A refugee flees their homeland due to fear of political, social or religious persecution. Currently, those considered refugees are from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Cuba, Kosovo, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Sudan and Sierra Leone. Today, there are an estimated 13 to 15 million refugees throughout the world, with women and children constituting the majority of these displaced people.

The United Nations makes a decision regarding the refugee's status. Refugee status may be repatriation (sent back to mother country), nationalization (remain in country to which they fled), or third country asylum (accepted for resettlement in another country - this is infrequent).

Refugees are interviewed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Once approved, the refugee is assigned to a domestic resettlement agency, such as Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries, or one of seven other national voluntary agencies.

The refugee is then placed with a field office in their resettlement state for assistance. Locally, there are 5 resettlement agencies, including Interfaith Ministries, Jewish Family Service,Catholic Charities, YMCA, and Alliance for Multicultural Community Services. The largest groups of refugees currently resettling in the Houston area are from Vietnam, Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Iran, and Cuba.

Interfaith Ministries locates an agency sponsor or local community of faith sponsor for the refugee family (or a family sponsor for family reunification cases).