Alliance News
Updates, Events, and Refugee News
Updates on the Refugee Ban
In mid-July, the revised travel ban began to take effect, after some clarifications were made to the original travel ban. The Supreme Court's ruled that foreign nationals must make a "credible claim of bona fide relationship" with either an entity (like a school or a job) or a person living in the US (such as a spouse).If a person cannot sufficiently establish such a close relationship, they are banned for 90 days if they are from Libya, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan, and 120 days if they are a refugee from any country. The new guidelines require that applicants prove a relationship with a parent, spouse, fiancee, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling in the US in order to enter the country. Other family members such as grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and any other "extended" family members will not be considered "close family" under this executive order.
The State Department criteria applies not only to visa applicants, but also to all refugees currently awaiting approval for admission to the US. A refugee resettlement organization's relationship to a prospective refugee will not be considered sufficiently close or bona fide for protection under the administration's interpretation of the revised executive order.
These bans on refugees entering the U.S. has continued to have a financial impact on Alliance as less refugees equates to less funding. Although we will continue to see a lower number of new refugee clients at our agency, we are still committed to serving those refugees already here in the U.S. We have made a promise to assist those underserved refugee and immigrant communities and will work hard to fulfill our promises.
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