How to welcome and support immigrants with Krish O'Mara Vignarajah

A Q&A with the President and CEO of Global Refuge

Feb 07, 2025

As the leader of Global Refuge, the largest faith-based national nonprofit dedicated to serving children, refugees, and other immigrants, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah has made championing the rights of vulnerable communities her life’s work. Every day, she helps newcomers find safety, support, and a share in the American dream—the same dream her family pursued decades ago when they fled Sri Lanka with her as a baby. That experience sparked Krish’s lifelong commitment to public service: from her role as First Lady Michelle Obama’s Policy Director to her strategic work at the State Department on foreign policy, Krish leads with the heart of an ally, the fight of an advocate, and the insight of someone who knows firsthand the difference a warm welcome can make.

Tell us about your own immigration story and how that has impacted your work at Global Refuge.

I was born in Sri Lanka in 1979 and my parents were part of the ethnic and religious minority. With the country on the brink of civil war, they had the courage to leave everything they knew and come to the United States. They came with just a couple hundred dollars in their pockets and two very young kids in their arms—my brother was three and I was nine months old. We ended up in Baltimore, and everything was new to us: a new community, a new culture, a new language. But it was our neighbors, local churches and temples, and the Baltimore School System, where my dad got a job, that really helped us. It was the school superintendent who helped find the apartment we moved into. It was the nearby places of worship that provided winter clothes to a family that had never seen a flake of snow before!

My family’s experience of fleeing persecution and starting over has given me a personal connection into what refugees and other immigrants are going through.

I get how hard it can be to find affordable housing without a credit score. I get how hard it can be for someone to find a job—let alone one that reflects their qualifications. I’ve heard my parents’ stories and experienced their resilience and drive firsthand. I carry that into my work every day.

Global Refuge believes in the “long welcome.” What does that mean?

First, we help refugees with their initial arrival in the United States. These are people who have undertaken an often years-long process in which they apply through the United Nations or a U.S. Embassy because they have a credible fear of prosecution in their home countries. Once they’ve been vetted and cleared for travel, we’ll actually meet these families at the airport, secure initial housing, and work with community volunteers to furnish the home with basic necessities and culturally-familiar foods. Our case managers then help with everything from finding a job, to English classes, to enrolling kids in public school, to making referrals for health care assistance and more.  

But then we aim to go beyond helping them simply survive, but to really thrive. That means offering programs like mental health services, because after decades of doing this work, we recognize that so many coming here carry with them the trauma of their experiences. Just being able to talk about that with a clinically trained professional who speaks their native language goes a long way. The long welcome also includes things like workforce development programming to help refugees advance their careers, and access to personal and small business loans, so that they can establish credit, gain financial literacy, and even start their own entrepreneurial ventures! 

How can people welcome refugees in their own communities?

Be a first friend to a newly-arrived refugee family in your community! We have opportunities on our website to volunteer through one of our Welcome Centers or one of our many amazing affiliates. We also need temporary foster families who can offer a safe, stable home to unaccompanied children as their US-based sponsors go through the process to reunite with them.  And hire them! The best way you can help a newcomer is to offer them a job so they can support their family and start contributing to their new community. We have a Preferred Refugee Employer Program and a program called New American Careers, both of which help connect newcomers to employers.

Can you explain how refugees contribute to their communities, the economy, and their new country?

Welcoming immigrants isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s the smart thing to do.  In fact, I recently gave my very first TED Talk, and the theme of it was: “What is America’s superpower?” – and my answer was “immigrants. “ They’ve helped fill critical labor shortages as American employers struggle to fill 8.1 million job openings. They’ve helped cool inflation; they boast high rates of entrepreneurship that create opportunities for Americans. They’re putting food on our tables, caring for older Americans, and helping to keep Social Security afloat.    

In fact, 45 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants—and those companies alone generate $8.1 TRILLION in revenue. The Congressional Budget Office predicts immigrants will add an additional $7 TRILLION to our economy over the next decade. And welcoming immigrants is one of the most efficient ways we can expand our tax base and keep Social Security afloat. 

It’s also a demographic imperative. Our native-born workforce is aging out and retiring, while our birth rates are the lowest they’ve been since the Census has kept track. That means we need more people of prime working age to make sure we can take care of our seniors. Immigrants are crucial to that because they disproportionately make up the healthcare workforce we need for an aging population. Right now, foreign-born workers make up 26 percent of physicians and surgeons, and they make up 40 percent of home health aides. 

What can people do given the current administration's stance on immigration?

We need people to raise their voices as advocates: talk with their families, post on social media, and contact their elected officials to let them know a robust and effective immigration system is better for everyone who calls this nation home.

We’re particularly worried about the suspension of refugee admissions. This is a longstanding legal pathway for folks entering the country that—in its four-decade history—has had a large amount of bipartisan support. But now, persecuted families fleeing for their lives, who have gone through years of intensive vetting, are going to languish in legal limbo. More than 10,000 people have had their flights canceled in the last week. In anticipation of their resettlement, many have given up what housing they have and sold all of their belongings. Many also have family here in the U.S. eagerly awaiting their arrival, so family reunifications are likely to be delayed for the foreseeable future, if not derailed entirely.

On top of that, we received a stop work order from the State Department, creating chaos and confusion around vital support to families who have already lawfully resettled in the U.S. Without these resources, 6,000 newly arrived refugees we are currently serving would face the prospect of eviction and food insecurity at a time of critical need.

And beyond the humanitarian implications, U.S. employers will lose access to a key talent pool amid nationwide labor shortages. Communities that have come to rely on newcomers for revitalizing their economies and tax bases face dramatic economic loss. So, I urge people to let their lawmakers know this is an issue they care about. I hope a collective response can lead to a quick resumption of the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

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