Somalia’s TPS designation is set to expire September 17, 2021, but Somalia is still experiencing armed conflict and extraordinary conditions that make safe return impossible. New and escalating government corruption and natural disasters qualify Somalia for redesignation as well. Both extension and redesignation are vital to safeguard the lives of both current TPS holders and […]
Category: Policy and Advocacy
Part 4 of USCRI’s Series: In Search of Safety
“We really need to be listening to children. With all kids, regardless of circumstances, spend some time to really hear them and that will be the safety and stability that they need in order to get the help they deserve.” Marie Olenych, Director of Trafficking and Human Services, USCRI. On this week’s installment of USCRI’s […]
Part 3 of USCRI’s Series: In Search of Safety
On this week’s installment of USCRI's "In Search of Safety" Facebook Live Series, Vice President AnnaMarie Bena talks to Managing Attorney Hila Moss about her work overseeing USCRI's Legal Services Program and the process to help Unaccompanied Children navigate the immigration system. USCRI has been serving immigrants by providing legal services since 1911. The Immigration [...]
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) Backgrounder : Yemen
The situation in Yemen (“Yemen Crisis”) is currently the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, impacting more than 24 million people, nearly half of them children. 1 Starting as a failed political transition, the armed conflict escalated in 2015 and has steadily grown worse, causing widespread displacement, spread of disease, famine, poverty, and death. 2 […]
Part 2 of USCRI’s Series: In Search of Safety
This week’s conversation about unaccompanied children is about the essential services provided by USCRI’s Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children (CRIC) following their release to parents and guardians. Vice President AnnaMarie Bena talks to Director Matt Haygood about the post-release needs of unaccompanied children on their immigration journey. In 2005, USCRI began providing services to […]
The Journey of Unaccompanied Children through the U.S. Immigration System
In March of this year, 15,918 children from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador crossed into the U.S. at our southern border—the highest number of children since we began collecting data in 2010. Although this number has dropped in recent months, the children who have made this long and dangerous crossing without their parents are of […]
Case Management for Unaccompanied Children in ORR Care
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) operates the Unaccompanied Children’s Program to serve children from non-contiguous countries who arrive without a parent and do not have legal immigration status. Since 2002, the UC Program has served more than 400,000 children. ORR serves children via a national network of shelters who provide care for children in […]
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants Backgrounder: Somalia
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) presents the following backgrounder on the humanitarian crisis in Somalia as of October 15, 2020. Information and maps are from various sources and not the original work of USCRI. Read full report: https://refugees.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Somalia-Backgrounder.pdf
Unaccompanied Children’s Arrivals are a Humanitarian Challenge – But a Solvable One
For much of 2020, U.S. authorities turned away all asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border, including both families arriving together and unaccompanied children. The prior Administration attempted to justify the restrictions by a novel invocation of Title 42 of the United States Code, which grants a weak form of quarantine power to the Centers […]
Far Too Socially Distant: Trafficking in Persons Policy Responses for Governments in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond
There are few places on earth nor facets of human life that the COVID-19 pandemic has not touched. From the empty, ghost town-like streets of Toronto’s financial district to the shuttered kibbeling stands in the Grote Markt of Amsterdam to the world’s largest airport, Beijing Daxing International, now quiet with its few masked passengers moving […]
