On January 20, 2025, the Executive Order: Realigning the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program paused refugee resettlement entirely, including private sponsorship of refugees through the Welcome Corps. At that time, more than 160,000 Americans across the country had signed up to privately welcome refugee families to safety and freedom in the United States. These thousands of Americans, and the refugees they have committed to help, now wait in limbo to see if the longstanding U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) will resume.
The executive order states it will resume the USRAP so long as it is in the national interest by ensuring American communities are safe and prosperous and given a say in determining where refugees are settled. Through the Welcome Corps, Americans were allowed to demonstrate, through their time and money, whether they believed refugees belonged in their community as contributing members of American society. Americans’ broad engagement in the Welcome Corps program indicates a national will to continue, strengthen, and expand service opportunities in resettling refugees.
What is the Welcome Corps, and why private sponsorship?
Policymakers and advocates invested in the Welcome Corps program to modernize the national model for protecting refugees by capitalizing on American innovation and generosity. Private refugee sponsorship programs tap into American values of service to others, civic engagement, charity, and volunteerism. The U.S. private sector has a strong tradition of supporting refugee resettlement. During recent crises such as the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Americans stepped up to privately sponsor Afghan allies and Ukrainian families through initiatives like Sponsor Circles. With proven American support for sponsorship and building on the successes of these earlier innovations, Welcome Corps was established by the U.S. Department of State in January 2023.
In its simplest form, Welcome Corps is a democratized version of refugee resettlement that gives power and control to everyday Americans to choose to welcome those meeting the specific and legal definition of a refugee into their communities. Through the Welcome Corps, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents formed teams of neighbors, raised thousands of dollars in funds, and took on sponsorship duties such as helping refugees with housing, employment, healthcare, and education. Everyday Americans utilize their respective social capital and personal networks to help sponsored refugees integrate and feel a sense of belonging in their new home.
To prevent exploitation, safeguards were implemented, including background checks, proof of immigration status, and financial stability before applying to sponsor. Each sponsor group worked with a certified Private Sponsorship Organization (PSO) for mentorship, oversight, and management. Additionally, groups submitted 30- and 90-day reports to ensure refugees received the necessary support and made progress toward self-sufficiency.
In addition to individual private sponsor groups, two distinct subprograms were formed: Welcome Corps on Campus and Welcome Corps at Work. Under the Welcome Corps on Campus program, teams of faculty, alumni, and current students at colleges and universities across the country could sponsor refugee students. This initiative enables refugee students to continue their studies in the United States while also providing a pathway to permanent safety and stability. Higher education institutions are uniquely positioned to support refugee students as they transition to life in the United States.
The Welcome Corps at Work program enabled qualified refugee candidates to interview with prospective U.S. employers. If an employer offered a job to the refugee candidate, they would then be processed for resettlement and matched with a local private sponsor group in the employer’s community to provide resettlement and integration support.
The sheer numbers: A clear demand by Americans to sponsor refugees
American demand for resettling refugees grew quickly during the two years it operated. In January 2024, at the end of the first year following the launch of the Welcome Corps program, more than 15,000 Americans applied to sponsor more than 7,000 refugees. Of the more than 15,000 Americans who applied, 100 sponsor groups composed of approximately 500 Americans from 32 states had welcomed refugees from around the world into their local community.
Neighbors in large cities like Boston, MA to smaller towns like Oneonta, NY, and communities across the Midwest–including Fort Wayne, IN, Madison, WI, and Minneapolis, MN—signed up during the initial phase of the program. These individuals were matched with vetted, security-screened refugees who had already been processed by the U.S. government, even though they had no prior connection to them.
The number of Americans participating in Welcome Corps began to explode in the program’s second year, prompted by an expansion in December 2023 that allowed Americans to sponsor refugees they already know who were still caught in life-threatening situations overseas. Families could sponsor endangered loved ones, veterans their interpreters, and faith groups persecuted individuals who might otherwise have no opportunity for resettlement.
In March 2024, three months after the opening of the second “sponsor someone you know” phase, the number of Americans demanding to resettle refugees more than quadrupled: more than 65,000 Americans had put their names on the line and signed commitment forms to help refugees resettle and integrate more fully into their communities. Many more individuals were involved informally. Demand for refugee resettlement grew, and by January 2025, two years after the program was launched, more than 160,000 Americans had applied to sponsor refugees.
Through the Welcome Corps on Campus program, groups of staff, faculty, alumni, and students come together to provide comprehensive sponsorship support for a full 12 months after the refugee student’s arrival on campus. In the program’s first cohort, 17 higher education institutions across states including Michigan, Oklahoma, New York, Virginia, Indiana, Arizona, and Connecticut sponsored refugee students—offering them both a pathway to higher education and a new beginning. Through the Welcome Corps at Work pilot initiative, twelve employers in nine states (Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota, New York, Idaho, Iowa, Vermont, Michigan, and Nevada) extended job offers to 23 refugee candidates.
