Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott recently donated $15 million to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the nation’s largest faith-based nonprofit dedicated exclusively to serving and advocating for refugees, asylum seekers.

The donation is the single largest contribution Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has received from an individual donor in its 83-year history of welcoming and empowering children and families from all around the world. It comes on the heels of the historic Afghan refugee resettlement mission, Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and record arrivals of asylum-seeking children and families at the U.S. southern border.

“This unprecedented and timely gift will make a monumental difference in the lives of the most vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers as they strive to achieve their own American Dream,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, in a statement. “We are extremely grateful to MacKenzie Scott for this recognition of our decades-long legacy of service. Her support represents a transformational opportunity to expand innovative programming and reimagine how the U.S. welcomes new Americans.”

LIRS will use the funds to accelerate projects intended to transform immigration services, including trauma-informed mental health care and the expansion of its holistic Welcome Centers for asylum-seeking families.

The gift will also support the group’s New American Cities workforce development program, and reinforce Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s unique capabilities to care for unaccompanied children through foster care programming and other community-based services, the group said.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “has expressed optimism about working with France to tackle illegal migration and his spokesman says the two countries are close to a new deal to curb the number of migrants crossing the English Channel,” reports the Australian Associated Press.

The Prime Minister and French President recently at the Cop-27 climate summit in Egypt, with the issue of small boat crossings high on their agenda, the UK’s Daily Mail reported.

Canada on Nov. 1 unveiled a new policy that aims to attract a total of 1.45 million immigrants between 2023 and 2025.

“The attitude of Canada’s government toward immigration is a stark departure from those of governments in Western countries such as Sweden and Italy, where newly elected parties are seeking to curtail immigration and are blaming immigrants for crime and disorder,” wrote Vjosa Isai in a New York Times article.

Canada “is struggling with an acute shortage of workers, particularly in skilled trades and industries like healthcare. The most recent job vacancy data showed there were 958,500 open roles in Canada in August and 1.0 million unemployed people,” Reuters reported.

The plan was unveiled by Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.

Additional details on the plan are available here.