# Office of Refugee Resettlement *Federal office within the Administration for Children and Families, United States Department of Health and Human Services* The **Office of Refugee Resettlement** (ORR) is a federal office of the [[Administration for Children and Families]] (ACF), a component of the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services]] (HHS).[^1] Federal law places the office within HHS at 8 U.S.C. §1521.[^2] ORR was created by the [[Refugee Act of 1980]] (Public Law 96-212). A project time-table row citing ORR's homepage dates the act's creation of the office to March 17, 1980.[^3][^4] The Wikipedia article summarizes ORR's stated mission as helping with relocation and providing services to people granted asylum in the United States. In 2010 the office reported to Congress a revised vision, "to assist refugees with accessing mainstream opportunities and resources".[^4][^6] In fiscal year 2019, the Refugee and Resettlement Assistance account carried $1.905 billion in discretionary funds. Of that, $1.303 billion was assigned to the Unaccompanied Alien Children program, which houses child migrants.[^4] The project's validated claim:link catalogue describes ORR as the federal pass-through to Minnesota's [[VOLAG network]] of voluntary resettlement agencies, with [[Title VI]] certifications layered on top. The catalogue records this as a consolidated claim tied to ORR's homepage. It is not an agency finding or a court adjudication.[^12][^13] ## History Until the Second World War, help for immigrants and refugees came mostly from nonprofit voluntary agencies, known as Volags. Washington began funding them in 1946 through the Corporate Affidavit Program. The arrival of refugees from Castro's Cuba marked the federal government's move into the primary financial role. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy widened aid to nonprofits that settled refugees, and the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 made that aid permanent.[^5] The Refugee Act of 1980 formally set up ORR, as "an attempt to design a coherent and comprehensive refugee admission and resettlement policy".[^5] The act recognized the Office of the U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs, a presidential appointee who consults with ORR, and gave that office authority over refugee admission and resettlement policy. It placed ORR in HHS.[^5][^2] There ORR could make grants to nonprofits for resettlement services, including training and health care. It could also reimburse states for their work during a refugee's first three years in the country.[^5] According to the Wikipedia article, the United States has helped resettle more than 3 million refugees since 1975. Annual refugee admissions since the 1980 act have run from a low of 27,100 to a high of 207,116.[^4] ## Major changes In 2000, four groups became eligible for ORR services: asylees, torture survivors, unaccompanied alien children, and certified adult victims of human trafficking. Trafficked children were added by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.[^6] The Homeland Security Act of 2002 moved the Unaccompanied Alien Children program to ORR, effective March 1, 2003.[^6] Several instruments govern the office's work: - the Flores Agreement of 1997; - the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000; - that act's reauthorizations of 2005 and 2008.[^6] In its 2010 report to Congress, ORR set out six guiding principles that changed its priorities: - placement and services; - client-centered case management; - newly arriving refugees; - health and mental health services; - outreach; - data-informed decision-making. The same report recast its vision in the words quoted above.[^6] ## Leadership The Wikipedia article gives Angie Salazar as director of ORR as of September 2025. Its lead section describes her as interim director.[^7][^4] Two deputy directors sit in the Office of the Director. One oversees the refugee program. The other, the Deputy Director for Children's Services, oversees the unaccompanied alien children program.[^7] At the federal level the office has eight divisions, each with its own director and staff:[^7] - Policy & Procedures - Budget & Data Analysis - Refugee Assistance - Refugee Health - Refugee Services - Unaccompanied Children Operations - Planning and Logistics - Health for Unaccompanied Children ## Service delivery How services reach refugees depends on the division and the program. The Wikipedia article describes a Division of Resettlement Services that works through private nonprofit and public organizations to provide economic support and social-integration services.[^8] That division administers the Voluntary Agency Match Grant Program and seven discretionary grant programs for refugee social services, awarded competitively.[^8][^11] ## Funding Congress appropriates money to ORR each year and sets some allotments by division. ORR divides the allotment among its programs, which pass funds to partner agencies as grants under formula guidelines.[^9] States carry the main operational burden. Wikipedia quotes the office: "Federal resettlement assistance to refugees is provided primarily through the state-administered refugee resettlement program." States provide transitional cash and medical assistance and social services, and hold legal responsibility for unaccompanied refugee children.[^9] ORR funds its affiliate voluntary agencies through a matching grant program, and those agencies run it through their national networks.[^11][^9] Under the quoted terms, ORR "awards $2 for every $1 raised by the agency up to a maximum of $2,500 in Federal funds per enrollee". The terms also state that actual spending of those funds is not per capita based.[^9] The fiscal year 2019 account of $1.905 billion broke down as follows:[^4] | Program | FY2019 amount | |---|---| | Unaccompanied Alien Children | $1.303 billion | | Transitional and Medical Services | $354 million | | Refugee Support Services | $207 million | | Trafficking Victims Support Program | $27 million | ## Partnerships ORR works with four federal departments: HHS, the [[Department of Homeland Security]], the Department of Justice and the Department of State.