American generosity: Privately funding resettlement
Private sponsors, who received no federal funding, were required to raise $2,425 per person they sponsored—an amount equal to what resettlement agencies receive in federal funds for the first 90 days of a refugee’s arrival. For instance, a sponsor group would need to raise about $9,700 to support a family of four during their initial months until they find employment. Evidence shows that refugees sponsored privately are more likely to secure higher-skilled jobs that better match their qualifications.
Over the two years that the Welcome Corps has existed, everyday Americans have collectively committed more than $210 million in private support to welcome refugees through private sponsorship. Not only were Americans willing to dedicate months of their time to receive and integrate refugee families, but they were also willing to commit millions of dollars of private support to do so.
This number does not include the additional funds that sponsors may have raised. Nor does it include the amount of funds contributed by Americans for the Welcome Corps on Campus and Welcome Corps at Work subprograms. The actual amount of support committed by Americans to bring refugees to safety and freedom in the U.S. is far more significant.
Democratizing refugee resettlement
By decentralizing the decision-making around where refugees can resettle, Welcome Corps brought a local, community-driven approach to addressing global humanitarian challenges of national concern. It was never designed to replace traditional resettlement agencies, but rather to complement and strengthen them—infusing a historically bureaucratic and insular USRAP with much-needed flexibility, creativity, and inclusivity. In just two years, Welcome Corps has revealed a deep and widespread appetite for refugee resettlement across the country, embraced by Americans from an astonishingly diverse range of communities and backgrounds.
Americans in every state—as well as D.C. and Puerto Rico—have demonstrated a strong and widespread desire to welcome refugees into their communities. What’s particularly compelling is the diversity, both geographic and political, of the states leading the way. The top ten states for private sponsorship—Minnesota, Texas, California, Washington, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia—reflect a broad cross-section of the nation.
Minnesota, notably, emerged as a national leader, with over 23,000 residents stepping up to sponsor more than 15,000 refugees. Indiana saw over 6,700 individuals commit to sponsoring more than 4,200 refugees. Even in Oklahoma—often overlooked in conversations about refugee resettlement—2,000 people pledged to sponsor 1,700 refugees. These numbers speak to a deeper truth: when Americans are empowered to act on their values, they respond with generosity and resolve, regardless of geography or partisanship.
Through the conventional Reception & Placement (R&P) program, ten resettlement agencies received and supported refugees during their first 90 days in the U.S. through affiliate sites in various towns and cities nationwide. As of FY 2024, 310 cities across the United States had a refugee resettlement agency/affiliate presence, as denoted in the map below.
The Welcome Corps program revolutionized refugee resettlement by bringing private sponsorship to places where Americans have long desired to welcome refugees but were previously unable to do so due to the absence of a resettlement agency or affiliate. One example is the Antioch Church sponsors in Bend, Oregon—a town three hours away from the nearest resettlement agency—where local residents stepped up to sponsor a refugee family. This story highlights how, through the program, communities that once felt isolated from the resettlement process are now able to provide a safe and welcoming environment for refugees.
The above is a screenshot of an interactive map published by the Community Sponsorship Hub in March 2025. For the full map with zoom and data capture features, including data on Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, please visit the following site: https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/news-stories/a-nation-of-welcome-where-americans-want-to-welcome-refugees-and-why-it-matters/
Through Welcome Corps, more than 7,700 zip codes across the country have seen sponsor groups step forward to resettle refugees, reflecting a broader and more diverse range of municipalities engaging in this important work. While major urban centers like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago remain prominent in the program, some of the most notable sponsors have emerged from cities like Minneapolis, MN, Indianapolis, IN, and Columbus, OH.
Equally striking is the involvement of small and rural towns, where Americans from communities with populations as small as Columbus Junction, Iowa (1,771 people), Pratt, Kansas (6,546 people), Moorefield, WV (2,487 people), and Marks, MS (1,283 people) have committed to sponsoring refugees. This expansion proves that the desire to welcome and integrate refugees isn’t limited to big cities—it stretches across the nation, demonstrating that public support for refugees is not confined to densely populated areas but is alive and well in small, tight-knit communities as well.
What the Welcome Corps should tell us about the future of U.S. refugee resettlement
Welcome Corps has achieved something remarkable: it has breathed new life into a beloved American program–the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program–but one needing modernization, greater decentralization, and democratization.
New partners, including universities and small grassroots and local community-based organizations, have been able to enter the arena and play an influential role in shaping the future of refugee resettlement. Employers have been given a space to meet business needs while providing life-saving sanctuary to refugee workers. Existing partners like the resettlement agencies, who have carried the USRAP over the last four decades, have been able to innovate and evolve in an expanded playing field.
By expanding geographically, where Americans could welcome and support refugees, Welcome Corps gave more autonomy to local communities and expanded the number and types of communities integrating refugee newcomers into the American fabric. Such expanded capacity could see new and different towns throughout the United States benefit from the significant economic contributions of refugees.
These outcomes highlight the limitations of our historical refugee resettlement infrastructure, which often failed to meet the full scope of American demand or to include smaller and rural communities eager to participate. The emergence of Welcome Corps—a program driven entirely by community interest—has upended those assumptions, revealing that public support for welcoming refugees is not only widespread but far more deeply rooted than previously understood.