As Biden welcomes Ukrainian refugees, US rights group highlights broken system

This week, Joe Biden's administration announced that the United States would welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

"While we expect many Ukrainians will choose to remain in Europe close to family and their homes in Ukraine, today, the United States is announcing plans to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing Russia’s aggression through the full range of legal pathways, including the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program," said the White House in a written statement.

The International Refugee Assistance Project is using this occasion to highlight the need to protect vulnerable people who are displaced by crises around the world, while also pointing to the America's broken refugee infrastructure that will need rebuilding if the US is to fulfil its promises of resettling refugees.

"There's a need to protect refugees across the board, regardless of nationality," Sunil Varghese, policy director at IRAP, told The New Arab.

"People fleeing the war in Ukraine are getting a lot of attention, but there are a lot of people getting persecuted around the world who aren’t getting the same attention. I hope the entire program will be rebuilt to help all."

While he emphasised that the administration’s announcement is welcome news, he also sees a need for investment in America’s refugee system in order to fulfil its promise of welcoming 100,000 Ukrainians.

According to statistics from the Migration Policy Institute, while the refugee ceiling increased sharply after 2020, the admittance rate actually declined slightly.

"There are Ukrainian families that are separated and are hoping to go back to Ukraine, or get resettled into the US," he said.

"In order for that to happen, the US has to invest in the refugee programme. When this happens, the refugee programme will be ready to respond."