Trump Derailed Biden’s Refugee Resettlement Expansion

As we await the upcoming “Report to Congress on Proposed Refugee Admissions for FY 2026” (expected this month), which will outline President Trump’s refugee policy, it is useful to revisit the Biden-Harris administration’s report from September 2024. The “Report to Congress on Proposed Refugee Admissions for FY 2025” provides a snapshot of FY 2024 refugee policy and projections for FY 2025 — showing where refugee policy would have gone had Kamala Harris won the election. It also highlights programs and collaborative initiatives that may still be operating and could be subject to revision or dismantling under the new administration.

In the report, the Biden-Harris administration explained how it “restored, strengthened, and modernized” the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), setting it “on its strongest footing in modern history”. Its remaking of USRAP led to a sharp increase in refugee admissions, culminating in “a historic milestone” in FY 2024, with over 100,000 refugees — the highest figure in three decades. The previous administration also digitized case management for faster processing times, increased staffing, and expanded the domestic infrastructure for assisting refugees. In addition, it introduced new private sponsorship programs within USRAP — described as “groundbreaking initiatives” — that allowed even non-citizen newcomers to pick their own family and friends for resettlement here.

The Biden-Harris administration’s proclaimed humanitarian approach to displaced populations and efforts to “strengthen” refugee resettlement and expand “safe, orderly, and lawful pathways to the United States” were derailed by President Trump as soon as he took office.

The following provides an in-depth review of the Biden-Harris administration’s refugee report, along with an overview of several collaborative initiatives established to assist refugees and other newcomers. Unless otherwise noted, all data and quotations below are drawn directly from the report.

Funding

The estimated “Funding for Refugee Processing and Resettlement” totaled $2.8 billion in FY 2024 and was expected to amount to $5.1 in FY 2025. For comparison, the estimated cost was $2.2 billion in FY 2023, $1.4 billion in FY 2022, $967 million in FY 2021, $932 million in FY 2020, and $976 million in FY 2019.

FY 2024 and FY 2025 funds do not include funding from the “Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA)”¹ or the “Enduring Welcome Administrative Expenses” accounts, which cover costs associated with “Enduring Welcome”.² Funding estimates to support all of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) eligible populations in services such as TANF, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security Income are also not included since they are not appropriated to ORR.

Admission Numbers and Demographics

In FY 2024, a total of 100,034 refugees (under a 125,000 ceiling) were resettled in the United States, reaching a “historic milestone”.

The FY 2025 refugee ceiling was set at an “ambitious and achievable goal” of 125,000 by President Biden.

In FY 2025, in addition to refugee arrivals through USRAP, ORR was “projecting to serve 531,500 other arrivals … the majority of whom are expected to arrive as Cuban and Haitian Entrants through lawful pathways”.

In FY 2025, the Biden-Harris administration was planning to expand the resettlement of “key populations of concern, including vulnerable people from Latin America and the Caribbean; Afghan allies; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) individuals”.

The report provides data on two demographic characteristics of FY 2023 refugee arrivals — age and gender — while omitting religion. Of the total refugee arrivals in FY 2023, 11.24 percent were younger than the age of five, 34.08 percent were of school age (five-17), 52.9 percent of working age (18-64), and 1.78 percent of retirement age (65-plus). In FY 2023, 50.38 percent of refugees were male and 49.95 percent were female.

I retrieved information on the religious affiliation of resettled refugees — missing from the Biden report — from the FY 2024 archive section of the Refugee Processing Center portal: 51.9 percent Christians and 42.3 percent Muslims.

In a previous blog post, I examined the religion composition of resettled refugees during FY 2023: 51.8 percent Christians and 44.3 percent Muslims.

Further details on the religious composition of resettled refugees since FY 2010 are available in one of my earlier posts in “Table 1. Religion of All Refugees by Fiscal Year (FY 2010-FY 2023”; only the main religions are listed).

Who Is a Refugee?

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), “a refugee is a person who is outside their country of nationality (or, if no nationality, country of last habitual residence) and who has experienced past persecution or has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion”.

That said, as noted in the report, “the President may specify special circumstances under which a person can meet the refugee definition when still within their country of origin or, if stateless, within their country of habitual residence”.

For FY 2025, Biden proposed to “specify that the following individuals may be considered refugees for the purpose of admission to the United States”:

• Persons in Cuba;
• Persons in Eurasia and the Baltics;
• Persons in Iraq;
• Persons in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras; and
• Persons identified by a U.S. embassy or a referral partner in any location for compelling humanitarian reasons.

Latin America and the Caribbean

The Biden-Harris administration reiterated its commitment to expand access to resettlement to refugees from Latin America and the Caribbean “to discourage dangerous journeys to the United States” and reaffirmed “the U.S. commitment to working with regional partners to advance the principles of safe, orderly, humane, and regular migration”.

