How Global Refuge blurs line between politics and philanthropy and why it should retire to history
In the 1930s, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service was established to bring Lutheran victims of Eastern European communism to safety in the United States.This noble effort, born in the shadow of World War II, welcomed refugees who wanted to Americanize and had a deep connection to local communities — in this case, a shared faith.However, as Eastern Europe cast off totalitarianism and religious persecution of Lutherans waned, the organization should have ended its mission after evacuating Hungarians fleeing Soviet oppression in 1956.
Instead, it developed a clear case of “March of Dimes Syndrome.”The organization evolved into today’s Global Refuge, a zombie entity with an ambiguous, expansive mandate.The name change signals a shift from aiding a specific community to a “global” mission, where the US is seemingly responsible for accommodating anyone who arrives.
Dropping “Lutheran” also suggests a shift in funding — from the donations of Midwestern churchgoers to federal and state largesse, most recently $221 million in 2023.This blurs the line between an NGO and a quasi-governmental entity implementing US policy.Elon Musk’s recent tweet that highlighted Global Refuge’s federal largesse may have made headlines, but Global Refuge is just one part of a broader systemic problem: organizations that, while posing as independent charities, operate as government-funded actors shaping national immigration policy.As one of nine resettlement agencies partnered with the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, Global Refuge wields significant control over distributing taxpayer dollars.
Other religiously affiliated organizations — such as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Catholic Charities, and the Church World Service — have similarly drifted from their original missions.These groups scour the world for persons claiming threats from unrest and poverty, bringing in migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, often with values con...