He was sexually assaulted in a Libyan prison, harassed in Tunisia and tried unsuccessfully to take a boat to Europe. Ngounou joined a growing number of LGBTQ people accepted into the Welcome Corps, which launched last year and pairs groups of Americans with newly arrived refugees. “LGBTQ refugees are forced to flee their homes due to persecution and violence, not unlike other people,” said Jeremy Haldeman, deputy executive director of the Community Sponsorship Hub, which implements the Welcome Corps on behalf of the State Department. The demand far outstrips capacity: Of more than 15,000 requests for help in 2023, the nonprofit helped resettle 23 refugees through the Welcome Corps program in cities as large as Houston and towns as small as Arlington, Vermont. Another refugee in the program, Julieth Luna Garcia, is a transgender woman from El Salvador who settled in Chicago.

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Persons: Cabrel, Ngounou’s, Ngounou, ” Ngounou, “, ”, Lori Ostlund, Anne Raeff, Terry Chea, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Trump, JD Vance, Biden, Jeremy Haldeman, ” Kathryn Hampton, ” Hampton, Julieth Luna Garcia Organizations: Welcome Corps, Biden Administration, State Department, U.S, Rainbow Railroad Locations: Cameroon, —, Tunisia, Europe, United States, San Francisco, America, Gaza, U.S, Ohio, “, East, Africa, Houston, Arlington , Vermont, El Salvador, Chicago