Over the course of its 45 year history, the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) has earned and enjoyed broadly bipartisan support as a vital, national private-public partnership. It has long been recognized as integral to US humanitarian commitments but also as a crucial tool of US diplomatic, security, and economic interests, as well.
Established under President Jimmy Carter as part of the Refugee Act of 1980, the USRAP is the formal mechanism by which refugees and special immigrant visa holders from around the world are referred and admitted to the United States for third country resettlement. Though the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that less than one percent of the world’s refugees (of which there are currently over 43 million) end up resettled to third countries, the USRAP has historically admitted around two thirds of those, making it a world leader in resettlement. Or at least, it was.
Copyright: Vladislav Nikonov for Unsplash
On day one of his inauguration, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order entitled Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program, enacting an indefinite suspension of the program. The reason? It was not, according to the order, considered to be aligned with national interests. The fallout was swift: 10,000 refugees with scheduled flights found their bookings cancelled, and an estimated 22,000 approved and pending travel became stranded, including Afghan military allies and US family members. The US’ ten national resettlement agencies faced immediate stop-work orders and suspension of funding. After years spent rehabilitating critical USRAP programming from the injuries of the previous Trump administration, resettlement staff and volunteers watched as a global infrastructure ground to a screeching halt.
Six months on, countless families in the United States and abroad continue to find themselves living in limbo, unsure when or if they will ever be reunited with their loved ones: parents with children, brothers with sisters, spouses with spouses. And as the US administration continues to proclaim its supposed concern for promoting family growth and family life in the United States, it has become clear that these families do not seem to count.
Family Reunification: A Cornerstone of Refugee Resettlement
The universal human right to family unity is well established under international legal human rights, refugee, and resettlement frameworks, and assigns to individual States the primary responsibility of taking measures to avoid family separation, maintain family unity, and provide access to family reunification pathways for refugees and other beneficiaries of international protection. In 2024, the UNHCR, in partnership with a large coalition global partners, produced the “Operational Guidelines on Facilitating Family Reunification for Persons in Need of International Protection”, reaffirming and building upon these global operating principles.
At the national level, family reunification has long been considered a cornerstone of immigration and resettlement policy in the United States. The passage of the Refugee Act of 1980, which amended the earlier Immigration and Nationality Act and Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, laid the groundwork for the establishment of formal reunification specific access categories and pathways through the USRAP.
This included the establishment of the Visas 93 program, a petition-based follow-to-join pathway for immediate relatives of refugees admitted to and residing in the United States, and set the stage for the Priority 3 program, an access category designated for the specific purpose of reunifying spouses; unmarried, under 21 year old children; and parents of US based refugees and asylees. In 1989, the Lautenberg Amendment facilitated a reunification program under the USRAP for legal residents to apply for at-risk relatives in the former Soviet Union and later on, in Iran. No matter the exact program, USRAP family reunification applications submitted to the federal government undergo extensive and lengthy processing, including stringent vetting and documentation reviews, in-depth security checks by several federal agencies, expert interview rounds, and medical examinations.
Throughout the years, these reunification programs (to name a few) have represented important components of the US resettlement system and the government’s responsibility, as in all States, to provide pathways for family reunion procedures. After the previous Trump administration, significant efforts were made under the Biden government to resuscitate the USRAP and improve access and processing efficiencies built into the system. Family reunification programming proved an important piece of these efforts. For example, an Obama era program called Central American Minors (CAM) was restarted, which facilitated the reunification of separated children in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with parents and guardians legally residing in the United States, and its eligibility categories and processing mechanisms were expanded in important ways. The Priority 3 reunification program expanded eligibility after years of nationality restrictions and was undergoing review to reduce inefficiencies in documentation vetting, improve delays related to required DNA processing, etc. Too, brand new pathways were launched by the State Department: The office for the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) was formed, which worked to relocate and reunite Afghan allies and their children, as was the Welcome Corps, a new model and access category within the USRAP allowing private sponsorship by US based petitioners for refugees, including family members.
