The US has launched Welcome Corps (reception facility in Spanish), a new private sponsorship program to ensure the entry and settlement of refugeesThat country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DOS) reported in a statement.
This initiative “empowers ordinary Americans to play a leadership role in welcoming refugees arriving through the US Refugee Admissions Office (USRAP),” the statement said.
The DOS describes that Welcome Corps aims to be a long-lasting program with Americans privately sponsoring refugees from around the world. The formation of the Welcome Corps complies with Executive Order 14301, to “Rebuild and Improve Refugee Resettlement Programs,” signed by President Joe Biden in February 2021.
The program consists of two start-up phases. First, participating private sponsors will be matched with refugees whose cases have already been approved for resettlement under USRAP. DOS will begin facilitating matches between private sponsors and arriving refugees within the first six months of 2023.
In the second program phase, which will start in mid-2023, private sponsors will be able to identify refugees to apply to USRAP for resettlement.
In the first year of the Welcome Corps, DOS will try to mobilize 10,000 Americans to take in at least 5,000 refugees. When more than 10,000 Americans join as sponsors in 2023, they can also match with refugees.
DOS funds a consortium of non-profit organizations with refugee expertise to support the Welcome Corps. This consortium will manage the infrastructure of the program. The statement closes with a clarification Community organizations and institutions can also apply to participate in the program as private sponsoring organizations.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described On twitter to Welcome Corps as “the boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in four decades.” Blinken said that through this initiative, “Americans will be able to directly support refugees and show the best of their hospitality and generosity.”
sponsors must raise at least $2,275 per refugee to “provide initial support in the first three months in the country”. However, they will not be required to provide ongoing financial support to the refugees they choose to help. “The goal is for them to become self-sufficient as quickly as possible,” said Blinken.
So far it has not been clarified whether Cubans could benefit from Welcome Corps. In October, three Cuban-American congressmen from Florida They asked the state secretaries for state security and national security, Anthony Blinken and Alejandro Mayorkas, for answers on the situation Refugee Admission Program of the US Embassy in Havanafrozen for four years.
Clarification for Cubans about the new humanitarian parole
Finally, it goes beyond the fact that the Cubans benefiting from the new humanitarian probation program You should not get a return ticket for embarkation from the island to the United States.
A report by AméricaTeVé clarifies the doubts of many migrants through the experiences of those already living in the United States. That was suggested by Cuban Indira Solís, who was godmother to her adult son he didn’t need to buy a return ticket to the island.
“My son on an American Airlines plane ready to take off. (You don’t need to buy a round-trip ticket). disposable. Required documents: updated passport and travel authorization to the USA”Solís explained in a Facebook post.
The young man traveled from Santa Clara to Miami for this It is also not necessary to leave Cuba via Havana. For months, flights from various Cuban provinces to the United States have resumed.
The questioning of many Cubans about the ticket is related to the fact that for a trip to Nicaragua, for example Passengers must present a return ticket from Managua to Havana.
Cuba is experiencing the biggest migration crisis in its history. Between January 1 and November 30, 2022, 277,594 Cubans arrived in the United States, a daily average of 760. Last October, 29,872 Cubans entered the United States irregularly, an average of 963 per day. In November, 35,849 migrants arrived in the US from the island, an average of nearly 1,200 per day.