Many immigrants to America don’t recognize the country they call home right now. One of them is Rukmini Callimachi, a reporter who covers al-Qaeda and ISIS for the New York Times.
“I do not recognize the America that welcomed my family so many years ago”
Rukmini Callimachi tells the story of coming to America as a refugee from Romania.
Brian Resnick was Vox’s science and health editor and is the co-creator of Unexplainable, Vox’s podcast about unanswered questions in science.
After President Trump signed an executive order Friday that, among other things, bans refugee admissions for 120 days and Syrian refugees indefinitely, Callimachi found herself in tears.
She took to Twitter on Saturday to tell her story about coming here as a child from communist Romania and finding a home dramatically more welcoming than Switzerland, where she had to hide the truth about her origin.
Callimachi’s story is just one being told in this shocking moment of crisis for immigrants and refuges. Many are using the hashtag #IAmARefugee on Twitter to share them.
Here’s her story, followed by a few other powerful ones we’ve seen.
Political consultant Peter Daou describes the chaos of leaving a war zone and finding refuge in the United States. Even though his mother was an American citizen, it didn’t mean the journey was easy.
An NBC affiliate in Philadelphia is reporting that two Christian Syrian families (with visas and green cards) were detained and sent on a return flight to Syria. NBC talked to a relative of one of the families who lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania:
“This is like a nightmare come true,” he said, adding that they had visas and green cards legally obtained months ago.
“They’re all Christian citizens and the executive order was supposed to protect Christians fleeing persecution,” he said.
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