Fractured Families: The Impact of USRAP Suspension
Despite the progress made under the Biden administration, the current abrupt suspension of the USRAP (and with it, the family reunification programs that fall under its umbrella) has had and will continue to have lasting, devastating effects on family members around the world and across the United States, including legal permanent residents, citizens by birth, and long-time naturalized citizens.
News media, NGOs, and resettlement agencies are rife with examples of how the program suspension has fractured US families and exacerbated the traumas of family separation: A February letter by Refugee Council USA to Congress shares the experience of a woman who, after 15 years of being resettled in Ohio, received notice that her mother’s flight had been cancelled. While her siblings had arrived earlier on separate flights, her mother was left behind. The letter also recounts the plight of four separated Afghan children, the youngest just seven, set to reunite after three years with their parents in Massachusetts. Their bookings were also abruptly cancelled. Similarly, Church World Service (a national resettlement agency) shares the story of Wajid, their Director of Finance Business Partners, who had prepared to welcome his parents and whose sister had moved from California to help him with care arrangements. His parents had already given up their apartment and sold their furniture when they found their flight bookings suddenly cancelled. Across the country and indeed, the globe, there are countless more stories of families like these.
This month, the situation for US residents and their loved ones has grown even more grim. On June 4th, a presidential Proclamation banning travel to the US from twelve countries of the Global South was released, adding another layer of anguish to American families separated from relatives overseas. The ban contains some exceptions for Afghan SIV holders and certain minority members from Iran, but outlines none for relatives of refugees and asylees in the United States. This further signifies the administration’s rejection of family unity and reunion principles as integral to resettlement programming and to basic family life for so many around the world.
Since its inception, over three million people have been resettled through the USRAP. Today, they are the legal residents and naturalized citizens who make up the fabric of communities across the United States. They, like all people, have the right to pursue family unity. This World Refugee Day, let us remind each other of the centrality of family in global refugee frameworks and the critical role that domestic resettlement systems play in facilitating – or hindering — family reunion. And for those of us here in the United States, let us always remember that when the Administration touts the sanctity of family and family life, these Americanfamilies must count, too.
Given the current political climate, the author has asked to remain anonymous.
The Impact of USRAP Suspension on Family Reunification
Author Anonymous*, Refugee Resettlement specialist
Over the course of its 45 year history, the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) has earned and enjoyed broadly bipartisan support as a vital, national private-public partnership. It has long been recognized as integral to US humanitarian commitments but also as a crucial tool of US diplomatic, security, and economic interests, as well.
Established under President Jimmy Carter as part of the Refugee Act of 1980, the USRAP is the formal mechanism by which refugees and special immigrant visa holders from around the world are referred and admitted to the United States for third country resettlement. Though the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that less than one percent of the world’s refugees (of which there are currently over 43 million) end up resettled to third countries, the USRAP has historically admitted around two thirds of those, making it a world leader in resettlement. Or at least, it was.
On day one of his inauguration, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order entitled Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program, enacting an indefinite suspension of the program. The reason? It was not, according to the order, considered to be aligned with national interests. The fallout was swift: 10,000 refugees with scheduled flights found their bookings cancelled, and an estimated 22,000 approved and pending travel became stranded, including Afghan military allies and US family members. The US’ ten national resettlement agencies faced immediate stop-work orders and suspension of funding. After years spent rehabilitating critical USRAP programming from the injuries of the previous Trump administration, resettlement staff and volunteers watched as a global infrastructure ground to a screeching halt.
Six months on, countless families in the United States and abroad continue to find themselves living in limbo, unsure when or if they will ever be reunited with their loved ones: parents with children, brothers with sisters, spouses with spouses. And as the US administration continues to proclaim its supposed concern for promoting family growth and family life in the United States, it has become clear that these families do not seem to count.
Family Reunification: A Cornerstone of Refugee Resettlement
The universal human right to family unity is well established under international legal human rights, refugee, and resettlement frameworks, and assigns to individual States the primary responsibility of taking measures to avoid family separation, maintain family unity, and provide access to family reunification pathways for refugees and other beneficiaries of international protection. In 2024, the UNHCR, in partnership with a large coalition global partners, produced the “Operational Guidelines on Facilitating Family Reunification for Persons in Need of International Protection”, reaffirming and building upon these global operating principles.
