<ul class="summary-list"><li>President <keyword id="99719" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Joe-Biden">Joe Biden</keyword> has pledged to rebuild the US <keyword id="3140501" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="refugee-resettlement">refugee resettlement</keyword> program.</li><li>He set a goal of resettling as many as 125,000 <keyword id="6391453" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="refugees">refugees</keyword> in his first full year in office.</li><li>In fiscal year 2020, just over 11,800 people were admitted to the US through the program.</li></ul>The United States is on track to resettle fewer than 10,000 refugees this fiscal year, the smallest number since at least 1975, according to new data from the State Department.As of July 31, the US has now resettled some 6,200 refugees this fiscal year, which ends in September. That means, if the latest pace is maintained, the country is on track to resettle no more than 9,500 refugees, breaking the previous low of 11,814, set in 2020.The modern refugee resettlement program was created in the wake of the Vietnam War, when the collapse of a US-backed government in Saigon sparked a mass exodus from the country. At its peak, in the 1980 fiscal year, more than 207,000 people fleeing war and political persecution were provided new homes in America.The last administration worked to dismantle the program, cutting the number of refugees admitted each year it was in power. Yet, barring a surge in resettlements, the record low will be set under President Joe Biden.Sunhil Varghese, policy director at the <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Refugee Assistance Project, told Insider that the new figures are "disheartening.""It is easy to think that this was inevitable because of COVID-19 or the previous administration's anti-refugee policies," he said. But, he argued, the US could have done far more, much faster, to identify candidates for resettlement - moving to remote interviews, for instance - while expediting the resettlement of the most vulnerable, such as Syrians, Afghans, and Uyghurs."More could and should have been done," Varghese said. "We cannot afford another year of 'signals' without action from the administration."<div type="image" title="joe biden immigration press conference" height="1663" width="2500" msid="85286291" hostid="261"></div>The Biden administration insists it is trying. A spokesperson for the State Department told Insider "it will take some time to build back," a process that "is happening and will enable us to support much increased admissions numbers in future years." The department has now moved to conducting some refugee candidate interviews remotely.There is no question that the last administration made it far more difficult for the current White House to meet its resettlement goals.The 2021 fiscal year, which began last October, started with the resettlement of just a single refugee. It did not increase much from there. After losing the election, former President Donald Trump and his administration accepted roughly 1,400 refugees, total.Biden has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-look-how-us-is-rebuilding-its-refugee-program-2021-5">pledged to rebuild the program</a>. Officials at refugee resettlement agencies have told Insider they see evidence that pledge is real, with the federal government providing money up-front to facilitate the future resettlement of many more people.The bottleneck, to date, has been actually finding and approving refugees to resettle, a job that until recently required US <keyword id="50403" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Immigration">immigration</keyword> agents to conduct a series of intensive, in-person interviews overseas. Even virtually, the process, which includes in-depth security checks, can take months.The first sign that process was ramping up <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-resettled-1500-refugees-june-the-most-since-september-2020-2021-7">came in June</a>, when the US resettled more than 1,500 refugees, the most since Biden took office. In July, the country accepted another 1,463 refugees.But Biden himself <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-raising-2021-refugee-cap-says-us-will-not-reach-2021-5">noted back in May</a> that he was unlikely to reach this year's admissions cap of 62,500. The administration has set a goal of resettling <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-calls-for-accepting-as-many-as-125000-refugees-year-2021-2">as many as 125,000 refugees</a> in its first full fiscal year.i"There is no question that the Biden administration inherited a hollowed-out refugee program, and COVID-19 restrictions haven't helped," Ali Noorani, president of the National Immigration Forum, told Insider. "The real question is whether, a year or two from now, the US has restored its leadership at a time when the need is so great."Have a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

A new low: In Biden's first year, the US is on track to resettle even fewer refugees than under Trump

