(The national perspective is excerpted from Out of Many, One - A History of the Immigration and Refugee Services of America * Network, 1998, IRSA, by Margi Dunlap and Nicholas Montalto)
The horrors of the Second World War in Europe, Africa, and Asia had shaped the lives of Americans. When the war ended, a new cycle in the life of the USCRI network would begin.
In 1946, President Truman proposed that some 40,000 immigrant quota slots in Europe, half of the total, be set aside for displaced people who were victims of war. He asked for the help of voluntary agencies in the US to provide sponsorship for "suffering and homeless refugees of all faiths."
Six months into the effort, it became clear that the scope of the suffering was too great for this limited response. The US resettlement program would have to go beyond the existing limited quota system to respond effectively to the needs of these refugees.
When the Displaced Person Act of 1948 passed, it changed the role of USCRI network agencies forever. The government differentiated between immigration policy and refugee policy and recruited the assistance of community organizations in a resettlement partnership that lasts to this day.
Between 1948 and the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980, more than 2.2 million refugees and displaced people were admitted to the United States under 19 different versions of legislative authority. USCRI assisted in these efforts across the country. In communities of every size and composition, newcomers were welcomed, assisted with housing and jobs, and taught the basic skills that would make it possible for them to move toward citizenship.
The passage of the Refugee Act of 1980 ushered in a new era in protections for people pushed across international borders because of war.
The resettlement in the United States of Southeast Asians, Africans, Cubans, Eastern Europeans, Gulf War Iraqis, and refugees from the break-up of the Soviet Union would save lives and families in the decades that followed.
Today, while the refugee groups admitted to the United States reflect new populations of concern, the USCRI network continues to fulfill a vision to help refugees and other immigrants become new Americans.
* IRSA changes its name to US Committee for Refugees & Immigrants (USCRI) in 2004
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