Hometown Season 7, Bonus Episode: Safeguarding Refugee Resettlement

Today we offer a bonus episode: a recording of a webinar recently co-hosted by EMM and the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations, entitled “Safeguarding Refugee Resettlement: Navigating Policy Shifts in a Changing Political Landscape.”

The U.S. refugee resettlement system, as created under the Refugee Act of 1980, benefited from broad bipartisan support under both Republican and Democratic administrations for nearly 40 years. However, since 2016, with the increasing politicization of immigration, the resettlement sector has experienced a highly volatile period, marked first by severe restrictions and disinvestment, and then by substantial efforts to rebuild the infrastructure required to respond to ever-expanding requests for humanitarian protection.

This panel discussion brought together speakers who know the resettlement system from diverse perspectives and can explain how these shifts in policy and politics have impacted the lives of people seeking humanitarian protection and the work of organizations across the sector. Our overarching goal was to help attendees better understand the role that the Presidential Determination plays in setting the scope, priorities, and funding for refugee resettlement in the U.S., as well as how decisions made at the federal level impact the ability of non-profit organizations to welcome and provide vital services to refugees and others seeking humanitarian protection at the local level.

The webinar was facilitated by Kendall Martin, Senior Manager for Communications at EMM. Invited panelists included:

• Troy Collazo, Policy Advisor for the Office of Government Relations
• Azad Bigzad, Program Officer, Episcopal Migration Ministries, and former recipient of a Special Immigrant Visa
• Sarah Shipman, Director of Episcopal Migration Ministries
• Troy Elder, Executive Director of Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Services, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

As the U.S. is poised to see a new administration take office in January 2025, the lessons of the past decade or so could not be more relevant. We hope that this bonus episode will help our listeners understand all that is at stake for our country and for the millions of people around the globe who look to the U.S. for protection and safety as they and their families flee persecution, violence, and war. Thank you for tuning in today.

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Want to learn more about the history of refugee resettlement in the United States? The non-partisan Migration Policy Institute has published many reports and analyses that demonstrate the scope and impact of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) as well as other immigration-related policies implemented by successive administrations at the federal level. For those interested, here are some articles and reports we recommend:

• Refugees and Asylees in the United States (June 2023)
• U.S. Annual Refugee Ceilings and Number of Refugees Admitted, 1980 – present (2024, updated as data becomes available)
• Dismantling and Reconstructing the U.S. Immigration System: A Catalog of Changes under the Trump Presidency (July 2020)
• How the Rebuilt U.S. System Resettled the Most Refugees in 30 Years (October 2024)
• The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program: What’s at Stake in the Election (Center for Migration Studies, October 2024).