Relates to a refugee resettlement program

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Democratic15
• Republican1

This bill has cosponsors from more than one party.

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Andrew Gounardes says this is needed

According to the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, nearly 108.4 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes by the end of 2022 due to conflict, violence, human rights violations, persecution, disasters, and climate change. The majority of this population, some 62.5 million people, were internally displaced. Five point four million of the remaining population became asylees, relocating to another country to seek asylum within its borders. The remainder, approximately 35.3 million people, became global refugees, relocating to another country to then apply for protected entry into a third country with refugee status. Some 52% of all refugees hail from three countries, Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, and up to 76% of refugees are hosted by low-income countries while they apply for official entry into more developed ones like the United States. Two- thirds of refugees live in poverty, and refugee displacement lasts an average of 20 years. The United States' official channel for accepting refugees is its United States. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), a vast multiagency effort that involves pre-clearances and screenings, placement allocations in specific cities for 30 - 90 days, and then more permanent relocation elsewhere. It is a dizzying process that involves multiple security checkpoints, an alphabet soup of state and federal agencies, and at least two complete relocations - yet an opportunity millions wait a lifetime to seize, if it means that they may have a chance at a more peaceful and prosperous life. USRAP is made possible by its partnerships with resettlement agencies in states like New York, which assists refu- gees through the Bureau of Refugee Services (BRS) housed within the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). Yet despite BRS's enormous success helping orient hundreds of thousands of new New York families, this program is under the threat of presidential adminis- trations which can untie our state's commitment to USRAP with the stroke of a pen. This, is precisely what happened in 2019, when then-President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 13888 which required states and localities to provide affirmative written consent that they would continue to accept refugees through USRAP while setting a record-low cap on refugee admissions of 15,000. This had a dramatic effect on refugee intake levels for years afterward: in fiscal year 2016, the US accepted about 85,000 refugees. By fiscal year 2021, this number had shrunk to 6,300. EO 13888 remained in place until it was overruled by the US District Court of Maryland in January 2020 (Hias, Inc. v. Donald Trump, 2020) and then officially revoked by President Biden's EO 14013 of 2021, which declared that "(d)elays in administering USRAP and other humanitarian programs are counter to our national interests, can raise grave humani- tarian concerns, and should be minimized." During his second presiden- tial term, Trump then issued another EO, EO 14163 of 20251, suspending USRAP pending the outcome of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report on whether or not refugee admissions "would be in the interests of the United States," while also freezing funding for the processing of applications and setting a record low national cap on refugee admis- sions. (2)(3) In the wake of EO 13888 of 2019, EO 14163 of 2025, and other related actions, several states have taken the step of enshrining their commit- ment to USRAP by codifying their refugee resettlement programs into state law. This bill aims to do the same for New York, codifying many of the existing functions performed by OTDA's BRS and partner agencies, which help displaced individuals achieve economic and social self-suffi- ciency, assist victims of human trafficking, and assure proper foster care for unaccompanied refugee and entrant minors. BRS programs, which run the gamut from mentoring and educational services to employment training to Englis

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.