Understanding the purpose and impact of the Refugee Act on its 45th anniversary
Forty-five years ago, the Refugee Act created a more just, efficient, secure, and strategic refugee admissions and resettlement process. It has since saved the lives of more than 3 million people from around the world. Helping refugees integrate into our communities has immeasurably strengthened our country’s culture and economy, as well as our standing throughout the world.
Today, as displacement soars to record levels worldwide, and is made worse by the escalating threat of climate change, the current presidential administration has attempted to unilaterally slam the “golden door” this program opened.
It is our responsibility to revive the hope that this Act created and resume our leadership as a haven of freedom and opportunity. As we celebrate its forty-fifth anniversary, here are 5 things to know about the Refugee Act of 1980.
1) The Refugee Act of 1980 officially defined who a refugee is.
For people forced to flee their homes, the definition of a “refugee” has life or death implications. Being included can mean a safe new place to live and the support needed to thrive there.
The 1980 Refugee Act aligned U.S. law with language used by the United Nations, defining a refugee as anyone who is unable or unwilling to return to their home country because of “persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution” due to race, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin.
Importantly, this has been our most inclusive definition to date, removing conditions based on people’s nationalities, the timing of their displacement, or the countries from which they were forced to seek refuge.
2) It established one uniform process for vetting, welcome, and resettlement of refugees.
The Refugee Act created the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) to rigorously vet refugees abroad using consistent criteria, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to ensure that new arrivals are provided with the services needed to become self-sufficient as quickly as possible. Funding was provided to contract with a network of vetted and monitored community-based agencies like IINE to provide welcome, housing assistance, connection to federal benefits and local services, English language training, cultural orientation, career support, and legal services.
Before these offices were established, refugee admissions and resettlement could be ad hoc and inconsistent, subject to debate during an active crisis and resulting in different arrangements for different populations. USRAP and ORR were an investment in fairness, better planning, and smoother integration.
3) It defined a partnership between the President and Congress in setting admissions numbers.
Applying checks and balances to the process, the Act empowered the President to set an annual maximum number of refugee admissions, but only after consultation with Congress. The President was given the authority to increase this number during times of emergency with the requirement that a justification for this must also be sent to Congress, which ultimately controls the budgeting process that would fund the effort.
4) It guaranteed the right to apply for asylum.
Not only did the Refugee Act standardize a process for seeking refuge from outside the U.S., it also standardized a process through which to apply for protected status from within the U.S. or at its border. Asylum-seekers would need to prove that they meet the same criteria established for refugees—persecution, or a well-founded fear of persecution, that prevents them from returning home. Those who succeed would be given the same rights and support as refugees applying from abroad.
This process has saved the lives of millions of people under threat, forced to quickly flee their homes with few resources, who could more easily reach the border than access the refugee admissions process.
5) It was truly bipartisan.
The Refugee Act of 1980 passed the Senate unanimously on a vote of 85-0. Introduced by “liberal lion,” Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, the Act had three Republican co-sponsors, and was notably helped along by staunch conservative Strom Thurmond, then the ranking Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee. The country was reckoning with the Vietnam War, its evolving role in the world, and its responsibility to those displaced. The Refugee Act was seen by both parties as creating a fairer, more orderly, and more secure process for immigration on humanitarian grounds that affirmed our commitment to the cause of freedom and improved our international standing.
Refugees and immigrants make long, difficult journeys to escape violence and rebuild their lives in the U.S. You can give them the help they need.
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