Refugee Resettlement in the United States: The Role of the Voluntary Agencies

Statistics on refugee resettlement in the United States are obsolete as soon as they are published. What does remain current and constant, however, is that there is a global refugee crisis. The numbers of refugees in the world are not likely to diminish, and indeed, given the vagaries of international politics, the world’s refugee population is likely to increase. As a major world power the United States has had to evolve a refugee policy. This policy operates on two levels: on the foreign level there has been an attempt to provide for the regional and international resettlement of refugees and to furnish monetary and commodity aid through international organizations and voluntary private agencies. On the domestic level, the United States, for political and humanitarian reasons, has accepted for admission and resettlement, and ultimately citizenship, more refugees than any other nation.