U.S. Asylum-Seeker Reception Toolkits

Violence, war, and persecution have driven people from their homes at increasing rates, giving rise to growing numbers of asylum-seekers at the U.S. southern border, and in communities throughout the United States. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, supports the humanitarian response in the country by providing technical guidance and best practices through toolkits.

Read the Border Shelter Toolkit

Read the Toolkit on Asylum-Seeker Reception

A mother and baby at the San Diego Rapid Response Network Migrant Shelter in San Diego, California.

Border Shelter Toolkit

Shelters along the U.S. southern border, who describe their role as providing “hospitality”, have proven vital community partners, providing a safe, orderly, and reliable humanitarian response to those seeking protection from persecution. The families and adults welcomed by the shelters have their immediate basic needs met; are empowered with information on the immigration system, the asylum process, and how to access further assistance; and are assisted in making travel arrangements to reach family sponsors at their destinations.

The Border Shelter Toolkit: Best Practices in Sheltering Asylum-Seeking Families at the U.S. Southern Border is inspired by and for these respite shelters. This compilation draws upon shelter models and best practices that have worked well in supporting asylum-seeking families and adults at the U.S. southern border and is rooted in international and domestic standards and guidance. Rather than suggesting a singular formula for creating and running a successful respite shelter, the resources in this toolkit can be adapted to fit the specific needs of the host communities at the U.S. southern border and the asylum-seeker guests they welcome.

The toolkit contains a resource library with the documents created by border shelters and shelter partners.

Toolkit on Asylum-Seeker Reception

Communities throughout the United States are receiving asylum-seekers as well and are working through how to welcome these newcomers in both the immediate and long term. The need for sustained coordination, across all levels of government and between and within receiving communities, has emerged as a high priority to enable reception systems to expand, contract, and pivot effectively.

Toolkit on Asylum-Seeker Reception: Best Practices in Receiving Asylum-Seekers in Communities throughout the United States seeks to support communities in developing and expanding their reception responses. It draws on international guidance as well as observations gleaned from interviews with service providers in the private and public sectors at the local and state level and with asylum-seekers themselves.