Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services (LIRS)

Founding and History

Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services was founded in 1939 and since then has helped 500,000 refugees resettle in the United States, including displaced Germans and Eastern Europeans following World War II, Hungarians following the unsuccessful anti-Communist 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Cuban exiles following the Communist Cuban Revolution, and many others in the aftermath of conflicts around the globe. ¹

Finances

In fiscal year 2018, Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services had $50,597,305 in revenue, of which $47,840,400 came from contributions and grants and $2,522,312 came from program service revenue. LIRS had $47,815,775 in expenses, of which $35,454,187 was paid out in grants and $7,992,653 was paid out in salary and other forms of compensation. The organization ended the year with a budget surplus of $2,781,530 and $14,021,457 in assets. ³

Policy

Refugee Resettlement

Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services’ main function is to resettle refugees in the United States. To date it has resettled over 500,000 refugees in the U.S. An integral part of LIRS’ process is the “long welcome” and refers to the process of seeking to integrate refugees into their new communities through fostering civic participation over time. ^{1 4}

Foster Care and Family Reunification

LIRS works with the U.S. government to place unaccompanied children who cross the border alone, or children who have been separated from their parents or accompanying adults at the border, with foster care, with family in the United States, or to reunite them with their family. After children are placed, either with their families or a foster home, LIRS continues to provide support services to assist in their integration into American society. ^{5 6} LIRS works with the U.S. government in order to screen potential caregivers or sponsors to protect children from potential human trafficking. LIRS also directs potential sponsors to legal resources to address their legal status and therefore make them less vulnerable to potential trafficking. ⁷

Economic Assistance

LIRS has several different initiatives to economically assist refugees. These include financial literacy training, technical training, and youth career training. ⁸

Criticism of Trump Administration

Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services issued statements critical of the Trump Administration’s refugee policies. LIRS’ President O’Mara Vignarajah has called for the end of the family separation detainment policy on the southern border, and called the election of Joe Biden as “a new dawn in America” and the previous four years of the Trump administration “a dark chapter for our immigrant brothers and sisters.” She also stated that the Trump administration’s travel ban was a “xenophobic Muslim ban.” O’Mara Vignarajah has also called the administration’s decision to resettle only 15,000 refugees in fiscal year 2021 as a “heartless decision [. . .] diametrically opposed to our values as a welcoming nation.” ^{9 10 11}

Leadership

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah is the President and CEO of Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services. She previously worked at McKinsey & Company, the Washington DC law firm Jenner & Block, clerked for Chief Judge Michael Boudin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and has worked as an adjunct at Georgetown University. Before joining LIRS she worked in the Obama White House as the Policy Director for First Lady Michelle Obama, and as a Senior Advisor at the State Department to both Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. ¹² O’Mara Vignarajah has contributed to the left-of-center PAC ActBlue. ¹³