IRIS

Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Service (IRIS) provides a gracious welcome as well as tangible tools and connections to help new arrivals achieve self-sufficiency in the United States.

IRIS is a non-profit, non-sectarian agency offering several programs including refugee resettlement, immigration legal services, cultural orientation and food assistance programs. IRIS is a program of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and operates in conjunction with Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM).

History

Since the late 1800s, the Episcopal Church has had a crucial hand in serving immigrants new to the U.S. During the early times, the Church opened port chaplaincies to minister to temporary travelers  on both coasts. In the 1930s, local parishes also helped to provide steamship passage by collecting donations for those fleeing Nazi Europe. Out of such efforts, the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief was born which led to the creation of Epsicopal Relief & Development and our affiliate organization, Episocpal Migration Ministries.

Episocpal Migration Ministries (EMM) was formally established in the late 1980s after the Episocpal Church partnered with other faith organizations to resettle those oppressed by the Iron Curtain and genocides of southeast Asia in the mid- to late 20th century. To date, EMM has welcomed and helped more than 95,000 individuals resettle in the U.S. of America. 

Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Service (IRIS) was formed as a program of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles in 2004. Founded as one of the Hands in Healing initiatives of Bishop Jon Bruno, IRIS is a social and legal service agency dedicated to providing assistance to refugees, asylees, migrants and other displaced persons fleeing persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. IRIS has helped more than 12,000 refugees and immigrants start new lives in the greater Los Angeles region.

In the past, IRIS has helped refugees seeking employment and was partnered with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and Church World Service. Due to cuts to the national refugee resettlement program, IRIS is now one of only three remaining refugee resettlement agencies in Los Angeles County.