Refugees

As the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine passes, Oregon legislators are considering a bill to make it easier for Ukrainian refugees to do things like rent an apartment and get a driver's license.

The war there is responsible — and makes it difficult just to assess the scale of displacement. Details are in a new report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

The number is more than double what the U.N.'s refugee agency projected in February when Russia invaded the country. The vast majority of those who have already left are women and children.

Oregon lawmakers created the state’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement in 2021 with the goal of streamlining support for newcomers to the state, such as the 1,200 Afghan refugees expected this year. In early March, the office got its first director.

Afghan refugees who fled their country following the Taliban takeover six months ago are struggling to find affordable housing in the high-cost U.S. cities where they’ve chosen to settle.

Ukrainians are bracing for another night of assaults as Russian troops close in on the capital of Kyiv and skirmishes erupt on the city’s outskirts

A San Francisco Bay Area health clinic founded four decades ago to screen refugees from Southeast Asia is part of the U.S. effort to resettle tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan.

A $400 million bipartisan spending package unveiled Friday also includes money for cracking down on illegal marijuana grows, resettling Afghan refugees, and addressing gun violence.

Legislative Emergency Board will consider the request based on a 12-month plan outlined by Rep. Khanh Pham and Sen. Kayse Jama who have led Oregon’s effort to welcome Afghan refugees.

Operation Allies Welcome expects to place around 120,000 refugees in communities across the U.S. by the end of 2021.