Four Years In, Americans’ Desire to Welcome Newcomers Has Only Grown

Washington, D.C.—In recognition of the four-year anniversary of Welcome.US, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to unlocking the desire and capacity of Americans to welcome newcomers and help them thrive in the United States, CEO Nazanin Ash today issued the following statement.

“Four years ago, Welcome.US was founded on a simple but powerful belief: Americans from all walks of life are eager to welcome and support people seeking safety in the United States, as long as they have a safe, orderly, legal way to do it. Since then, more than 2 million Americans—from different faith traditions, political leanings, and urban and rural communities—have raised their hands to welcome newcomers through private sponsorship programs. Together they have leveraged an estimated $7 billion of their own time, money, housing, and other resources to support newcomers rebuilding their lives after fleeing violence and persecution. In doing so, Americans have brought our nation's core values to life: freedom, generosity, and self-determination.

“Americans have always been Welcomers—neighbors lending a helping hand and communities coming together to solve problems. Over the last four years, Welcome.US has harnessed this spirit, empowering Americans to do this welcoming work at unprecedented scale, and, in the process built a national welcoming movement. We brought together a coalition of 40 major companies and 500 civic sector partners to scale community-driven private sponsorship programs. Through our Welcome Fund, we distributed $21 million in grants to more than 200 community organizations whose volunteers served more than 200,000 newcomers. Additionally, we provided grants, flight credits, training, and other resources to individual Welcomers to support their sponsorship efforts.

“This work has proven what we’ve known all along—that welcoming isn’t just good for newcomers, it’s good for us all. According to a July 2025 survey conducted by Welcome.US and More in Common, 77% of sponsors said sponsorship deepened ties to their community—bringing neighbors together, fostering collaboration across faith and civic groups, and finding common ground across political and cultural divides. Remarkably, 96% of respondents said they would sponsor again if safe and legal pathways were restored.

“From farmers in Unity, Wisconsin, welcoming a Ukrainian accountant who is now retraining as a nurse to meet her rural community’s needs, to a pastor and her church group in Bend, Oregon, that brought together 40 community members to help bring a Colombian family to safety, to Miami, Florida, where a sponsor who once fled Haiti herself, rallied her community to give a Haitian newcomer the chance to build her own American dream. These aren’t just isolated anecdotes—they are proof that welcoming works. And in thousands of American communities like these across our country, we are seeing the benefits: reversing population decline in small towns, revitalizing local economies, filling worker shortages, and introducing new cultural traditions.

“Even as policies have shifted to pause or eliminate private sponsorship programs and halt most refugee admissions, Americans have remained deeply engaged in welcoming—they’re mobilizing across 30,000 zip codes to urge their representatives in Congress to protect the people they welcomed.

“As the administration prepares to make its annual determination on refugee admissions this fall, one thing is clear: Americans are already leading the way. They are demanding safe, legal, and community-driven pathways that allow them to continue this important work. They want America to be a welcoming nation and they want to help rebuild it. We’ve walked alongside them as they become friends and neighbors to newcomers. The question is no longer whether Americans are ready to welcome. They’ve already shown they are. The real question is whether policymakers will listen and follow their lead.”