Admissions from the Americas saw “historic increases” under the previous administration in line with the goals set forth in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, a U.S.-led migration pact launched by Biden on June 10, 2022, at the Americas summit. The 22 endorsing countries (including the United States) committed to “expanding lawful pathways for migration and protection” including through labor ones. In 2024 alone, the United States committed over $1.2 billion under the Los Angeles Declaration framework.

On September 25, 2024, then Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, hosted the fourth Los Angeles Declaration Ministerial with White House Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall and White House Coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration Marcela Escobari. The government of Colombia was scheduled to host the fifth Los Angeles Declaration Ministerial in 2025.

FY 2024 refugee arrivals to the United States from Latin America and the Caribbean (25,358) are a more than four-fold increase over FY 2023 (6,312). With a total of 31,670 refugee arrivals from the region, the United States under the Biden-Harris administration “has surpassed its commitment” under the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection to resettle 20,000 refugees from this region during FY 2023-FY 2024.

To get to such results, the administration “increased operations in the region from four countries to nearly two dozen and UNHCR [the UN High Commissioner for Refugees] has referred more than twice as many individuals from the Americas into USRAP since early 2021 as in the previous three decades combined”.

Haitian and Nicaraguan refugee admissions “steadily trended upward in FY 2024”. Venezuelans, who accounted for very few cases a couple of years ago (three in FY 2021, 163 in FY 2022) became “the most referred nationality to USRAP operations in the region, surpassing Guatemalans, Salvadorans, and Hondurans”, with 1,442 Venezuelans resettled in FY 2023 and 12,875 in FY 2024. As for Haiti, which accounted for no arrivals in FY 2021 and FY 2022, saw 34 admissions in FY 2023 and 260 in FY 2024.

This upward trend was in line with the Biden-Harris administration’s “strong commitment to welcoming refugees through established lawful pathways”. Since the launch of the Safe Mobility Initiative³ (“Movilidad Segura”) in June 2023, more than 265,174 individuals registered via the MovilidadSegura.org website (numbers as of December 2024). More than 50,000 individuals were referred to USRAP, and over 24,000 individuals for “other lawful pathways”. 24,425 individuals were resettled in the United States as refugees via USRAP and another 28,000 were approved for “other legal pathways”.

The U.S. government under the Biden-Harris administration also incorporated “Labor Neighbors as part of the Safe Mobility Initiative to refer migrants to more lawful pathways and help match labor demand to labor supply across the hemisphere”. Labor Neighbors, or “Alianza de Movilidad Laboral para las Américas”, was a “new regional labor mobility initiative” launched by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in May 2024 “to increase access to lawful temporary labor pathways for new migrant-source and destination countries”.

In coordination with the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State, USAID helped the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to “identify, vet, and register eligible workers for temporary employment in the United States”. USAID connected applicants with American businesses and facilitated their visa processing.

USAID collaborated closely with the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to strengthen their capacity to “match qualified workers to temporary labor opportunities in the United States”. These efforts led to the U.S. government issuing “a record number of H-2 visas to nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras in Fiscal Year 2022, almost doubling the prior record”. With USAID’s support, all three countries reduced the amount of time it takes to match H-2 workers with U.S. employer requests by more than 60 percent.

The Biden-Harris administration also expanded “public awareness of the CBP One^TM mobile app among migrants seeking to enter the United States”. From January 2023 through March 2024, more than 547,000 individuals used the app and came to a U.S. port of entry for processing. It was set to continue increasing refugee resettlement and other lawful pathways from the region in FY 2025, including through the SMI.

FY 2025 USRAP allocation from the Latin America and Caribbean region was set at 35,000-50,000, similar to FY 2024.

The “Welcome Corps”

The “Welcome Corps”, a private sponsorship program designed by the Biden-Harris administration within USRAP, allowed non-citizens (among others) based in the United States to sponsor someone they know (including Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders (SIVs)) to join them here. The first sponsor-someone-you-know refugee got here in June 2024.

The “Welcome Corps at Work” program, a branch of the Welcome Corps, matched “refugees with U.S. employers for jobs in critical industries such as healthcare, education, and information technology”, while another branch, the “Welcome Corps on Campus”, brought them straight to U.S. campuses. Those admitted under the “Welcome Corps on Campus” did not come on nonimmigrant student visas but entered as resettled refugees “putting them on track to becoming permanent residents and citizens of the United States”.

On September 12, 2023, Georgetown University hosted the public launch of the Welcome Corps on Campus. Georgetown President John J. DeGioia, a longtime advocate “for undocumented students and the Dream Act”, was a founding member of the Presidents’ Alliance, “a group of higher education leaders working together on immigration issues”, that helped implement the Welcome Corps on Campus. Georgetown was one of 149 institutions and organizations that supported the program that provided “an education pathway to citizenship for refugee students”.

In August 2024,17 higher education institutions⁴ and their on-campus sponsor groups across the United States welcomed the first cohort of 31 refugee students who were living in East Africa and Jordan (representing “the inaugural “class” of the Welcome Corps on Campus”) to start their education in fall 2024. The program was set to expand to admit people from other regions in the coming years.

