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

With the onset of the Cold War, the US changed its definition of refugee to apply “almost exclusively to anticommunist dissenters and victims, especially white European ones” (163). The racist Immigration Act of 1924 remained the law of the land. The US in this period did not extend help to the millions of displaced peoples elsewhere in the world, such as the 14 million displaced Indians and Pakistanis in 1947. However, the US resettled 10,000 Hungarians fleeing after the failed uprising against the Communist government in 1956.

Resettlement, Goudeau explains, became a weapon in the war against communism. The government and media via public relations and photos demonstrated that “capitalism was superior to communism” (164). Throughout the 1950s, liberalizers and restrictionists bickered, with the latter ensuring that national screening protocols were in place via the 1953 Refugee Relief Act and the former trying to prevent over-vetting. They were setting the stage for what was to come in immigration law.

With more people from Myanmar in Austin, Mu Naw assumed a leadership role in a women’s group. Her family moved into a larger apartment upstairs and an older couple were acting as surrogate grandparents to her children. All was going well.

One day, a group of women came to warn the community about Bob, who the police strongly suspected was a child molester. Mu Naw interpreted the message. While some in her community heeded the warning, others were more suspicious of the police and continued to allow Bob access to their children. Another group addressed the community, promising jobs at a meat-packing plant in a distant city. Saw Ku and Mu Naw decided to stay in Austin, but most others in the community jumped at the chance and left.

Without her community, Mu Naw became depressed and took out her frustration on her husband. Ultimately, they moved to another apartment and found other community relationships. Mu Naw continued to be a translator and things were going reasonably well for the family. For a time, Mu Naw considered resettling her mother in Austin, but her mother did not want to leave the refugee camp.

Hasna heard that looters had gotten into her home in Daraa and taken things of value to her, including the dining table. Jebreel, Malek, Laila, and Hamad were staying there while government attacks on the city continued intermittently.

In Ramtha, Hasna received a call from a woman from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who asked if she was interested in applying for refugee resettlement. Thinking it was somewhat of a joke, Hasna agreed. Her extended family moved from Ramtha to Irbed, where it was easier to find work. Meanwhile, many more Syrians were fleeing into Jordan with Assad using chemical weapons. When a representative from UNHCR called again inviting Hasna for a first interview, she agreed and continued the process to keep her options open. The lure for her with this program was family reunification: She would be able to bring her whole family to safety if approved.

A call came in the middle of the night reporting a missile attack on the family’s home in Daraa. At first, Hasna knew that Jebreel had been taken into surgery but had no idea about Malek, Laila, and their son. She soon learned that they were okay, but her home was gone. Jebreel was taken to Irbed for several surgeries. He lost his left arm below the elbow, part of his cheek, ear, and part of his torso (182) but survived. Jordan provided free health care to refugees.

On October 3, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This law “radically” (184) overhauled the immigration system, ending the racist quota system and instead basing acceptance on skills and relationships to those already in the country. It “established refugee resettlement as one of the new pillars of immigration, along with merit-based acceptance and family reunification” (185). Both liberalizers and restrictionists agreed on family reunification. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, however, visas were still mainly given out based on US foreign policy interests. For example, Cuban refugees were given preferential treatment while Haitians were not.

In the 1970s, refugees fleeing from the Laotian civil war, the fall of Saigon, Vietnam, and the genocide in Cambodia took to boats. These “Indochinese boat people” (187) constituted the largest mass migration of political refugees and economic migrants in history (187). With the full support of the American public, Congress passed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act in 1975. This paved the way for the admission of 360,000 refugees in four years and ultimately over 1 million refugees total.

The administration of US President Jimmy Carter, emphasizing human rights as a cornerstone of foreign policy, signed the Refugee Act in 1980. This law created a predictable allotment system with enough flexibility to adapt to crises and updated the definition of a refugee. The new definition applied to anyone who could demonstrate persecution or fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular group (191). This bill established the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program. Balancing national security concerns with a proper vetting process and human rights, the program had bipartisan support. It offered hope to those refugees who suffered complex trauma, resulting from “multiple traumatic incidents” (192).

Mu Naw and Saw Ku’s marriage was falling apart. The couple had purchased an automobile, which only Saw Ku could drive. He stayed out late when Mu Naw was expecting him. After a fierce argument, Mu Naw woke up to discover that Saw Ku had left, taking his clothes with him. Understanding that “[m]en left” (198), Mu Naw carried on and got the children ready for school.

Worrying that her family was only one or two years from finding itself in a refugee camp, Hasna completed more interviews with the UNHCR. Jebreel, who had healed, and Rana participated in this thorough vetting process as well. Khassem married a woman from Daraa. With her supply of gold dwindling, Hasna learned that they would be resettled in Austin, Texas. When word finally came of their acceptance, they had only one week to pack. Hasna was motivated to go by the promise of family reunification and free medical care for Jebreel.

Laila and her family were unable to cross the border. Hasna heard that Laila was pregnant with her second child and that her family was on the move, hiding in shelled-out buildings. Laila gave birth to a second son, Tawfiq. Then, Hasna learned that Malek was killed in an explosion. For a long period, she had no word from Laila. Finally, she learned that Laila was in Turkey. Via a text, she told Hasna her harrowing story. Unable to cross the border into Jordan, she paid two smugglers to get her and her sons out. Both instead delivered them into the territory of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The first time, Laila wrote, “I left there in a really, really hard way. I will not talk about it” (209). She had to walk through the desert for days and was in excruciating pain. She then left via two minivans with another family. The other minivan was blown up, killing the family that helped her and she and her sons escaped theirs just before it too was blown up.

She walked miles from city to city. Her family snuck into Turkey and evaded the Turkish police. She then walked a long time in Turkey and was staying with a friend of Yusef’s. She pleaded for help. Upon hearing her story, Yusef left immediately to help her in Turkey. For Hasna, this was more motivation to resettle in Austin with the promise of family reunification.