MADISON, Wisconsin — In a volatile world rife with conflict and social and economic change, citizens of one country often become refugees and later immigrants of another. One organization, however, seeks to create an easier transition process for such refugees and immigrants.
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, or USCRI, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting displaced people “regardless of their nationality, race, ideology or social group.”
The organization attempts to provide refugees and immigrants with the tools and opportunities to survive and to create new opportunities. USCRI also fights global refugee warehousing and strives to protect human trafficking victims and the rights of unaccompanied immigrant children.
Through partnerships with various civil society groups throughout the world, USCRI aims to defend the rights of displaced people. It seeks to “advocate, protect and provide direct services to persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide.”
Active for over 100 years, USCRI has managed to create a notable effect upon U.S. history. The organization published the first book on U.S. citizenship and has helped refugees from countries worldwide seek citizenship and create American livelihoods.
With offices in countries throughout the world, USCRI has, in recent years, become an active participant in the ongoing immigration challenges facing the U.S.
As the country continues to face the challenges of housing and providing for refugees, especially unaccompanied children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, entering the country illegally, USCRI has managed to help place minors in new American homes. In North Carolina, the organization helped to place 64 children in new homes last year. This year, it has assisted at least 130 more.
Earlier this month, shelters that helped to house thousands of minors at military bases in California, Oklahoma and Texas announced that they would close within the coming weeks.
Eric Tijerina, associate director of the immigrant children’s legal program with USCRI, recently described the importance of such shelters for the unaccompanied minors.
“If you can get as many kids into the traditional shelters, the better,” he said in an LA Times article. “It’s a much more pleasant environment for a child.”
Pleasant is likely an important attribute. USCRI acknowledged that more than 90 percent of the girls they work to try to relocate in new forms have suffered some form of sexual abuse or rape.
Many if not all of the immigrants entering the U.S. from Central American countries have done so in an effort to flee rampant corruption, poverty and violence in their respective nations.
The U.S. has a long history of assisting refugees and immigrants with permanent residency, a history that stretches since the beginning of the 20 century.
Nevertheless, as the country continues to debate whether to provide illegal immigrants escaping impoverished conditions in their home countries with new homes and residencies in the U.S., USCRI will most likely play an active role in the immigration process.
– Ethan Safran