Another branch, the “Welcome Corps for Refugees in Latin America”, offered individuals of any nationality who are in Latin America “a path to permanent legal status in the United States”. Eligible individuals who could be sponsored into the United States as refugees included those registered under the Safe Mobility initiative or those who had parole requests pending under the “Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV)”.⁵

Finally, the “Welcome Corps for Afghans” allowed U.S.-based non-citizens to sponsor Afghan nationals through USRAP. Sponsor groups could support one family of up to 10 people at a time. The sponsor group had to wait 90 days, beginning when the individual or family arrived in the United States, before submitting another sponsorship application.

As of December 31, 2024, over 140,000 U.S.-based sponsors in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico had applied to sponsor refugees of more than 45 nationalities through the Welcome Corps.

The Department of State under the Biden-Harris administration had planned to “continue to expand opportunities for private sponsorship” and resettle at least 10,000 refugees through the Welcome Corps during FY 2025.

Afghan Resettlement

Under the Biden-Harris administration, U.S. communities (mainly in Texas, California, Virginia, Washington, and Pennsylvania) welcomed more than 160,000 “Afghan newcomers” following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August 2021. These “newcomers” were, for the most part, granted parole; only 28,145 Afghans were admitted here as refugees through USRAP from the beginning of FY 2021 (October 1, 2021) through the first three months of FY 2025 (October 1-December 31, 2024). In 2023, the Biden-Harris administration introduced “Family Reunification for Afghans”, a new program that allowed Afghan parolees to sponsor their family members to come to the United States as refugees.

Following “Operation Allies Welcome”, which was set up by the former administration to evacuate Afghans after the Taliban takeover, the “Sponsor Circle Program for Afghans” was launched to encourage private individuals to form “sponsor circles” to help with initial resettlement.

The previous administration’s pledge to resettle Afghans carried no “end date”, “doubling down on existing immigrant pathways” to help those interested in coming to the United States. In April 2023, the Office of the Special Coordinator for Afghanistan (OSCA) was created, with Daniel Schneiderman appointed as senior coordinator. Building on this initiative, Biden introduced “Enduring Welcome” — a “long-term resettlement program” for Afghans designed to keep admitting Afghans through “durable immigration pathways”, including refugee referrals, SIVs, and family reunification.

Furthermore, the Biden-Harris administration continued to process refugee cases for Afghans in third countries across the world. The Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began processing applications of Afghan refugees in Pakistan in July 2023 and had “significantly increased processing capacity” as of January 2024. As of early July 2024, PRM accepted 28,000 P-1 (individual) and P-2 (group) referrals for Afghan principal applicants.

Moreover, under the Welcome Corps program, U.S.-based sponsors could select and welcome Afghan refugees and SIVs to the United States, “including those they know”.

Services to Afghan Survivors Impacted by Combat (SASIC) was launched by ORR in February 2023 to support eligible Afghans and their families to overcome long-lasting trauma. Through congressional funding ORR received and a one-time competitive application process, 24 SASIC grants were awarded across the United States. Services through SASIC should be available through February 15, 2026.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Persons

The Biden-Harris administration believed that the “promotion of human rights, including the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons” was “central to U.S. foreign policy”. The previous administration similarly maintained that when “U.S. Departments and Agencies work to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons around the world, they advance our national security”.

PRM under the Biden-Harris administration planned to “build on significant progress in expanding resettlement access for vulnerable LGBTQI+ refugees” to the USRAP through new mechanisms such as NGO referrals and private sponsorship like the Welcome Corps.

Days after he was sworn into office, Biden appointed Jessica Stern as the U.S. special envoy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons to ensure that “U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons around the world” in line with his “Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons Around the World”. Stern was set to continue to partner with NGOs to identify LGBTQI+ individuals for resettlement.

Biden’s memorandum reaffirmed and supplemented the principles established in the December 6, 2011, memorandum by President Obama that directed, for the first time, U.S. executive departments and agencies to advance the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons everywhere. The U.S. government under the Biden-Harris administration released in 2022 a first of its kind progress report on the implementation of the memorandum. Progress reports for 2023 and 2024 followed.

In 2023, two senior government officials were designated with authority by the Biden-Harris administration to make Priority 1 (P-1) Individual Referrals directly to USRAP of individuals identified as “in need of resettlement who face persecution as a result of their work promoting respect for human rights and those who face persecution on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics”.

The two officials were Stern, the U.S. special envoy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons, and Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Dr. Dafna H. Rand.

The special envoy’s office also partnered with NGOs with “expertise serving LGBTQI+ individuals” to refer refugees to the USRAP.

In October 2022, PRM formalized a partnership with the Equitable Resettlement Access Consortium (ERAC), led by HIAS alongside Refuge Point and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), to grow the network of NGOs that refer individuals directly to USRAP. This model for refugee referrals expanded “equitable access to resettlement while establishing global partnerships with UNHCR, refugee-led organizations, organizations serving LGBTQI+ refugees, and other stakeholders in the field of refugee protection”.

