LIRS is pleased to announce the 2007 Asylum and Immigration grant awards.

In 2007 LIRS and the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) jointly awarded $263,000 to 23 organizations. Of these organizations, 13 focus on people in immigration detention, and six are legal, social or community education projects. In addition, three legal service programs at LIRS resettlement affiliates were funded.

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 542 legal orientation presentations to immigration detainees, reaching approximately 18,480 adults and 1,874 children.
• Opened case files on 11,479 detained individuals and 8,926 nondetained immigrants.
• Served 2,891 children, including over 2,000 who were detained.
• Served over 950 survivors or torture, of whom over 300 were in immigration detention. Provided services to asylum seekers and other vulnerable immigrants from over 120 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
Lutheran Social Ministry of the Southwest (formerly Asylum Project of Southern Arizona), Tuscon

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

Illinois
The Immigration Project, Granite City

Maine
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Portland

Massachusetts
Lutheran Community Services of Southern New England, West Springfield

Nebraska
Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Omaha

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, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001.
See contact information for current grantees.
Read more about LIRS's Asylum and Immigration network.

Page added September 17, 2007.