At the national level, family reunification has long been considered a cornerstone of immigration and resettlement policy in the United States. The passage of the Refugee Act of 1980, which amended the earlier Immigration and Nationality Act and Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, laid the groundwork for the establishment of formal reunification specific access categories and pathways through the USRAP.
This included the establishment of the Visas 93 program, a petition-based follow-to-join pathway for immediate relatives of refugees admitted to and residing in the United States, and set the stage for the Priority 3 program, an access category designated for the specific purpose of reunifying spouses; unmarried, under 21 year old children; and parents of US based refugees and asylees. In 1989, the Lautenberg Amendment facilitated a reunification program under the USRAP for legal residents to apply for at-risk relatives in the former Soviet Union and later on, in Iran. No matter the exact program, USRAP family reunification applications submitted to the federal government undergo extensive and lengthy processing, including stringent vetting and documentation reviews, in-depth security checks by several federal agencies, expert interview rounds, and medical examinations.
Throughout the years, these reunification programs (to name a few) have represented important components of the US resettlement system and the government’s responsibility, as in all States, to provide pathways for family reunion procedures. After the previous Trump administration, significant efforts were made under the Biden government to resuscitate the USRAP and improve access and processing efficiencies built into the system. Family reunification programming proved an important piece of these efforts. For example, an Obama era program called Central American Minors (CAM) was restarted, which facilitated the reunification of separated children in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with parents and guardians legally residing in the United States, and its eligibility categories and processing mechanisms were expanded in important ways. The Priority 3 reunification program expanded eligibility after years of nationality restrictions and was undergoing review to reduce inefficiencies in documentation vetting, improve delays related to required DNA processing, etc. Too, brand new pathways were launched by the State Department: The office for the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) was formed, which worked to relocate and reunite Afghan allies and their children, as was the Welcome Corps, a new model and access category within the USRAP allowing private sponsorship by US based petitioners for refugees, including family members.
Fractured Families: The Impact of USRAP Suspension
Despite the progress made under the Biden administration, the current abrupt suspension of the USRAP (and with it, the family reunification programs that fall under its umbrella) has had and will continue to have lasting, devastating effects on family members around the world and across the United States, including legal permanent residents, citizens by birth, and long-time naturalized citizens.
News media, NGOs, and resettlement agencies are rife with examples of how the program suspension has fractured US families and exacerbated the traumas of family separation: A February letter by Refugee Council USA to Congress shares the experience of a woman who, after 15 years of being resettled in Ohio, received notice that her mother’s flight had been cancelled. While her siblings had arrived earlier on separate flights, her mother was left behind. The letter also recounts the plight of four separated Afghan children, the youngest just seven, set to reunite after three years with their parents in Massachusetts. Their bookings were also abruptly cancelled. Similarly, Church World Service (a national resettlement agency) shares the story of Wajid, their Director of Finance Business Partners, who had prepared to welcome his parents and whose sister had moved from California to help him with care arrangements. His parents had already given up their apartment and sold their furniture when they found their flight bookings suddenly cancelled. Across the country and indeed, the globe, there are countless more stories of families like these.
This month, the situation for US residents and their loved ones has grown even more grim. On June 4th, a presidential Proclamation banning travel to the US from twelve countries of the Global South was released, adding another layer of anguish to American families separated from relatives overseas. The ban contains some exceptions for Afghan SIV holders and certain minority members from Iran, but outlines none for relatives of refugees and asylees in the United States. This further signifies the administration’s rejection of family unity and reunion principles as integral to resettlement programming and to basic family life for so many around the world.
Since its inception, over three million people have been resettled through the USRAP. Today, they are the legal residents and naturalized citizens who make up the fabric of communities across the United States. They, like all people, have the right to pursue family unity. This World Refugee Day, let us remind each other of the centrality of family in global refugee frameworks and the critical role that domestic resettlement systems play in facilitating – or hindering — family reunion. And for those of us here in the United States, let us always remember that when the Administration touts the sanctity of family and family life, these Americanfamilies must count, too.
Given the current political climate, the author has asked to remain anonymous.
Posted in Migration Comments