Through the ERAC, NGOs made direct referrals to the USRAP of “historically marginalized refugee populations, including LGBTQI+ refugees”.

Under Biden, the Administration for Children and Families, through ORR, provided “specific services and tools to better support LGBTQI+ refugees and asylees”, including through the Preferred Communities (PC) program and the Refugee Technical Assistance program.

The PC program supports refugees (and all other ORR-eligible populations) with challenging needs that require special attention, such as those with serious medical conditions or experiencing mental health challenges (including trauma resulting from war and/or other violence), women at risk, and elderly refugees without a support system. Services in the PC Program include long-term case management, social adjustment services, and mental health interventions. The PC program grants are awarded to resettlement agencies⁶ contracted by the Department of State to provide reception and placement services to refugees. Current projects for the PC program run for five years.

ORR’s Refugee Technical Assistance Program, administered by Switchboard, a project of the non-profit International Rescue Committee (IRC), provided ORR’s refugee-serving grantees several toolkits, guides, and resources for working with LGBTQI+ refugees and their allies.

In a 2024 Annual Progress Report on the implementation of Biden’s memorandum, the State Department highlighted some 2023 “accomplishments” and action plan for 2024:

• Expanded resettlement of LGBTQI+ refugees to the USRAP through new mechanisms (such as NGO referrals and private sponsorships) to identify “hard-to-reach populations such as LGBTQI+ refugees”.
• Mental health services for LGBTQI+ refugees: ORR offered interventions for LGBTQI+ survivors, “tailored to their experiences of systematic bias and sexual violence”. Programs include Survivors of Torture, Services to Afghan Survivors Impacted by Combat (SASIC) and Support for Trauma-Affected Refugees (STAR) Programs, and LGBTQI+-focused programs through the Refugee Mental Health Initiative.
• Refugee and asylum officer training: USCIS focused a portion of USCIS’s annual Sensitive Claims Training on violence against LGBTQI+ persons.
• Development of USCIS policy manual content on the self–selection of gender markers on USCIS forms: USCIS issued a policy guidance⁷ to clarify that refugees and asylum seekers could select their gender on USCIS forms or change a prior selection without having to provide “supporting documentation or to match the gender listed on their identity document”. The Biden-Harris administration believed that issuing documents to individuals “that align with their gender identity helps ensure safety and security both in the United States and abroad”.
• LGBTQI+ refugee youth leadership: Building on the success of the National Youth Leadership Council for Refugees and Newcomers (NYLC),⁸ ORR was set to develop an LGBTQI+ client advisory group to ensure decision-making is informed by the voices of all whom ORR serves.
• Services for LGBTQI+ survivors of human trafficking: In FY 2024, service providers funded by the Office on Trafficking in Persons that deliver comprehensive case management programs for foreign national survivors of human trafficking were required to complete at least 10 hours of training on topics such as the intersection of sexual orientation, gender identity, and human trafficking.

Domestic Resettlement Capacity

The Department of State has contracts with religious or community-based organizations called resettlement agencies to assist refugees (and other eligible newcomers) upon arrival and provide them with services and assistance here. These agencies maintain nationwide networks of local affiliates to assist with the reception and placement (R&P) of these populations.

The Biden-Harris administration expanded the domestic resettlement system; it added a tenth resettlement agency (Bethany Christian Services) to the existing nine. Moreover, more than 150 local resettlement offices were opened or reopened, bringing the total of local affiliates in 226 communities to more than 350. Resettlement agencies were also exploring opening additional local offices.

Two of the resettlement agencies cooperated with 28 affiliated offices through which they placed unaccompanied refugee minors into foster care. This program was administered and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In March 2024, IRC launched, in partnership with PRM, the “Virtual Reception and Placement (VR&P)” case management program as an alternative to the traditional, in-person R&P. VR&P was set to alleviate “capacity constraints on local affiliates and expand USRAP’s ability to resettle refugees”. Instead of working through local affiliate offices, VR&P delivers services remotely through case managers.

VR&P was modeled after the “award-winning and innovative” model, the Virtual Afghan Placement and Assistance program (VAPA), that was set in motion by PRM, also in partnership with IRC, in March 2022 following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Global Refuge followed suit in May 2024, also offering VR&P services to refugees and other eligible populations.

In 2024, PRM approved six of the national resettlement agencies to offer VR&P services to certain populations, including Afghan SIV holders, Afghan refugees, and refugees from Latin America.

In FY 2025, the Department of State under the Biden-Harris administration was planning to “further expand partnerships with new resettlement partners and grow its innovative new model of virtual reception and placement services for certain eligible refugees”.

Affordable Housing for Newly Arrived Refugees

In April 2024, the Department of State, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and HHS released a fact sheet to encourage reluctant landlords and property managers to rent to refugees and other newcomer populations.⁹

The Department of State and HHS also funded Refugee Housing Solutions, a project of Church World Service, to assist resettlement agencies with these “housing challenges faced by newly arriving refugees”. Refugee Housing Solutions partners with the private sector, universities, and faith groups “to increase refugees’ access to affordable housing”.

