REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT UNDER THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: UNTANGLING THE U.S. REFUGEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL

The United States Refugee Resettlement Program has seen many changes over the last twenty years. However, the election of President Trump and the subsequent policy distortions to the program have caused the most dramatic changes. The almost weekly pronouncements coming out of the White House related to immigration, refugees, and international politics have left the program in disarray. Refugee arrivals to the United States have almost come to a standstill and the entire program has begun to unravel (Amos, 2018). The State Department’s bureau responsible for the US refugee resettlement program, Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), released its annual report to Congress on October 4, 2017, announcing the Presidential Determination of 45,000 total refugee arrivals for federal fiscal year (FY) 2018. This is the lowest number of arrivals coming to the U.S. since 2001, and less than half of the two previous fiscal years: 110,000 in 2017, and 85,000 in 2016.[1] The following paper focuses on this earlier time period under the Obama Administration, and specifically the summer of 2016 when I spent ten weeks completing a graduate student internship with the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) in PRM. This experience combined with my eight plus years working directly with refugees in Greensboro, NC, has helped me bring a variety of perspectives to the topic of refugee resettlement. A lot can and should be written on the Trump administration’s response to the global refugee crisis and his policies toward resettlement. However, refugee resettlement advocates need to look at both the strengths and weaknesses of the program at its height of arrivals, FY 2016, in order to push for a stronger program when the opportunity comes.[2][1] The federal fiscal year runs October 1, to September 30 of the following calendar year.[2] Unless otherwise noted, the numbers and information are reflective of the USRAP during the months of June, July, August, and September 2016