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US should consider "large-scale airlifts" of vulnerable people before leaving <keyword id="6354541" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="afghanistan">Afghanistan</keyword>, a refugee group said.</li><li>Afghans could be relocated to US military bases or the US itself.</li><li>More than 17,000 people in Afghanistan who worked with the US government are still waiting for their visas.</li></ul>Before the US government leaves Afghanistan, it needs to find a way to protect the many people who will be left behind, even if that requires the same mass-scale airlifts that accompanied the fall of Saigon.That's according to the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), a human rights group that lobbies for the displaced. In recommendations outlined Monday, it called on the Biden administration to resettle many more <keyword id="6391453" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="refugees">refugees</keyword> from Afghanistan, including those who worked with the US government as well as journalists, activists, and others who risk being targeted by the Taliban."Time is running out for the US government to offer humanitarian protection to Afghans whose lives will be under threat after US <keyword id="21735" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="withdrawal">withdrawal</keyword>," Adam Bates, the group's policy counsel, said in a statement.President <keyword id="99719" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Joe-Biden">Joe Biden</keyword> announced earlier this month he plans to remove the last US troops in Afghanistan by September 11, marking two decades of war and occupation. He has pledged, however, to continue supporting the Afghan government, as well as conduct counter-terrorism missions as need be.Afghans already compose one of the world's largest group of refugees, with 2.7 million having fled their country by mid-2020, according to the United Nations. The fear is, after the US pulls out, the number seeking a better life abroad will skyrocket.Already there is a backlog of more than 17,000 Afghans seeking special immigrant visas, which are awarded to those who worked with the US government. A total of 26,500 such visas have been allocated since 2014, per the US State Department. IRAP is urging the Biden administration to "surge" resources to the program to fastrack <keyword id="61882" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Resettlement">resettlement</keyword>.But many more will be seeking protection. The White House has committed to raising the annual cap on refugee admissions to 125,000 by next fiscal year -- but that does not kick until October. In the meantime, the US should to "parole" Afghan candidates, exempting them from this year's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-says-will-revisit-this-years-cap-refugee-admissions-2021-4?utmSource=twitter&amp;utmContent=referral&amp;utmTerm=topbar&amp;referrer=twitterrrer=twitter">as yet undetermined cap</a> and allow them to apply for more permanent status from the safety of the US. It should facilitate their transport, IRAP said, with "large-scale airlifts," including to US military bases that could act as immigrant processing centers.In 1975, after it had already withdrawn its own soldiers, the US military evacuated thousands of civilians by helicopter from Saigon after North Vietnamese forces overran the city, now named after Communist leader Ho Chi Minh."The United States must act now to protect vulnerable Afghans or risk a humanitarian catastrophe in the region," Bates said. "President Biden should use all his power to protect these Afghan civilians."Have a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

Biden should airlift vulnerable people out of Afghanistan before US forces withdrawal, refugee group urges

