Refugee admission to a large degree is simply immigration by another name, where costs, normally incumbent upon the immigrant and his sponsor, have been shifted to the U.S. taxpayer. The actual sponsor of refugees is Health and Human Services, an organization abysmally ill-equipped to integrate new arrivals into American life. True, private sponsoring agencies do play a role in resettling refugees. However, as with much of the language surrounding this issue, familiar terms have taken on new meaning. Resettlement programs based on private sponsorship might be expected to provide an organic link to an established community, hasten integration into the culture, language, and economy, and provide an impetus toward self-sufficiency by placing the costs on the sponsor and the immigrant.
Sponsorship implies risk, sacrifice, and commitment between sponsor and client.
That ethos is totally lacking in the current program. Their main function is to guide their clientele through the process of entering various welfare programs. The sponsoring agency is not even responsible for the transportation loan for the individuals they sponsor. Since the inception of the loan program, the State Department has collected less than 31 cents on every dollar lent for air fare to the United States. A State Department spokesman doubted that even half of the interest-free loans would ever be collected.