Remaking the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program

Nayla Rush

By Nayla Rush on July 30, 2024

On World Refugee Day 2024 (June 20), the Biden administration released a fact sheet, celebrating the “rebuilding and strengthening” of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) on its watch. Due to its efforts, the administration expects “more than 100,000 refugees” to be brought into U.S. communities by the end of Fiscal Year 2024 (September 30), the highest refugee admissions in three decades. So far in FY 2024 (October 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024), 68,291 refugees were resettled.

Some highlights of the Biden administration’s “rebuilding and strengthening” of USRAP:

It upgraded its main technology system to ensure “it scales for unprecedented goals in resettling refugees”. This increased functionality in global case management systems (electronic review of information, digitization of registration forms, expansion of video-teleconference interviews, etc.), has led to faster processing times. Other measures included concurrent processing, adding circuit rides, hiring new staff, opening additional U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) international field offices in the Middle East, and contracting an additional resettlement agency to assist refugees upon arrival.
It launched a new automated process that streamlines the process for refugee (and other eligible populations) to obtain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) and Social Security cards.
It integrated refugee vetting into the National Vetting Center in an effort to simplify “the ways that DHS uses intelligence and law enforcement information to inform decisions, while maintaining strong privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties protections”.
It launched the “Welcome Corps” program, “the boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in more than 40 years”. The program allows private individuals in the United States (including newly resettled refugees and other newcomers) to select their own refugees and future American citizens. By doing so, the Biden administration eliminated the geographic boundaries to resettlement.
The “Welcome Corps” was further expanded to include the “Welcome Corps on Campus”, bringing “refugees” straight to U.S. campuses; and the “Welcome Corps at Work”, bringing them straight to U.S. jobs.
It increased resettlement efforts for individuals from Latin America and the Caribbean.
It created the Safe Mobility (SMO) initiative in partnership with the UN refugee agency (the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to expand “lawful pathways” to the United States for refugees and vulnerable migrants in South and Central America. Safe Mobility offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala were opened to facilitate refugees’ and migrants’ access to the United States, including through refugee resettlement, family reunification, humanitarian parole, and labor opportunities.
It launched a high-level multilateral forum, the Resettlement Diplomacy Network (RDN). As chair, the U.S. government under the Biden administration is driving an “ambitious shared agenda around the global expansion and modernization of resettlement programs”.
It is opening avenues for resettlement for human rights activists and “LGBTQI+” refugees. It is also strengthening the ability of U.S. embassies to refer refugees, as well as expanding NGO referrals for refugees.
It expanded access to USRAP for Afghans. In August 2021, the administration announced a special refugee designation (Priority 2 (P-2)) for certain Afghans and their family members.

Below is a detailed account on how the Biden administration “methodically rebuilt and modernized” the USRAP:

An Expanded Domestic Resettlement Network. Religious or community-based organizations, called resettlement agencies (formerly known as “volags”) have contracts with the Department of State to resettle refugees inside the United States. The Biden administration added a tenth resettlement agency (Bethany Christian Services) to the existing nine. These resettlement agencies maintain nationwide networks of local affiliates to assist with the reception and placement (R&P) of refugees (and other eligible newcomers) and provide them with services and assistance. More than 150 local resettlement offices were opened or reopened, bringing the total of local affiliates to more than 350.

(See here for a full list of “Resettlement and Placement Agency Contacts” (these include the R&P Agency Contact List External Distribution, the R&P Affiliate Directory, and the R&P Agency Affiliate Maps).)

A fact sheet was also issued by the Department of State, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and HHS to offer information to landlords and property managers about renting to refugees and other eligible newcomers. Newcomer populations other than refugees who are eligible for the same resettlement support services include asylees (individuals granted asylum in the United States), Cubans and Haitians granted entry to the United States, Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders, victims of human trafficking, certain Afghan humanitarian parolees, and certain Ukrainian humanitarian parolees.

All refugees and eligible newcomers can receive rental assistance funds and/or cash assistance. For landlords and property managers, a promissory note and/or letter of support from a resettlement agency detailing the financial aid a housing applicant will receive from a local affiliate and state or federal agencies can be helpful.

Instead of regular credit checks at admission, landlords and property owners can refer to other forms of verification to assess the ability of a refugee, parolee, or other prospective tenant to pay rent. Credit checks are not necessary, for instance, when a resettlement agency vouches to provide full rent payments for a refugee family.

Hiring of More than 300 Refugee Officers. The size of DHS’s refugee officer corps has more than tripled. Over 80,000 refugee applicants overseas were interviewed by refugee officers in the first half of 2024. DHS also partnered with the Department of State to expand the international office footprint of USCIS. Two additional USCIS international field offices were opened in Doha, Qatar, and Ankara, Turkey, to support the USRAP’s infrastructure in the region and increase capacity for USCIS refugee processing circuit rides. The opening of the Doha Field Office and the Ankara Field Office brings the total number of USCIS international field offices to 11.

