Program areas at IRAP
Legal servicesirap serves individuals fleeing forced displacement across the globe. This year, Irap worked with clients from 50 countries of origin, with the majority coming from afghanistan (26%), syria (21%), iraq (13%), and eritrea (8%). By risk factor, about 22% of Irap clients were u.s.-affiliated afghans and iraqis, 23% were at-risk children or unaccompanied minors, 13% were survivors of torture, 15% were medically vulnerable, 6% were religious minorities, and 5% identified as lgbtqia+.legal informationthis year, 157,731 people accessed our legal information website providing extensive information on global resettlement pathways for migrants of all nationalities at an accessible reading level, in five languages. In addition to extensive legal information for afghans, this year we added dedicated legal resources for people fleeing the war in ukraine, and we created several new guides related to global family reunification pathways. Users were located in over 200 countries, with 31% in the united states, 13% in afghanistan, 8% in lebanon, 7% in jordan, 4% in turkey, and 3% in pakistan. The two most-viewed pages on the site this past year were: "how can refugees or asylees in the us reunite with family members? And "how do i apply for humanitarian parole in the united states? "family reunificationeurope: this year, the europe team has been coordinating with government officials in france, germany, and sweden on how to address the many pending family reunification applications for Irap clients in sudan, where all relevant embassies have closed. Many of our clients have relocated to neighboring countries, and the team is working to ensure their cases are efficiently transferred. Other clients remain in sudan, and we continue to advocate for processing of their cases.united states: as a result of the leadership that Irap is taking on the central american minors (cam) program, we identified a need for clarity on what individuals must demonstrate to be i-131 sponsors for the cam program. We filed a foia case on april 7, 2023, to compel the government to release this critical information, and the case further challenged uscis's apparent policy to slow roll responses to even simple foia requests from advocacy organizations like Irap. Irap also led a day of action on the second anniversary of the re-opening of the central american minors (cam) program. Working with the communications team, policy leveraged our cam policy coalition to engage partners on social media to call for improvements to the program. Resettlement in the usirap advocates to ensure that the united states continues to provide safe haven for forced migrants through humane, welcoming policies. This year, through our partnership with the Refugee advocacy lab, Irap policy supported a total of five state bills relating to access to in-state tuition and professional licensure for immigrants and refugees, including the passage of Utah h.b.102 which granted in-state tuition access to refugees, sivs, asylum seekers, humanitarian parolees, and tps holders - the most expansive in-state tuition bill to date. Also, policy worked closely with congressional champions to ensure the viability of the afghan siv program through the appropriations process. The state & foreign operations appropriations bill passed out of committee with a provision for 20,000 additional afghan sivs and a 5-year program extension, through 2029. When eventually passed by the full senate and house, this will represent by far the single largest visa authorization in the history of the program.following extensive advocacy by Irap, the biden administration took important next steps toward creating an expanded channel for ngos to augment the unhcr referral system and refer cases directly to the u.s. resettlement program. Irap has been working over the past year on developing direct ngo referrals as a case type and on building the erac consortium (equitable resettlement access consortium) with prm and with our fellow consortium members hias and refugepoint. This change will help bring the u.s. government closer to its Refugee admissions goal and provide more equitable access to u.s. resettlement, especially for populations of particular concern.legal practitioner trainingthis year, we implemented a new platform (documentcloud) for sharing government documents obtained through freedom of information act (foia) and Irap litigation discovery. The new technology lets Irap more easily publish blogs and analysis of key foia productions, as we have for thousands of pages of newly released documents related to pathways to the u.s. for afghans and key documents showing the defense department, which was meant to help afghan siv applicants, did the exact opposite. Equitable access to safetyirap co-chairs the one Refugee approach working group in jordan to address the inequity between two legal systems for forced migrants: one for syrians and one for people of other nationalities. This double standard leaves tens of thousands of people who have fled to jordan from countries like somalia, sri lanka, sudan, and yemen unable to access humanitarian resources and without equitable protection from threats including human trafficking, detention, and deportation. This year we advocated for a legal framework inclusive of all Refugee groups in jordan. Irap's jordan staff worked in partnership with embassies in amman to form a diplomatic working group to address the unmet social, protection, and healthcare needs of displaced lgbtqia+ populations facing worsening discrimination. This year, we developed briefing materials on the needs of minority refugees in jordan that were used in shadow meetings with european union delegates leading up to the annual brussels conference, where the eu countries make financial pledges to address the needs of refugees in jordan. We began adapting these materials as we head into the period of preparing for the global Refugee forum.equal access to asylum in the usin fy23, the us legal service team responded to more changes at the us-mexico border that had dramatic effects on our clients' lives and on the services that they need. We collaborated with our colleagues in impact departments to provide detailed comments opposing the new asylum ban. Our legal team was able to provide critical insights about shortcomings in the operation of the cbp one app. These details really brought life to Irap's comments and also provided critical qualitative data for future challenges to the rule. We also pulled together a massive and quick legal information response to the change of the rule. We published extensive legal information on our website in english, spanish, and haitian creole to allow people in mexico and seeking to enter the united states to make informed decisions for themselves and their families.we've also been watching other big developments in the americas, which are really examples of further externalization of the border deeper into the americas. This has included building relationships with partners on the ground in guatemala and colombia, two locations where the u.s. government has opened or is in the process of opening safe mobility offices.legal information directly to clientsthe digital resources, products, and engagement department (drpe) was established in april of 2023 to provide actionable, accessible, and useful legal information directly to displaced people. Drpe is a cross-functional department that focuses on understanding the informational needs of our audience through user research; creating multi-channel content that can be shared both through our own outlets and through our partners; managing partnerships with other organizations that can help further disseminate critical legal information; and implementing organizational norms and systems that will enable this work to be sustained in the long term.protecting people displaced by climate changeirap is working with partners to accelerate the development of legal protections in the americas for people displaced by environmental or climate devastation, which could serve as prototypes for other regions. This year, we initially launched a pilot Project where every Irap office asked four climate-related questions in our intake process. Our key findings, 6-months in, show that all of our climate affected clients are served by our us legal team, and may experience disasters anywhere along their journey, and we have developed a climate intake questionnaire that is now being used by a "test group" of nonprofits in the americas. We also released a synthesis report that spotlights the forward-looking ideas co-developed by activists, state partners, and advocates from across the americas to create a legal framework that will ensure that all people have the freedom to stay and the freedom to move.
