After the Last Border:Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America

“All over the country, everyone who is Karen—or Kachin, Karenni, Rohingya, Chin, or many of the other groups who are not ethnically Burmese—will run. Or they will think about running. Or they will wish they had been able to run.”

As a member of the Karen ethnic group, Mu Naw was persecuted in Myanmar. As a child, she literally had to run to escape soldiers who would slaughter her and her family. In describing her terror, Goudeau emphasizes Trauma and Resilience in the Refugee Experience.

“Following World War II, through the dips and shifts of refugee resettlement policy over the next several decades, one of the principles of American identity would remain the same: The United States viewed itself as a country that provided defense for the defenseless, welcome for the war-battered, and home for the displaced people of the world.”

Due to The Links Between US Identity and Immigration Policy, the US was committed to the acceptance of refugees after World War II and until 2015. While there were debates about the number of refugees to resettle, that essential commitment, grounded in identity, did not waver.

“Watching Amal gave Hasna the first intimation of a revolutionary thought that would become one of her lifelong passions—her daughter should have the same educational opportunities as her sons.”

Committed to the welfare of her children, Hasna insisted that her daughters be educated. Even when exiled in Jordan, she took the necessary steps to get Rana enrolled in school. Goudeau explodes the negative stereotype of Syrian Muslims with the experience of Hasna’s family. The women, part of an extended and loving family, are strong and partake in family decisions.

“It was that insult, on top of the capture of the children, that caused thirty of the boys’ relatives and neighbors to plan the first Friday afternoon demonstration that Hasna and Jebreel mistook for a wedding.”

The spark that began the protests in Daraa was rooted in the murder of children who had written a slogan about deposing the principal on a school wall. When parents went to the authorities, they were mocked. Goudeau is careful to explain that while this sparked the protests, there were deeper underlying causes: For all but the ruling minority and the well-connected, there were limited economic opportunities for men.

“She had papers that said she had fled Myanmar, that she was a refugee in Thailand, but those granted her permission to live on a temporary basis in Thailand. She was not Thai. She was certainly not Burmese. Being Karen, her only state was temporary-permanence, liminality, never-belongingness.”

Referring to Mu Naw, Goudeau here emphasizes the Trauma and Resilience in the Refugee Experience. In this case, Mu Naw’s people did not have a state and were not wanted. Mu Naw experienced depression and a lack of connection as a result; she felt that she did not belong anywhere and did not have permanent ties to a community.

“The water underscored this notion coursing through her—this water did not care that her beloved city was falling, that her son was in an army she did not trust, that forces beyond her control were moving toward her at an inexorable rate.”

Hearing about a government crackdown on Daraa, Khassem took a brief leave to warn his family. He brought Hasna to Lake Muzayrib, a place of beauty and good memories outside Daraa, for the day. In this last visit to the lake, Hasna was distraught. Goudeau highlights the lack of control that refugees have over their lives, as they are victims of political and social circumstances.

“These were his neighbors and friends; he did not want anyone killed. The lines were not clear in this battle, there was no black and white. Good men had worked for the government for a long time; it did not mean they didn’t share their neighbors’ frustrations.”

Referring to the son of Hasna’s neighbor, who was a soldier, Goudeau highlights the complexity of the Syrian civil war. Hasna’s own son, Khassem, was a soldier in Damascus and had no choice but to complete mandatory service. Hasna later befriended a soldier stationed in Daraa, who later defected. The inner conflict of soldiers asked to fire upon their own people led to a broader civil war when the Syrian Free Army was created.

“The other Karen families were her only source of joy. To hear her language spoken, to eat familiar foods, to catch up on news from home—she could forget, for a few minutes or even a few hours, everything that she had lost.”

The transition from life in the refugee camp to Austin was a culture shock for Mu Naw. She missed her people and culture and thus found solace in the growing Karen community in Austin. Goudeau highlights The Challenges of Adjustment for Refugees in exploring Mu Naw’s homesickness.

“The government forces intended for the siege of Daraa to finally put an end to the protests in the country; instead, they poured gasoline on the fire of their citizens’ rage, giving the people a pure cause to rally behind.”

Instead of squashing the rebellion with its brutal reaction to protests in Daraa, the Syrian government exposed itself as an enemy of its own people. The protests spread and the country became engulfed in a civil war. As a result, the humanitarian crisis expanded, with millions of refugees seeking safe places to live.

“The 1950s were a tumultuous time in terms of American identity, and that played out in immigration debates. The back-and-forth, stop-and-start nature of resettlement reflected the mounting tension that would erupt with the civil rights movement.”

The “Red Scare” of the 1950s—driven by anti-Communist fears—strengthened the hand of restrictionists who wanted to intensify the vetting process for immigrants. However, the US welcomed those fleeing Hungary after the failed attempt to overthrow the Soviet-backed government in 1956. Once again, Goudeau reminds the reader of The Links Between US Identity and Immigration Policy.

“As the buses pulled away, the depression that Mu Naw thought she had moved past settled at once and immediately on her shoulders.”

After finding solace among the growing community of Karen people in Austin, Mu Naw was crushed when most of those people left the city for work elsewhere. Once again, she experienced a profound sense of loneliness and loss. The Challenges of Adjustment for Refugees are not necessarily brief or linear in nature.

“Hasna tried to imagine what her city was like now and she could not. This lawless place Laila described had nothing to do with the city of peace and neighborliness that Hasna loved.”

