Here are five pieces of information that Kate Holmes of Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program shared with WTB at its meeting October 15 at Jowonio School:
1. Know the terms. Refugees are fleeing war, violence or persecution and seek to enter another country. They are carefully vetted and only one in five applicants is approved. Asylum seekers also are fleeing war, violence or persecution and come on their own to the U.S. and go immediately to authorities and request asylum. Then they wait, sometimes years, to have their case heard. Migrants move around a country seeking better economic opportunities.
2. It is not illegal to enter the U.S. and ask for asylum. This has been legal since the 1990s. The application is nine pages long and the process is long.
3. The average stay in a refugee camp is 17 years. It has always been hard to get refugee status. For every five people who seek to be classified as a refugee, one is admitted into a refugee program.
4. Persons concerned about being stopped by ICE or Border Patrol need to have a plan. It’s important to know your rights, but also to have made preparations ahead of time as sometimes federal agents are ignoring people’s rights. Holmes’ tips are to memorize a phone number as your phone might be taken; make sure a significant other can trace you by phone; have a plan for your children; and carry medication that you need.
5. The number of refugees now coming to the U.S. is negligible. President Trump suspended the Refugee Act of 1980 on January 20. That meant 10 national resettlement agencies essentially stopped functioning. At the start of each fiscal year (October 1) the president sets a yearly quota for refugees to be admitted. In 2024 it was 115,000. In 2025 it is 7,500 and most are white Afrikaners who are not going through the traditional vetting process.