Resettlement Diplomacy Network

The United States chairs the Resettlement Diplomacy Network (RDN), the high-level forum launched by the Biden-Harris administration in September 2022 in partnership with Australia, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the European Commission “to strengthen the global resettlement system” and “to make better use of resettlement as a foreign policy tool”. According to the previous administration, the RDN allowed the U.S. government “to make better use of resettlement as a foreign policy tool and ensures the United States is just one of many safe havens for refugees”.

The United States under Biden also co-chaired the “Priority Situations Core Group (PSCG)”¹⁰ alongside the government of Canada. In FY 2024, the United States and Canada “led a delegation comprising six governments to Rwanda and Ethiopia to demonstrate and expand resettlement countries’ commitment to receiving referrals from the Emergency Transit Mechanism in Rwanda, which hosts vulnerable individuals relocated by UNHCR from Libya”.

In FY 2025, the Biden-Harris administration planned to “advance collective diplomacy to address shared resettlement challenges across multiple regions, collaborate on refugee referral mechanisms, and deepen cooperation on emergency resettlement responses”.

Rohingya in Bangladesh

In August 2023, the Biden-Harris administration “co-led with Canada a delegation of resettlement countries to Bangladesh to encourage greater resettlement of Rohingya” (a Muslim ethnic group from neighboring Burma). In FY 2025, this administration planned to “continue to resettle Rohingya refugees from the region so they can start new lives in the United States”.

Recognition of the Impacts of Climate Change on Refugee Vulnerability

The Biden-Harris administration believed “it is vital to develop smart, humane policies to address the impacts of climate change on migration and displacement within countries and across borders”. It was set to use its “global leadership role in refugee resettlement to reflect the crucial role that migration plays in adaptation to the climate crisis”.

In FY 2025, this administration aimed to strengthen protection to those displaced by climate impacts, “including through consideration of the impact of climate change on refugees’ vulnerability in the refugee resettlement process”.

Admissions Procedures under the Biden-Harris Administration

Eligibility for Access to USRAP

Admissions were to be allocated among refugees of “special humanitarian concern to the United States in accordance with a determination made by the President”. Refugee resettlement consideration was determined through one of four priority categories (the fourth was added by the former administration as it expanded entities entrusted with referrals):

Priority 1 (P-1) — Individual Referrals. Individual cases were referred to USRAP by designated entities (UNHCR, a U.S. embassy, a senior U.S. government official granted referral authority, or a designated NGO) “by virtue of their circumstances and apparent need for resettlement”.

To “facilitate protection and access to the USRAP” for Afghan nationals with “compelling protection concerns” but who did not qualify for an SIV or P-2 referral, the previous administration was allowing U.S. government federal employees in the Senior Executive Service or Senior Foreign Service to make P-1 referrals.

In 2023, two other senior government officials were designated with authority to make P-1 referrals: the U.S. special envoy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons and the assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

To reach refugees “who lack access to the USRAP through traditional referral mechanisms”, the Biden-Harris administration designated certain NGOs that assist refugees to make P-1 referrals through the ERAC led by HIAS, RefugePoint, and IRAP. ERAC was meant to grow the network of NGOs that refer individuals to USRAP. This new model for refugee referrals was supposed to expand “equitable access to resettlement while establishing global partnerships with UNHCR, refugee-led organizations, organizations serving LGBTQI+ refugees, and other stakeholders”.

Priority 2 (P-2) — Group Referrals. Specific groups “whose members warrant resettlement” were designated by the Department of State in consultation with USCIS, NGOs, UNHCR, and others.¹¹ The rationale was that individuals within a group designated as being of “special humanitarian concern to the United States” were likely to qualify for admission.

Two distinct models of P-2 access exist: predefined group access and direct access.¹²

A predefined group designation is typically based on UNHCR recommendations, allowing for more “efficient processing because it identifies large groups of people with very similar persecution claims”.

Pre-defined Group Access P-2s:

• Ethnic minorities from Burma in Malaysia
• Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
• Registered refugees residing in the nine temporary shelters in Thailand
• Congolese in the Great Lakes
• Refugees “twice displaced” in Ethiopia
• Certain Afghan nationals

Direct Access Model P-2s:

• Lautenberg Program for certain members of religious minority groups in Eurasia, the Baltics, and Iran
• Certain Iraqis associated with the United States
• Syrian beneficiaries of approved Form I-130 petitions
• Certain persons in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras
• Certain persons in Cuba

Priority 3 (P-3) – Family Reunification. Individual cases are granted access for purposes of reunification with eligible family members (parents, spouses, or children under 21) already in the United States. U.S.-based relatives must file an Affidavit of Relationship (AOR) to have their family members join. “PRM designates which U.S.-based relatives can initiate P-3 processing based on their admission status.”

