Warren, who grew up in a country where homosexuality is criminalized, knows what it’s like to hide who you are. After being granted asylum in the UK, he gave a new friend the courage to come out.

President Donald Trump has claimed that refugees coming into the United States are not screened. The truth is that refugees are already vetted more intensively than any other group seeking to enter the country. Four refugees describe the exhaustive interviews and security checks they and their families went through to resettle in the U.S.

It is no exaggeration that the future of the United States as a home for refugees is now on the line. New IRC data shows there are even fewer refugee arrivals in the U.S. than expected.

“When you start doing anything, at first it’s going to be frightening,” Bothina Matar reassures the refugee women she works with in Dallas. She encourages them to strive for a better future—their children’s future—without forgetting their past. “I am trying my best,” Bothina tells them, “and succeeding somehow.”

After four years of record-low arrivals under the Trump Administration, President Joe Biden has an opportunity to rebuild the bipartisan tradition of welcoming refugees.

“Becoming an American, to me, is the greatest thing I have ever achieved in my life,” says Timothy Cham, who fled violence in what is now South Sudan. After years in limbo, his family have settled in Baltimore, Maryland.

Many of the International Rescue Committee’s over 20 offices across the United States are helping families arriving from Afghanistan.

68.5 million people are uprooted by violence and persecution. In these stories, IRC experts answer your questions about the year's humanitarian headlines.

After Americans spoke up, President Biden agreed to lift a Trump-era limit on refugee admissions, reuniting families like Patrice, Wanyema and Mauwa’s