Rebuild the Refugee Resettlement Program

The U.S. has a long history of welcoming persecuted peoples and refugees, even going back to the nation’s founding. The Refugee Act of 1980 created our modern-day refugee system by adopting a standardized definition of a “refugee,” providing the first statutory basis for asylum, and formalizing the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Every year since then, the president has set a cap for the maximum number of refugees that the U.S. will resettle in that given fiscal year. Since the program began, the U.S. has resettled more than 3.1 million refugees, more than any other country in the world.

A number of factors have caused incredible slowdowns and backlogs throughout the process, severely prolonging resettlement and limiting the number of individuals actually resettled per year. This already lengthy process is now currently averaging over five years, and despite the 125,000 cap set by Biden in fiscal year 2023, the U.S. only resettled just over 60,000 refugees. The Trump administration’s decision to significantly curtail resettlement forced an estimated 134 resettlement sites to close and capacity to be cut by about 38%. It has proven to be difficult for resettlement agencies to rebuild their capacity in reopening locations, rehiring staff, and rebuilding volunteer networks, given the unreliable nature of their funding. Additionally, overseas processing and interviews have been slow to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and Trump-era cuts. Other factors such as understaffing across federal agencies have contributed to a largely unworkable system for many individuals in dire circumstances.