Global Refuge (Formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service)

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Global Refuge

Founded 1939; 86 years ago

Type Non-governmental

Tax ID no. 132574854

Legal status Non-profit

Headquarters Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

Region United States

President and CEO Krish O'Mara Vignarajah

Affiliations Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,
Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Revenue US$3 00 million (2017)[1]
Employees 550
Website www.globalrefuge.org

Formerly called Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service


Global Refuge, formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service,[2] is a non-profit organization that supports refugees and migrants entering the United States. It is one of nine refugee resettlement agencies working with the Office of Refugee Resettlement[3] and one of two that serves unaccompanied refugee minors.[4] Global Refuge also advocates for policies and practices relating to immigration and detention.[5][6]

As an organization, Global Refuge originates from the response of American Lutherans in 1939 to the needs of Europeans displaced because of World War II,[7] but the roots of the organization reach back to the 1860s when the New York Ministerium and the Pennsylvania Ministerium joined together to help and protect Lutheran immigrants in the US.[8] Since then the organization's scope has expanded to include any refugees entering the US, support for asylum seekers[9] and migrants,[10][11] and services to unaccompanied children (UACs).

Global Refuge continues to be a faith-based organization and maintains collaborative relationships with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[12]

As of 2019 the president and CEO is Krish O'Mara Vignarajah.[13]

Latvia’s largest bank fights off depositor run after rumors of imminent collapse

Posted on December 12, 2011

December 12, 2011 – LATVIA – Latvia’s largest bank scrambled Monday to head off a run among depositors who were gripped by rumors of the bank’s imminent ruin. Weekend rumors that Swedbank was facing legal and liquidity problems in Estonia and Sweden sent thousands of Latvians to bank machines on Sunday, with some lines reaching as many as 50 people. Latvians are particularly sensitive to speculation about banks’ health. Latvijas Krajbanka, the country’s 10th largest bank, was nationalized last month after regulators discovered evidence of massive fraud allegedly carried out by the bank’s former owner, Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov. Depositors were deprived of access to their funds for days. And three years ago the country’s second largest bank, Parex Bank, entered technical default and had to be taken over by the government, which in turn forced Latvia to appeal to international creditors and the European Union for a €7.5 billion ($10.5 billion) bailout. Prime Minister Vladis Dombrovskis told journalists that the rumors were spread maliciously with the intent to harm Latvia’s banking system, the Baltic News Service reported. Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis said that police have opened a criminal investigation. The rumors were contained to Latvia and did not spread to neighboring Estonia and Lithuania, which also have affiliates of the Swedish-controlled Swedbank. Maris Mancinskis, Swedbank’s Latvian chief, slammed the rumors as “absurd” and said in a statement that the bank was functioning normally and that all deposit holders would have full access to their money via bank machines and branch offices. Mancinskis told LNT television that the rumors started last week and proliferated over the weekend, culminating in Sunday’s rush to bank machines. -CBC

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