Stories
Beatriz, an immigrant lawyer fighting for noncitizen kids
In February 2025, a Venezuelan-American lawyer named Beatriz received an order from the Interior Department to the nonprofit where she worked: stop all work. Beatriz represents unaccompanied minors: children who are going through immigration proceedings without their parents. These youngsters can be quite vulnerable. They may be living with family… Read More
Kaelyn, going into debt to keep her partner from deportation to El Salvador
Last summer, Kaelyn was at a Latin club in Wilmington, North Carolina when a handsome stranger asked her to dance. She wasn’t in the mood, but the man was just so charming. “If anyone else had asked, I would’ve said no, but Yapa is so genuine,” she says, using his… Read More
Axel, a DACA recipient trying to protect his community
Since President Trump’s election, Axel Herrera has seen a growing number of local police traffic checkpoints popping up across his North Carolina community. As a DACA recipient, Axel has legal protection from deportation, but some of his friends and family members have already been detained or deported following random traffic… Read More
Ilia, young Russian dissident facing never-ending detention
Ilia is a 24-year-old pro-democracy activist who recently fled a threatening environment in his native Russia. But after escaping, he was taken into custody and put into jail-like detention by the very country he believed would protect him: the United States. “I fled Russia because of increasingly harsh laws, because… Read More
Kenyan Immigrant Helps Other Newcomers Settle into Baltimore County
As a student activist in Kenya in the 1980s, Thomas Mwaura spoke out against the authoritarian government—only to be accused of sedition, wrongfully arrested, expelled from his university, and left unable to find work. With the help of the American Embassy, he was able to get a student visa and… Read More
Nepali Immigrant Established a Café in Baltimore County
Narayan Khakurel grew up in a farming community in rural Nepal, where his family raised cattle and crops like tobacco and sugarcane. He never felt particularly deprived but, looking back, he recalls walking to school barefoot and not being able to afford a book bag. Today, though, Khakurel is a… Read More
Egyptian Immigrant is an Advocate in Baltimore County
When Noureen Badwi was two, her family immigrated to the U.S. from Egypt under her mother’s scholar visa. Her mother, who was the valedictorian of a 12,000 person class at Cairo University and later became a professor in the U.S., worked tirelessly so that Badwi and her twin brother could… Read More
Mexican Immigrant in Baltimore County Runs a Business and Teen Training Program
Rocio Herrera grew up in the shadow of an active volcano in a picturesque but impoverished region of central Mexico. She and her husband worked hard—she sold beauty products and cared for elderly people, and her husband was a carpenter—but they struggled to make ends meet. In 2004, they crossed… Read More
Mexican Immigrant Family Shares Success Across Allen County
Flora Barrón had a comfortable childhood in Northern Mexico, attended college, and worked as an administrative assistant before marrying a successful rural veterinarian. But when an economic downturn pushed local farmers into bankruptcy, her husband’s business struggled. “That’s when we came to America,” she explains. “Our plan was to come… Read More
Burmese Immigant Helps Make Allen County Welcoming for All
So Min Oo remembers the day in January 1977 when the Burmese government bombed his family’s village. “It stays in my nightmares — the gunfire, the people screaming,” he recalls. He was 11. His parents and three siblings spent the next several months fleeing on foot to Thailand, where they… Read More
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