Public optics and the politicization of refugee resettlement: examining policy and practice across pre-departure and post-arrival contexts

In this article, we examine the disjuncture between the humanitarian framing of the United States refugee resettlement program and its administrative focus on quantifiable metrics, a pattern evident in both pre-departure and post-arrival resettlement contexts. Recognizing this disjuncture, we describe a larger contradiction between the framing of resettlement as a humanitarian program of migration and its politicization in public dialog. We argue that, despite the empirical decentralization of the resettlement program into distinct pre-departure and post-arrival policies and procedures, bureaucratic operations in both contexts reflect attention to public optics rather than the humanitarian needs of refugees. This has the operational effect of reducing the complex work of resettlement to quantifiable processes that prolong and create new forms of suffering. Acknowledging these political grounds, we conclude by recommending more continuity in resettlement processes and changes to public messaging about refugee resettlement.