U.S. refugee law is hopelessly outdated. With Ukrainian refugees on their way, time to fix it: Eskinder Negash
Published: Apr. 06, 2022, 5:26 a.m.
By Guest Columnist, cleveland.com
ARLINGTON, Virginia -- In the last month and a half, the world has seen distressing images of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We have watched orphans packed in buses heading to Poland and other neighboring countries; children, pregnant women, and elders saying goodbye to their loved ones who stay behind to fight. Less than eight months ago, we were equally shaken as we watched Afghan mothers handing infants over barbed-wire fences to get them to safety as Kabul fell to the Taliban.
The harsh reality faced by refugees has become part of our daily conversations as we watch, in real time, the suffering and catastrophic implications of conflicts.
Forty-two years ago, on March 17, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the Refugee Act in the wake of the Vietnam war and its wave of refugees. The Refugee Act established a procedure within which the United States must admit and welcome refugees – what we know today as the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) through the U.S. Department of State. It also created a complementary Office of Refugee Resettlement within the U.S. Department of Health of Human Services.
https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2022/04/us-refugee-law-is-hopelessly-outdated-with-ukrainian-refugees-on-their-way-time-to-fix-it-eskinder-negash.html
