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Release Date: June 20, 2008
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Today we commemorate World Refugee Day, an annual event that honors the courage, strength and contributions of refugees across the globe. This year's theme is "Displacement in the 21st Century." With some 40 million persons displaced worldwide, the department remains dedicated to help to provide protection to the refugees who are most in need of it.
America has a rich history of providing refuge and safety to the world's most vulnerable people. Our great nation has welcomed more refugees and asylum seekers than any other country. Helping these brave people is a vital part of our mission. While we seek to bar terrorists and others who pose a lethal threat to our nation, we continue to act decisively to help legitimate and deserving refugees.
I want to commend all those, both at home and abroad, who work on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers for their dedicated service. Working through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, we have granted protection to more than 10,000 asylum seekers and more than 48,000 refugees from 60 countries in the past last fiscal year. Our refugee officers have traveled all over the world in order to make this happen. We have interviewed refugees in remote camps in Kenya and Nepal, and in bustling urban settings from Malaysia to Moscow.
This work includes assisting vulnerable refugees from Iraq, including those whose lives have been jeopardized by their decision to work with coalition forces. We have sent refugee officers across the Middle East, including to Iraq itself, to interview refugees and help them come to the United States to build new lives. This fiscal year we have seen these efforts result in more than 5,000 Iraqi refugee admissions to date – three times as many as last year – with many thousands more to come.
USCIS has concurrently expanded its training and anti-fraud capabilities to ensure the integrity of our refugee resettlement program while continuing to strengthen our partnerships with law enforcement and national security colleagues.
We are committed to working diligently to ensure that genuine refugees and asylum seekers receive protection and a warm welcome to our country, while continuing to protect the American people from those who seek to harm us.
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This page was last reviewed/modified on June 20, 2008.
