“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” — Maya Angelou These are the words Tanisha Elizaire, Associate Director of USCRI’s Refugee Health Services Program, lives by. Elizaire has worked in the health field for more than […]
Category: Policy and Advocacy
Policy Brief: Expedited Removal – A Deterrent, not a Solution
As news arises that the Biden administration will begin to increase the use of expedited removal and fast-tracked asylum screenings, policy analyst Aaron Nodjomian-Escajeda examines expedited removal, exceptions to it, and concerns over its increased use. Non-U.S. citizens or nationals encountered at the southern border without a visa or other valid travel documents (undocumented immigrants) […]
USCRI Releases Report on Private Sponsorship After Welcome Corps Launch
The United States has launched a pilot program for private sponsorship of refugees, a significant development in how the country welcomes displaced people through its refugee admissions. Private refugee sponsorship models already exist in other countries—and in recent months the United States has increasingly asked individuals and communities to help sponsor people displaced from nations […]
USCRI Webinar: The Dried Fishing Industry in Bangladesh
For Human Trafficking Prevention Month, USCRI Policy Analyst Aaron Nodjomian-Escajeda sat down to speak with Md. Tanvir Sharif, Assistant Director Program Cox’s Bazar at Alliance for Cooperation and Legal Aid Bangladesh to discuss the dried fishing industry in Bangladesh and its connections to child labor. Please watch the video below.
Policy Brief: Problems of Privilege, Privacy, and Permanency: The CBP One App and Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan Parole
On January 5, the Department of Homeland Security announced a package of immigration and border enforcement-related measures shortly before President Biden made his first visit of his term to the United States-Mexico border. Among other provisions, DHS confirmed the continued use of Title 42 expulsions; new parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans; the continuation […]
Policy Brief: Learning for What Future?
USCRI Policy Analyst Aaron Escajeda conducted a field visit to Bangladesh in December 2022 and met with domestic and international NGOs to better understand the context of and humanitarian response to the Rohingya refugee crisis. Additionally, USCRI visited multiple Rohingya refugee camps with Friendship NGO, which allowed USCRI to speak with Rohingya refugees directly as […]
Expanding Title 42, Again, Fails Even More Asylum Seekers
Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new border enforcement measures to expand the use of Title 42 for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans, severely limiting their ability to apply for asylum. More than two million asylum seekers and migrants have been expelled from the United States under Title 42 since its inception in […]
USCRI Policy Brief: The Most Pressing Humanitarian Needs of 2023
Five humanitarian emergencies—Afghanistan, the Syria regional crisis, Yemen, Ukraine, and Ethiopia—make up nearly half of all funding requirements in the 2023 Global Humanitarian Overview, the United Nations’ assessment of worldwide humanitarian needs for the coming year. For this Policy and Advocacy brief, Policy Analyst Daniel Salazar provides updates on these five crises and policy recommendations […]
Policy Brief: As Conditions Worsen in Haiti, the United States Must End Haitian Forced Removals
This month, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk declared, “Haiti is on the verge of an abyss.” The security and humanitarian situation has become untenable. News from the country underscores the dire situation; a cholera outbreak was announced in early October as clean water is in scarce supply. Because of the […]
A Systematic Failing for Asylum Seekers
World War II displaced an estimated 60 million individuals. As a result, in the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Refugee Protocol, the United Nations defined a refugee as a person who is unable or unwilling to return to their home country and cannot obtain protection in that country due to past persecution or a […]
