Special Populations: Refugee Resettlement

Our Position and Catholic Social Teaching

In keeping with Catholic social teaching, Catholic Charities USA upholds the human right to dignified life, including the right to freedom from violence and persecution and the right and responsibility to build and support a family. Refugees migrate in search of these fundamental rights. The policy positions of Catholic Charities USA concerning refugee resettlement are rooted in Catholic social teaching and our local agencies’ experiences providing services to refugees.

Jesus himself was a refugee: Jesus sought safety in a foreign land just after his birth. His family fled Egypt, running from King Herod who was “about to search for the child, to destroy him.” (Mt 2:13) Pope Pius XII refers to this in Exsul Familia when writing about refugees of WWII, declaring the Holy Family “the archetype of every refugee family”.

Our history as a faith community has been as an immigrant church in an immigrant nation. The Church has a history of migration. Jesus himself was a migrant – born in a manger on a journey, he and his family fled to Egypt, and in his ministry he had “nowhere to lay his head.” (Mt. 8:20). Jesus taught us to look for Him in the faces of migrants and to welcome the stranger. Our history as a faith community has been as an immigrant church in an immigrant nation. By 1920, immigrants constituted 75% of Catholics in the United States. In response, the Church created and expanded ministries to meet the needs of this immigrant population.

Catholic social teaching calls us to protect human life, dignity and family: Catholic social teaching emphasizes the dignity of every human person. As beings created in God’s image, each person has the right to all necessary for a dignified life – including food, clothing, shelter, and the right to set up and care for family. Refugees displaced by war, natural disaster, famine or persecution are often denied these basic rights. We recognize the importance of programs that enable refugees to care for their families and reunite with loved ones, as we believe the family is the essential unit of society.

Current Issues

Refugee reception by host countries is a response to an enormous world need. At the end of 2004, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported there was an estimated 9.2 million refugees worldwide. In 2004, nearly 74,000 refugees established new roots in the United States. While the U.S. welcomes many, a look at the current resettlement system reveals potential for improvement.

An important issue that advocates have rallied around is the harm done to potential refugees by the USA Patriot Act of 2001 and the REAL ID Act of 2005. These bills expanded the grounds for inadmissibility of refugees, effectively barring from eligibility entire groups of displaced people. The Department of Homeland Security is now authorized to deny admittance based on “material support” that refugees provided to terrorist groups in their homelands. First expanding the definition of a terrorist group, the acts also fail to account for refugees who were coerced to provide support in the form of food, shelter, or taxes due to threat of torture or execution.

The material support clause has particularly impacted two populations – Columbian and Burmese refugees. The United Nations reports that 7 in 10 Columbian refugees are now disqualified from placement in the United States. Humanitarian groups worry that the U.S. policies will have a negative ripple effect on first-stop countries that take on refugees with the understanding that other nations will eventually resettle some of them. As opportunities for resettlement in the United States decrease, first-stop countries may now be less willing to welcome migrants (Refugee Council USA).

The Real ID Act does allow exceptions for refugees who provided support under coercion, but the Departments of State and Homeland Security have not made progress in implementing a system to grant this exception.

Finally, the number of refugees admitted to the United States fell drastically to a low of 39,000 in 2003 after the events of September 11th. While the numbers in recent years have recovered to nearly 75,000, Congress has not raised caps on the number of refugees and asylees admitted to the country to account for both those who were not admitted in 2002 and 2003 and for the pressing need worldwide.

Catholic Charities USA’s Position

Our Catholic social teaching and tradition emphasizes the dignity and rights of the human person, the importance of the family, and the command to welcome strangers. To this end, between 1975 and 2004, the Catholic Charities network resettled 859,494 refugees throughout the country and provides services to help refugees build new lives and preserve their families. Our direct services is coupled with our advocacy on federal policy to address the needs of refugees. Catholic Charities USA supports:

• Additional refugee admissions to our country
• Maximum funding for aid and resettlement of humanitarian refugees
• Regulatory changes to increase admissions of asylees without corresponding reductions in admissions of other categories of immigrants
• Elimination of asylee caps

Key Programs and Policies

» Refugee Cash and Medical Assistance (RCA/RMA)

Through the RCA/RMA programs that operate as state-administered programs in 40 states, the Office of Refugee Resettlement provides reimbursement to states or public and private nonprofit agencies for any cash and emergency medical assistance they provide to refugees within 8 months of their arrival. The refugee is required to accept appropriate employment opportunities to qualify for the program. Catholic Charities USA supports ensuring adequate funding of these programs, essential to meeting the basic needs of refugees and thereby protecting the rights and dignity of the human person.

» Matching Grant Program

The Matching Grant (MG) program is currently administered by 9 voluntary agencies in 250 sites nationwide. The government gives grants to organizations that provide multilingual case management, employment services and basic services like food, housing and transportation for 120 days from date of eligiblity. Organizations must provide a cash or in-kind match of at least 50 percent ($1,000) of each grant. The program seeks to, “encourage local ethnic and religious participation in resettlement while helping clients to become economically self-sufficient” (Office of Management and Budget). Catholic Charities USA supports ensuring adequate funding of the matching grant program, essential to meeting the basic needs of refugees and thereby protecting the rights and dignity of the human person.

» Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program

This program ensures that refugee children who arrive in the United States without parents have the same assistance and services available to all children. Agencies like Catholic Charities provide ESL training, socialization adjustment help, education, career planning and health needs for these youth and prepare them to embrace adulthood with confidence and the capacity to succeed. Catholic Charities USA supports continued funding of the program, as it provides youth with services necessary to lead dignified life that is their human right as persons made in God’s image.

» SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees

To help refugees to build a new life, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits provide a crucial source of income for refugees who are unable to work because they are elderly or disabled. However, 1996 welfare law mandates the loss of SSI benefits if refugees have not become citizens after 7 years of residence. Leading up to 2007, about 40,000 refugees will be cut off from their sole source of income and even their health insurance (since SSI eligibility and Medicaid eligibility are linked). The Administration has acknowledged that the ability to obtain citizenship within 7 years of residence has been compromised by immigration processing delays and caps on the number of asylees who can become permanent residents. For example, refugees are unable to apply for citizenships until they resided for at least 5 years, but due to immigration processing backlogs, even if they apply the first day they are eligible they will likely will be unable to obtain citizenship within 7 years (National Immigration Law Center). For asylees, only 10,000 visas for green cards are made available each year (resulting in a backlog 10 years long) and even then asylees must wait another 4 years before being eligible to even apply for citizenship. Catholic Charities USA supports SSI extension for elderly and disabled refugees, as it provides for the basics needed to live dignified lives, embraces the stranger, and assists the most vulnerable amongst us.

In July 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation (“SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act”, HR 2608) to extend for two years the SSI benefits for refugees and asylees. This would include those whose benefits might have already expired and those whose citizenship applications are pending. In the U.S. Senate, similar legislation was introduced by Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Herbert Kohl (D-WI), but has yet to be passed.