In fiscal year 2020, the U.S. resettled only 11,000 refugees, the lowest figure in the history of the nation’s refugee program. By fiscal year 2024, that number rose to 100,000, the highest in 30 years. This dramatic shift highlights how an administration can significantly enhance state capacity, i.e. the government’s ability to effectively implement its policy objectives.
The Biden administration’s revitalization of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) underscores several key factors crucial to effective governance: strong agency leadership, senior-level collaboration, streamlined hiring practices, and the strategic use of technology. It also highlights the importance of fostering a spirit of innovation within the government and maintaining a multi-year commitment to realistic, achievable goals. This case study provides valuable insights for public policy and public administration practitioners, offering lessons on enhancing state capacity and implementing large-scale policy reforms.
President Biden set ambitious refugee resettlement goals—62,500 for 2021 and 125,000 for 2022. However, the U.S. lacked the capacity to meet these targets. The resettlement system, significantly weakened by previous cuts, struggled to reach even 10% of the target. While the policy was clear, the necessary infrastructure was woefully inadequate. There was little state capacity.
The challenge was clear: How could the U.S. government, along with its global partners and local resettlement agencies, restore a refugee system that had once been a global leader but had since deteriorated? The task required swift action to rebuild the infrastructure, resources, and capacity needed to meet the ambitious resettlement targets set by the administration. It was a race against time to revive a program that, only a few years earlier, had been a cornerstone of U.S. humanitarian efforts.
To understand how the U.S. refugee program rebounded, it’s essential to first look at how it was dismantled. Donald Trump campaigned on the notion that the program posed a security threat, particularly emphasizing risks from refugees from Muslim-majority countries due to what he claimed were inadequate vetting procedures. Shortly after taking office, he implemented a travel ban, paused refugee admissions for 120 days, and reduced the annual refugee admissions target. Each subsequent year, the admissions cap was lowered further, causing over 100 resettlement offices across the country to close.
When COVID-19 hit, the already weakened refugee system collapsed, reaching its lowest point in history. Refugees who had completed the rigorous security and medical checks saw their approvals expire as the program came to a standstill. By the time Joe Biden took office, the resettlement pipeline had been hollowed out. It wasn’t just a matter of restarting the program — it was about rebuilding U.S. state capacity for refugee protection from the ground up. This was far from a simple flip-the-switch scenario; restoring functionality required a comprehensive overhaul.
Niskanen’s Jen Pahlka identifies three essential strategies for increasing state capacity: 1) recruiting the right people, 2) focusing them on the right things, and 3) reducing unnecessary burdens on their work. This straightforward framework delivers dramatic results and offers a clear lens to understand how the U.S. refugee program was successfully rebuilt.
Recruiting the right people
The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) rebuild was driven by the right people in key positions: senior high-ranking national security officials who recognized the foreign policy and diplomatic significance of a robust refugee program; government technologists tasked with modernizing outdated systems; policy experts within the State Department’s refugee bureau; and senior USCIS officials focused on streamlining processing. This coordinated effort across the Departments of State and Homeland Security, with strong backing from the White House, was crucial in restoring the program’s capacity and effectiveness.
To rebuild refugee processing, the administration needed to significantly scale up the quality and quantity of personnel dedicated to the resettlement program. Since 2020, USCIS has ramped up its refugee staffing by 174%. The Refugee Corps traveled on more than nine times the number of circuit rides — overseas trips where officers conduct refugee interviews —in 2024 than in 2021. As of this publication, USCIS has conducted more than 140,000 interviews this year — fifteen times the number of interviews conducted in FY21. This dramatic increase in personnel, circuit rides, and interviews is illustrated in the table below.
Scaling up refugee interviews required a significant increase in circuit rides, which in turn depended on having enough staff. Federal hiring is typically a slow process, but the expansion was made possible through a special provision from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) known as the Direct Hire Authority (DHA). This authority allows the government to streamline recruitment for high-demand positions, bypassing the usual lengthy hiring processes. Eliminating these bureaucratic barriers was essential for rapidly rebuilding the refugee resettlement pipeline.
Focus them on the right things
Over the past four years, major crises emerged during the rebuilding of the refugee program. While they posed significant challenges, they also spurred policy and process innovation. In addressing them, the administration inadvertently discovered new ways to resolve longstanding issues within the resettlement system.
Cindy Huang, a former senior official at the Department of Health and Human Services, explained that the fall of Kabul sparked a surge of interest among Americans wanting to help Afghan refugees. In response, the administration launched an “innovative, emergency” initiative called the Sponsor Circle Program for Afghans. This program successfully resettled hundreds of Afghan families and served as a pilot for what would later become the Welcome Corps.
The administration had already been preparing the Welcome Corps, but the Sponsor Circle Program provided an opportunity for crucial experimentation and policy refinement. This ultimately helped fast-track the official launch of the program. The humanitarian response to the crisis in Afghanistan became a focal point for many refugee leaders in the administration, offering a glimpse of what an effective private sponsorship program could achieve in practice.
The second key challenge is the ongoing border crisis and the surge in displacement across the Western hemisphere. Venezuelans now represent the fourth-largest refugee population being resettled in the U.S., with numbers soaring from 1,442 in FY23 to 9,225 as of publication with one month left in the fiscal year. Two and a half times the number of Guatemalans were resettled this year than in 2023. Overall, Latin American arrivals have reached an all-time high for the USRAP program, surpassing three times the total of 6,312 recorded in 2023.
