Backgrounder
prepared by
Department of Communications
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 Fourth Street NE · Washington, DC 20017
202-541-3200 · 202-541-3173 fax · www.usccb.org/comm
Catholic Church Migration and Refugee Assistance
(Source: USCCB Office of Migration and Refugee Services)
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishop (USCCB) settles between one-fourth and one-third of all refugees into the United States.
In 2007, USCCB settled 13,631 refugees into the United States (equal to 28% of all refugees admitted into the U.S.).
To date, the USCCB has served 606 survivors of human trafficking and 170 of their immediate family members.
These 776 come from 68 countries. The top 10 include Thailand, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, India, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Philippines and Indonesia.
As many as 100,000 unaccompanied, undocumented children enter the United States each year.
Approximately 10,000 are detained by the U.S. government to be release to family in the U.S. or returned to their home country
USCCB's Safe Passages program ensures that children traveling without adult relatives or legal travel documents are provided with a safe haven and receive appropriate child-welfare standards of care while in U.S. government custody.