettle, the Brennan Center for Justice says there’s a heavy prioritizing of specific groups of refugees like white South African Afrikaners.