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.
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation has awarded LSSNCA a generous grant of $85,000 in support of our Refugee and Immigrant Services Program for fiscal year 2023.
LSSNCA, along with more than 130 local, state, and national faith-based organizations, called on the Biden Administration to designate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following the United Nations’ recent report that more than 6.9 million Congolese people are currently displaced as a result of armed conflict, intense violence, and humanitarian crises.
Nadya Andrusik, LSSNCA executive director, children, youth, and family services, joins Tiffany at WFLS Fredesricksburg to talk about the importance of being a foster parent - and how to become one with LSSNCA's foster care programs!
LSSNCA joined 40 organizations, including: World Relief, National Immigration Forum, Women's Refugee Commission, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the American Bar Association, in support of Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and U.S. Representatives Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) introduction of legislation to combat the immigration court backlog and strengthen due process rights for unaccompanied migrant children. U.S. Representatives Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), and Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) also joined as original cosponsors of this legislation.
Hasib Satary, LSSNCA's director, employment services - Virginia, shares his story - one that reflects the journey of thousands of Afghans evacuated to the U.S. "For many Afghan veterans like him, the stresses of refugee life continue to suppress and exacerbate the traumas of combat two years after arriving stateside..."
Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA) strongly supports the Protecting Unaccompanied Children Act introduced by Senator Durbin yesterday, and also applauds the complementary letter released October 23, by Sen. Durbin and other concerned senators to the Department of Labor echoing our calls to hold companies accountable to follow existing child labor laws and regulations.
“The proposed legislation recognizes the unique vulnerabilities children fleeing violence and persecution who arrive in the United States alone face,” said Kristyn Peck, LSSNCA CEO. “It provides much-needed safeguards and protection by filling in critical gaps for unaccompanied children in the U.S.,” she continued.
Senator Hirono (D-HI) reintroduced legislation to provide unaccompanied children with access to legal representation when they appear in proceedings before an immigration judge - the Fair Day in Court for Kids Act. ... Nearly half of all unaccompanied children represent themselves during legal proceedings and it is extremely difficult for children to successfully navigate the U.S. immigration system without an attorney—unrepresented children appear alone in immigration court to face a judge and an adversarial government attorney seeking their removal from the United States. Many of these children, some as young as 3-years old, are unable to speak English and unable to understand our complicated legal system. Immigration judges are nearly 100 times less likely to grant relief to unaccompanied children without counsel compared to those with counsel.
