Stories
Thomas Kania is the grandson of Polish immigrants, people who he says came to the United States for opportunity. Now Kania, a real estate investor, says it’s their experience that has motivated him to help others looking for a bit of opportunity of their own — newly arrived Afghan refugees. “It’s basically the American spirit,”…
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Jose Antonio Armas lost family members in Mexico during the pandemic, and when his mother passed away, he couldn’t return to his homeland to bury her because of his immigration status. “Even though it’s been 25 years since I’ve been in the U.S. and I haven’t been able to see them again, the altar, the…
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What do Maine and Syria have in common? Neither is an especially easy place to launch a career in hip hop. But that is exactly what one Syrian-born rapper has done, through a winding journey that began on the streets of Aleppo and led, last week, to an album release concert in Portland. In the…
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A traffic stop in Newport, Vt., this past summer is intensifying concerns about collaboration between local police and federal immigration authorities. Now, migrant farmworkers in Vermont are calling on the state to do more to protect them from detention and deportation for minor traffic violations. Migrant farmworkers have become a critical labor force for Vermont’s dairy…
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Refugee resettlement agencies in New England are preparing to welcome hundreds of Afghanistan evacuees. Volunteers are lending their expertise to help agencies with the new arrivals. That includes people who have personally been through many of the same experiences. Freshta Abedi is a 38-year-old chemical process engineer by day and Afghan cultural mentor by night.…
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Outside a mobile home in Vermont’s Franklin County, large white chickens patrol the yard. Green fields roll out in every direction. Big sky stretches overhead. This is where several dairy workers live. Among them is Eva. We’re using first names to protect worker identity and avoid employment or legal repercussions. Eva is 30, and has…
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Some of the Afghan evacuees who fled their homes in the chaos of the U.S. withdrawal and Taliban takeover are expected to arrive in New Hampshire this month. The International Institute of New England, one of the agencies coordinating their arrival, has put in a request to bring 25 Afghans to New Hampshire and 150 to Massachusetts. The…
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Soeun Kim, and his wife, Theresa Kim, sat at a picnic table on Portland’s Western Promenade earlier this month, watching a home video on Theresa’s phone. In the clip, Soeun is lying in bed, holding his baby daughter, Leilani, while his 10-year-old stepson, Joshua, looks on. Then, everyone falls silent, and Joshua begins to sob…
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Late on Monday night, two cars filled with luggage and seven tired travelers pulled up in front of the New Haven headquarters of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, or IRIS. Under the dim lights of a nearby gas station, the travelers stepped out of the cars in groups. First, a petite woman with two small…
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In early May, Smith College senior Rumbila Abdullahi relaxed on a couch in her living room off a quiet street in the Sixteen Acres neighborhood of Springfield, Massachusetts. She wore a baati — a traditional Somali dress — and a hijab. Days earlier, she sat in a testing center for most of a day taking…
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