New federal program to let private citizens sponsor refugees in US
WASHINGTON — Everyday Americans will be able to help refugees adjust to life in the U.S. in a program launched Thursday by the State Department as a way to give private citizens a role in resettling the thousands of refugees who arrive every year.
The State Department program is called the Welcome Corps. The agency aims to line up 10,000 Americans who can help 5,000 refugees during the first year of the program.
The State Department has traditionally worked with nonprofit groups that specialize in refugee issues to help people from around the world when they first arrive in the country and face a dramatically different way of life. Under the program announced Thursday, five or more Americans would be able to form a group and fill this role as well.
They would apply to privately sponsor refugees to resettle in America, and would be responsible for raising their own money to help the refugees during their first 90 days in the country. Assistance would include everything from greeting refugees at the airport to finding them homes and getting kids enrolled in school.
A consortium of nonprofits with expertise in refugee resettlement will help oversee the vetting and certification of those who want to be private sponsors. They’ll also offer training so private sponsors understand what’s needed to help refugees adjust to life in America. The consortium will be responsible for monitoring the program.
The new initiative will roll out in two phases, according to the State Department. Under the first phase, private sponsors will be matched with refugees already approved for resettlement under the U.S. Refugee Assistance Program. That will start during the first half of 2023.
In the second phase, private sponsors would be able to identify refugees abroad they’d like to help and then refer those people to the Refugee Assistance Program and assist them once they arrive in the U.S.
The Welcome Corps program comes on the heels of a similar, smaller scale endeavor through which Americans were able to sponsor Afghans or Ukrainians. That program launched in October 2021 and has helped just over 800 people coming to America through a network of 230 certified sponsor circles that included a total of about 5,000 people.