In recent years over 250,000 migrant children have fled poverty, violence, persecution and oppression, arriving in the United States without a parent or guardian. After being apprehended at the U.S. border, these children often spend weeks and even months in federal custody while the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) determines a safe home, with family members or sponsors to care …

World Refugee Day—held annually on June 20th—is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the resilience and courage of those fleeing violence and persecution globally. It serves as a call to action for governments and communities to strengthen their efforts in providing safe haven, resources, and opportunities for refugees and other displaced people to rebuild their lives.  The world currently faces …

Late on March 22 – nearly halfway into this fiscal year – Congress finally passed an FY 2024 appropriations bill that will keep the government funded through September 30. The bill covered a number of key refugee accounts and policies, including the account that supports services for unaccompanied children under the Refugee and Entrant Assistance Account (REA), administered by the …

In February, as Congress faces the specter of another government shutdown in early March, it continues to negotiate vital funding legislation that could have immense ramifications for refugees, asylum seekers, and all those seeking safety. On February 13, after rejecting an emergency supplemental funding package that included significant anti-asylum, anti-immigrant border provisions, the Senate passed the National Security Act, 2024, …

On February 4, a group of Senators released the long-awaited text of an emergency supplemental funding bill that includes devastating, permanent restrictions on protections for asylum seekers. This legislation would render asylum protections nearly inaccessible and exacerbate humanitarian challenges that require meaningful and compassionate solutions. The proposed anti-asylum legislation includes a number of troubling provisions that would place people fleeing …

Join us during Montagnard Advocacy Day on November 30, when advocates and Montagnard community leaders are traveling to Washington, D.C. to meet with their Senators and Representatives and urging them to support persecuted and displaced Montagnards in Vietnam and Thailand. Even if you are not traveling to D.C. in person, you can still make your voices heard. The indigenous peoples …

On November 3rd, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Afghan & Iraqi Allies vs Blinken – a lawsuit challenging the government’s failure to process applications for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) within the timeline mandated by Congress. The SIV program is designed to protect Afghan nationals whose work for the United States’ military has put their …

On Wednesday, October 25th, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing, Ensuring the Safety and Well-Being of Unaccompanied Children, Part II, to examine ways in which Congress can further protect unaccompanied children – children who arrive in the U.S. without a parent or guardian – from labor exploitation. The hearing provides an opportunity for Congress to shine a light …

Right now, Congress is negotiating federal funding legislation for the upcoming fiscal year, FY 2024, which starts October 1st. This is particularly important because September 30th marks the end of the current fiscal year, and if funding legislation isn’t passed by then, the federal government would shut down. Now is a critical time to call for robust investments in the …