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Welcome to OTDA's Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance (BRIA)
What's New at BRIA?
View OTDA Brochure Human Trafficking: Contemporary Slavery
New York State Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking: Public Hearing Testimony
The ITF hosted a public hearing on 12/11/07 to record advocates’ and service providers’ recommendations for strengthening NYS’ human trafficking response. The ITF received oral testimony from 20 organizations that lauded the State's anti-trafficking efforts and offered many insightful and instructive comments, which OTDA and DCJS will incorporate into the ITF's report to the Governor and the NYS Legislature, along with the written testimony submitted by organizations that could not attend the hearing. View Human Trafficking testimony
What is BRIA?
BRIA is the Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance - formerly the Bureau of Refugee and Immigration Affairs.
The Federal Refugee Act of 1980 incorporated an existing network of private resettlement agencies and public agencies into a national Refugee Resettlement Program. In response to the Act, the New York State Department of Social Services formed the Refugee Assistance Program (RAP). Several years later, with the addition of service to Cuban and Haitian entrants, RAP became the Refugee/Entrant Assistance Program (REAP). REAP was renamed the Bureau of Refugee and Immigration Affairs (BRIA) in the early 1990's to reflect the Bureau's extended role to serve legalizing immigrants under the Immigration Reform and Control Act, and its Citizenship efforts for all immigrants. Each state participating in the program is represented by a State Refugee Coordinator. The responsibility of the Coordinator is to promote an integrated approach to policy and program development and to assure efficient use of service and benefit resources. In New York State, the State Refugee Coordinator is synonymous with the position of BRIA Director.
Recognizing the size of New York State's foreign-born population, the states responsibility over immigrant policy, and the need for a more coordinated approach to immigrant services, BRIA was briefly renamed the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Services (ORIS) in September, 2006 before reverting to our original acronym. BRIA is the single state agency responsible for the implementation of services to refugees and for the administration of programs targeted at immigrants. BRIA consists of four units providing ongoing technical assistance and funding for newcomer services:
- The Refugee Services Unit, in continuing the mission of BRIA in its focus on refugee populations, supports the state and federal contracts for assistance to refugees and others eligible for refugee services;
- The Immigrant Community Liaison Unit which provides community liaisons to ethnic communities across the state;
- The Language Services Unit which helps state and local agencies with translation, interpretation, and other language needs; and,
- The Newcomer Transition Unit which supports the state's Citizenship Initiative and the New York Immigration Hotline contracts, analyzes new immigrant-related legislation, oversees research efforts, coordinates state program and policy development for non-refugee immigrants on matters related to their integration into the larger community, and provides monthly updates on new refugee arrivals and newcomers served through the Citizenship Initiative, as well as general immigration data derived from the US Census and the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).
- The Administrative Support and Data Management Unit which obtains and tracks client and program data, analyzes data for required federal reports, interagency reports, and internal management reports to assist in planning and performance measurement as well as ensuring the ongoing development and maintenance of the BRIA Information Network or BIN System.
BRIA's mission is to direct local resources which assist refugees and their families in achieving economic and social self-sufficiency, to aid other legal immigrants in their transition to life in the U.S., to help repatriated citizens arrive safely at home, provide assistance to victims of human trafficking, and assure proper foster care for unaccompanied refugee and entrant minors.