The Biden-Harris administration has modernized and expanded the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) to admit increasing numbers of refugees faster and extend the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)’s benefits and beneficiaries to include non-refugees on U.S. soil. It changed the essence of resettlement by designing the “Welcome Corps” private sponsorship program and allowing U.S.-based “private sponsors” who can themselves be earlier refugees or other newcomers to choose their own “refugees” and future American Citizens. Sponsored individuals do not need to actually be refugees according to the UNHCR Refugee Status Determination, they can simply be friends and family members of those who made it here before them.