This increase is a direct outcome of the administration’s focus on expanding protection to eligible refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean — regions historically underserved by the USRAP. As part of its 2023 resettlement goals, the Biden-Harris administration focused on tripling refugee admissions from the Western Hemisphere to alleviate pressure at the southern U.S. border. In 2024, they have successfully surpassed that goal.
Significant government efforts have focused on expanding USRAP processing in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region critical to U.S. humanitarian interests. By establishing Safe Mobility Offices (SMOs), the administration aimed to better manage migration in the Western Hemisphere while offering access to humanitarian protection pathways. By the end of 2023, 2,500 refugees had arrived through the SMOs. With technological advancements, targeted investment in processing refugee cases in SMO countries, and policy innovations, SMOs saw a remarkable breakthrough, admitting 17,600 fully vetted and qualified refugees from the region to the U.S. This successful implementation of SMOs exemplifies a state capacity success story, showcasing the administration’s ability to deliver on key policy goals.
Reduce unnecessary burdens
The government-wide effort to rebuild the resettlement program brought together the right people, all focused on the right priorities. What refugee officers and the broader bureaucracy needed were technological advancements and streamlined processes to achieve greater efficiencies — that is, fewer burdens.
In FY24, the Department of State and DHS collaborated with U.S. vetting support agencies to streamline the vetting process by consolidating key steps under the National Vetting Center. The administration significantly enhanced vetting and screening capacity by leveraging advanced technology while maintaining USRAP’s rigorous standards. Refugees continue to undergo the most thorough vetting process for entry into the United States, ensuring both security and efficiency in resettlement efforts.
In the past, vetting and resettling a refugee could take up to three years. Andrew Nacin, special advisor for refugee admissions at the White House, explained that the administration ‘drastically streamlined the process overseas’ by removing unnecessary delays. Previously, the various checks and approvals were conducted sequentially, with one step following another. Under the new approach, these checks are performed concurrently, which has significantly reduced the processing time while maintaining the integrity of the process. Steps such as medical screenings and cultural orientation now happen simultaneously rather than one at a time, speeding up the resettlement process. A White House fact sheet explains, “more than half of all refugees interviewed worldwide went through concurrent processing” by late 2023.
That fact sheet also explains that the administration shifted from paper-based records to a digitized case management system. This transition has greatly improved program’ efficiency by streamlining case management, minimizing processing delays, and enhancing coordination among the various agencies involved.
Other innovations
The administration has also expanded U.S. refugee capacity by creating the Welcome Corps, launched in January 2023. This groundbreaking program empowers everyday Americans in any community—regardless of location—to sponsor and resettle refugees. It represents the most significant change to U.S. refugee resettlement in decades by broadening participation in resettlement. Evidence shows privately-sponsored refugees integrate faster into new communities and secure higher-paying jobs.
Since its inception, Welcome Corp has drawn 115,000 sponsors across every state. Veterans have stepped up to sponsor Afghan allies, while faith groups and diaspora communities have rallied around persecuted families. This citizen-driven initiative, backed by private funding, highlights the widespread public support for refugee resettlement and the growing commitment of Americans to help those in need.
The Welcome Corps on Campus program, which welcomed its first cohort of 30 refugee students across 17 colleges and universities, has expanded the role of higher education institutions in supporting refugee resettlement in the U.S. Colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to assist refugees as they transition to life in the U.S. The administration has made a strategic move by formally integrating them into the USRAP ecosystem. Similarly, the Welcome Corps at Work initiative now invites U.S.-based employers to take an active role in the refugee resettlement process, enhancing opportunities for meaningful employment and integration.
The Department of State has expanded its network of NGO partners to better identify refugee populations that are often excluded from traditional referral mechanisms. This includes establishing two new P-1 referral pathways, one for LGBT+ refugees and one for human rights defenders. By opening up new referral pathways, the U.S. can more effectively prioritize and resettle marginalized refugee populations of high interest that were overlooked in the past.
The administration also helped launch the Resettlement Diplomacy Network, which drives diplomatic engagement between resettlement states to expand refugee protection opportunities globally.
Conclusion
The revitalization of the USRAP is a compelling example of how to effectively rebuild state capacity. The Biden administration’s success illustrates that ambitious policy goals can be met by assembling the right talent, directing their focus on critical priorities, and streamlining processes to eliminate unnecessary obstacles. Through strategic leadership, process innovations, and leveraging new technologies, the administration turned a faltering system into a more resilient, efficient, and responsive operation capable of addressing today’s challenges.
The administration’s bold initiatives — including the Welcome Corps, Safe Mobility Offices, and focused efforts to expand the U.S. resettlement footprint in the Western Hemisphere — highlight the importance of innovation and adaptability in public policy. These reforms have opened new pathways for community and institutional involvement, empowering everyday citizens and organizations to support refugee resettlement and strengthen the overall system actively.
The lessons from this case study extend beyond refugee resettlement. They provide a blueprint for how governments can enhance capacity in other areas by prioritizing people, processes, and technology. The successful rebuild of USRAP demonstrates the power of state capacity in tackling complex challenges, highlighting the potential for ongoing growth and innovation across public administration.