Category: Asylum

Asylum

A Congolese banker embraces care-giving in New Hampshire

By Gloria B. Anderson and Julie Zimmer | manchesterinklink.com

Mentoring developmentally disabled youth in New Hampshire may not seem like a logical career step for a former bank manager from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But for Bienfait, a Congolese immigrant – he declines to use his last name for reasons of personal safety — the job is highly satisfying. 

Now residing in Manchester, Bienfait, an applicant for asylum, considers himself blessed to have a job with Sevita, formerly known as the Mentor Network, a nationwide company that provides services to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  

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Asylum

Asylum Claims Triple in Canada Over the Past Two Years

The number of people seeking asylum in Canada more than tripled over a two-year period and reached a monthly peak in August 2017 when thousands crossed illegally from the US, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

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Asylum, Immigration

Canada ramps up border security to stop the flow of asylum-seekers coming from the US

By Breck Dumas

Canada announced Tuesday it will boost spending on border security in an effort to clamp down on asylum-seekers crossing into its country from the U.S.

The Canadian government is committing an additional $902 million over the next five years in an attempt to stem the flow of asylum-seekers from nations like Nigeria and Central American countries who are swarming its border from the U.S.

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Asylum, News

Her ancestors were enslaved in the U.S. Now a Trump decision could lead to her deportation to Africa.

Former American slaves were moved to Liberia in the 1800s to solve the “problem” of black and white people living alongside each other. Their descendants are facing the same journey.

Afomu Kelley was just 11 years old when she left Liberia with her mother in the early days of a civil war in 1990. She remembers standing in a crowd jostling to board an airplane to the United States for what she thought would be a six-week vacation.

Instead, the war in Liberia escalated and Kelley, now 40, never returned to the West African country. She grew up in Northern Virginia, where she finished high school early, and attended the University of Maryland. She has an American accent. Sometimes she doesn

But at the end of this month, she may be forced to return to a homeland she barely remembers.

On March 31, the program that has allowed Kelley and more than 800 other Liberian immigrants to live legally in the United States for decades will end, the result of President Trump’s decision to terminate a protection against deportation that has been in place for nearly 28 years.

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Asylum, Immigration

Congolese top list of refugees accepted in US

Last year, the U.S. accepted the smallest of refugees since the modern resettlement program began in 1980.

According to the latest number from the Migration Policy Institute, 22,491 refugees settled in the U.S. in 2018, that’s just under half of the 45,000 person ceiling set by the government.

Although Texas still leads the nation in resettlements. Last year 1,692 refugees came to the Lone Star State, according to the National Immigration Forum. That’s a 77 percent drop from 2015 when 7,479 refugees were settled, according to Refugee Council USA.

The sharp drop is the result of executive actions by the Trump administration, which wants to limit the inflow of refugees to the U.S. The 45,000 admission cap was the lowest since the Refugee Act of 1980 was approved.

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