Refugee Center in Champaign helps refugees and immigrants in need

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — For refugees coming into the U.S., it can be challenging navigating a new home.

"For refugees, they are 'Office of Refugee Resettlement eligible', meaning they're eligible for programs under that office," said Lisa Wilson, the Executive Director for The Refugee Center.

According to Amnesty International, refugees are people who are forced to flee their country, while immigrants are people who chose to leave on their own.

Either way -- The Refugee Center in Champaign helps anyone trying to set up a life in the U.S.

"We help them finding housing before they arrive with getting culturally appropriate food for them to eat. We help them find jobs. We help the kids register for school. We direct them to ESL providers, and we provide cultural orientation to help them adjust to life in east central Illinois," said Wilson.

Moving to a new country is no easy feat. And when you have challenges like language barriers, difficult paperwork, and other immigration issues, many immigrants and refugees struggle to finalize their U.S citizenship.

"Refugees come in with permission and they are able to apply for legal permanent residence … once you have legal permanent residence, you have to wait five years to apply for citizenship," said Wilson.

One of the biggest concerns for people who end up at the Refugee Center is being separated from loved ones.

"The refugee process in the U.S. goes through the Department of State, and they work with ten nationwide refugee resettlement agencies, within those ten agencies, they all have what's called affiliates in smaller and in different cities," said Wilson.

This way, they can do their best to keep loved ones together.

"So they work really hard together to place refugees with their families," said Wilson.

For anyone that is needs support in how to navigate life in the U.S, click here or call The Refugee Center in Champaign at (217)-344-8455.