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# IowaWatch Connection Podcast: Iowa's Role Helping Refugees Limited By Resources
- URL: https://www.investigatemidwest.org/iowawatch-connection-podcast-iowas-role-helping-refugees-limited-by-resources/
- Published: 2015-08-10T15:42:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-11T02:39:42.000Z
- Description: This podcast of an IowaWatch Connection report about Iowa's role helping refugees lets you hear from Iowans helping refugees who come into the state and from Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
- Author: IowaWatch
- Tags: iowawatch, Uncategorized, Burma, Burmese refugees, Des Moines Register, EMBARC, Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Research Center, Gov. Robert Ray, Gov. Terry Branstad, Governor's Task Force for Indochinese Resettlement, Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services, Iowa refugees, Office of Refugee Resettlement, refugee issues, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-06-18 04:56

[![IowaWatchConnection_2015](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cd/d3/cdd3c059-8898-40b1-bcf7-cb2d3aa89775/content/images/2026/09/IowaWatchConnection_2015.png)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cd/d3/cdd3c059-8898-40b1-bcf7-cb2d3aa89775/content/images/2026/09/IowaWatchConnection%5F2015.png?ref=investigatemidwest.org)

Refugee assistance in Iowa is not the same as it was 40 years ago, [a new IowaWatch story in August reported](https://investigatemidwest.org/response-to-refugees-in-iowa-has-changed-in-40-years/?ref=investigatemidwest.org).

Iowans helping refugees from other countries, but especially Burma in the last few years, say the state isn’t doing enough.

“Unfortunately, these are complicated issues and there is not really an easy answer to it,” Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said in an IowaWatch interview. He also said in the interview more help is needed from the federal government but that Iowa does not have resources to expand its response to an influx of refugees into the state.

This podcast of an IowaWatch Connection report on this matter includes comments from Iowans helping refugees who come into the state and from the governor.