refugee resettlement

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HELLO Community Services is one of the four refugee resettlement agencies in Oklahoma. As an affiliate of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, HELLO Community Services partners with the U.S. Department of State to provide protection, relief, and long-term solutions for refugees and conflict victims who seek sanctuary from persecution. 

HELLO CS NEEDS YOUR HELP!

We work in partnership with local organizations, congregations, and individual volunteers to carry out our work in welcoming refugees to Oklahoma. There are countless opportunities for you and your community to make a positive impact. 

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The terms “refugee”, “asylum seeker” and “migrant” are used to describe people who are on the move, who have left their countries and have crossed borders.

The terms “migrant” and “refugee” are often used interchangeably but it is important to distinguish between them as there is a legal difference.

Refugees are people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country. 

 Refugees are defined and protected in international law. The 1951 Refugee Convention is a key legal document and defines a refugee as:

“someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”

An asylum seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who has not yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim. Seeking asylum is a human right. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum.

There is no internationally accepted legal definition of a migrant. Like most agencies and social service organizations, HELLO Community Services understands migrants to be people staying outside their country of origin, who are not asylum seekers or refugees.  

Some migrants leave their country because they want to work, study or join family. Others feel they must leave because of poverty, gang violence, natural disasters or other serious circumstances that exist there.