By recounting the experience of Hasna, Goudeau highlights the trauma experienced by refugees. It is not that they are simply leaving their homeland, but rather, their homeland no longer exists in any recognizable form. They are permanently displaced and there is no going back. That realization results in a profound sense of despair.

“The public outcry on behalf of the Indochinese boat people—with its echoes of the public goodwill the American public had not experienced since World War II—would do more to move the United States toward another peak in refugee resettlement and the creation of a permanent, stable federal program than any other humanitarian crisis.”

Sympathetic to the plight of those fleeing Communist Vietnam, the genocide in Cambodia, and the Laotian civil war, Americans identified with the victims and thus paved the way for the resettlement program. Goudeau highlights the importance of public opinion and perceptions in the development of immigration policy.

“Men left. Marriages ended. These were truths she never questioned, that she understood in the deepest parts of herself. She brushed her teeth, ran a brush through her hair, and woke the children up for school.”

The tension between Mu Naw and Saw Ku resulted mainly from The Challenges of Adjustment for Refugees. Constantly stressed over finances, Saw Ku worked a monotonous and physically challenging job cleaning hotel rooms. When their marriage temporarily broke up, Mu Naw demonstrated the resilience of refugees: She carried on.

“She wanted to hope that there was still a chance for international intervention, but she could not. The government was escalating its war on Syria’s children. The talk continued with no action. No one was coming. No one cared.”

At first, Hasna hoped that the war in Syria would end quickly and things would return to normal. Over time, it became increasingly clear that outside forces would not stop the fighting and that Assad would stop at nothing to regain control. The lack of an international response contributed to Hasna’s feelings of powerlessness and loneliness.

“She had felt anger before when she was angry at Saw Ku, but now she realized it was power of a cheap sort. The power of women who knew themselves, no matter where they were from, was rich, deep, sacred.”

At a conference for her job with a fair-trade jewelry company, Mu Naw felt a strong connection with female refugees from other countries who told their stories. For the first time, she began to feel comfortable with her own identity as both an American woman and a Karen.

“In the first part of the twenty-first century, more than half of the world’s refugee population lived in thirty-two camps […] The average length of stay of a refugee in any camp was twenty-six years.”

Compared to the need for refugee resettlement, the US program fell short. The George W. Bush administration increased the numbers it would accept from camps. In 2006, the US public remained supportive of refugees from Southeast Asia. The media gave heightened attention to the Christian immigrants from Myanmar, such as Karen Baptists, and less to the Rohingya Muslim refugees. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, there was less public sympathy for Muslim refugees, reflecting The Links Between US Identity and Immigration Policy.

“She could feel that this room in the middle of America had also become Syria: a place where people clasped hands and refused to forget, to lose heart, to let go of their love for country and for each other.”

The kindness of Natheir, a Syrian American who came to check on Hasna’s family, gave Hasna both hope and despair. The encounter reminded her of what she had lost in her Syrian community, but also demonstrated the resilience of herself and other refugees. With the help of others in her community, she could face The Challenges of Adjustment for Refugees.

“That night changed everything, because it ruined her mother’s reputation. Mu Naw’s mother could no longer work in the job that supported her family. She could never marry the man whom she loved, the one she’d kissed just hours before.”

On the night of her mother’s death, Mu Naw realized that her mother had been raped by her father and thereby forced into marrying him. Mu Naw had spent so much time angry about her mother’s treatment of her father and her mother’s reputation. Now, she saw clearly that her mother had been victimized and that her mother stayed in the marriage as long as she did because she loved Mu Naw. Instead of regret, Mu Naw felt her mother’s forgiveness and ultimately resolved to fix her own marriage with Saw Ku.

“Karen Christian refugees from Myanmar remained an easy sell in those years; the program begun under Bush flourished under Obama. Muslim refugees from Syria—victims of the same kinds of targeted attacks by their own government—would never enjoy that widespread support.”

Identifying with Christian refugees, Americans were more accepting of them than they were of Muslim refugees in the 21st century. Especially after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Americans were less sympathetic to Muslims and failed to recognize that Muslim refugees, like Karen ones, were the victims and not the perpetrators of terror.

“Her wages from the salon and their refugee stipend coming from RST [Refugees Services of Texas] only barely covered rent. They had four months left before they had to pay back the government for the plane tickets and the money from RST was over.”

Refugees, coming to the US with virtually no resources, struggle economically to make ends meet. In Hasna’s case, the struggle was exacerbated because family reunification was suspended and Jebreel was disabled. She was the only working adult and only qualified for low-wage jobs. Goudeau is here providing an example of The Challenges of Adjustment for Refugees.

“Lindbergh’s anti-Semitic ‘America First’ speech in 1941 destroyed his reputation. Trump’s Islamophobic ‘America First’ speeches in 2015-2016 led to his becoming president.”

The election of Trump to the presidency brought about a turning point in immigration policy and, specifically, the refugee resettlement program. The pillar of family reunification was abandoned and the resettlement program was brought to the verge of collapse. Tapping into the fears and insecurities of Americans’ identity, Trump ushered in major changes to immigration policy.

“One government decided her city was worth destroying, another government decided their lives weren’t worth saving, and now her family was shattered.”

Goudeau notes the impact on individuals and families of governmental decisions and policy changes. Powerless to stop the Syrian government from destroying her community, Hasna and her family had no choice but to flee. She was repeatedly promised that family reunification would be honored in the US, only to discover that Trump had changed the policy. Her family was scattered in different countries, with Yusef and Laila in limbo, and she was on her own economically in the US.