For FY 2025, the Biden-Harris administration stated that “AOR filers can include those admitted as asylees, refugees, or Afghan and Iraqi special immigrants (admitted under Section 1059 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (Title X, Div. A, P.L. 109-163), Section 1244 of the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007 (Title XII, Div. A, P.L. 110-181), as amended, and Section 602 of the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 (Div. F, Title VI, P.L. 111-8), as amended).”

This previous administration also allowed for “a qualifying individual to file for P-3 access for a partner of any gender if the filer considers that person to be their spouse or life partner … and evidence that legal marriage could not be obtained due to social and/or legal prohibitions”.

In FY 2024, the USRAP “made progress in streamlining P-3 processing” and was planning on continuing to do so in FY 2025.

Priority 4 (P-4) — Privately Sponsored Refugees. The P-4 category was added by the Biden-Harris administration following its design of the Welcome Corps program, which allowed U.S-based sponsors to refer individual from all nationalities for resettlement in the United States. Sponsorship could occur in one of three ways:

1. Sponsors could be matched with approved refugees or Afghan SIVs they do not know;
2. They could choose to sponsor someone they know who is already in USRAP or Afghan processing;
3. They could apply to sponsor someone they know by referring them to USRAP.

Family Members and Other Individuals Accompanying the Refugee Applicant

A refugee applicant’s spouse or child, “as defined by Section 101(b)(1) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(b)(1), accompanying that applicant is entitled to the same admission status as the refugee applicant”.

Other individuals — such as those who are not spouses or children but who lived in the same household, were part of the same economic unit, or could “demonstrate exceptional and compelling circumstances that justify inclusion” — could not derive refugee status from the principal applicant. However, they could be added “on a case-by-case basis” to a refugee applicant’s case if they independently established that they qualifyed as a refugee.

Following-to-Join Family Reunification Petitions

A principal refugee admitted to the United States could request following-to-join benefits for their spouse and/or unmarried children under the age of 21 who were not previously granted refugee status. To do so, the principal refugee must file Form I-730 Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition with USCIS for each eligible family member within two years of admission.

These petitions are initially processed by USCIS’ Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate (RAIO). If the beneficiary is within the United States, the petition is sent to the USCIS office with jurisdiction over the beneficiary’s residence. If the beneficiary is outside the United States, the petition is routed through the Department of State’s National Visa Center to either a USCIS international field office or a Department of State’s consular post.

Beneficiaries were not required to establish past persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution since “they derive their status from the refugee relative in the United States who filed the petition”.

The Biden-Harris administration had vowed to continue to “streamline and improve following-to-join refugee processing”.

Office of Refugee Resettlement/ Assistance to Refugees

Under the Biden-Harris administration, ORR’s mission was set to “promote the health, well-being, and stability of refugees and other eligible individuals and families, through culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and strengths-based services”.

ORR refugee benefits are not limited to refugees, but, as authorized by Congress, extend to asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, certain Amerasians from Vietnam, victims of a severe form of trafficking, Iraqi and Afghan SIV holders, and certain Afghan and Ukrainian humanitarian parolees. In FY 2025, in addition to refugee arrivals through USRAP that are capped at 125,000, ORR was “projecting to serve 531,500 other arrivals … the majority of whom are expected to arrive as Cuban and Haitian Entrants through lawful pathways”. Only refugees were included in the ceiling: “there is no admissions ceiling or target for the other ORR-eligible populations”.

Refugee Cash and Medical Assistance

Upon arrival, refugees who do not qualify for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income are eligible to receive Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA); those not eligible for Medicaid could receive Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA).

By statute, RCA and RMA are authorized for up to 36 months from arrival; however, historically, funding limitations limited RCA and RMA availability.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, ORR expanded RCA and RMA from eight to 12 months of assistance in FY 2022. ORR also authorized private entities to “administer the domestic resettlement program in a state that has withdrawn from administration of the program”.

Refugee Support Services

ORR provides Refugee Support Services program (RSS) to states and “replacement designees”. Refugees may access RSS assistance for up to five years after arrival. Services include: employment support, on-the-job training, English-language instruction, vocational training, case management, translation/interpreter services, social adjustment services, health-related services, home management, childcare, and transportation.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, ORR administered “specialized RSS ‘set-aside’ programs” to address the needs of “specific groups of refugees or to target specific needs.” These programs included:

• Services to Older Refugees (SOR): Supports integration and wellness for refugees aged 60 and older.
• Refugee School Impact (RSI) including “Early RSI”: Promotes educational integration for children from birth to age 18 and their families.
• Youth Mentoring: Fosters mentorships to support civic and social engagement and educational and vocational advancement.
• Refugee Health Promotion, including the Refugee Mental Health Initiative: Enhances physical and emotional wellness and strengthens community capacity to meet refugee mental health.

Preferred Communities Program

ORR’s Preferred Communities (PC) program was introduced by the Biden-Harris administration in FY 2023 to provide “intensive case management to particularly vulnerable refugees”. The program “also helps meet the unmet needs of unexpected arrivals”.

