Protect Migrants and Refugees in
COVID-19 Relief Package 

U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking envisions a world without slavery with a network of resources and services to prevent the crime and assist survivors in achieving a fulfilling life. While there is great diversity in those who are victims and survivors of human trafficking, one consistent characteristic is that traffickers prey upon vulnerable populations. 

This World Day of Migrants and Refugees, we focus our attention on preventing the trafficking of migrants and refugees who, given their precarious situation, are prime targets for traffickers.

One important way to help prevent the trafficking and exploitation of migrants and refugees is to support their relocation to a safe area for permanent resettlement and provide financial assistance for basic necessities such as shelter, food, and transportation. Once settled into their new homes, it is important to continue offering support to ensure they understand their rights and are not taken advantage of through false offers of employment or out of desperation to care for their families. 

The current reality of the global pandemic due to COVID-19 and its impact on the economy puts these already vulnerable communities at even greater risk for exploitation within their new home countries. Many migrants and refugees are essential workers on the frontlines of pandemic response, including in the healthcare field, as truck drivers critical to the supply chain, and as grocery store employees. Many more migrants, refugees, and other vulnerable populations are facing dire and immediate challenges during this unprecedented public health crisis. These stories from our friends at Church World Service are illustrative of refugees' and their families’ current needs. Many of these families will fall through the cracks without meaningful congressional intervention, as the public health crisis continues.

Given the vulnerability of migrant and refugee populations to trafficking and exploitation, particularly during this time of COVID-19, we are calling on Congress to include the following provisions in any future COVID-19 relief package:  

1. Automatically extend work authorization, visa renewal deadlines, security check and immigrant visa validity periods and processing deadlines so that refugees and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) recipients are not harmed by COVID-19 disruptions to applications, renewal, and processing;
    
2. Ensure that tax-paying immigrant and refugee populations are eligible for stimulus payments, including individuals who file taxes with an ITIN;
    
3. Halt the implementation of the new public charge rules during the COVID-19 crisis;
    
4. Appropriate $642 million in supplemental funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement for refugees living in the United States to ensure vulnerable populations like refugees don’t fall through the cracks.
    
5. Resume refugee admissions expeditiously consistent with general travel restrictions from refugees’ countries of residence and continue processing vulnerable refugees with acute protection needs.
    
6. Ensure the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) increases reception and placement direct assistance by $1,000 per capita to strengthen direct support for recent and new arrivals, including and beyond their first 90 days of arrival, and support domestic resettlement infrastructure.

Together we can help protect vulnerable migrants and refugees and prevent human trafficking!