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US government issues <keyword id="11754526" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="special-immigrant-visas" source="Orion">Special Immigrant Visas</keyword> to those who worked for US-backed organizations.</li><li>The Biden administration inherited a backlog of more than 17,000 SIV applications.</li></ul>As an employee of a US-funded organization that promoted women's rights, he was expecting to receive a visa allowing him and his family to escape <keyword id="11892774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="afghanistan" source="Orion">Afghanistan</keyword> long before the <keyword id="11892778" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="taliban" source="Orion">Taliban</keyword> took over in August. But in a lawsuit filed Thursday, the man says he's been waiting nearly two and a half years without a response - and that his two young children have now been forced into hiding after receiving threatening messages at their home in Kabul."Every day, I fear for the lives of my sons," the man, identified only by his first name, Mohammad, said in a statement.The <a href="https://refugeerights.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-10-07_Protection-Complaint.pdf">lawsuit</a>, filed by the <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">International</keyword> Refugee Assistance Project with the US District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses the US <keyword id="11899384" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="state-department" source="Orion">State Department</keyword> and Secretary Antony Blinken of failing to fulfill their legal obligation to quickly process applications for Special Immigrant Visas, which are issued to those who worked for the US mission in Afghanistan.Mohammad applied for that visa back in May 2019. Under federal <keyword id="11899820" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="law" source="Orion">law</keyword>, the US is supposed to process such applications within nine months. But the Trump administration - which sought to limit all forms of <keyword id="11940510" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="immigration" source="Orion">immigration</keyword> to the US - allowed a backlog of more than 17,000 applications to build up, its failure to process the claims <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-broke-law-visa-delays-afghans-iraqis-who-worked-n1057846">ruled illegal</a> after another lawsuit brought by IRAP.An estimated 50,000 Afghans were ultimately evacuated by the US immediately following the Taliban takeover in August - months after refugee advocates had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airlift-vulnerable-people-out-of-afghanistan-refugee-group-urges-2021-4">urged the Biden administration</a> to begin airlifting them out. But many were admitted to the US on the basis of "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-us-will-help-afghans-coming-to-the-country-parole-2021-9">humanitarian parole</a>," which denies them access to many of the same assistance programs available to SIV holders and <keyword id="6391453" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="refugees" source="Orion">refugees</keyword>.Mohammad is himself currently living in California. On a trip there in 2019, the lawsuit says, he learned that the Taliban had left threatening notes at his former home. He decided not to return, instead applying for asylum.His wife and children were left behind. If he had received his visa, they would have been able to come to the US too. And that was the plan. But the visa never came.In October 2020, the Taliban found his wife and children and threatened them. According to the lawsuit, his wife died of a heart attack soon after - leaving his children, ages 9 and 11, without a parent. They are currently in hiding and, per the lawsuit, the State Department made no attempt to evacuate them."Right now, my greatest wish is to hug my kids again," Mohammad said. "I ask that the United States government stand by its promises to Afghans like me who supported the US mission, and protect the lives of my children."Alexandra Zaretsky, a litigation fellow at IRAP, said in a statement that the US has a duty to help those who are now at risk because of their connection to Washington."Tens of thousands of Afghan allies and their families were separated or left behind after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan," she said, "and the US government has yet to take meaningful action to help them get to safety."A spokesperson for the State Department declined to comment.Have a news tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

Refugee group sues Antony Blinken, alleging State Department forced father to leave his children behind in Afghanistan

