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1993.09.01 :  Director of ORR -- Lavinia Limon

Contact:  David Siegel (202) 401-9215
September 1, 1993

     HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced the
appointment of Lavinia Limon to be director, Office of Refugee
Resettlement, in the Administration for Children and Families. 
Ms. Limon, a native of Los Angeles, Calif., has been active in
refugee resettlement programs for over 18 years.
     "Ms. Limon's broad-based experience in processing and
working with refugees at community, national and international
levels will be a major plus for the Clinton administration as
legally admitted refugees are moved toward economic and social
self-sufficiency," Secretary Shalala said.  
     Most recently, Ms. Limon served for six years as executive
director of the International Institute of Los Angeles, a $6
million, non-profit community organization that assists
immigrants, refugees, and the foreign-born in achieving economic
and social self-sufficiency.
     Between 1979 and 1992, at the request of the U.S. Department
of State, Limon established, designed and implemented programs
for the processing of Iraqi refugees in Saudi Arabia, Cubans who
requested asylum at the Peruvian Embassy in Costa Rica and
Indochinese who fled from their homelands to Singapore and
Thailand. 
     Ms. Limon's volunteer achievements include service as: 1992
chairperson, Standing Committee of the Professional Council, 
American Council for Nationalities Service;  1992 vice-
chairperson of the Corporate Council of Executives, United Way of
Los Angeles; member, Citizen's Advisory Committee for the
Eastside Neighborhoods Revitalization Study; and founding member
of the Coalition of Human Rights of Los Angeles.
     The Office of Refugee Resettlement, Administration for
Children and Families, in partnership with the states and
National Voluntary Resettlement Agencies, assists refugees to
build new lives in their new homeland.  Refugees come from around
the globe, from East Asia to Africa to the newly independent
states of the former Soviet Union.  Since 1975, over 1.6 million
refugees have been resettled in the United States.
     The number of refugees admitted to the United States each
year is determined by the president in consultation with the
Congress.  In fiscal year 1992, about 132,000 refugees and
Amerasians were admitted to the United States for resettlement.