Earlier this year, humanitarian parole protections for individuals covered by the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole program were categorically revoked, placing more than 500,000 people at risk of deportation. More than 100,000 Cubans were covered by the program. Driven by Cold War politics, the United States has long pledged itself as an ally […]
Category: USCRI Programs
DRC and Rwanda: Safe Repatriations
On June 27, 2025, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda signed a Peace Agreement, with the hope of ending recent hostilities between DRC forces and Rwandan-sponsored M23 rebel forces. In the Peace Agreement, DRC and Rwanda have agreed to “facilitate the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of refugees.” Namely, they are referring […]
Four Years After the Fall of Kabul
During the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, more than 2,000 U.S. military personnel died—and alongside them, an uncounted number of Afghans who served in the American forces. Recruited as interpreters, medics, engineers, and other professionals, they risked their lives to accompany U.S. troops into the field. In 2006, Congress first established the Special Immigrant Visa […]
Azorean Refugee Act: Reviving Its Legacy
In 1957, the Capelinhos volcano began its submarine explosion, damaging houses and farmlands. For the next 13 months, the eruption caused violent explosions, raining ash, and earthquakes throughout the Azores Islands. In response, on September 2, 1958, the United States passed the Azorean Refugee Act. The Act offered protection to 1,500 Portuguese nationals who were […]
Indignities, Discrimination, and Dehumanization in the Pursuit of Safety
Indignities, Discrimination, and Dehumanization in the Pursuit of Safety History has always privileged some migration. Migration for Europeans, by Christopher Columbus to the Native-inhabited Americas or by modern-day corporations to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is accepted and valued. Yet, the reverse is not. Quite the opposite, Black migration to Europe or the […]
Centering Survivors: The Key to Preventing Human Trafficking and Holding Perpetrators Accountable
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), human trafficking is becoming more violent, more profitable, and more global. According to the UNODC, more than 200,000 individuals were identified in trafficking situations from 2020 to 2023 alone. This figure is widely understood to be a minimum estimate, as trafficking is a chronically […]
The 1951 Refugee Convention: Displacement Caused by Climate Change
For a backgrounder on the refugee definition, see “Defining ‘Refugees’—An Exclusionary Legacy.” The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, amended by the 1967 Protocol (together, the “Refugee Convention”) defines a “refugee” as any person who “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social […]
Rising Starvation, Fading Attention: The Hunger Crisis in East Africa
The world is experiencing a debilitating hunger and malnutrition crisis. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 319 million people across 67 countries are suffering from acute hunger, with 1.9 million enduring catastrophic levels that verge on famine. This crisis is the most severe in regions already impacted by conflict, political instability, and economic collapse. […]
H.R. 1’s Impacts on Refugees and Forcibly Displaced Populations
Updated on July 23. On July 4, H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” was signed into law. The legislation is expected to displace 11.8 million people from health care coverage. Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—federal funding for food benefits—will impact more than 2 million children. The legislation also singles out […]
Six Months Post-Assad: A Safe Return Remains Out of Reach
The Syrian displacement crisis is one of the world’s largest refugee crises. The situation escalated during the Syrian Civil War (2011-2024), when millions were displaced internally and abroad due to war, repression, and economic collapse under Bashar al-Assad’s rule. Assad’s regime deliberately used displacement as a weapon through sieges, chemical attacks, and the deliberate targeting […]
