Against Suspension of the United States Refugee Admission Program
The Refugee Act of 1980 amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to create a pathway for resettlement in the United States for refugees fleeing their home country. Under the Act, an immigrant who has experienced past persecution or has a well-founded fear of past persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion is a refugee and thus may be considered for refugee status. Since the passage of the Refugee Act, more than three million refugees have resettled in the United States.
The Refugee Act also established the United States Refugee Admission Program (USRAP), a coalition of various U.S. government and resettlement agencies which offer a wide spectrum of resettlement assistance to refugees. To apply for refugee admission to the United States, individuals must meet the definition of refugee and fall within one of four priority categories: individual refugees referred to USRAP by UNHCR, a designated NGO, or U.S. embassy or government agency; groups of special humanitarian concern to the U.S. pursuant to State Department designations; refugees with immediate family members who were recently resettled as refugees in the United States; and privately sponsored refugees. Applications are subject to in-depth screened by Resettlement Support Centers around the world and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, undergoing medical screenings, interviews, and the most rigorous security screenings of any population admitted to the United States. After admission to the United States, USRAP supports refugees with cultural orientation, assistance with employment, cash assistance, and numerous other programs. Refugees are required to apply for lawful permanent resident status one year after entry and become eligible to apply for citizenship five years from the day they entered the country.
On January 20, 2025, the Trump administration issued Executive Order 14163, which indefinitely suspended the USRAP beginning on January 27, after which refugees were no longer settled into the United States and no decisions on refugee applications will be made. Approximately 10,000 refugees whose refugee applications had been approved after often years-long waiting periods had their flights to the United States cancelled.
The suspension of USRAP is one of many symptoms of the frightening rise of xenophobia in the United States and promises disastrous implications for our humanitarian policy and foreign relations. USRAP’s suspension comes at the heels of the thousands of false statements made by President Trump attributing higher rates of crime, theft of public benefits, voter fraud, and the “taking” of jobs from American citizens, to immigration. This rhetoric has always been intended to foment racism and xenophobia and manufacture consent for the suspension of USRAP and President Trump’s numerous other anti-immigration policies.
Moreover, refugee resettlement is needed now more than ever. As of mid-2024, there are 122.6 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. The top countries of origin for refugees resettled in the United States are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Syria, and Venezuela, all countries which the United States has had a significant hand in destabilizing and creating conditions that force its residents to flee. In the 1960s, the CIA undertook an almost 7-year covert mission in the Congo to eliminate and replace Patrice Lumumba, the new leftist Congolese Prime Minister, with a new leader that would better align with Western interests. The US-backed leader that was subsequently installed is known for the corruption that marred his 26-year regime. In Afghanistan, a 20-year long military intervention marked by significant human rights abuses and civilian casualties failed to accomplish its goal of eradicating the Taliban. In Syria and Venezuela, US economic sanctions cripple the national economy, prevent civilians from accessing basic medical care, essential goods, and aid, and frequently fail to achieve their intended goals. Our acceptance of refugees from these countries is necessary to improve our foreign relations with these countries; however, more importantly, it is our moral imperative to give innocent civilians the opportunity to escape the disastrous consequences of United States intervention in their home countries.
The United States owes a moral obligation to the international community to mitigate the harm and human rights abuses inflicted on civilians that directly resulted from efforts to bend foreign leaders to the will of Western imperialism. While refugee resettlement is the tip of the iceberg, it is the first step.