The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with locations in the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Kenya, and a national network of nearly 200 partner agencies that provide support for those experiencing forced and voluntary displacement.
This line of thinking led to the foundation of the International Institute Movement in 1910 under the sponsorship of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).
In the following year, FLIS began publishing Interpreter Releases, a weekly newsletter containing news and analysis of immigration legislation, regulations, legal opinions, cases, and agency memoranda.
FLIS also published The Bulletin, which spread information about the naturalization process, immigration law, income tax regulations, employment opportunities, education, health and child welfare.
Countries were graded on: 1) Refoulement/Physical Protection; 2) Freedom of Movement and Residence; 3) Detention/Access to Courts; 4) Right to Earn a Livelihood; and 5) Public Relief and Education.
USCRI has acted under this name since 2004 and has continued to expand its programing, opening offices throughout the United States, as well as El Salvador, Honduras, México, and Kenya.
USCRI works in all 50 U.S. states, México, El Salvador, Honduras, and Kenya to provide support for those experiencing forced and voluntary displacement, including unaccompanied children and adult and minor survivors of trafficking.
USCRI provides resettlement services in Albany, New York, Cleveland, Ohio, Colchester, Vermont, Des Moines, Iowa, Dearborn, Michigan, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Raleigh, North Carolina.
[8] USCRI is one of non-profit organizations working with the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration to provide reception upon arrival.
This includes support acquiring housing, food, and clothing, community orientations, English lessons, employment counseling and job placement, enrollment in various benefits program, and referrals to social service providers.
USCRI provides shelter, legal, mental health services, and case management to recently arrived Unaccompanied Children.
This includes assisting with school enrollment and connecting families and sponsors with legal, medical, mental health services and other community resources.
In January 2019 USCRI opened its residential care facility, Rinconcito del Sol, “a little corner of sunshine,” to provide a safe temporary home for girls, the majority of whom have crossed the border from countries in the Northern Triangle in Central America.
At the shelter, the girls attend school, receive medical and mental health care, and participate in therapeutic activities, such as gardening, swimming, art, music lessons, and equine and canine therapy.
Due to experiences in their home country, on their journey, and after arriving in the U.S., refugees are at increased risk of certain medical and mental health conditions.
Prior to arriving in the U.S., they may have experienced nutritional deprivation, water contamination, inadequate living conditions, a lack of access to basic medical and dental care, as well as trauma, loss, and persecution.
USCRI’s Tijuana office also provides “Know Your Rights” presentations and legal assistance for those seeking safety in the United States and Mexico.
In just a few months, Keep Girls Dreaming raised enough funds to purchase, deliver, and distribute over half a million sanitary pads to Dadaab, Kakuma, and Kalobeyei.
[18] Legal assistance includes asylum petitions, family reunification claims, and classes and processing support for naturalization and citizenship requests.
The team conducts research, writes in-depth, topic-specific issue papers, drafts comments on government regulations, conducts briefings, communicates with the U.S. Government and international organizations, analyzes legal decisions and international instruments, and serves as experts on refugee and immigration issues, concepts, and trends.
As determined by the committee, the 'Ten Worst Places' were: Bangladesh, China, Europe, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, Russia, Sudan, and Thailand.