CNN
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The Biden administration on Thursday announced a new program that allows private groups to help refugees around the world to live in the United States.
A program called welcome partyU.S. Secretary of State Anthony Brinken, billed it as “the most daring innovation in refugee resettlement in 40 years.”
Under this program, groups of at least five individuals, with the help of a consortium of non-profit resettlement organizations, can apply to sponsor refugees and help them adjust to life in the United States. can.
Sponsoring groups must raise a minimum of $2,275 per refugee, but are not required to provide ongoing financial support to the refugees they sponsor.
That initial amount will be used to “provide initial assistance for the first three months of a refugee’s stay in the country,” a senior State Department official said Thursday, adding that the money will be used for apartment deposits, clothing , you mentioned that it is used for furniture, etc.
“The goal is for the refugees to become self-sufficient as soon as possible,” the official said.
Julieta Valls Noyes, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, said the program requires a group of at least five people, not just one, who can collect the minimum amount. Alone, it’s “much more than the average American can do.”
“It’s not about money. It’s about commitment. It’s about community. It’s about bringing people together to form groups and having multiple people that refugees can refer to and work with,” she said Thursday. said at a State Department briefing.
“Helping refugees takes a lot of work: finding a school, helping them find affordable housing, getting their children enrolled in school, helping them find jobs, where the pharmacy is, which Teach them how to get on the bus, which is far beyond what the average American can do, so we think serving groups of 5 or more Americans is likely to be successful. ,” said Valls Noyes.
She said the groups could be “community volunteers, religious and civic groups, veterans, diaspora communities, businesses, colleges and universities, all sorts of groups.”
“All refugees supported by private sponsors will be cleared through the same extensive security screening required for all refugees admitted to the United States,” a senior State Department official said.
Sponsors are vetted, vetted and approved through a consortium of non-profit organizations funded by the State Department. Sponsors should provide a detailed “Welcome Plan” outlining how they will receive refugees and connect them to housing, work and school.
“The consortium will also provide training to sponsors before they begin their sponsorships,” and “regularly check-in” with sponsors and refugees, the official said.
“There are so many checkpoints, so many failsafes, so many reviews, all of which are part of this program to prevent abuse. That said, we are really excited about this program. I think it’s going to be really successful,” they said.
Refugee arrivals in the United States have plummeted in recent years after former President Donald Trump lowered the refugee limit to a historic low. The Biden administration has raised the cap to her 125,000 in the last two fiscal years, but attendance figures last year and this year are well below that.
“In the first year of the program, our goal is to mobilize at least 10,000 Americans to go forward as private sponsors and reach out to welcome at least 5,000 refugees from around the world,” he said. Brinken said in a statement Thursday.
The Welcome Corp program differs from other programs announced by the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security that allow individuals to sponsor refugees from Ukraine and Venezuela.
“These programs require sponsors to demonstrate that they can financially support the parolee during the two-year parole period. We will be able to help refugees of all nationalities who are in the United States … and I believe that in many cases they may end up becoming U.S. citizens,” a State Department official said.
