The United States begins a new program to receive refugees

Washington – (AFP)
On Thursday, the United States launched a new program to receive refugees and urged every American to contribute to their care in order to increase their number, which is very small.
Under this, any US citizen will be able for the first time to sponsor a refugee in the US directly without going through an association or NGO.
“The Reception Service is the most innovative refugee program in four decades,” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement.
He said the goal in the first year is to get 10,000 Americans into the program to host about 5,000 refugees.
Any American, or initially any group of 5 wishing to sponsor a refugee, must undergo extensive security background checks and provide evidence of their financial ability to do so.
There are no foreseen financial incentives for these participants, who will have to prove they have $2,275 per refugee at their disposal for three months to buy clothes and other basic necessities.
And President Joe Biden decided that the United States could receive during each fiscal year starting from October 125,000 refugees, which is much more than what former President Donald Trump allowed, but the United States is very far from that, as it did not receive in the three months. The first of fiscal year 2023 only 6,750 refugees have been approved to settle in the country built on immigration, according to State Department figures.
“The difference here is that the program will apply to refugees from different countries of the world and aims to settle them permanently in the United States,” said a senior diplomat, who requested anonymity.
Refugee associations and various non-governmental organizations welcomed the initiative after criticizing over the years the low number of refugees accepted each year and the slowness of administrative procedures.
“The Biden administration should streamline and prioritize the process of accepting refugees, because unfortunately the number of those admitted is still very low for this fiscal year,” said Krish O’Mara, who runs the Lutheran Association for Immigration and Refugees.
The number of refugees and displaced persons in the world exceeded 100 million in mid-2022, according to the United Nations.
On Thursday, Julieta Valls-Noyes, the State Department’s immigration official, acknowledged the slow process but said US authorities had already completed 20,000 overseas interviews and “we expect these people to start arriving in the coming months.”