Welcome to Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area's (LSSNCA) newsroom. LSSNCA, a human services and immigration relief and refugee welcome agency throughout Maryland, Virginia, and the Washington D.C. metro area serves those on their immigration journey. Read how we're working together to amplify voices of refugees and asylum-seekers, create loving and responsible foster homes for unaccompanied children and refugee minors, advocate for new neighbors, and work torward creating a more just, welcoming, and thriving community.
For press inquiries, please email media@lssnca.org.
Three years on, the [Afghan] arrivals have slowed dramatically but they’re still trickling in. And LSSNCA said the needs are persistent, albeit different. Volunteer drivers are particularly in demand asmigrants need to be taken tojob interviewsorother important appointments. ... Also needed are tutors for kids settling into American schools, and mentors for adults trying to find their way in a new culture and a new job. Doctors, lawyers and even military-trained jet pilots in Afghanistan find themselves struggling to match their skills with jobs here.
LSSNCA joined more than 100 state, national, and local faith-based organizations to call on the
administration to urgently address backlogs in work permit processing and continue efforts to enhance,
expand, and extend access to work authorization for immigrants and asylum-seekers alike. Lastly, we asked
to codify the automatic extension for renewal applications and extend the automatic extension
period to 730 days as a means to protect the ability of individuals to work for years to come.
The ability to work is a gateway to the most essential needs we have as human beings, including food,
shelter, clothing, access to healthcare, and the ability to care for our loved ones and participate in our
communities. The call to work is widely recognized across many faith traditions.
Marjila graduated in journalism and communication from the University of Kabul. She worked as a journalist and served as a project manager for an NGO in Kabul while also establishing her own nonprofit focused on helping homeless children. On August 15, 2021, she woke up thinking she would head to the permit office to pick up the permit for her NGO and start operations. But the situation changed drastically when she learned that the Taliban had taken control of Kabul.
Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA) condemns the political violence, mourns the death of Corey Comperatore and expresses our solidarity with his family and other survivors of the traumatic event that occurred at a rally for former President Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Lutheran Social Services of National Capital Area (LSSNCA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Nikki Salzman as its Chief Development Officer. With a distinguished career in nonprofit fundraising and communications, and a steadfast dedication to advancing the work of welcome for forcibly displaced persons, Nikki brings invaluable experience to LSSNCA.
Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA) celebrates the recent executive action taken by the Biden administration to protect undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens.
Click to read our full statement and comment from CEO Kristyn Peck.
Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA) opposes the Biden administration’s Executive Order today which effectively closes the border to people seeking asylum. The U.S. deserves an immigration and asylum system that embodies America's spirit of welcome. “The real solution is investing in a more humane asylum system that recognizes the human dignity in those seeking refuge at our borders and that adequately resources the courts to more efficiently process asylum applications,” said LSSNCA CEO Kristyn Peck.
Click to read the full statement.
LSSNCA expresses concern that the asylum adjustments rule announced May 9 by the Biden administration may substantially elevate the asylum rejection rate for migrants lacking legal representation and sufficient time to navigate the asylum process.
When the teenager fled Afghanistan and arrived in the U.S., he was alone. He has since seen a community come together to help him and his four brothers. ... How the five brothers, who range in age from 8 to 21, all ended up living in Loudoun County is a story that starts with them getting separated at an airport in Afghanistan. Their family was one of the many that crowded the grounds around the international airport in Kabul in 2021 in hopes of evacuating as the United States withdrew its troops.
Photo credit: Theresa Vargas/The Washington Post
“We began interviewing refugee doctors in late 2022, learning about their passion for medicine and some of the barriers they face in returning to medical practice,” said Brandi Kilmer, Co-Founder of the Refugee Physicians Advocacy (RPA) Coalition and Community Programs Coordinator - Washington D.C. at TSOS. “It’s been incredibly rewarding to be part of a growing coalition of partners working to remove those barriers. We thank chief-patron Delegate Kathy Tran and our partners at Lutheran Social Services National Capital Area, World Education Services, and NOVA Friends of Refugees for their leadership, and all those who endorsed helping to remove a significant barrier with this bill. It has restored hope to many doctors in our network.”
LSSNCA joined more than 250 faith-based organizations and faith leaders to call for immediate humanitarian actions for Haiti. We called on the administration to: redesignate and extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Special Student Relief, pause all deportations, and expand key lawful migration pathways. We also urged the administration to halt any plans to detain Haitian migrants at Guantanamo Bay.
LSSNCA joined African Communities Together, ECDC, and more than 100 other organizations to request an immediate extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ethiopia in response to ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in the country.
Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA) extends our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the six workers presumed dead after the tragic Francis Scott Key Bridge accident in Baltimore.
LSSNCA joined the Haitian Bridge Alliance, immigration, human rights, faith-based, and civil rights organizations in requesting an extension and redesignation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and a moratorium on deportations to Haiti.
The Stateless Protection Act, a bicameral legislation establishing a new protected status, permanent residency and a pathway to citizenship for stateless individuals residing in the United States was reintroduced by Rep. Raskin (D-Md.-8), Sen. Cardin (D-Md.), Sen. Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Padilla (D-Calif.), and Rep. Connolly (D-Va.-11).
