Refugees and the State Department
American diplomats have helped refugees escape. Refugees, in turn, have become American diplomats.
The Department's role
Refugee admission to the United States runs through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Within that program, the Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration manages overseas processing and resettlement, while the Department of Homeland Security decides individual cases. Before 2003, that adjudication role belonged to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
World War II and the Holocaust
In the 1930s and 1940s, Jewish families fleeing Nazi Germany and Austria struggled to obtain U.S. visas. Some, like Henry Kissinger, Helmut Sonnenfeldt, Richard Schifter, and Felix Rohatyn, got out. All four later served at the highest levels of American foreign policy.
The Iron Curtain
After World War II, people fled Communist governments across Eastern Europe. Madeleine Albright and Rudolf Perina escaped Czechoslovakia after 1948. Tibor Nagy came from Hungary after 1956. Martina Strong left Czechoslovakia in 1982, and Anya Brunson left the Soviet Union in 1990.
Cuba
After the 1959 revolution, hundreds of thousands of Cubans left for the United States. Operation Pedro Pan, from 1960 to 1962, flew thousands of unaccompanied Cuban children to Miami. Two of them, Hugo Llorens and Eduardo Aguirre, became U.S. ambassadors.
Indochina
The fall of Saigon, Phnom Penh, and Vientiane in 1975 led to one of the largest resettlement efforts in American history. American diplomats in Saigon and Bangkok helped organize evacuations and camp processing. Refugees from that era include Sichan Siv, Anne Pham, Tony Hornik-Tran, Andy Pham, and Songkane Sackaly.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Sudan
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the Iranian revolution, Saddam Hussein's campaigns against the Kurds, and Sudan's civil war produced new generations of refugees. Among them are Mustafa Popal, Nabila Massoumi, Rina Amiri, Ellie Cohanim, Herro Mustafa, and Gai Nyok.