IMMIGRATION/REFUGEES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Chhaya Chhoum’s journey to the Bronx began in the forced labor camp where the Khmer Rouge, during its genocidal rule in 1970s Cambodia, had forced her parents to wed. Her mother, who was 18, fled with her family, carrying her infant through jungle trails to refugee camps in Thailand. But the camps offered neither safety nor a future. So the family began a second journey: applying for refugee resettlement in the United States. By the time they were brought to New York, Ms. Chhoum had spent almost seven years in the camps. The family thrived in the Bronx. Her mother became a mental health worker, a leader in the community. And as an adult, Ms. Chhoum founded an organization, Mekong NYC, that provides services for Southeast Asian refugees and their families…But stories like Ms. Chhoum’s may soon become far rarer. The White House is considering plans to slash refugee resettlement numbers to a fraction of historic levels or even to zero, all but ending the program.”
–Amanda Taub and Max Fisher, “Trump’s Refugee Cuts Threaten Deep Consequences at Home and Abroad,” The New York Times online, September 11, 2019