New York, NY, October 1, 2024 — The IRC welcomes the Biden administration’s commitment to resettling 125,000 refugees for fiscal year 2025. With over 120 million people who have been forced to flee their homes—a number that has more than doubled over the past ten years—global displacement needs are higher than ever before. The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that approximately 2.9 million refugees will need resettlement in 2025, yet fewer than half of 1% of refugees will ever be resettled. With low- and middle-income countries hosting 75% of the world's refugees, the Biden administration's ambitious refugee resettlement goal is an important expression of solidarity and global responsibility sharing.
When President Biden assumed office in 2021, he inherited a U.S. Refugee Admissions Program that had been decimated.The Afghan evacuation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrated the need for a refugee admissions program that could rapidly respond and adapt to rising crises and conflicts across the world. The last several years have seen the administration take leaps towards innovation and the expansion of new models that spurred flexible service provision, including sponsorship-based and virtual case management programs. It also implemented technology-driven efficiencies to improve processing times, prioritized refugees who have been waiting for years for a decision on their case, increased resettlement in the Western Hemisphere through the Safe Mobility Offices, and developed innovative new referral pathways through the Welcome Corps program and NGO partners.
The IRC commends the Biden administration’s efforts to rebuild and revitalize the refugee admissions program of four years prior, through which the IRC has been a proud partner by resettling 28,643 refugees that arrived through the refugee pipeline since FY21, as well as an additional 10,900 Afghan allies arriving on Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs). In spite of these successes, the incoming administration must now do all it can to ensure investments in improving overseas processing capacity and efficiency are matched with comparable investments in domestic resettlement systems and infrastructure for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to reach its full potential. Equally, Congress must guarantee that funding for resettlement agencies keeps up with the costs of housing and other basic needs for refugees, ensuring that they can safely rebuild their lives and enrich the communities that welcome them.
Hans Van de Weerd, Senior Vice President of Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration at the International Rescue Committee, said:
“We applaud efforts by the Biden administration to transform the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program over the last few years. Continued bold investments will allow for this lifesaving initiative to remain resilient and withstand the headwinds of future displacement crises. At the same time, we hope the incoming U.S. administration and Congress keeps working towards expanding alternative pathways to protection and building a safe, orderly, and humane asylum system, while providing adequate resources to do so.
“We are at a critical moment of global responsibility, and the IRC looks forward to helping the U.S. government meet the fiscal year 2025 refugee admissions target with strong humanitarian leadership, innovation, and frontline expertise.”