Catch up on the latest news from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
** Welcome to This Week at LIRS!
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Every week, we catch you up on what's new at LIRS—from upcoming events to media appearances, important immigration updates, and more.
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Pathways to Protection
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Across the globe, the effects of climate change-related disaster are exacerbating humanitarian crises and driving individuals and families to leave their communities and ways of life. However, for the millions of climate-displaced persons who will cross borders for safety or livelihood, there is currently no dedicated, specific legal or policy framework under U.S. or international law that affords lasting protection.
This week, LIRS released our report on climate disaster and pathways to protection, which details recommendations for Congress and for the Biden administration ahead of its own report on climate migration and options for protecting those displaced by climate change.
“Climate change-related disaster has emerged as just as destructive a force as war, violence, and persecution,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of LIRS. “LIRS proposes that the United States uses every available tool in its toolkit to protect the climate displaced under its existing authorities while pioneering new pathways to protection that meet this moment of climate crisis.”
Read the Report ([link removed])
“Through nature, God teaches, communicates, and provides for the needs of humans. We are called by scripture and morality to partner with God in preserving, healing, and sustaining what God has granted us: our world, its people, and the beauty of creation…”
Read our special one-pager, Climate Displacement & Faith ([link removed]) .
On August 3, LIRS joined with families, congregations, and communities across the country to learn about the history and culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The webinar kicked off Gather: DRC through an evening of worship, food, art, and music!
Watch the video. ([link removed])
Download the toolkit ([link removed]) .
NEW: LIRS urges Congress to prioritize the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, farmworkers, essential workers, and their families in any economic recovery legislation including through budget reconciliation. Join us!
Contact your Member of Congress ([link removed]) .
"Vignarajah said they have historically resettled new arrivals in cities where the cost of living is relatively low. But, she said, many of these same places have become less affordable during the pandemic, as remote workers have flocked to previously under-the-radar towns."
LIRS CEO Krish O'Mara Vignarajah recently spoke with PRI's The World about the difficulty of finding housing in Maine for refugees.
Read the article ([link removed]) .
** Save Our Afghan Allies
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When our Afghan allies and their families arrive as "walk-ins," they often have no money, nowhere to stay, and nothing to eat. Unfortunately, there is typically a 5-7 day gap between the families’ arrivals and the services they are eligible to receive through the United States resettlement program.
This is where you can help. Your gift to Neighbors in Need: Afghan Allies will provide food, housing assistance, clothing, and other basic needs for our Afghan friends as they await the official services available to them.
Donate today. ([link removed])
"'There are countless journalists, teachers, women’s rights activists, and other civil society leaders who believe deeply in the ideals we fought for, and whose lives are in jeopardy because of it,' Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the head of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said in a statement. “It is our moral duty to offer a pathway to protection for them, especially as the security situation rapidly deteriorates.'”
Read more in The Washington Post ([link removed]) .
TAKE ACTION TODAY! Make your voice heard and urge the administration to provide urgent humanitarian protection and evacuation for the thousands of Afghan allies still in Afghanistan who have put their lives on the line for our country.
Send a message to the White House and Congress ([link removed]) .
On Friday, August 13, LIRS CEO Krish O'Mara Vignarajah will join the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations for Doing Well by Our Allies: An Overview and Recommendations for the Biden Administration’s Evacuation of Afghan Allies of the U.S. Armed Forces. All are welcome.
Register here ([link removed]) .
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