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/588a98c9713ba1632e8b48fd-2000" alt="president donald trump" data-mce-source="Kevin Lamarque/Reuters" data-mce-caption="U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while signing executive orders at the White House in Washington January 24, 2017." />Kevin Lamarque/ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump speaks while signing executive orders at the White House in Washington January 24, 2017.</div></div></div>Legal challenges are already being presented to President Donald Trump's executive order barring citizens and refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations, which took immediate effect on Friday and left refugees stranded or detained in airports across the country.Among those refugees were two Iraqis with valid visas who had been granted asylum for their or their families' work for the US government during the American occupation, which made them targets in their home country."Lawyers representing two Iraqi refugees held at Kennedy Airport filed a writ of habeas corpus early Saturday in the Eastern District of New York seeking to have their clients released," <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/us/refugees-detained-at-us-airports-prompting-legal-challenges-to-trumps-immigration-order.html">the New York Times reported</a> on Saturday. "At the same time, they filed a motion for class certification, in an effort to represent all refugees and immigrants who they said were being unlawfully detained at ports of entry."One of the Iraqis, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, had worked as an interpreter for the Army's 101st Airborne Division in Baghdad and Mosul starting shortly after the Americans invaded in 2003, according to the Times. He was detained by customs and border patrol agents at JFK late Friday.The other, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, was traveling to Texas to reunite with his wife and son when customs denied him entry, according to the Times. Alshawi's wife had worked as a contractor for the US government in Iraq.Five Iraqi passengers and one Yemeni, meanwhile, were barred from boarding an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to New York on Saturday, according to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-refugees-idUSKBN15B2HL">Reuters.</a>The US government implemented two programs - the <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/iraqis-work-for-us.html">Special Immigrant Visa program</a> and the <a href="https://www.state.gov/j/prm/releases/factsheets/2016/254650.htm">Direct Access Program for US-Affiliated Iraqis</a> - for Iraqis who had helped the US government during the occupation. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/588cb18b713ba117398b4dde-2400" alt="refugees" data-mce-source="Zohra Bensemra/Reuters" data-mce-caption="The offensive in Mosul drove an exodus of civilians from the latest frontlines in the war against Islamic State." />Zohra Bensemra/ReutersThe offensive in Mosul drove an exodus of civilians from the latest frontlines in the war against Islamic State.</div></div></div>"A lot of translators were trying to get the hell out of there because they had a mark on their head for working with U.S. forces," Allen Vaught, a former US Army captain who was stationed in Fallujah in 2003, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-refugee-worries-iraqis-who-helped-the-us-2017-1">told Reuters</a>. "They're viewed as collaborators."Trump's ban on refugees and citizens arriving to the US from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen has affected, among other things, the government's asylum agreements with Iraqis who collaborated with the US during the war.Refugees coming from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen will be banned for 120 days, according to the order, "to ensure that those approved for refugee admission do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States." But the ban on Syrians fleeing a brutal, six-year civil war is indefinite, even as nearly 15,000 Syrian asylum-seekers had been resettled in the US as of November. The ban gives priority status, however, to minorities fleeing religious persecution. Trump said in an interview on Friday that the caveat was aimed at helping Syrian Christians.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/586540d1dd0895a27f8b4ad5-2400" alt="SOMALIA:" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Feisal Omar" data-mce-caption="A general view shows the scene of a suicide car bombing outside Hotel Ambassador on Maka Al Mukaram Road in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, June 1, 2016." />REUTERS/Feisal OmarA general view shows the scene of a suicide car bombing outside Hotel Ambassador on Maka Al Mukaram Road in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, June 1, 2016.</div></div></div>The order could also <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-moves-could-block-500000-legal-us-residents-from-returning-to-america-from-trips-2017-1">block half a million</a> legal US residents who hold visas or green cards from returning to the US from trips abroad, prompting Princeton University to <a href="https://twitter.com/AymanM/status/825175501643866112">advise</a> its students and staff who might be affected by the ban to "defer travel outside of the United States until there is some clarity and legal analysis of the situation, or, if they must travel, to seek legal counsel before they do." The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), which organizes law students and lawyers to protect legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons, put out a call on its website last week for lawyers to travel to airports to offer legal advice to refugees arriving in the US who might be detained. A representative for the project told Business Insider last week that they received a "great response," but that they were waiting to mobilize until it was clear that the refugees with valid visas would actually be denied entry.A request for additional comment was not immediately answered, but the <a href="https://refugeerights.org/urgent-call-protect-refugees-arriving-at-airports/#">organization's website has since been updated</a>: "Hundreds of lawyers have signed up to help. We have reached capacity and have therefore taken down the sign-up form." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-press-secretary-disputes-low-turnout-inauguration-sean-spicer-womens-march-2017-1">'The largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period': Trump press secretary disputes reports of low turnout at inauguration</a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="JuMHM0OTE6UEZ3hX-oMWVUGvf1HOZhVK" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'JuMHM0OTE6UEZ3hX-oMWVUGvf1HOZhVK',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

You Searched For "IRAP" and got 4 results

A new low: In Biden's first year, the US is on track to resettle even fewer refugees than under Trump

Charles Davis

Biden should airlift vulnerable people out of Afghanistan before US forces withdrawal, refugee group urges

Charles Davis

Refugee group sues Antony Blinken, alleging State Department forced father to leave his children behind in Afghanistan

Charles Davis

Legal challenges are already being presented to Donald Trump's ban on Muslim asylum-seekers

Natasha Bertrand