The Unmet Potential of Community Consultations in U.S. Refugee Resettlement
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Highlights
U.S. refugee resettlement consultations with receiving communities fall short of their potential, hampered by the narrowness of their scope and limited meaningful dialogue.
- Quarterly refugee consultations by resettlement agencies and state refugee coordinators with receiving communities focus narrowly on traditional refugees and mandated participants, excluding other humanitarian arrivals and newer actors such as private sponsors.
- Prescriptive agendas and limited time often prevent genuine two-way communication, and local feedback is seldom reflected in national resettlement and placement decisions.
- Between 2021 and mid-2023, roughly 500,000 people entered the United States through new humanitarian pathways, straining local systems not fully covered by existing consultation processes.
- Improvements could include broader data sharing across humanitarian populations, dedicating staff and funding to consultations, and creating structured communication channels with sponsors.
The U.S. humanitarian protection system is in a period of rapid change. After several years of record low refugee resettlement during the Trump administration and the COVID-19 pandemic, refugee admissions have risen sharply but been constrained to some extent by the need to rebuild resettlement infrastructure. At the same time, the Biden administration has created a range of population-specific temporary protection programs, including those for evacuees from Afghanistan following the Taliban’s seizure of power in 2021 and Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s 2022 invasion of their home country. Some programs have also involved private citizens as sponsors of refugee or parolee newcomers.
The impact of large, fluctuating arrival numbers and the rise of novel or previously underutilized pathways on U.S. communities cannot be overstated. These changes have also made coordination and communication among key national, state, and local actors more important than ever.
This report explores the United States’ formal consultation processes through which resettlement agencies and state refugee coordinators are required to brief receiving communities on anticipated refugee arrivals, gauge local capacity to receive them, and solicit input. Drawing on interviews with key stakeholders, the report finds that these consultations are coming up short due to the narrowness of their scope and a rigid structure that allows little time for two-way dialogue and relationship building.
The report explores the goals and design of the quarterly consultations, how they play out in practice, and their implications within the context of recent refugee resettlement and immigration policy changes. It concludes with promising practices and recommendations for federal partners, state and local governments, state refugee coordinators, and resettlement agencies—suggesting that if the consultations process does not adapt to changing realities, it will wane in relevance.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 U.S. Resettlement: A Patchwork of Actors and Interests
3 What Is Consultation and Why Does It Matter?
4 Goals versus Reality: The Pitfalls of Consultation in Practice
5 Principles for Effective Consultation: Promising Practices and Recommendations
6 Conclusions
About the Human Services Initiative
The Initiative produced work focusing on U.S. federal, state, and local policies on immigration issues affecting children, families, and health and human services.
About the U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides analysis of U.S. immigration pathways, the impacts of enforcement and other policies, and the characteristics of immigrant populations.
About the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
The Center is a national hub connecting policymakers, educators, community leaders, and service providers with evidence-informed policy research, technical assistance, and data to advance effective immigrant integration at U.S., state, and local levels.
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