19 people from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, consisting of a single mother and child and 17 single adult men, left yesterday to start a new life in the United States, under the US Refugee Resettlement Programme (USRRP). On arrival, they will be assisted by NGOs in the USA to proceed to their final destinations in various states.
This latest departure brings the total of beneficiaries of international protection who were resettled to the United States from Malta since 2007 to 1,024 migrants. The number of beneficiaries of protection resettled to the United States since the start of the USRRP amounts to 996.
213 migrants have been resettled from Malta to the United States since the beginning of 2012. More beneficiaries of international protection are expected to leave for the United States in the coming weeks.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Malta, the International Organisation for Migration and US government officials are involved at various stages of this resettlement process.
In all, 1,682 refugees and beneficiaries of international protection have been relocated or resettled to various other developed countries since 2005 – 292 of these since the beginning of the current year.