United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield met with refugees in Denver on Friday and discussed the Biden-Harris administration’s new initiative to enlist the support of everyday Americans to help a fraction of the millions of people who have been displaced by persecution, violence and war around the world.

Thomas-Greenfield visited Denver just a few weeks after the influx of immigrants who have crossed America’s southern border from Mexico and ended up in Colorado’s cities underscored the county’s immigration woes.    

Refugees are a subset of the broad category of people who live outside their country’s borders. Specifically, refugees are people who flee conflict, war or prosecution. Once they obtained a refugee status, they are protected under international laws. The main distinction between migrants and refugees is that migrants choose to move, sometimes to find work in another country or to reunite with family, while refugees are forced to flee.    

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are 27.1 million refugees in the world.

In early 2023, the U.S. Department of State launched Welcome Corps, a program allowing private citizens to support refugees coming to the United States.

Historically, the U.S. Department of State has partnered primarily with nonprofit resettlement agencies to provide initial assistance to new refugees. The idea behind Welcome Corps is to get Americans to play a leading role in welcoming refugees who arrive in American through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. The Biden administration hopes to enlist 10,000 Americans to become private sponsors to at least 5,000 refugees. 

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield has high hopes for the initiative’s future in providing support and continued housing for refugees, she said in a press conference at the ECDC African Community Center of Denver (ACC) Friday. 

Thomas-Greenfield met with refugees in Denver and heard their stories at the ACC, expressing the importance of co-sponsors, such as ACC, in assisting the Welcome Corps. 

“The Welcome Corps builds on the work of the African Community Center here in Denver and all of the organizations that have been leading the charge for decades,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “They are really the foundation and the inspiration for this new initiative.”

As the number of refugees around the globe reaches a historic high, the extra attention and resources from initiatives, such as the Welcome Corps, are needed now more than ever before, Ron Buzard, the ACC managing director, said. 

Thomas-Greenfield said she appreciates Denver’s initiative to welcome refugees and thanked the city of Denver for being a welcoming place.

While in Denver, Thomas-Greenfield attended the Cities Summit of the Americas at the Colorado Convention Center, which focuses on the role cities place in addressing international issues. 

“We’re all working to ensure that we get the capacity to our city mayors and to communities to support refugees in a way that allows these refugees to contribute to their communities as legal residents,” Thomas-Greenfield said. 

Organizations, such as ACC, represent the best the United States has to offer, Thomas-Greenfield said, adding they show “an America that welcomes, that cares.”

Denver became the focal point of America’s immigration woes in the last few months, when thousands of immigrants from South and Central America crossed the U.S. border from Mexico and boarded buses to metro Denver. Many of them, officials said, were on their way to “destination” cities, such as New York. 

Denver – and several cities across the country – said the influx put them under severe financial strain as they struggled to house and provide services to the immigrants. The effort to shelter and support the more than 6,300 immigrants who arrived in Denver since December cost the city $12.7 million, Denver officials earlier said.

Beginning May 8, the city will no longer offer shelter to immigrants who haven’t been processed by immigration authorities. 

Federal funding is limited to supporting those who have had encounters with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to officials with the Denver Mass Care Departmental Operations Center for the Department of Human Services.

“This response has been in alignment with the city’s values of inclusion, acceptance, and opportunity to maintain a welcoming city where everyone can feel safe and thrive,” city officials said in a press release. “While Denver’s values have remained intact throughout this response, the ongoing reliance on the city’s contingency budget is not financially sustainable.”