NM Daily Lobo 09 10 15

Page 1

DAILY LOBO new mexico

The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895

dailylobo.com

S e p t e m b e r 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 | Vo l u m e 1 2 0 | I s s u e 9

US encouraged to share refugee load Number of migrants EU countries are being asked to take

graphic by veronica munoz source: bbc

Students and migrants can learn from each other, UNM associate professor says Sayyed Shah At a time when the European Union is debating plans for dealing with a major refugee influx from the Middle East, a UNM professor is helping refugees feel at home in the United States. Jessica Goodkind, associate professor at the Department of Sociology, is pairing up refugee families with UNM

students to help them resettle in the U.S. as part of the “Refugee Well-Being Project.” Goodkind said she believes that for many refugees that are coming to the United States, their reasons for their seeking refugee status are related to U.S. interventions in their countries. “I think we have even more of a responsibility to welcome people who have been uprooted,

often due to policies of the U.S. government,” she said. Goodkind has been working with refugees for the past 22 years. In 1993 she worked at a refugee camp in Thailand, where she helped prepare refugees who were going to be resettled in the United States. During her work she visited several Mong refugees in the U.S, and often found that they were isolated and not

welcomed by many Americans, she said. “I wanted a way to connect refugees with Americans and build on the strengths that refugees bring, and have students learn from refugee families, but also (have) families able to learn from students about life in the U.S.,” she said. According to a BBC report, European Commission President

Jean-Claude Juncker announced plans for resettling refugees on Wednesday, saying that the plans will offer a “swift, determined and comprehensive” response to Europe’s migrant crisis. “Under the proposals, 120,000 additional asylum seekers will be distributed among EU nations, with binding quotas,” the report said.

see

Refugee page 3


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
NM Daily Lobo 09 10 15 by UNM Student Publications - Issuu