Reason Immigration writer Fiona Harrigan has written a valuable new article examining the growth of private sponsorship of migrants over the past two years:
The two African refugees arrived in Oneonta, New York, a picturesque college town of just over 12,000 people, in the summer of 2023. By then a group of volunteers had been preparing for them for “six, seven, eight years.”
Mark Wolff, communications chair of the Otsego Refugee Resettlement Coalition (ORRC), says his group had to put hopes of helping refugees on hold during the Trump administration, which reduced the refugee cap to its lowest level ever. Even after Joe Biden took office, with the promise of a more humane immigration policy on the horizon, things did not go well for their plan…
The ORRC had already begun raising funds and identifying community partners. She had done her homework and had momentum. So when the Biden administration announced the Welcome Corps – an initiative that would allow private citizens to take the lead in sponsoring and supporting refugees, instead of the long-standing government-led approach – the coalition knew of having found a way to welcome new arrivals. “We were among the first [private sponsor groups] to the United States for approval,” Wolff says…
The Welcome Corps is one of several private sponsorship programs launched in the past three years. From the Sponsor Circle program for Afghans to Uniting for Ukraine to the program specifically for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV), Americans moved by scenes of suffering around the world can put these feelings into action.
Wolff’s sentiment speaks to the promise of these young private sponsorship programs: engaging more Americans directly in the welcome process, bringing newcomers to the point of self-sufficiency more quickly, and improving outcomes for both immigrants and communities native. At a time when Americans are increasingly concerned about immigration in the country, these community-led approaches could be critical to rebuilding trust in both immigrants and immigration.
As Harrigan details, new private sponsorship programs, starting with Uniting for Ukraine (of which I am a sponsor myself), have allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing oppression and war to enter the United States much faster than traditional government-led refugees. system, and with a low cost to the public treasury. By offering migrants an alternative legal route to enter the United States, they have also reduced congestion and disorder at the southern border. Overall, these programs represent the largest and most successful innovation in the Biden administration’s immigration policy.
But, as Fiona also notes, the programs have important limitations. All were established through the exercise of executive discretion, meaning the next president could potentially revoke them at any time. This is a very likely scenario if the next president turns out to be Donald Trump. Ideally, Congress should enact legislation preventing the executive branch from taking such action.
Furthermore, participants in most of these programs are granted only temporary residence and work permits (two years in the case of CNVH and Uniting for Ukraine, although participants in the latter can now apply for two-year extensions, as well as Afghan parolees). For the reasons Fiona described, it would be best if these rights were permanent.
Congress should pass adjustment acts to allow Afghans, Ukrainians, and CHNV parolees to remain permanently. See my discussion of the relevant issues here and here. Congress has already enacted similar legislation for other parolees fleeing war and oppression, including Hungarians, Cubans, and Vietnamese fleeing communism, just as CHNV refugees are currently doing.
The only private sponsorship program that grants permanent residency rights is Welcome Corps. But participants must meet the absurdly narrow legal definition of “refugee” to be admitted. Congress could potentially fix this problem by broadening the definition.
Unfortunately, given the current political environment, it is unlikely that Congress will be able to successfully address any of these issues in the foreseeable future. The long-term fate of new private sponsorship programs may depend on the outcome of the 2024 elections.