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** "We found a lot of community here."
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Augustine, Aline, and their six children spent years in a refugee camp before being resettled in Fargo, North Dakota. From their very first moments at the airport, they were welcomed by members of the congregation at St. John Lutheran Church as part of LIRS's Circle of Welcome co-sponsorship program.

Now, they have the support of a built-in community of friends and neighbors as they begin to navigate life in the United States—and the members of St. John are learning from them, too.

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** In the News
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“Returning thousands of Venezuelans to the same unimaginably dangerous conditions they just fled is a profoundly problematic policy for the world’s humanitarian leader to adopt.”

Our President & CEO, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, shared our perspective about the Biden administration’s decision to resume removal flights to Venezuela. With 7.7 million displaced, the country represents the source of the largest refugee crisis in the Western Hemisphere.

Read more in the Associated Press ([link removed]) .

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TAKE ACTION TODAY!

We need your support to ensure that Afghans find real, lasting safety in the U.S. Contact your legislators today and urge their support for the passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act.

Contact your legislator ([link removed]) .

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125 WATCH UPDATE!

New data from the Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System reports that 60,014 refugees were welcomed into the U.S. this fiscal year—more than twice as many admissions as last year!

We celebrate this progress and call on the Biden administration to fulfill the Presidential Determination of 125,000 admissions in FY2024.

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Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service . PO Box 17467 . Baltimore, MD 21297-1467 . USA