U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Inc.

To create communities of opportunity and demand a global standard of dignity for the uprooted.

We work through an experienced network of independent 501(c)(3) partner agencies and USCRI field offices across the country. USCRI works to advocate, protect, and support refugees, migrant children, and victims of trafficking so that these vulnerable people can achieve long-term independence.

Our Refugee Services Division works with those who have fled their homes due to violence, war, and persecution. The USCRI network has many refugee programs, but two—the Reception and Placement and Matching Grant Programs—constitute our core focus. The Reception and Placement Program helps meet the immediate needs of newly arrived refugee families. These needs include finding housing, enrolling children in school, and achieving competency in English. Through the Matching Grant Program, USCRI places 85% of our beneficiaries in jobs and helps them develop the skills required to provide for themselves and their families.

Our Immigrant Services Division protects migrant children who arrive in the U.S. without parents or resources. Many of these children—fleeing domestic abuse, gang violence, and poverty— get deported back to dangerous conditions without ever speaking to an attorney. USCRI places these children with pro bono attorneys and ensures that they are living in safe homes. The need for this program is growing as more children enter the U.S. every day. USCRI is working with government officials in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America to design long-term solutions and to ensure support systems are available for children who return to their countries of origin.

Through our National Human Trafficking Victims Assistance Program, USCRI staff also advocates for victims of forced labor and sex trafficking while providing critical survival services. These services include housing assistance, employment assistance, English language training, health care, and mental health services. The program operates at 144 locations.

With over 100 years of work in the field, we succeed in developing programs that rest on time-tested and empirically robust strategies. Over the years, we have also fine-tuned our management approach. USCRI is able to implement policies that minimize bureaucracy and maximize initiative while insuring proper financial controls and holding ourselves accountable to performance standards.

USCRI's network implements programs through ten field offices and 25 partner agencies. These offices and agencies share challenges, exchange best practices, and collaborate on projects. We are effective and efficient; we believe it is our duty not to waste resources that could help refugees and immigrants.

Thanks to our experienced and highly trained staff members—many of whom are refugees or immigrants themselves—we are able to create and implement linguistically and culturally appropriate programs that welcome newcomers into their American communities.

We have accomplished the following:

Since 1911, we have protected the rights and addressed the needs of hundreds of thousands of refugees and immigrants. During this time, we have demonstrated extensive expertise on issues pertaining to these uprooted groups. In 1922, we began publishing “Interpreter Releases," the definitive, weekly Immigration Law review. In 1948, we published “How to Become a Citizen of the United States," the first pamphlet of its kind.

We have also exhibited thought leadership as one of the earliest and most vocal organizations advocating for refugee rights within the international arena. We led campaigns to promote the rights of refugees of WWII, Congolese in 1962, Vietnamese in 1975, the “Lost Boys" of Sudan in 1990, and Kosovar Albanians in 1992. We also began the campaign to end warehousing of refugees in 2004. This campaign influenced the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to propose alternatives to warehousing in 2014. In 2005, we established the first program to assist unaccompanied immigrant children. In 2011, we successfully advocated for Syrians to be granted Temporary Protected Status in the U.S., guarding them from being forced back to their war-ensnared homes.

Since our refugee resettlement program was established in its current form in 1975, we have helped over 300,000 refugees and around 2,350 human trafficking survivors to restore and rebuild their lives. Additionally, we have matched over 1,570 unaccompanied children with pro bono attorneys and enabled about 6,560 unaccompanied children to access social services.

We have yet to accomplish following:

USCRI aims to expand services in Central America for unaccompanied minors and victims of human trafficking. USCRI's goal is to facilitate a client-centered service model for children who are forcibly returned to their home countries. We have provided legal trainings and influenced policy makers in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America. We have also provided legal and social services to these children. However, USCRI does not currently have the capacity to ensure that all of these children (totaling over 128,200 new arrivals since October 2013 according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement) receive the proper services that they deserve.

Additionally, USCRI is working to establish programs in Ethiopia to provide out-of-camp opportunities to Eritrean refugee youth. Eritrean youth have practically no viable options for safety in their home country due to political upheaval and rampant human rights violations. According to UNHCR reports, an estimated 300 - 400 Eritrean children arrive to refugee camps in Ethiopia per month, while approximately 200 children depart, presumably to make the perilous journey through North Africa and into Europe. USCRI's East Africa programs would give refugee youth a chance at life through innovative, out-of-camp, direct assistance that leads to microbusinesses and leverages the private sector.