This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for refugee resettlement in this country

Refugee resettlement has always been a public-private partnership, relying on the generosity of American communities who come together and welcome newcomers. Read the article from Religion News Service, cowritten by Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).

Afghan refugees walk through a refugee camp on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, Sept. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

As we gather together with friends and loved ones this holiday season, about 35,000 Afghan evacuees are still waiting on U.S. military bases for the chance to be resettled in communities where they can start their new lives.

Each of our organizations has deployed staff members to the military bases to help with processing and welcoming Afghan families. They have told us about the inspiring resilience, strength and optimism they have encountered there. They have told us about a family with three young children and a baby on the way, who barely made it onto one of the last planes out with only one suitcase among them. They have told us about the sisters who chose freedom at the high cost of leaving their parents behind. We have shared meals and prayers with them as they reflect on the hope they hold for a new future free from fear.

Military bases were never meant to be a long-term solution. It is time for these families to finally start the next chapter of their lives in their new homes. As the leaders of three of the nation’s nine resettlement agencies, we know resettling these newest neighbors will require all the resources, creativity and compassion the United States has to offer. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for refugee resettlement in this country.

Read the article from Religion News Service, cowritten by Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).