Center for Immigration Studies
Iraqi Refugee Helps Other Newcomers Settle in Lincoln
Maysoon ShaheenDoctoral Student and Ambassador for Local Arabic Community Maysoon Shaheen fled Iraq in 1998 during Saddam Hussein’s regime, a move that likely saved her life. In order to receive her bachelor’s in education, Shaheen was required to sign a form saying she supported Saddam. She refused and escaped… Read More
Mexican Artist Finds Community in Lincoln
David ManzanaresMural and Sculpture Artist In 2017, David Manzanares moved to Lincoln with his Nebraskan-born wife and two sons, then ages 3 and 1. Manzanares is a mural and sculpture artist whose work often revolves around his Oaxacan heritage. He hoped America would help expand his audience and provide… Read More
Laotian Refugee Gives Back to Lincoln Community
Soulinnee PhanCity of Lincoln City Clerk Soulinnee Phan’s parents came to Nebraska from Laos, fleeing the Communists. A few years prior, they’d swum for their lives across the Mekong River and met at a Thai refugee camp. By the time Phan’s mother boarded a military plane to America in… Read More
Yonathan Kebede
When Yonathan Kebede was 13, his father was assassinated while serving for the Ethiopian military. Kebede’s family tried to flee and eventually moved to Northern Virginia for a fresh start. Kebede moved in with his aunt’s family in Virginia. The language barrier made life difficult. In Ethiopia, Kebede used to… Read More
Eugenie Kirenga
In 2005, Eugenie Kirenga traveled with her one-year-old son from Rwanda to the United States to visit her two sisters who were attending school in Pittsburgh, PA. But as her return date approached, news broke that Rwandan soldiers, who had left the country during the genocide, were returning to the… Read More
Juan Arias
In the late 1990s, at age 21, Juan Arias fled economic crisis in his native Ecuador. He landed in Richmond, Indiana, a small town with few Hispanic people. “When people saw me, they’d stare at me like I had a third eye,” he recalls. “It was isolating. I went from… Read More
Mohamed Al-Hamdani
In 1990, when Mohamed Al-Hamdani was eight, he and his family fled Iraq. Al-Hamdani’s father was part of the uprisings against Saddam Hussein, and the country was no longer safe for them. After two years in a Saudi Arabian refugee camp, they were resettled in Dayton, Ohio. It wasn’t easy. Read More
Mexican Immigrant Family Finds Success in Ford County
Jesus Carlos RiveraFirst Generation Immigrant In 1993, Jesus Carlos Rivera, his wife and their four children, ages 12 through three, immigrated from their native Mexico to Dodge City. Rivera’s sister-in-law is a U.S. citizen and was already living in Kansas. She told the family that the United States… Read More
Sudanese Refugee Found Safety as Kansas Resident
Ehlam AbdallaSudanese refugee Ehlam Abdalla grew up as a child of farmers in rural Sudan. She remembers her early life as happy but, when she was still a young child, violence from the Second Sudanese Civil War hit their village. Many families were dispersed. “We spent years moving from… Read More
Lao Refugee Becomes Engaged Community Leader in Minneapolis
Sunny ChanthanouvongExecutive Director of the Lao Assistance Center When Sunny Chanthanouvong arrived in the U.S. with his family as a Lao refugee, little did he know he would soon be among 13,000+ rebuilding their lives in Minnesota, a state as different as one might imagine from Southeast Asia. It… Read More
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