Woes and Challenges of the U.S. Resettlement Program
Dismantlement, Operation Allies Welcome and United for Ukraine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57947/qrp.v64i1.207Keywords:
resettlement, Operation Allies Welcome, United for Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ukraine, U.S.A.Abstract
The United States has welcomed 117,000 Afghans and approximately 270,000 Ukrainians since the early 2020s. Comparing the Afghans’ resettlement program Operation Allies Welcome, and the program in support of Ukrainians’ settlement United for Ukraine, the author focuses on the recent history of refugee resettlement policy in the U.S. During the Trump administration (2016-2020) the federal resettlement program was largely dismantled. The Biden administration (2021-2025) infused the program with cash and increased the refugee ceiling from initially 15,000 to 125,000 annually but also emphasized a strong preference for private sponsorship programs. In this time period, immigrants became a signifier for what is wrong with the country and especially with the U.S. federal government. Applying Arlie Hochschild’s framework to the broader public deciphers the deeper meaning behind the rising wave of xenophobia in the country. The swelling anti-immigrant sentiments, in connection with an increasing NGO-ization and dramatic privatization of refugee resettlement, has led to a racialized preference embedded in the U.S. immigration system that favored Ukrainians over Afghans. This article’s methodology is based on a critical analysis comparing the Biden and Trump administrations’ refugee and asylum policies. The article itself stresses the existing racial hierarchies as evidenced in U.S. refugee resettlement policies and concludes with a number of recommendations for reforms.
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