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ASYLEES NOW TO GET SAME BENEFITS AS REFUGEES
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, last week announced that it would provide the same assistance benefits and services that refugees receive.  The policy change responds to concerns that have long been expressed about the disparate treatment of refugees and asylees, who are alike in every respect except a refugee makes their claim abroad while an asylee makes it in the US.  Without this assistance, people who are granted asylum are essentially abandoned after winning their cases, with the help that they do receive coming from private organizations. 
Under the new policy, an asylee will be deemed to have entered the US on the date they are granted asylum, rather than on the date on which they physically entered the US.  They will be eligible for cash benefits and medical assistance for eight months and will be eligible for other social services for five years.  Under the previous interpretation of entry, the ORR looked to the date a person actually entered the US, which had the effect of rendering most asylees ineligible for cash benefits.  The new policy is effective immediately. 
 
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