Policyin fy23, Irap continued to advocate for humane, transparent, and welcoming policies. Recent campaigns have yielded important gains for displaced persons:policy has been deeply engaged in advocating and sending recommendations to the biden administration on the expansion of Refugee and legal pathways from the western hemisphere and what those new programs should look like. In a significant win, the biden administration established a parole program for beneficiaries of approved family reunification petitions for nationals from colombia, el salvador, guatemala, and honduras. Irap had advocated for this for several months and we look forward to seeing this policy implemented. In late may 2023, Irap policy, in partnership with the Refugee advocacy lab, released a mental health policy guide. The guide was accompanied by a webinar with 133 live attendees and 232 registrants total. Most u.s. state legislative sessions have wrapped up. Key takeaways from 2023 include: the highest number of pro-refugee measures were introduced this year with 187 pro-refugee bills in 35 states and puerto rico. Just under 40 of these measures were passed into law. Unfortunately, anti-refugee measures have doubled since last year with 21 anti-refugee bills introduced in 9 states.we also participated in several trainings for Refugee leaders and ngo partners on the federal appropriations process and how to advocate for refugees overseas and resettlement funding in this process.
Litigationin fy23, our litigation team achieved significant milestones in cases that protect and expand the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers in the united states.we targeted systemic delays in the Refugee family reunification by filing multiple individual lawsuits that will build pressure points for the government to take on systemic reform. In the past 6 months, we have filed three cases challenging delays in family reunification and placed nine cases with pro bono law firms working under our mentorship. We are using these cases to improve our understanding of the obstacles to Refugee family reunification and to develop client spokespeople on these issues. We filed a case on february 14, 2023 to ask for a freedom of information act request for anonymous, case-level data on Refugee processing that will help us better analyze the roadblocks and pain points in Refugee resettlement. The lawsuit resulted in the disclosure of hundreds of documents that are now available for practitioners to review from Irap's website. In this long standing case regarding systemic delays in the afghan & iraqi siv programs, Irap filed its d.c. Circuit brief defending the district court injunction, which sets out a schedule by which the government agencies must adjudicate siv applications that have been pending for an unreasonably long time. The association of wartime allies, rep. earl blumenauer (original sponsor of the siv legislation), and former amb. Ryan crocker filed amicus briefs in our support.
Communicationsirap continues to amplify the voices of displaced people through traditional media outlets and in the digital sphere. We involve our current and former clients in our media and advocacy work to ensure their voices are heard. In addition to media placement, we utilize social media outlets, including facebook, twitter, and instagram, our website, and mass email campaigns to communicate to supporters. In fy23, and as a result of last year's strategic planning and organizational restructuring, a new structure for planning and discussing work pertaining to the identified programmatic priorities began to take shape. There are now a number of cross-departmental priority teams, and in order to ensure that all programmatic priorities are reflected in our communications work, the team has assigned at least one communications representative to each group. In this way, we have been closely involved in the creation of each individual teams' work plans and their implementation. One result was a full-scale, integrated, strategic advocacy campaign for world Refugee day, which involved nearly all members of the communications team, pr consultants, and multiple staff from policy, litigation, and u.s. legal. This was the first time we coordinated a campaign stemming from the new structure of the programmatic priority teams, so it was a very exciting opportunity to put this structure to the test. We believe that it was this new collaborative structure that led to the organic creation of a cross-departmental campaign that had clearly defined goals and integrated seamlessly into Irap's work, as well as that of our partners. As a result, we were able to mobilize members of our coalitions to jointly push an advocacy action and messaging across multiple channels. We also continued to make progress on defining our narrative change strategy and hosted two internal town halls to gather ideas and feedback on harmful and desired narratives we may wish to focus on. The resulting strategy will guide Irap's narrative change work. Protecting people displaced by climate changein october of 2022, we successfully organized a convening with emerson collective on climate displacement legal strategy with approximately 30 legal and policy makers in the americas to identify and discuss the legal openings on climate displacement. Following the convening, we have formulated a working group on long and short term changes on climate displacement and we will release one or more legal memos directed at shaping policy in the united states and potentially beyond.