amna: The state department
announced a new program to help
facilitate refugees coming to and
settling in the United States.
It's called welcome corps and
aims to empower private American
citizens to sponsor refugees.
Since the 1980's, the number of
refugees admitted to the united
States has fluctuated.
After the 9/11 attacks numbers
plunged, but then rose over
time.
They dropped again during the
trump administration, but have
been rising since Joe Biden
became president.
Krish Omar is the president and
CEO of lutheran immigration and
refugee service.
She joins me now.
Let's talk about this new
program.
They aim to mobilize 10,000
Americans to sponsor 5000
refugees in the first year.
They call it the boldest
innovation undertaken in their
approach to refugee resettlement
in over four decades.
Do you agree with that?
>> I guess it is the right
Thursday because in many ways
this pilot reverts to how
refugee resettlement was done
before it was professionalized.
Before that, it was private
citizens who came together and
supported refugees through
private sponsorship.
The refugee program has been
refined since then, but
community involvement is the
core of our work even today,
even before this announcement.
What we find is our volunteers
become the most enthusiastic
ambassadors and advocates, so it
is nice to see the
administration recognize the
generosity of the American
spirit and bring more people
into the work of welcome.
That said, I do think there are
a few things to keep in mind to
be realistic about the
program.
There are things private
citizens can do well or better
than anyone else.
Organizing a donation drive,
helping furnish apartments.
There is a risk that sponsors
may not be fully prepared or
equipped for what oftentimes is
complicated, challenging work,
whether talking about addressing
the trauma refugees of
experienced or navigating the
paperwork and bureaucracy of
helping a family enroll their
kids in school.
We want to make sure these
sponsors are prepared for what's
in store and they are vetted.
We are excited about the
program, but obviously we need
to be realistic about what it
will deliver.
Amna: It doesn't sound as if you
have a lot of faith that this
program will make a significant
difference.
It sounds like it is welcome but
you do not think it will make a
huge difference.
Your organization is one of the
largest resettlement agencies in
the country.
You are not part of this
coalition in this program.
Why not?
>> We had the state department
event.
We certainly are supportive of
anything that can rebuild the
infrastructure.
There are excellent groups that
are involved.
We have invested in a model of
community cosponsorship because
we have seen over decades of
experience that the best
outcomes happen when there is
public-private collaboration.
For us, cosponsorship means
leveraging the incredible
generosity and compassion of
Americans while also recognizing
that the buck stops with us as a
resettlement agency that has
done this work for 83 years.
We are grateful for any effort
that brings Americans until the
work, but it is a lot to ask
private citizens to do this
principally on their own.
That is where I think there are
opportunities to leverage
individual involvement.
But at the end of the day, there
is real value to the
professionalization we have seen
in the four decades the program
has been in place.
Amna: When you look at the
refugee resettlement program in
the U.S. Right now, president
Biden's latest refugee cap for
2023 is set at 125,000 people.
When you look at the way our
system works right now, where
would you be putting resources
and attention for the U.S. To
get anywhere close to that
number?
>> That a question because we
have to solve for the real
problem, and that is not the
domestic infrastructure to
resettle refugees.
It is the backlogs that continue
to plague the program.
Maybe there is a misconception
out there that we do not have
the domestic capacity here
in the U.S., but that is not the
case.
It is true many resettlement
sites closed during the cuts of
the trump administration, but
two years later we have built
back.
We had to close 17 of our 48
sites during the trump
administration, but we haven't
just returned to 48.
We now have 50 resettlement
sites up and running.
The real and most pressing
challenge is how do we process
refugees and ultimately admit
them to the U.S.?
To your point of citing, the
numbers the administration has
increased the number 262,500 and
125,000.
In the first year, we resettled
less than 12,000, and in the
second, about 25,000.
The question is, how do we build
that pipeline abroad?
Otherwise, there is a risk that
you have this new program and
sponsors will come forward, but
there will be very few families
to support.
Geoff: -- Amna: Krish o'mara
Gina rajab, thank you for
joining us.