OUR HISTORY

Immigration and Refugee Resettlement started 70 years ago.  What started as a group of Catholic Women who organized a charitable society to provide care for the homeless and poor in an area of downtown Los Angeles that was known as Charity Street was to later be formally organized by the Church as Bureau of Catholic Charities in 1919.

Due to the increasing needs of the low-income populations and often-underserved areas in Los Angeles County, San Gabriel Valley and San Fernando Valley, in 1955 Catholic Welfare Bureau began providing Immigration legal services through the creation of Immigration and Citizenship Department. 

The advent of the Cold War between 1956 and 1957 saw 38,000 immigrants from Hungary being admitted to the United States and eventually the United States would admit over 3 million refugees during the Cold war.

In view of even greater needs, in 1970 Immigration and Citizenship Department of Catholic Welfare Bureau saw the need to represent aliens before the Board of Immigration Appeals and sought to obtain Recognition of the Immigration and Citizenship Department of the Catholic Welfare Bureau to represent aliens before the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. On March 16, 1971, the United States Department of Justice granted the agency with DOJ Accreditation to represent aliens before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

During the 1970’s, immigration from war-torn regions of Asia, including Vietnam and Cambodia, would more than quadruple. Family reunification became a driving force in U.S. immigration.

Today, the organization, now known as Immigration and Refugee Resettlement (IRR), reflects its expanded services. IRR provides legal assistance, including naturalization, family-based petitions, and cancellation of removals, as well as refugee resettlement and placement services.