Specialty Programs

The Biden-Harris administration developed specialty programs to “promote economic mobility and pathways to self-sufficiency” for refugees and other eligible populations. Through ORR, funds were awarded as grants to “community-based organizations” that support refugees to “advance their careers and obtain certifications, open small businesses, build community gardens, engage with employers in career development, and save to purchase homes or cars or to pay for tuition”.

In addition, ORR provided funding to “ethnic community organizations to help build the capacity of local providers to offer ongoing support and services in a culturally competent manner”.

ORR Refugee Health and Behavioral Health

ORR supported refugee health through funding for Refugee Medical Assistance, medical screening, and “refuge health promotion” initiatives.

In FY 2025, the Biden-Harris administration had planned to “increase behavioral health services through a new grant program, Support for Trauma-Affected Refugees (STAR)”. STAR established a network of culturally responsive providers to deliver holistic services that address the “psychosocial needs of trauma-affected newcomers”.

ORR Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program

Under the Biden-Harris administration, ORR “provides funding to 15 states and the District of Columbia and replacement designees to administer 26 Unaccompanied Refugee Minors programs (URM)”.

URM is distinct from ORR’s Unaccompanied Children (UC) program. Through URM, states and replacement designees contract with local licensed foster care agencies to provide specialized placements and services to unaccompanied refugee minors.

URMs were placed in “traditional and therapeutic foster homes, group homes, semi-independent and independent living, and residential treatment centers”. They also received services including “English language training, educational and vocational training, cultural preservation, social integration, family tracing, permanency planning, independent living, medical care, and mental health care”.

URM served unaccompanied minors identified overseas with refugee status as well as minor populations designated by Congress.¹³ ORR required “states to provide services to unaccompanied refugee minors in parity with the state’s Title IV-B and Title IV-E foster care plans”.

ORR Refugee Technical Assistance

Introduced under the Biden-Harris administration, ORR’s Refugee Technical Assistance program was designed to assist ORR-funded resettlement stakeholders in enhancing their services and expanding community engagement.

In order to assist ORR-funded agencies in providing better services, ORR funded two organizations: Switchboard, a national resource hub for refugee technical assistance (TA) and training under the Refugee Technical Assistance Program (RTAP), and the National Capacity Building Project (NCB), a specialized organization with technical assistance expertise in services for survivors of torture.

Switchboard, a project of the International Rescue Committee, is fully funded by ORR “to support those involved in refugee resettlement and integration in the U.S., including service providers, community partners, and refugees and other newcomers” through an “inclusive and diverse approach”.

Switchboard is fully funded by ORR “to support those involved in refugee resettlement and integration in the U.S., including service providers, community partners, and refugees and other newcomers” through an “inclusive and diverse approach”.

It tackles issues such as: “Supporting Ukrainian Newcomers with Culturally Appropriate Food in the U.S.”, “Supporting Haitian Newcomers in Accessing Culturally Appropriate Food in the U.S.”, and “Five Key Strategies to Recruit Foster Homes for Teen Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs)”.

Other research topics include: “What are the impacts of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in nonprofit settings?”, “How can participatory research methods be used to improve research with refugees?”, and “What Works to Increase Refugee and Immigrant Families’ Access to Early Childhood Services?”.

Switchboard also initiates research projects such as: “Understanding Afghan Families’ Needs and Strengths During Resettlement” and “Cultural Competence in Refugee Service Settings: A Scoping Review”.

Switchboard developed a toolkit “in partnership with the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) to support public and private sector stakeholders involved in resettlement with conducting effective quarterly consultations (QCs)”. Stakeholders include State Refugee Coordinators (SRCs), State Refugee Health Coordinators (SRHCs), national and local resettlement agency (RA) staff, and ethnic community-based organizations (ECBOs).

ORR also funded a technical assistance provider to support grantees in its Survivors of Torture program. The “Center for Victims of Torture’s National Capacity Building Project” assists ORR Survivors of Torture grantees by enhancing capacity to deliver holistic, sustainable, and integrated services, as well as by evaluating and strengthening the quality and sustainability of these programs and organizations.

In FY 2025, under the Biden-Harris administration, ORR was planning on launching the “National Refugee Children and Youth Resilience Program”, which aimed to expand the child welfare and protection capacity of agencies serving refugee populations.

Lived Experience

Under the Biden-Harris administration, ORR prioritized “creating opportunities to listen and respond to the voices of new arrivals and former refugees to adapt policy and program services to best support their unique needs.”

In 2023, the previous administration launched the ORR “Youth Leadership Council for Refugees and Newcomers”, a component of the “Youth Mentoring Program”. The Council enabled refugees and newcomer youths to develop leadership skills and share their experiences directly with ORR.

Through the council, ORR hosted guided listening sessions and roundtable discussions on topics such as “community support and resilience, mental health, addressing systemic racism, prejudice, and discrimination”.

ORR also worked to more proactively engage “Ethnic Community Self-Help” grantees on issues of integration.¹⁴ According to the Biden-Harris administration, ethnic community-based organizations, play a critical role in refugee resettlement by enhancing linguistic and cultural understanding and addressing gaps in service provision.

