The Center for American Progress released a report Feb. 28 critical of the Trump administration’s policies toward refugees and recommended a rejuvenation of several programs to meet refugee needs in the future.
“Throughout its first year in office, the Trump administration has made a concerted effort to undermine the U.S. refugee resettlement program,” wrote Silva Mathema in the opening to What Works: Innovative Approaches to Improving Refugee Integration. “More recently, the administration set the 2018 presidential determination—the annual target for refugee admissions—to the lowest level since the United States started setting presidential determinations pursuant to the 1980 Refugee Act.”
A senior policy analyst on the organization’s Immigration Policy team, Mathema wrote that the Trump administration has not considered the “critical work being done at the local level to successfully receive and integrate refugees into communities around the country.”
She emphasized that these efforts do work, and this can be illustrated in a number of programs, including “employment and entrepreneurship,” “educational services,” “social integration initiatives,” and “specialized services”—this includes things such as mental and physical health and related services.
“At a time when the world is facing one of the worst refugee crises since World War II, many countries are working to integrate these newcomers into their communities and foster a mutually beneficial relationship,” Mathema wrote. “These recent actions of the Trump administration ignore the fact that, historically, the United States has been a leader in resettling refugees.”
Among her recommendations are a rededication to refugee resettlement in the country to meet worldwide needs. She emphasized that organizations should adopt diverse funding strategies, learn to work with one another, increase services, and focus on volunteer and recruitment efforts.
“While there is no cookie-cutter approach to resolving some of these issues,” she wrote, “these ideas and practices can be replicated and expanded.”
Read the entire report here.
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