| The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is asking Catholics to contact their U.S. Senators and Representative to ask them to engage with the Administration to resume the resettlement of refugees and Afghan special immigrant visa holders.
Today, no refugees are being resettled through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). This ban impacts thousands of refugees who had already been fully processed, undergone extensive security checks, and approved for refugee status by the federal government while outside of the United States. This includes many persecuted Christians, as well as Afghans who had been approved for special immigrant visas because of the assistance they provided to the U.S. mission and U.S. service members in Afghanistan.
The indefinite suspension of USRAP is the result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on January 20. The order requires the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to submit a report by April 20, 2025, regarding whether refugee resettlement is in the national interest. However, the order leaves the decision about whether to resume refugee resettlement to the President alone, without any timeline stated for that decision.
On January 24, the State Department issued suspension notices to domestic resettlement agencies, including the USCCB, impacting their ability to carry out services under USRAP’s Reception and Placement (R&P) Program. The R&P Program provides crucial assistance to refugees and Afghan special immigrant visa holders during their first three months in the United States to support their successful integration and help them to achieve self-sufficiency as quickly as possible. Services provided through the R&P Program include help finding initial housing, securing employment, enrolling children in school, scheduling medical appointments, and English language classes.
“[I]t is the historic policy of the United States to respond to the urgent needs of persons subject to persecution in their homelands. . . . Congress further declares that it is the policy of the United States to encourage all nations to provide assistance and resettlement opportunities to refugees to the fullest extent possible.”
These opening lines of the Refugee Act of 1980—the law creating the statutory authority for USRAP—communicate the importance of responding to the needs of those forced to flee their homes because they are persecuted on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Carrying out the Gospel’s mandate to care for the “least of these” (Mt. 25:31-46), the Catholic Church has served refugees in the United States since well before USRAP’s creation. Learn more about USRAP and the Catholic Church.
To contact your Members of Congress and ask them to uphold our nation’s bipartisan legacy of refugee resettlement, click below: |
