Report offers critical recommendations for resettling refugees to safeguard human rights and U.S. national interests

Via Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program

Harvard Law School Report offers strategy for enhancing security, job creation, and equal treatment for all

Cambridge, MA (June 28, 2017) – At a time when the U.S. refugee admissions program is under serious threat and the world’s displaced population is at its highest, over 65 million, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program has released a far-reaching Report. The Report, made possible by a grant from the Howard and Abby Milstein Foundation and catalyzed by the current situation facing Syrian refugees, contains extensive recommendations regarding the United States’ historical role in protecting vulnerable refugees, safeguarding foreign policy interests, advancing American job creation, and complying with humanitarian and legal obligations.

The Report, “Fulfilling U.S. Commitment to Refugee Resettlement,” offers new and critical information to Congress and the Executive Branch. The Report

• Reviews U.S. legal and moral commitments under domestic and international law that together safeguard people fleeing persecution and fearing return to torture;
• Identifies key national security reasons for supporting and enhancing the refugee program, in keeping with the U.S. foreign policy priorities of preserving regional stability in the Middle East;
• Provides an in-depth discussion of the robust, multistep security assessment mechanisms already in place for screening refugees—who are already subject to the highest degree of security screening and background checks of any category of traveler to the U.S.—to make it more efficient and effective;
• Offers viable policy solutions to improve the integration of resettled refugees through enhanced collaboration among government agencies, private resettlement agencies, and sponsors involved in domestic resettlement; and
• Demonstrates the positive economic impact of refugee resettlement in the United States.

The Report also encourages non-governmental organizations to build on existing public-private partnerships to marshal more resources for resettlement. Drawing on the perspectives of longtime domestic refugee resettlement experts, the Report provides fresh insights into how these public-private partnerships work and the ways in which they can be strengthened.

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