Research Initiatives

Under the Biden-Harris administration, ORR worked to support enhanced research initiatives aimed at demonstrating “the positive impact refugees have on communities”.

In collaboration with ORR, the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) conducted a study estimating the net fiscal impact of refugees and asylees on government budgets. The study found a total net benefit of $123.8 billion over a 15-year period, including $31.5 billion to the federal government and $92.3 billion to state and local governments.

International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) Reporting

As of December 29, 2023, the Biden-Harris administration designated the following countries as Countries of Particular Concern pursuant to IRFA.

• Africa: Eritrea
• East Asia: North Korea, People’s Republic of China, and Burma
• Europe and Central Asia: Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan
• Western Hemisphere: Cuba and Nicaragua

As of December 29, 2023, the Biden-Harris administration designated the following countries to the Special Watch List pursuant to IRFA.

• Africa: Central African Republic and Comoros
• Europe: Azerbaijan
• Near East: Algeria
• East Asia: Vietnam

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End Notes

¹ ERMA is “a no-year appropriation, drawn upon the President to meet ‘unexpected urgent refugee and migration needs’” when it is determined to be “important to the national interest” to do so”.

² The Biden-Harris administration transitioned its Afghan refugee efforts from “Operation Allies Welcome”, an evacuation program launched after the U.S. withdrawal of Afghanistan in August 2021 that relied on humanitarian parole to quickly admit and process Afghans, many of whom were temporarily housed on military bases, to “Enduring Welcome”, a long-term resettlement effort introduced in 2022, which put Afghans on a path to permanent residence.

³ The Biden-Harris administration created the Safe Mobility Initiative in partnership with 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 (SMOs) 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.

⁴ The 17 higher education institutions were: Arizona State University; Bard College; DePaul University; Eastern Michigan University; Georgetown University; George Mason University; Indiana University, Bloomington; James Madison University; North Arizona University; Salve Regina University; Soka University of America; State University of New York at Delhi (SUNY Delhi); University at Albany; University of Connecticut; University of Maryland; University of Tulsa; and Virginia Tech.

⁵ CHNV allowed foreign nationals (of any nationality) who had temporary authorization to remain in the United States — such as on parole — to sponsor other foreign nationals (Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans and their family members of any nationality) in turn to come here on parole.

⁶ Current PC Program resettlement agency grant recipients are: Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Ethiopian Community Development Council, Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service), HIAS; International Rescue Committee, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, U.S. Committee for Refugees & Immigrants, and World Relief.

⁷ The March 31, 2023, Policy Alert on “Selecting Gender on USCIS Forms” revised policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to allow benefit requestors to select or change their gender on USCIS forms without having to provide supporting documentation (prior USCIS guidance required them to). USCIS removed these evidentiary requirements in line with priorities from executive orders issued by President Biden (EOs 14075; 13988 and 14012) and to “reduce barriers for USCIS’ customers” relating to travel, employment, services, and benefits.

⁸ In 2023, ORR under the Biden-Harris administration announced the creation of the National Youth Leadership Council for Refugees and Newcomers (NYLC), a federal initiative in line with Biden’s Executive Orders 13985, 14012, and 14058 that “encouraged the federal government to solicit direct feedback from clients”. ORR’s NYLC allowed refugee and newcomer youth to share their resettlement experience directly with ORR, which, in turn, was able to improve its integration programming for youth.

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ The Priority Situations Core Group (PSCG) held its inaugural meeting on September 13, 2019, in Brussels. The PSCG replaces the Syrian Core Group and the Central Mediterranean Core Group. Its purpose is to “help optimise, coordinate, promote, and ensure support for resettlement and complementary pathways for admission of refugees in these specific priority situations, and potentially other emerging regional or situational priorities that may arise. In particular, the PSCG seeks to maximise the strategic impact of resettlement.”

¹¹ In FY 2020, those benefitting from a P-2 group access were: certain members of religious minority groups in Eurasia and the Baltics, certain Iraqis associated with the United States, certain members of religious minority groups in Iran, and certain Iraqis associated with the United States.

¹² The direct access model was historically used for refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba, Eurasia and the Baltics, and Vietnam.

¹³ Congress expanded eligibility to other unaccompanied minor populations, to include: refugees; asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, certain minors with Special Immigrant Juvenile classification or status, victims of human trafficking, U Status recipients, paroled unaccompanied Afghan minors, and paroled unaccompanied Ukrainian minors.

¹⁴ The “Ethnic Community Self-Help (ECSH) Program” supports ethnic community-based organizations in helping refugees and other ORR-eligible populations adjust to life in the United States and integrate into their communities. Its goal is to enable Ethnic Community-Based Organizations (ECBOs) to provide critical services that help refugee populations become fully integrated members of American society. An ECBO is a non-profit organization founded and led by current or former refugees and immigrants — primarily to advance the well-being and integration of refugees.