US launches new program to allow private Americans to sponsor, resettle Afghan refugees

The Biden administration is launching a new program to allow private Americans to sponsor and resettle Afghan refugees.

The State Department on Monday announced a "historic" new program to allow private American citizens to help Afghan refugees resettle in the U.S.

The Biden administration has brought over 65,000 Afghans to military bases across the country after its chaotic, unprecedented evacuation operations that ended 20 years of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan -- with plans to bring some 30,000 more in the next year.

But the refugee resettlement process has struggled to resettle those new arrivals after four years of former President Donald Trump's administration and its thousand cuts to the program, from slashing admissions to halting interviews to drying up funding.

Amid the spike in need, the State Department has authorized a new non-profit called Community Sponsorship Hub to vet and train groups of private Americans that apply to host an Afghan refugee in their community -- using support from their local community and organizations like Welcome.US, Airbnb, Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, and others.