Over 100 million people around the world have been displaced by war, persecution, and natural disasters. The Welcome Corps, a U.S. Department of State program started during the Biden Administration, helps these refugees start a new safer life in the United States by sponsoring their resettlement. The program supports “newly arrived refugees by securing and preparing initial housing, greeting them at the airport, enrolling children in school, helping adults find employment and meet other needs to ensure they are prepared for life in the United States.”
Trump has threatened to end various legal programs for refugees, asylum seekers, and even international students to come to the U.S., so our prompt action can help people while Welcome Corps is still operating.
Several individual freethinkers—humanists, atheists, secularists—have contacted me and my assistant through the Humanist Chaplaincy at American University. We have been able to help one Pakistani humanist resettle in Canada and are now helping an Iraqi humanist and his family. Still in need of urgent help are an Afghan college student hiding in Pakistan and a Yemeni college grad now in Saudi Arabia on a work visa who was denied a student visa after being admitted by Penn State. Both face regular hostility and danger from religious extremists, and need to resettle to a secular democracy now. Please join me in helping these and other refugees before the incoming administration shuts down the Welcome Corps and other legal pathways for refugees to reach safety. You could help in several ways:
Volunteer to be part of a Private Sponsorship Group. Be matched with others in your community to welcome and help one or more refugees already cleared for resettlement by the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Sponsor Funds of $1,455 per refugee are automatically available to your group to aid the refugees with basic necessities during their first 90 days in the United States. Collecting donations of money, furniture, housewares, clothing, etc. all help the family and meet the matching guidelines. Airbnb housing is available for up to 60 days, which allows a sponsor group more time to find permanent housing for the arriving person or family.
Organize individuals to create a Private Sponsorship Group. Gather five members of your local family or community (within a 50-mile radius) to create a Private Sponsorship Group to help already cleared refugees. I organized a Private Sponsorship Group with my wife, father, my assistant chaplain-in-training, and her husband. It wasn’t difficult, so I encourage and implore you all to act while we can still use Welcome Corps. This is a great opportunity for local humanist groups to work together.
Volunteer with or organize a group to help refugees not yet cleared for resettlement. You can connect with individuals who reached out for help from me (rav.bibi@gmail.com), REACT DC (a Private Sponsor Organization, Director of Private Sponsorship Ally Brown is a great resource ally@reactdc.org), or another resettlement agency like Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) or the International Rescue Committee.
Here’s a full list of agencies.
Once cleared by USRAP and matched with a sponsor group, a refugee individual or family will be booked for resettlement travel by the International Office of Migration (IOM). Once a sponsor group has their matching application certified, they are given an assurance request in 1-4 weeks), then refugees arrive in 1-4 months on average. Given the urgent situation, Welcome Corps are working nonstop to mobilize and process applications as fast as possible to increase the number of refugees we resettle. For US veterans interested in sponsoring Afghan refugees you know (or matched by an agency), the Veteran Sponsor Fund is open until December 10 and will cover up to 60 percent of the amount needed per refugee. All Welcome Corps applications linked to the VSF need to be completed by January 2.
Please help now by volunteering with or organizing a Private Sponsorship Group. We can save refugees’ lives by acting together now!
The post Sponsor Refugees Now Before Trumps Ends Key Programs to Help appeared first on TheHumanist.com.
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