Contact: Louisa Tavlas

Email: ltavlas@niskanencenter.org

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 19, 2023 — The Niskanen Center is thrilled to support today’s Welcome Corps launch, a transformational new initiative that will bolster the existing U.S. refugee resettlement program by creating a complimentary private sponsorship program that allows Americans to sponsor certain refugees. 

Niskanen first helped popularize the private refugee sponsorship policy in 2015 via a widely-cited Wall Street Journal op-ed. Most recently, with the close collaboration of key coalition partners, Niskanen honed two sets of recommendations for the Biden administration on how to spearhead a private sponsorship program. 

“We are thrilled to see the Biden administration’s creation of the Welcome Corps, one of the most significant innovations in U.S. refugee resettlement policy in decades. By tapping everyday Americans to serve as sponsors, the program will breathe new life into our resettlement system and expand capacity across the country to welcome persecuted refugees,“ said Matthew La Corte, the Niskanen Cener’s government affairs manager of immigration. 

Niskanen today joins a diverse group of more than 200 organizations in endorsing the program, writing the Welcome Corps is “grounded in the generosity and compassion of American communities.

To get involved in the Welcome Corps or find more details, visit: https://welcomecorps.org/

The Niskanen Center is a 501(c)(3) advocacy organization established in 2014 to change public policy through direct engagement in the policymaking process.

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