According to USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou, opening these new field offices in critical locations in the Middle East such as Qatar and Turkey expands “USCIS’ footprint outside the United States” in line with “the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to facilitate safe, lawful, and orderly migration and family reunification”.

Redesigned Overseas Processing Steps. The Department of State, DHS, and the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) redesigned overseas processing by allowing concurrent steps rather than sequential ones. This new approach, first used for Afghan refugees, was later expanded to other populations. By late 2023, more than half of all refugees interviewed worldwide went through concurrent processing. This remake led to faster processing times (weeks or months instead of historically years-long ones).

Digitized Processes for Greater Efficiency. The Biden administration partnered with the U.S. Digital Corps to upgrade the main technology system that “supports the United States’ Refugee and Asylum programs to ensure it scales for unprecedented goals in resettling refugees”. The result is an increased functionality in global case management systems (electronic review of information, digitization of registration forms, expansion of video-teleconference interviews, etc.), leading to faster processing times.

In September 2023, the Department of State, DHS, and USDS shifted from paper-based processes to the full implementation of digital ones. These modern case management systems lead to more efficient and cost-effective overseas processing.

Moreover, the Department of State, DHS, the Social Security Administration, and USDS launched a new automated process that streamlines the process for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) and Social Security cards for refugees. The wait time is shortened to approximately 30 days instead of several months.

Resolving Many of the Oldest Cases in the Program. The Biden administration is prioritizing refugees who have been waiting the longest for a decision on their case. The Department of State, DHS, and USDS created new case-tracking mechanisms to process old cases. More than 32,000 refugees with cases pending for more than five years were resettled in the United States since October 2022.

Launch of the Safe Mobility Initiative to Expand “Lawful Pathways” in the Western Hemisphere. The Safe Mobility Initiative is one of many initiatives undertaken by the Biden administration to expand “lawful pathways” to the United States for refugees and vulnerable migrants in South and Central America. This initiative is supposed to reduce unlawful migration and discourage individuals from undertaking dangerous journeys “in search of safety and better opportunities”.

(See my colleague Todd Bensman's analysis of the SMO initiative.)

With the assistance of the UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and other partners, the United States has established Safe Mobility Offices (SMOs) in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala, which “direct refugees and migrants to lawful pathways and help them avoid the risks associated with onward movement”.

The Safe Mobility Initiative not only facilitates expedited refugee processing via USRAP but gives access to other means of coming to the United States, including humanitarian parole, family reunification, and labor programs.

Tens of thousands of individuals have already submitted a free application on MovilidadSegura.org. Under the Safe Mobility Initiative, more than 30,000 refugees from South and Central America were resettled in communities across the United States, Canada, and Spain. More than 13,000 refugees from the region were resettled in the U.S. this year, the most in USRAP’s history.

The Resettlement Diplomacy Network. The Biden administration launched a high-level multilateral forum, the Resettlement Diplomacy Network (RDN), in September 2022 in partnership with Australia, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the European Commission. Acting as the RDN secretariat, Pathways International and the Migration Policy Institute support the U.S. chairmanship of the RDN.

As chair, the U.S. government under the Biden administration is driving an “ambitious shared agenda around the global expansion and modernization of resettlement programs”.

This initiative is one of many that reaffirms the Biden administration’s commitment to the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and “dedication to championing refugee protection and solutions”. Two UN global compacts, the GCR and the “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration” (GCM) were set in motion following the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants that was adopted by UN member states (including the United States under the Obama administration) in 2016. The Trump administration voted “no” on joining the compacts. Biden has not reversed his predecessor’s decision to stay out of the two UN Global Compacts, but is endorsing the vision contained in them.

The Biden administration announced new pledges at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum that underline its intention to:

Commit to increasing global resettlement opportunities: With the rebuilding of the capacity of USRAP, the United States will come close to meeting its FY 2024 ceiling of 125,000 refugees.
Chair and regularly convene the RDN at both the senior officials and ministerial levels in 2024 and beyond.
Commit to using the RDN as a high-level strategic and diplomatic engagement mechanism to strengthen and expand access to global refugee resettlement and increase complementary migration pathways.
Expand “equitable access” to resettlement by designing new pathways for resettlement referrals that involve private sponsorships through the “Welcome Corps” and expanding referrals through non-governmental organization networks. It is also establishing new referral authorities for U.S. government officials with a focus on human rights activists and “LGBTQI+” populations.

Private Sponsorship. A “private” sponsorship program called the “Welcome Corps” was designed two years into the Biden presidency to reportedly “build on the extraordinary response of the American people over the past year in welcoming our Afghan allies, Ukrainians displaced by war, Venezuelans, and others fleeing violence and oppression”.

With the Welcome Corps, the Biden administration created new opportunities for private individuals in the United States to select their own “refugees” (who do not need to actually be refugees according to the UNHCR Refugee Status Determination, let alone that subset of refugees determined by the UN to be in “need of resettlement”). The program started with phase one, known as the “matching phase”, allowing U.S.-based sponsors (American citizens or permanent residents, including even those with conditional two-year green cards, to be matched with refugees whose cases were already approved for resettlement under USRAP. It moved to its phase two, the “naming phase”, on December 29, 2023, under which sponsors can select their own “refugees” and future American citizens, a first in the history of USRAP.

