BILL NUMBER: S2516
SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to a refugee
resettlement program
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To enshrine and protect New York State's current refugee resettlement
program
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 states legislative intent.
Section 2 amends subdivision 3 of section 358 of Social Services Law to
codify the refugee resettlement services provided by Bureau of Refugee
Services within the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.
Section 3 sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and
Humanitarian Aid Operations, nearly 108.4 million people were forcibly
displaced from their homes by the end of 2022 due to conflict, violence,
human rights violations, persecution, disasters, and climate change. The
majority of this population, some 62.5 million people, were internally
displaced. Five point four million of the remaining population became
asylees, relocating to another country to seek asylum within its
borders. The remainder, approximately 35.3 million people, became global
refugees, relocating to another country to then apply for protected
entry into a third country with refugee status. Some 52% of all refugees
hail from three countries, Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, and up to
76% of refugees are hosted by low-income countries while they apply for
official entry into more developed ones like the United States. Two-
thirds of refugees live in poverty, and refugee displacement lasts an
average of 20 years.
The United States' official channel for accepting refugees is its United
States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), a vast multiagency effort
that involves pre-clearances and screenings, placement allocations in
specific cities for 30 - 90 days, and then more permanent relocation
elsewhere. It is a dizzying process that involves multiple security
checkpoints, an alphabet soup of state and federal agencies, and at
least two complete relocations - yet an opportunity millions wait a
lifetime to seize, if it means that they may have a chance at a more
peaceful and prosperous life. USRAP is made possible by its partner-
ships with resettlement agencies in states like New York, which assists
refugees through the Bureau of Refugee Services (BRS) housed within the
Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). Yet despite BRS's
enormous success helping orient hundreds of thousands of new New York
families, this program is under threat of future administrations which
can untie our state's commitment to USRAP with the stroke of a pen.
This is precisely what happened in 2019, when then-President Trump
issued Executive Order (EO) 13888 which required states and localities
to provide affirmative written consent that they would continue to
accept refugees through USRAP while setting a record-low cap on refugee
admissions of 15,000. This had a dramatic effect on refugee intake
levels for years afterward: in fiscal year 2016, the US accepted about
85,000 refugees. By fiscal year 2021, this number had shrunk to 6,300.
EO 13888 remained in place until it was overruled by the US District
Court of Maryland in January 2020 (Hias, Mott. Donald Trump, 2020) and
then officially revoked by President Biden's EO 14013 of 2021, which
declared that "(d)elays in administering USRAP and other humanitarian
programs are counter to our national interests, can raise grave humani-
tarian concerns, and should be minimized."
In the wake of EO 13888 of 2019 and other related immigration actions,
several states took the step of enshrining their commitment to USRAP by
codifying their refugee resettlement programs into state law. This bill
aims to do the same for New York, codifying many of the existing func-
tions performed by OTDA's BRS and partner agencies, which help displaced
individuals achieve economic and social self-sufficiency, assist victims
of human trafficking, and assure proper foster care for unaccompanied
refugee and entrant minors. BRS programs, which run the gamut from
mentoring and educational services to employment training to English
language instruction to comprehensive case management and more, have
helped countless refugees put down roots in our state, fueling New
York's economy while creating new cultural and linguistic hubs. Codify-
ing these services into law will help ensure that their survival is not
subject to the whims of any future federal or state administration that
fails to properly recognize New York's current and historic role as a
beacon of hope for those unable to return home. This bill will help
ensure that OTDA's Bureau of Refugee Services continues to orient reset-
tled refugees for generations to come.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: S6070A - Referred to Social Services
2023: S6070 - Referred to Investigations and Government Operations
2022: S7430- Referred to Rules
2021: S7430- Referred to Rules
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate

Statutes affected:
S2516: 358 social services law, 358(3) social services law