LIRS is pleased to announce the 2005 Asylum and Immigration grant awards.

This year LIRS grants are supporting 26 organizations, of which 14 focus on people in immigration detention and 13 are legal, social or community education projects. Seven legal service programs at LIRS resettlement affiliates were funded. The grants, which are made jointly with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, totaled $254,000.

LIRS Asylum and Immigration grants support community-based programs that are serving and advocating for vulnerable immigrants such as those in immigration detention, asylum seekers, children, torture survivors, trafficking victims and immigrant victims of domestic violence.

These grantees reported the following activities last year:

• Provided 1,045 legal orientation presentations to immigration detainees, reaching approximately 18,000 adults and over 3,000 children.
• Opened case files on almost 9,000 detained individuals and nearly 7,000 nondetained immigrants.
• Served almost 2,500 children, including over 1,500 who were detained.
• Served over 1,300 survivors or torture, of whom almost 700 were in immigration detention.
• Provided services to asylum seekers and other vulnerable immigrants from over 125 different countries.

This year's grantees are as follows, in order by state under each category:

Detention Projects

Arizona
Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, Inc., Florence

California
Casa Cornelia Law Center, San Diego

Colorado
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN), Denver

District of Columbia
Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition

Massachusetts
Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR), Boston
Refugee Immigration Ministries (RIM), Malden

Michigan
Freedom House, Detroit

Minnesota
Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, St. Paul
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Minneapolis

Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC), York

Texas
Political Asylum Project of Austin, Inc. (PAPA), Austin
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, El Paso

Vermont
Vermont Refugee Assistance, Montpelier

Washington
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Seattle

Legal, Social or Community Education Projects

Arizona
Asylum Project of Southern Arizona (APSA), Tuscon

Colorado
Lutheran Family Services of Colorado, Refugee and Asylum Program, Denver

Hawaii
Na Loio-Immigrant Rights and Public Interest Legal Center, Honolulu

Illinois
Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries, Chicago

The Immigration Project, Granite City

Maine
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Portland

Massachusetts
Lutheran Community Services of Southern New England, West Springfield
Lutheran Community Services of Massachusetts, Worcester Office Worcester

Nebraska
Interfaith Immigration Services of Nebraska (LFS of Nebraska), Omaha

New Jersey
Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey, Trenton

New York
VIVE, Inc., Buffalo
Lutheran Family and Community Services Refugee and Immigration Program, New York City

See lists of grantees from other years: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001.
See contact information for current grantees.
Read more about LIRS's Asylum and Immigration network.

Page updated September 17, 2007.