What's involved in resettling refugees? Catholic leaders share the church's work

WASHINGTON (OSV NEWS) -- Weeks before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sued the Trump administration Feb. 18 over the sudden suspension of funding for refugee resettlement assistance in order to continue assisting refugees already resettled in the U.S., members of USCCB's Migration and Refugee Services and a local Catholic Charities described the importance and logistics of their work.

The conversation -- at a workshop titled "45 Years of Leadership in the United States: What Lies Ahead for Refugee Resettlement?" -- took place during the Jan. 25-28 CatholicSocial Ministry Gathering, an assembly of those dedicated to carrying out the social ministry and teaching of the church. It centered on the ways the church supports refugees as they arrive in the United States, the programs in place to help resettle refugees, and the long history between the church and the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program established by Congress in 1980.

During the workshop, Sarah Evans, assistant director for Reception and Placement in the office of Migration and Refugee Services at USCCB, explained that refugees receive cultural orientation about life in the country before arriving, including information on laws and systems like housing and banking. This orientation continues with resettlement agencies once they arrive in the U.S., after being carefully vetted and approved.

She also noted that refugees receive various services, and their cases are managed for the first 90 days of arrival through the Reception and Placement Program, with the Department of State and the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, or PRM, giving resettlement agencies an on-time payment per refugee to help defray the expenses during those first three months in the U.S.

"It's a really short-term case management program," Evans said. "It's really focused on the basics, so safe and secure housing for families, connecting families to existing programs in their community, getting adults into employment programs" and enrolling kids in school.

Subsequently, Evans explained, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, would focus on providing long-term integration services.

Evans said that being one of 10 national resettlement agencies, USCCB has "the largest and most diverse affiliate network, which I think really speaks to the reach of the Catholic Church."

These agencies would administer PRM and ORR funded services, Evans explained. "We work as pass-through entities, for the most part, to other social service agencies who are out in the community. So, at USCCB, we work with mostly Catholic social service agencies," such as Catholic Charities, she added.

According to Evans, the states that took in the most refugees in fiscal year 2024 were, in order, Texas, California, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania. These refugees came from Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Syria and Burma.

Evans said that three "guiding lights" for the resettlement program are "early employment, economic self-sufficiency and integration into the local community."

She spoke about the different programs to assist refugees, including Welcome Corps, where groups of five volunteers from a local community come together to support a refugee family in finding accommodation, connecting them with community programs, enrolling children in school, and coordinating medical check-ups among other things.

During her intervention, panelist Jessica Estrada, director of Newcomer Services at Catholic Charities at the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, explained the support that her team provides to newly arrived refugees and the four programs and ministries they run to serve this population in education, employment, and health, among other services such as mentoring for young people and support to prevent the isolation of older adults.

"We have some very specialized programs (that) are called Preferred Community Programs. These are programs that are really designed for special populations," Estrada said.

"Perhaps a single mother with young children or a family with a particular medical condition that needs much more attention and intensive case management," she said, giving an example.

Evans also said that "Catholic organizations are really uniquely positioned to provide holistic wraparound services" to refugees.

"And these agencies already have really ... strong ties in their local community, with hospitals, with clinics. And those relationships have really enabled the Catholic network to take some of the most -- I would say many of the most -- vulnerable refugee cases," she said.

Estrada also talked about the impact of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump Jan. 20 halting refugee resettlement for evaluation of whether accepting refugees into the U.S. "is in the national interest."

Estrada said that among those refugees whose tickets to resettle in the United States went unused after the Trump administration halted the refugee admissions program were children trying to reunite with their families.

"We had an 8-year-old girl from El Salvador who was due to join her mom. That flight was canceled, so please pray for her," she said. She also mentioned a 10-month-old that was due to arrive, as well as a "9-year-old who was coming to us with a medical escort" to meet family members.

Lisa Lungren, assistant director for Community Sponsorship and Engagement in the department of USCCB's Migration and Refugee Services, explained the importance of giving opportunities for community members and newcomers "to meet each other, to come together, to form relationships, to get to know each other."

Lungren talked about the Community Sponsorship and Engagement team, as well.

"Our goal is to mobilize community members like you and me," she said.

In this sense, she explained the initiative called POWIR, or Parishes Organized to Welcome Immigrants and Refugees, a grant that USCCB gives every year to Catholic charitable agencies that are part of its network and "submit a very strong proposal about how they're going to strengthen their ability to involve community members."

Lungren also pointed out that misinformation makes it difficult to accept newcomers. She emphasized that people are more open to learning, if they hear it from someone they trust, which makes a sustained encounter crucial. What is most important, she added, is "to witness each other's humanity."