On March 16, over 100 members of Congress sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee, calling on them to fully fund refugee accounts for the 2019 fiscal year. This letter was lead by Representatives Juan Vargas, Julia Brownley, David Cicilline, John Delaney, Alcee Hastings, Ted Lieu, Bill Pascrell, Bradley Schneider, and Adam Schiff.
Dear Chair Cole and Ranking Member DeLauro, Chair Rogers and Ranking Member Lowey, and Chair Carter and Ranking Member Roybal-Allard:
As you consider funding for Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19), we write to urge you to support U.S. national security, foreign policy, economic, and humanitarian interests by maintaining robust funding for international humanitarian assistance for refugees and other populations. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is a longstanding bipartisan humanitarian program that enables the United States to provide lifesaving protection to some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Forcibly displaced people lack access to the most basic necessities of life, including food and nutrition, clean water, safe shelter, healthcare, education, livelihood, and protection from conflict, war, and violence. Beyond these grave humanitarian concerns, the presence of large populations of forcibly displaced persons is an urgent strategic and security concern for the nations and regions in which they live. U.S. funding helps to ensure that the basic human needs of persons fleeing persecution are met while they are displaced, supports permanent solutions to their displacement, and supports the countries hosting them.
Accordingly, we respectfully request that the Committee ensure we can meet the needs of these vulnerable communities by allocating $1.9 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Refugee and Entrant Assistance (REA) account, $3.604 billion for the Department of State’s Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account, $50 million for the Department of State’s Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) account, $4.4 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) International Disaster Assistance (IDA) account, and explore options for enhancing funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education:
The Refugee and Entrant Assistance (REA) account in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (LHHS) appropriations bill funds the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which helps states and local communities welcome and support refugees and other vulnerable populations on their path to self-sufficiency. In addition to refugees, ORR also serves increasing numbers of unaccompanied children, asylees, Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) recipients, Cuban and Haitian entrants, victims of human trafficking, and victims of torture.In particular, there is an increasing need for services for trafficking and torture survivors, yet funding has remained stagnant same for years. We request that Congress allocate $1.9 billion for the agency to adequately serve all of the populations within its mandate and respond to unanticipated needs.
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs:
The Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account funds the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). This account provides overseas assistance to displaced refugees, supporting refugee admissions, and funding lifesaving services in humanitarian emergencies. The crises in Syria and Iraq continue to escalate dramatically, and there are likewise serious humanitarian challenges in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Burma, and Central American countries. Therefore, we request $3.604 billion, which will be critical to ensure that PRM can continue to service currently displaced populations while responding to numerous emerging humanitarian crises.
Escalating violence and instability in many parts of the world have placed increasing demands on the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) account—an emergency draw-down account that provides an important “safety valve” during emergencies. The ERMA authorized level has not been increased since the mid-1990s. We request the Committee fund this account at $50 million in order to enhance our country’s ability to respond quickly to unanticipated crises, and expeditious, draw-down authority provided to the Secretary of State.
The International Disaster Assistance (IDA) account funds humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons. Meeting the needs of internally displaced persons is one way to prevent the need for them to flee their countries of origin and become refugees. We request that the Committee allocates $4.4 billion in order to meet the needs of growing numbers of persons worldwide who are displaced within their own countries, including those inside Syria and Iraq.
Homeland Security:
The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plays an important role in processing applications for refugees, asylees, and other humanitarian programs. Currently, USCIS is fee-funded by applicants for non-immigrant visas and other immigration applications. Thus, USCIS faces the challenge of increased backlogs and delays in the processing of refugee and asylum applications. We urge appropriators to work with USCIS and other agencies involved in the refugee screening to identify whether additional funds could enhance USCIS’s ability to ensure timely processing of refugee and asylum applications, including the carrying out of security screening
Our first priority is the safety of the American people. We remain deeply committed to safeguarding the public from terrorist attacks, just as we are committed to providing refuge to some of the world’s most vulnerable people. These goals are not mutually exclusive, and can be pursued in harmony. That’s why, even as the United States accepts more refugees we do so only after subjecting them to the most rigorous screening and security vetting of any category of traveler to the United States.
We deeply appreciate your support for these services and your consideration of these requests, as we seek to provide this critical funding to serve and protect some of the world’s most vulnerable people and maintain our legacy as a global humanitarian leader.
Sincerely,
Juan Vargas
Julia Brownley
Bradley S. Schneider
David N. Cicilline
John K. Delaney
Alcee L. Hastings
Ted W. Lieu
Bill Pascrell, Jr.
Adam B. Schiff
Sheila Jackson Lee
Barbara Lee
Ruben Gallego
Gwen Moore
Gerald E. Connolly
Filemon Vela
Anthony G. Brown
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Salud O. Carbajal
Keith Ellison
Paul D. Tonko
J. Luis Correa
Janice D. Schakowsky
Luis V. Gutiérrez
James R. Langevin
John A. Yarmuth
Mark Takano
Sander M. Levin
Val B. Demings
Mike Quigley
Frederica S. Wilson
Anna G. Eshoo
Chellie Pingree
Grace F. Napolitano
Earl Blumenauer
Joe Courtney
Sean Patrick Maloney
Lloyd Doggett
Donald S. Beyer, Jr.
Raul M. Grijalva
Alan S. Lowenthal
William R. Keating
Bobby L. Rush
Yvette D. Clarke
Adam Smith
John P. Sarbanes
Ted Deutch
Eliot L. Engel
Adriano Espaillat
Jared Polis
Debbie Dingell
John Garamendi
Judy Chu
Dwight Evans
Joaquin Castro
Ben Ray Luján
Marc A. Veasey
André Carson
Donald M. Payne, Jr.
Jimmy Gomez
Brian Higgins
Stephen F. Lynch
Al Green
James P. McGovern
Denny Heck
Robin L. Kelly
Ro Khanna
Jared Huffman
Peter Welch
Ruben J. Kihuen
Ron Kind
Beto O’Rourke
Raja Krishnamoorthi
Joseph P. Kennedy III
Robert C. “Bobby” Scott
Diana DeGette
Zoe Lofgren
Ami Bera, M.D.
Doris O. Matsui
Michael E. Capuano
Richard E. Neal
John B. Larson
Elijah E. Cummings
Steve Cohen
Gregory W. Meeks
Mark DeSaulnier
Jamie Raskin
Linda T. Sanchez
Bill Foster
Jackie Speier
Thomas R. Suozzi
Niki Tsongas
John Lewis
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Bonnie Watson Coleman
Timothy J. Walz
Joyce Beatty
Daniel W. Lipinski
Brenda L. Lawrence
Danny K. Davis
Kathleen M. Rice
Nydia M. Velázquez
Emanuel Cleaver, II
Peter A. DeFazio
Elizabeth H. Esty
Dina Titus
Albio Sires
Suzanne Bonamici
Cedric L. Richmond
Seth Moulton
Norma J. Torres
Hakeem Jeffries
Carolyn B. Maloney
Susan A. Davis
Pramila Jayapal
Alma S. Adams
A. Donald McEachin
Ann McLane Kuster
Jerry McNerney
To download a PDF version of the letter, click below.
