Biden administration unveils new program for citizens to sponsor refugees
The Biden administration unveiled a new program on Thursday that will allow American citizens to sponsor refugees, CNN reports. The new program, named the "Welcome Corps," was called "the boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in four decades," by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The program has groups of five people apply to sponsor refugees with the help of various nonprofit groups. The groups do not provide ongoing financial help, but they must raise a minimum of $2,275 per refugee to "provide the initial support for the refugees during their first three months in the country," per a State Department official. Sponsors will face a screening process where they will have to provide a plan for receiving and supporting the refugees.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Welcome Corps hopes to mobilize 10,000 sponsors and help 5,000 refugees in its first year. "We hope it will become as widely known and engage as many Americans as the Peace Corps," continued Valls Noyes. "It's not about money. It's about commitment. It's about the community. It's about bringing people together and forming a group so that the refugees have more than one person that they can refer to and can work with."
-
The Olympic timekeepers keeping the Games on trackUnder the Radar Swiss watchmaking giant Omega has been at the finish line of every Olympic Games for nearly 100 years
-
Will increasing tensions with Iran boil over into war?Today’s Big Question President Donald Trump has recently been threatening the country
-
Corruption: The spy sheikh and the presidentFeature Trump is at the center of another scandal
-
‘The forces he united still shape the Democratic Party’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Judge orders Washington slavery exhibit restoredSpeed Read The Trump administration took down displays about slavery at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia
-
Hyatt chair joins growing list of Epstein files losersSpeed Read Thomas Pritzker stepped down as executive chair of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation over his ties with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
-
ICE eyes new targets post-Minnesota retreatIn the Spotlight Several cities are reportedly on ICE’s list for immigration crackdowns
-
‘Those rights don’t exist to protect criminals’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Judge blocks Hegseth from punishing Kelly over videoSpeed Read Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed for the senator to be demoted over a video in which he reminds military officials they should refuse illegal orders
-
Trump’s EPA kills legal basis for federal climate policySpeed Read The government’s authority to regulate several planet-warming pollutants has been repealed
-
House votes to end Trump’s Canada tariffsSpeed Read Six Republicans joined with Democrats to repeal the president’s tariffs
