Editor’s note: We wanted a way to keep you updated with the top immigration, migration and refugee stories every week — the ones that will most affect you, our international readers, viewers and listeners. We want you to know what’s happening, why, and how it could impact your life, family or business, so we created a weekly digest of the top original immigration reporting from across VOA. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com
Immigrant soldiers
We reported last year about new complications for foreign-born soldiers in the U.S. in getting their immigration paperwork sorted out. This week, that issue has been back on the radar, with dozens of military members facing discharge over their immigration status, despite promises that they would be able to stay in exchange for their service.
Policies protested
Thousands of protesters rallied in the sweltering Washington heat last weekend against a policy the Trump administration is using to criminally charge anyone who crosses the border illegally and to detain parents and children separately. The practice triggered outrage and demonstrations across the country. The boldest activist, however, might have been the woman who climbed onto the Statue of Liberty in opposition to the policy. Police detained Therese Patricia Okoumou, an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over her political statement.
Birthday horror
A 3-year-old Ethiopian refugee girl was slain when a former tenant of the Idaho apartment complex where she lived attacked her party. A local TV station gathered photos of Ruya Kadir, who died two days after being stabbed.
Mom, kids reconnect
After crossing the border, Yeni Gonzalez was separated — and ultimately reunited — with her three children. VOA talked with her in New York, where she traveled to reconnect with her young family. We also explored the U.S.’s long history of detaining immigrant children, though it has usually involved those who arrived at borders and ports alone.
Refuge without refugees
“It is hard for us to get this sense of reality of what is happening inside Tibet because there are not many Tibetans coming,” said Tenzin Tselha, head of the Students for a Free Tibet in India. “You talk to people from Tibet, those who came 10 years back, eight years back, five years back, but they are still further away from the reality because they are not not there right now.”
Call me, maybe
For expatriate Africans, radio call-in shows supply advice, news and a political gabfest that mainstream U.S. media just doesn’t provide — and that keeps them connected to their home countries and languages, even from thousands of miles away.
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