From the President’s Desk
August 2008

The State of LIRS Refugee Resettlement in 2008
By Ralston Deffenbaugh, LIRS President

LIRS held its annual conference in June in Minnesota, bringing together our resettlement partners from across the country. In my welcoming address I had the opportunity to reflect on the state of refugee resettlement as I see it from the LIRS perspective. Following are the main points that I shared:

We face three major environmental challenges:

• Our nation’s continued fear post-September 11
• The brokenness of our immigration system and the ugliness of the debate over immigration reform
• The strains on nonprofit social service providers as we are caught between inadequate government resources and increased demands for reporting and accountability with less tolerance for creativity in carrying out services

This all plays out in the resettlement program in these ways:

• Refugee admissions have still not recovered to pre-September 11 levels. In particular, Iraqi refugees are being blocked from entry in anywhere near the numbers that they should be.
• The dehumanizing label of “illegals” and the nasty things being said about them are bleeding over to immigrants in general and refugees in particular.
• Governmental resources for resettlement are falling farther and farther short of what our programs need in order to do a good job. At the same time the program is more burdensome administratively and allows less room for creativity. In addition, we face the risk of uncertain arrivals and the federal program’s dwindling support for family reunification. A prime example is the roller-coaster situation faced by our resettlement partner in Minnesota, where family reunification numbers rose very high and have now plunged low.

I can make a forecast, but a very cautious and murky one:

• Refugee admissions will rise to higher levels as the United States bears its humanitarian responsibility for the consequences of the Iraq war.
• We will see comprehensive immigration reform, but not until 2010.
• We will have to engage in a thorough rethinking of the public-private partnership of the resettlement program and of the respective roles of each in order for the program to become more sustainable administratively. Large-scale Iraqi resettlement might be a catalyst to force that.

In the midst of this environment, LIRS’s priorities will be threefold:

• We will continue to be the Lutheran agency, with a commitment to high-quality compassionate service; and the Lutheran voice, with a commitment to speaking out for what is right.
• We will continue to strive to be a partner of choice because of our commitment to strengthening others.
• We will shift the mindset and emphasis of LIRS and our partners as we all work together toward engaging individuals and communities with more vigor in the service of newcomers. Engaging volunteers, congregations, ethnic communities and strong families is not an optional or add-on component of our work, but rather the very foundation of what we do. This is what it means to welcome the stranger.

Read past articles.