Thanks for expanding your immigration knowledge this week. Below are a few agencies that work across the US providing support to immigrants and refugees. There are also many smaller agencies that are not working across the country that provide great services but due to the wide-spread nature of my readership, I wanted to highlight the nationally serving agencies. I also included a few additional links and reading suggestions.
Agencies:
Lutheran Social Services
"Every year, LSS/NCA is proud to welcome hundreds of refugees from around the world to the United States. From the moment a new family arrives at the airport, our staff is at the gate waiting to provide guidance and encouragement. While each family’s story is different, their collective dreams are the same: to rebuild their lives in America and regain a sense of security after years of strife. At LSS/NCA, we support our clients during this important transition by mobilizing community partners and offering a comprehensive range of services to newcomers."
LSS also assists with legal services for immigrants already present in the US at a more affordable rate than most immigration law firms.
Catholic Charities
"Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services (CCILS) provides high
quality immigration legal services to low income immigrants and
refugees, and engages in public education, training and community
outreach in order to promote justice for all newcomers and conditions
for their full participation in American society.
Founded in 1996, CCILS focuses on family reunification and
assistance to the most vulnerable immigrants, including domestic
violence victims, crime victims, refugees, and certain persons needing
deportation and removal defense."
I have been connected with Catholic Charities back in DC helping a friend through the legal process and have been impressed with their services. They handle many of the same kinds of cases that I worked on while in El Paso and also have many refugee programs. They are in dozens of locations around the US and each one does slightly different work.
International Rescue Committee
"The United States has a long tradition of offering refuge to those
fleeing persecution and war. In 2011, the International Rescue
Committee's 22 regional offices helped
resettle some 7,000 newly arrived refugees and provided services to
over 24,000 refugees, asylees, and victims of human trafficking. IRC
staff members and volunteers
believe that refugees’ greatest resources are themselves. We help them
translate their skills, interests and past experiences into assets that
are valuable in their new communities."
IRC (I think) is one of the best known agencies working on domestic, refugee issues. If you want to volunteer in this field, they also actively seem to seek volunteers to assist in helping refugees transition to life in the US- I have a couple of friends who have done this and really enjoyed the experience.
Additional Resources:
Lost in Detention: Documentary on the US detention system
US Immigration Timeline and other resources: More details on a number of the issues I introduced this week, including videos.
Immigration in California: a short movie and information on immigration in California
Enrique's Journey: an awesome and eye opening book on the immigration journey for one young boy
Children of the Harvest: A dateline short on children of migrant workers.
New Immigrants in New York: book about immigrant adaption and challenges in NY.
Race, Rights, and the Asian American Experience: a book about the challenges specific to the Asian-American Immigrant Experience.
Native Speaker: a book about one immigrant's experience.
The Lost Boys of Sudan: is both a book by Mark Bixler and a documentary about the journey of a group of Sudanese refugees.
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