A Fast Track to Refuge, or a Pathway to Nowhere?

• Publication year: 2023

A Fast Track to Refuge, or a Pathway to Nowhere?

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Designing Successful Priority 2 Group Designations

Betsy L. Fisher ^*

Abstract: Priority 2, or P-2, group designations, offer the promise of efficient refugee resettlement processing for groups of refugees that share common characteristics. But many P-2 groups—most of all, those designated for the Iraqi Direct Access Program—have failed to advance efficient resettlement for their members. This article identifies the traits required for successful P-2 designations: having easily identifiable members, offering a benefit that other referral mechanisms do not, facilitating access to refugee processing, providing accurate information about processing, and operating for a reasonable period. In many cases, other programs and methods of referral, including encouraging individual referrals of a targeted group, will achieve better access to refugee resettlement.

Background on U.S. Resettlement and the Priority System

Refugee resettlement is a vital tool that provides refugees with access to rights like long-term residency, access to naturalization, and access to education and labor rights. With 32 million refugees and 103 million people forcibly displaced globally, ¹ the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 1,473,156 refugees need to be resettled because they lack access to basic rights in their current country of asylum. ² But in 2020, UNHCR resettlement led to only 22,800 refugees resettling to new countries. ³ This presents governments that resettle refugees with an enormous challenge: if they will consider only a tiny fraction of those in need of resettlement, and a smaller fraction still of all refugees globally, how should it select which refugees will be resettled?

Most countries that resettle refugees rely exclusively or primarily on UNHCR to refer individuals for their consideration. ⁴ After UNHCR refers individuals to governments, each government conducts its own refugee processing and retains the decision whether to accept and resettle those whom UNHCR referred to them. ⁵

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The Priority System

In the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), the program for refugee resettlement in the United States, resettlement falls into two primary stages: (1) access, the process by which USRAP determines which individuals it will consider for resettlement; and (2) acceptance, the process by which USRAP decides whether a person will be admitted to the United States as a refugee.

A refugee's access to USRAP processing will happen for one of several reasons, called priorities. The word "priority" is a misnomer, as the term does not reflect a hierarchy. The list of resettlement priorities are, rather, a list of categories under which a person might be considered for resettlement to the United States. ⁶ A resettlement referral based on individual needs is called a Priority 1, or P-1 referral. The United States accepts referrals on an individual basis from UNHCR, as well as from U.S. embassies and certain nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). P-3 referrals are based on family ties, and P-4 referrals are those named by sponsors, in a new program for private sponsorship of refugees announced for 2023. ⁷ Most relevantly for this article, USRAP also facilitates group-based, or P-2, referrals, which allows members of the designated group to be considered for resettlement. ⁸

Obtaining a referral through one of these streams is necessary to be resettled to the United States, but it is not sufficient. After a person obtains access to USRAP processing, refugee officers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assess whether a person will be accepted for resettlement. To be resettled, the individual must meet the statutory definition of a refugee, be admissible under applicable immigration law, not be firmly resettled in another country, and warrant a favorable exercise of discretion. ⁹

Because of this distinction between access and acceptance, an individual who can demonstrate membership in a P-2 group and thus gain access to USRAP processing is not guaranteed to be accepted for resettlement. Nor will officials assess applications for resettlement from members of a P-2 group according to a different standard of review than other applications. ¹⁰ Rather, USRAP access via a P-2 group means that an applicant will be considered for resettlement to the United States if they can demonstrate membership in the designated group. Ultimately, adjudication is made according to the same standard as for someone referred on another basis.

Types of P-2 Group Designations

Each year, the federal agencies responsible for implementing USRAP issue a report to Congress called the Proposed Refugee Admissions (PRA), which sets out U.S. refugee resettlement policy for the upcoming fiscal year. The PRA for fiscal year 2023 describes "two distinct models" of group designations. First, a "predefined group designation [which] is usually based on a UNHCR

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recommendation that lays out eligibility criteria for individuals in a specific location." ¹¹ The PRA considers this category to include widely varying groups, from the P-2 group for Burmese refugees who were registered with UNHCR by a particular date in Thai refugee camps, to the Afghan P-2 program, which requires an Afghan's former employer to refer them to USRAP.

Second, "the direct access model for P-2 group referrals enables individuals to apply for access to the program based on meeting designated criteria. The direct-access model has operated largely for in-country programs . . . ." ¹² The PRA considers direct-access programs to include designations both where an applicant must be referred by another party, like a relative or employer, and where the applicant can directly apply, like the Iraqi Direct Access Program. Thus, under the PRA's breakdown of P-2 groups, both predefined and direct-access groups include programs where a person is neither on a preexisting list of eligible individuals nor can apply themselves.

A better taxonomy would sort P-2 designations into three kinds: predefined groups, groups based on third-party referrals, and direct-access groups. This taxonomy would more clearly identify how a person first comes to be considered for USRAP based a on a P-2 designation. This improved categorization is helpful in evaluating which referral methods and other traits have built successful P-2 programs—a vital consideration for future P-2 designations.

Evaluating the Success of P-2 Groups

This section visits each of the three kinds of P-2 groups, considers at least one example of each, and identifies factors that supported or challenged the success of the P-2 designation. In this article, success means that the group designation allows the U.S. government to process applications for resettlement for members of the group efficiently.

Across all kinds of P-2 groups, the State Department designates groups only after consultation with other agencies, especially DHS, which will ultimately determine whether an individual's application for resettlement is accepted, and UNHCR, whose data is used to define predefined groups. ¹³ While these interagency discussions are essential to establish plans for operational processing, they can also delay the group designation and processing.

Predefined P-2 Designations: Burmese Refugees in Thailand

The first kind of P-2 designation is the predefined group. These groups have historically been defined by UNHCR registration records in a particular location by a date prior to the P-2 designation. In theory, a P-2 group could also be defined by some other uniting characteristic that existed prior to and for a purpose other than resettlement, such as enrollment in a refugee-serving

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organization's services or registration for humanitarian immigration protection with a government.

Between 2005 and 2014, a predefined P-2 group facilitated resettlement for more than 70,000 Burmese refugees living in Thailand in camps near the Thai-Burmese border. These refugees were unable to return to Burma safely, and the Thai government was unwilling to facilitate their local integration. To resolve this group's protracted displacement, Thailand, the United States, and UNHCR collaborated to resettle all who were interested and who met U.S. refugee criteria. UNHCR verified the identity and registration of refugees who expressed interest in resettlement. ¹⁴

Critics noted that refugees did not properly understand the timelines involved, leading some refugees to begin selling off possessions despite having months of processing ahead of them, and that those resettled first were often the best educated, leaving the camp short of qualified medics and teachers. ¹⁵ Despite these critiques, more than 70,000 refugees were resettled between 2005 and 2014, in one of the largest resettlement programs ever. ¹⁶

Open-Access P-2 Designations: Iraqi Direct Access Program

The second kind of P-2 designation is the direct-access program, in which an applicant who falls within a designated group can directly apply to be considered for USRAP. No program demonstrates the pitfalls of P-2 programs more clearly than the Iraqi Direct Access Program (DAP), which has faced indefinite delays verifying individuals' eligibility, inability to process applications due to concerns for the safety of U.S. government personnel, and suspensions to address criminal activities targeting the program. ¹⁷

The Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007, which was included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, legislated the creation of the Iraqi DAP. ¹⁸ Congress required the secretary of state to designate several groups of Iraqis for P-2 eligibility based on work in Iraq for the U.S. government or U.S.-based employers, or being the parent, child, or sibling of such a person. ¹⁹

Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, millions of U.S. citizens worked in Iraq as troops, contractors...