Migration Policy Institute: How the Rebuilt U.S. System Resettled the Most Refugees in 30 Years

This Migration Policy Institute paper (How the Rebuilt U.S. System Resettled the Most Refugees in 30 Years) looks a recent developments in U.S. refugee admissions: 

“More refugees were resettled in the United States in fiscal year (FY) 2024 than any year since FY 1994. The more than 100,000 admissions fulfill a Joe Biden campaign promise and are especially notable given the fact refugee resettlement hit a record low just three years earlier.

The Biden administration rebuilt the refugee system by investing in people and processes, streamlining operations, and being willing to experiment with novel policies. Through these efforts, government officials ramped up their workload and the ten national voluntary resettlement agencies opened or reopened more than 150 local offices to place and assist newly arrived refugees.

Muzaffar Chishti, Kathleen Bush-Joseph, and Madeleine Greene explain the sea change and examine what the future may hold in our latest U.S. Policy Beat article.”

Top Takeaways

1. A major turnaround from the Trump years: Just 11,400 refugees were resettled in the United States in FY 2021, after the Trump administration made steep cuts to the resettlement program and amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The about-face represents not just a return to normal but an expansion of the system.
2. But still far short of historic highs: Despite the turnaround, the 197,000 refugees resettled during the Biden administration remain among the lowest for a presidential term. Meanwhile, the number of refugees globally climbed to a record 31.6 million in 2023.
3. Bigger, faster, and more efficient: In rebuilding the system, the U.S. government nearly tripled funding for resettlement from FY 2020 to FY 2024. It also increased use of video teleconferencing interviews, digitization, and streamlined vetting to allow officers to review more cases while keeping safeguards in place.
4. Refugee resettlement working as a complement to asylum: The U.S. refugee resettlement program is different from the asylum system that protects humanitarian migrants applying from within the United States, given consideration for refugee resettlement happens while the person is abroad. The Biden administration has promoted refugee resettlement and other lawful pathways such as humanitarian parole as an alternative to irregular migration at the southwest border.
5. Record numbers from the Western Hemisphere: The more than 25,000 refugees resettled from elsewhere in the Americas in FY 2024 was the most ever and a quadrupling from FY 2023. This increase was partly made possible by the rollout of Safe Mobility Offices (SMOs) in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala, which allow individuals to apply for protection from closer to their origin countries.

KJ