Stories

Rosa Lina Linder shows a photograph of her 16-year-old daughter on her cellphone, still being detained in the U.S. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR

Desperate To Be Reunited With Their Children, Parents Place Their Hope In A Stranger

August 16, 2018

The Trump administration estimates there are more than 500 children between the ages of 5 and 17 who were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, and who remain in the custody of the U.S. government.

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Vera Rivard, 14, accompanied by her mother Darcie in a kayak, and her father and sister in a boat, completed the marathon swim in 16 hours, 24 minutes. Photo by John Dillon for VPR

Lake Memphremagog: Marathon Swim From Vermont To Canada Focuses On Open Borders

July 24, 2018

An international border divides Lake Memphremagog in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. And for the last seven summers, a group of marathon swimmers have challenged that border and themselves.

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June 15, 2018 Border Patrol Checkpoint on I-93 in New Hampshire. Photo by Jason Moon for NHPR

Family Vacationing In N.H. Reeling After Arrest At Checkpoint 90 Miles From The Border

July 6, 2018

Under a Department of Justice rule, the Border Patrol is allowed to conduct these checkpoints 100 miles from a border, and they have been since 1953. What’s harder to know is whether or not these checkpoints are happening more frequently.

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Irida Kakhtiranova, who's living at the Unitarian Church in Northampton, Massachusetts, making pierogies. Photo by Karen Brown for NEPR

Asylum Seeker In Sanctuary Sells Pierogies To Support Family And Quell Anxiety

July 3, 2018

Kakhtiranova, now 36 years old, is friendly and talkative – often hanging out and laughing with church staff and volunteers in the kitchen. So it’s easy to forget she’s a fugitive from the government.

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Carl Ronga, his wife Becky and their daughter Rehema. Photo by John Dillon for VPR

‘Zero Tolerance’: A Vermont Family Feels The Pain Of Trump Immigration Enforcement

June 29, 2018

A longtime Vermont resident is scheduled to be deported Sunday back to his native Kenya. His family says they are the victims of President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on immigration issues.

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John Dankosky interviews Mushfiq Mobarak at a live Arts and Ideas Panel. Photo by Judy Rosenthal

Is Immigration Good For The US Economy?

June 28, 2018

One of the biggest political debates about immigration is that it hurts the chances of American-born workers to succeed and damages the U.S. economy. But in New England, where the population is rapidly aging and the young replacement workers needed to sustain the workforce are leaving, immigration might be the answer. In this special live NEXT event we discussed whether or not immigration is good for the regional and national economy. 

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A young migrant family waits for the arrangements for their bus at Catholic Charities in McAllen, TX. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR

DeLauro, Esty, Yale Psychologists: Reunite Immigrant Children And Families Now

June 25, 2018

Members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation, including Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Elizabeth Esty, Jim Himes and Joe Courtney, and Senator Richard Blumenthal, spent the weekend visiting immigrant detention centers in McAllen and Port Isabel, Texas. Congresswomen DeLauro and Esty shared what they saw with psychologists at the Yale Child Study Center on Monday.

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A three-year-old from Honduras peers through a fence at the U.S. - Mexico border while her family waits to apply for asylum. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR

While Immigration Policies Are Defined, Many Families Along The Southern Border Can Only Wait

June 25, 2018

Brownsville, Texas, lies along the Rio Grande and the border of Mexico, nearly 2,000 miles from New England. Still, Democratic members of Congress from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire all traveled to the border city this weekend. They said their offices were being flooded with phone calls from constituents, distraught over reports of migrant children separated from families.

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People detained at a facility in McAllen, Texas, on June 17, 2018. Provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Rio Grande Valley Sector

Science of Family Separation and Trauma Suggests Long-Term Damage

June 22, 2018

A Harvard brain scientist who studies trauma in children is warning of lasting damage to the young migrants who’ve been separated from their parents at the border.

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Lisbeth Sandoval, (far right), her daughter, Sheylibeth, and her son, Stephen, inside a hotel room in Lowell. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR

‘We’re Just Hoping For A Miracle’: Hurricane Maria Evacuees Brace For End Of Housing Assistance

June 18, 2018

Nine months after Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico, there are an estimated 300 families still living in hotels in Massachusetts with FEMA and the state footing the bill. But that changes at the end of June when this assistance expires. Many of the evacuees staying in hotels don’t know where they will be living next month.

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