Housing Refugees in America

How to Help Refugees in MI

Samaritas’ New American services help refugees that have newly arrived, navigate their confusing and overwhelming first months in the United States. With the support of the U.S. Department of State’s Reception and Placement (R&P) Program, Samaritas - a partner agency of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) - provides newly arrived refugees from 15 different countries with the essential refugee services and support they need to begin to rebuild their lives and take steps toward becoming U.S. citizens. Samaritas provides each refugee and refugee family with the support to obtain self-sufficiency and become contributors to society within one year of arrival. Find more information on the screening process for refugees before entry to the US.

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Samaritas strongly believes we need to uphold America’s legacy of welcoming and helping refugees at home. For 72 years we have been serving refugee families, and we will continue to help refugees as long as there is a need. 

Refugee Resettlement is a lifeline that the US provides for the most vulnerable refugees at a time of unprecedented global crisis:

• The majority of refugees are hosted in developing countries; resettlement is a relatively modest – yet lifesaving – way for America to demonstrate its support for people fleeing persecution and the countries hosting them.
• Housing refugees in America also upholds the United States' commitment for the interpreters, translators, cultural advisors, and others who have risked their lives to support U.S. military and diplomatic missions abroad, many of whom have since been targeted for this support.
• Welcoming and hosting refugees in the U.S. sets a positive example for other countries to follow, helping to ensure pro-refugee policies in countries hosting the majority of refugees, thereby discouraging premature and unsafe return that only further cycles of violence, instability, and displacement.

Helping refugees strengthens the economy:

• While the primary purpose of housing refugees in America is humanitarian, hosting refugees in the U.S. also has positive economic effects.
• Refugee families revitalize cities and towns across America.
• Refugees contribute more in taxes over the course of their first 20 years in the US than they receive in benefits.
• Refugees are reliable and enthusiastic employees: they have a 7-15% lower turnover rate than the overall workforce in key industries.
• Refugees are also job creators, with entrepreneurship rates nearly 30% higher than among the US-born population.

Helping refugees is who we are as Americans:

• Hosting refugees in the U.S. is a bipartisan tradition: Democratic and Republican presidents have, on average, committed to welcoming 95,000 refugees annually.
• Helping refugees is our history as a country. America has always welcomed people from around the world who yearn for the chance to rebuild their lives in safety, freedom, and dignity.
• Housing refugees in America sends a powerful signal to the world about our values of tolerance and acceptance.
• In the 40 years since the Refugee Admissions Program was established, the U.S. has welcomed more than 3 million refugees and refugee families from around the world.

Refugees at Home: Refugee Resettlement Services Include

• Resettlement - Provides core services such as reception, housing placement, cultural orientation, English as a Second Language, medical case management, and school enrollment. Refugee services are provided for 90 days.
• Matching Grant - Employment services designed to help newly arrived refugees find their first job, retain it, and achieve economic self-sufficiency within 180 days. Along with housing refugees in America, the other major prong of our refugee services is focused on ensuring refugee families can provide for themselves and prosper. 

Support a Refugee Family: How to Help Refugees in America

How can you help refugees in America? Making a difference to adults and children in our refugee resettlement programs is as simple as donating. All families want to raise their children without worrying about war, religious persecution or other forms of danger. You can help support a refugee family and make that possible for these New Americans. Your gift of:

$200 Could pay for an average refugee family’s utilities for a month
$300 Could pay for an average refugee family’s non-food supplies for a month
$500 Could pay for an average refugee family’s non-food supplies AND spending money for a month
$800 Could pay for an average refugee family’s food for a month
$1,000 Could pay for an average refugee family’s rent for a month
$2,500 Could pay for all the basic needs of an average refugee family for one month

Your contribution to our refugee services can help refugee families start a new, safe life of health, happiness and prosperity. Housing refugees in America is both our duty and our joy.