what you call a person living in a safe house

What would you call the person that lives in a safe house, to save them from a much worse situation, say a person seeking freedom, escaping violence. The text I am translating refers to the African Americans who were offered a place in Underground Railroad safe houses during the period of slavery in the US.

I’m looking for a generic word (not the official “freedom seekers” or similar) – something that has to do with them being “protected” (a synonym for “protectee”)
The sample sentence is:

The comforter on the bed has star and moon patterns… Mother didn’t make it herself… it was a gift from one of her poor protectees when we arrived here. It was a gift from Mrs Dillard, as thanks for the help she’d received.