'Like being born again': Family fleeing violence starts anew through refugee sponsor program

María del Carmen Chaparro knows the frenzy of forced displacement, the sad routine of grabbing some clothes and running with her husband and four children, fearing being murdered. “It’s your life, or they take your children, they recruit them,” she said in an interview.

Due to her work as a community political leader in Colombia, Chaparro was persecuted and threatened by criminal groups until she crossed the border into Ecuador in 2023.

But the situation there was "terrible for us," she said; they couldn't get work, didn't have food and felt "impressive xenophobia" against her family.

While the family was in a shelter in Ecuador, they came into contact with United Nations officials who processed their refugee cases and referred them to Welcome Corps, a program created by the State Department in January 2023 to provide qualifying refugees a path to legal, permanent status in the U.S. — with help from people in the U.S.

Through Welcome Corps, American citizens or legal permanent residents can form a group and sponsor refugee families, facilitating their transition to life in the U.S.

Chaparro and her family now live in Bend, Oregon, where a group of sponsors from the city’s Antioch Church came together to sponsor them, facilitating their arrival and helping them as they integrate into their new community.

“It was like being born again, like an opportunity to rest and be able to give my children a life without persecution,” Chaparro said.

Opening a legal pathway for refugees — with Americans' help

Individuals eligible to participate in Welcome Corps can be of any nationality but must meet the definition of a refugee under U.S. law and have documents proving they’ve been registered through the U.N. or the country where