What explains variation in allocation of services for refugees at the local level? What are the drivers of municipal accommodation towards refugees? The literature provides various explanations for sub-national variation in responses to immigrants including but not limited to partisanship, local electoral competition, rentierism, and bureaucratic initiative. Using interview data and an original survey with a nationally representative sample of 264 municipal civil servants in Turkey, I provide evidence that larger the room for discretion municipal civil servants retain independent from the mayor, more likely that they provide for Syrian refugees. Contrary to the literature on bureaucratic incorporation however, I find that municipal accommodation does not always emanate from service providers' altruistic and professional motivations to serve persons in need. Through social assistance they provide, civil servants control and discipline refugees and render them invisible to the public eye, while safeguarding mayors’ electoral interest.