[^10] Its partners in each are: - **HHS:** the [[Office for Civil Rights]], the Centers for Disease Control, the Office of Head Start, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the U.S. Administration on Aging. - **Homeland Security:** U.S. Customs and Border Protection, [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]], and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. - **Justice:** the Executive Office of Immigration Review. - **State:** the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.[^10] ## In the Minnesota record ### What - The project's catalogue describes ORR as the federal pass-through to the Minnesota VOLAG network, with Title VI certifications layered on top. The record carries this as a catalogue claim, not as a finding by any agency or court.[^12][^13] - The catalogue cites ORR's homepage under three of its legal theories: Theory 2 (Title VI race discrimination in federally funded programs), Theory 13 (institutional capture), and T15 (the VOLAG refugee-resettlement enterprise). Under T15 it also cites 8 U.S.C. §1521 for ORR's placement within HHS.[^13][^14][^2] ### When - March 17, 1980: the Refugee Act creates ORR within HHS, per the project time table.[^3] - March 1, 2003: the Unaccompanied Alien Children program transfers to ORR.[^6] ### How - The project document *The Instrument No One Will Name* (densified, 2026-06-18) describes how the federal reception-and-placement network fed Minnesota. In its reading, the VOLAG network placed Minnesota's Hmong and then Somali cohorts through the same federal infrastructure, repurposed rather than rebuilt. The communities it resettled are, the document says, those that [[§43A.191]] classifies and that programs it calls DHS-administered fund. The document labels this a structural reading over primary intake facts. The record does not establish it as a finding about the office's conduct.[^15] ## Notes [^1]: Administration for Children and Families, *Administration for Children and Families* (agency homepage) — ACF as the HHS administration of which ORR is a part. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ [^2]: Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, *8 U.S.C. §1521* (U.S. Code) — statutory placement of the Office of Refugee Resettlement within HHS. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1521 [^3]: Administration for Children and Families, *Office of Refugee Resettlement* (institutional homepage; project time-table row TL-0366, catalogue claims 10 and 55) — the act creating ORR within HHS, dated March 17, 1980. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Office of Refugee Resettlement*, lead section (revision 1368533617, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Public Law 96-212; mission summary; resettlement and admissions counts; FY2019 budget; interim-director description. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Refugee_Resettlement [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Office of Refugee Resettlement*, "History" section (revision 1368533617) — Volags; the 1946 Corporate Affidavit Program; the 1962 act; the Refugee Act of 1980's provisions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Refugee_Resettlement [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Office of Refugee Resettlement*, "Major changes" section (revision 1368533617) — eligibility expansions in 2000 and 2008; the 2003 transfer of the UAC program; governing instruments; the 2010 principles and vision. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Refugee_Resettlement [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Office of Refugee Resettlement*, "Leadership" section (revision 1368533617) — director as of September 2025; deputy directors; eight divisions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Refugee_Resettlement [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Office of Refugee Resettlement*, "Service delivery" section (revision 1368533617) — the Division of Resettlement Services and its grant programs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Refugee_Resettlement [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *Office of Refugee Resettlement*, "Funding" section (revision 1368533617) — appropriation and formula grants; the state-administered program; matching-grant terms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Refugee_Resettlement [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *Office of Refugee Resettlement*, "Partnerships" section (revision 1368533617) — partner departments and offices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Refugee_Resettlement [^11]: Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, *Voluntary Agencies Matching Grant Program* (policy guidance) — ORR's matching grant program for voluntary agencies. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/policy-guidance/voluntary-agencies-matching-grant-program [^12]: Administration for Children and Families, *Office of Refugee Resettlement* (cited in project catalogue meta-claim MC-12) — ORR as the federal pass-through to the Minnesota VOLAG network, with Title VI certifications layered on top. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr [^13]: Administration for Children and Families, *Office of Refugee Resettlement* (cited in project catalogue claim 48, Theory 2 — Title VI) — the same pass-through and Title VI description. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr [^14]: Administration for Children and Families, *Office of Refugee Resettlement* (cited in project catalogue claims 55, Theory 13, and 10, T15) — ORR's institutional homepage under those theories. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr [^15]: Minnesota wiki project, *The Instrument No One Will Name* (densified, 2026-06-18), passage [35] — structural reading of the intake-to-classification chain; the passage names the ORR pass-through as its source. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr