Tell your representatives to reclaim their role in refugee admissions and enshrine America’s commitment to refugees in law.
You can do what the federal government won’t: fund resettlement. Help a local office to keep their doors open and their lights on.
FEBRUARY 10, 2025 Feeling overwhelmed? Us too. Here's how to catalyze that feeling of overwhelm into advocacy that will shape the future of resettlement--in the Trump era and beyond. In Sacramento, home to one-third of California's refugees , families who...
California needs a refugee program it can rely on.
Today, California’s refugee program is at the mercy of presidential preference: the president decides how many refugees California can welcome–or if it can welcome refugees at all. As a result, California’s refugee program has ricocheted between booms and busts over the past decade–resettling between 403 and 3,776 refugees a year. No business can operate with this much uncertainty; neither can California’s refugee program.
California’s refugee needs a bottom line.
California’s refugee program relies on resettlement offices and community sponsorship groups to welcome refugees. In January of 2025, California hosted 28 refugee resettlement offices. Only 24 of those offices remain able to resettle refugees. Declines in arrivals and federal funding have forced The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Episcopal Migration Ministries to withdraw from the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Together, these two resettlement agencies oversee 78 of the U.S.’s 360 resettlement offices. Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Services (Los Angeles), Catholic Charities (San Diego), Catholic Charities (Los Angeles), and Sacramento Family Services are four of those offices. Community sponsorship has been discontinued in California. Help keep the doors open and the lights on in California’s refugee program by donating to your local resettlement agency.
California needs a refugee admissions floor.
America’s Refugee Program is a national commitment, pledging freedom to the world’s persecuted, safety to our military allies, and prosperity to our children. Only the federal government can admit refugees and enshrine these American promises into law. California needs Congress to commit to welcoming a minimum number of refugees each year and build a refugee program that Californians–and refugees–can rely on.
Contact your representatives today.