Ideas worth spreading

A safe pathway to resettlement for migrants and refugees

1,616,942 views |

Becca Heller |

TED2022

• April 2022

"Human migration is both inevitable and growing. What are we as a global community doing to address it?" asks human rights lawyer Becca Heller, who believes that every refugee and migrant deserves a safe pathway to resettlement. Through her work with the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Heller is showing how the power of the law can help displaced people find homes. By providing access to legal information and services, IRAP champions a functional, rights-based legal system that empowers resettlers to find long-lasting safety. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change. If you want to hear even more about Heller's work, stick around after the talk on the "TED Talks Daily" podcast, where she digs deeper into her ideas.)

"Human migration is both inevitable and growing. What are we as a global community doing to address it?" asks human rights lawyer Becca Heller, who believes that every refugee and migrant deserves a safe pathway to resettlement. Through her work with the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Heller is showing how the power of the law can help displaced people find homes. By providing access to legal information and services, IRAP champions a functional, rights-based legal system that empowers resettlers to find long-lasting safety. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change. If you want to hear even more about Heller's work, stick around after the talk on the "TED Talks Daily" podcast, where she digs deeper into her ideas.)

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about International Refugee Assistance Project's plan to unlock legal rights so that refugees can resettle safely.

About the speaker

Becca Heller

Human rights lawyer

See speaker profile

Becca Heller is dedicated to helping displaced people worldwide find a safe place to live — and a safe way to get there.

Mohsin Hamid | Riverhead Books, 2017 | Book

A surrealist look at the very surreal experience of sudden and total displacement, with a quiet suggestion that all humans are in fact refugees through time

Isabel Wilkerson | Random House, 2020 | Book

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

A stark and unflinching look at how structural inequality shapes our world

Alexis Okeowo | The New Yorker, 2022 | Article

"Warsan Shire’s Portraits of Somalis in Exile"

I frequently quote the line “no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark,” which encapsulates the urgency in which refugees find themselves and their lack of choice when it comes to returning to their home countries.

LastWeekTonight | YouTube, 2014 | Watch

"Translators: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)"

In this segment, John Oliver interviewed an IRAP client, and for the first time, a mainstream audience learned about the problems with the SIV program for US allies and why its complexities often require a lawyer to navigate.

Megan Mylan | Principe Productions, Inmaat Productions and Just Films/Ford Foundation, 2021 | Watch

Simple as Water

This documentary about several families separated in the process of seeking refuge shows the need for family reunification as part of any response to the displacement crisis.

Learn more

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about International Refugee Assistance Project's plan to unlock legal rights so that refugees can resettle safely.