The program saw limited success during its matching phase (with only some 500 sponsors signing up), but picked up under phase two, as sponsors became able to select who they want to bring to the United States. Three months into the naming phase, more than 65,000 individuals in all 50 states plus D.C. had signed up to welcome as “refugees” people they know or are related to.

Under the Welcome Corps, five U.S.-based sponsors need to come together and form a Private Sponsor Group (PSG) and commit to providing financial support for the refugees’ initial 90 days in the United States ($2,425 per refugee). At least 60 percent of that sum ($1,455) must be in cash, and the rest can be a combination of cash and in-kind donations and services. That said, to apply, a document showing that 60 percent of this amount ($1,455 per refugee) has been secured is sufficient.

However, on June 20, 2024 (World Refugee Day), the Biden administration announced that grants were made available to cover 100 percent of the initial financial requirements for PSGs applying to be matched with refugees they do not know. Through July 31, the Sponsor Fund will cover fundraising costs for sponsors to bring in refugees. This funding comes from private philanthropy efforts led by the Shapiro Foundation in partnership with the Community Sponsorship Hub, WelcomeNST, and GoFundMe.org.

Another program operating under the umbrella of the Welcome Corps was introduced in July 2023 as an education pathway for bringing in refugees. The “Welcome Corps on Campus” is designed to bring refugees straight to U.S. dorms and campuses, allowing for “U.S. higher education institutions to serve as resettlement spaces and academic opportunities for refugee students”.

In August 2024, 17 participating U.S. colleges and universities will welcome the first cohort of 31 refugee students under the Welcome Corps on Campus; by 2027, the United States pledged to partner with 75 higher education institutes to admit at least 275 students. As of last July, 145 institutions and organizations with expertise in higher education, resettlement, and refugee rights expressed support for the program; see here for a full list of these participants.

As of spring 2023, additional resources were made available to the Welcome Campus Network through the Supporting Higher Education in Refugee Resettlement (SHERR) program. SHERR is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

On the occasion of World Refugee Day 2024, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona sent a letter to colleges and universities to encourage their leaders to step up their efforts to support displaced and refugee students “[d]uring this time of historic global displacement due to political violence, climate change, and economic insecurity”.

The two cabinet secretaries encouraged the schools to, “[e]xpand access to resettlement and education by enrolling refugee students through the new Welcome Corps on Campus program” and “[l]everage underutilized facilities on your campus and in your community, if available, to provide temporary shelter or short-term housing for refugees”.

They also encouraged the schools to become an Every Campus A Refuge (ECAR) chapter, allowing campuses to receive grants to host refugees on their grounds. Campuses were also encouraged to take large numbers of refugees, following the example of the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vt., which has opened seven residence halls and other facilities to house and educate over 300 newly arrived refugees in southern Vermont since 2022.

Another expansion of the Welcome Corps was introduced in April 2024, by the Biden administration: the “Welcome Corps at Work”, which is essentially a fee-free foreign-worker program that “enables U.S. employers to recruit from a diverse, qualified pool of refugee candidates abroad”.

Expanded Access to Resettlement. The Biden administration is opening avenues for resettlement for human rights activists and “LGBTQI+” refugees. In 2023, the Department of State designated two senior U.S. government human rights officials to identify these individuals. The administration also increased the ability of U.S. embassies to refer people for refugee resettlement, an option “previously reserved for exceptional circumstances”.

The administration has also expanded NGO referrals for refugees. The Department of State is partnering with a new consortium of NGOs to identify and refer refugees to USRAP, including “LGBTQI+” persons and certain ethnic and religious minorities.

It has also expanded access to USRAP for Afghans. In August 2021, the State Department announced a special refugee designation (Priority 2 (P-2)) for certain Afghans and their eligible family members (spouses and children of any age, whether married or unmarried). It is also allowing U.S. government and military officials to refer Afghans to USRAP. This designation targets Afghans “who may be at risk due to their U.S. affiliation but who are not eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) because they did not have qualifying employment, or because they have not met the time-in-service requirement to become eligible”.

The Biden administration has significantly increased its resettlement efforts operations in the Americas, especially through the Safe Mobility initiative mentioned above. The 13,822 refugees from Latin America and the Caribbean resettled so far this fiscal year (October 1, 2023 - June 30,2024) come under an annual allocation for the region of 35,000-50,000 (out of a total ceiling for FY 2024 of 125,000). Since January 2021, the UNHCR has referred more than twice as many refugees from that region to USRAP as in the previous three decades.

Below are the monthly refugee admissions, top nationalities, and resettlement states witnessed so far in FY 2024 (October 1, 2023-June 30,2024). The data is from the Refugee Processing Center portal:

Resettled Refugee Monthly Admissions