A Fired Federal Worker Finds Refuge in Mexico

"The administration doesn't want me. I personally don't feel safe [in the United States]. I know I'm not the only person who feels that way."

"It's hard to explain the compound grief involved in seeing a sector that did nothing but good just destroyed,"

"The people who are coming through the US Refugee Admissions Program, they've gone through a minimum of two years of background checks. I can't even tell you how extensive these checks are.... This idea that there are rapists or whatever coming is just total bullshit. We're talking about people who waited in refugee camps for 10, 15 years to resettle."

Karen, 55, was terminated under the January 20 executive order that suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program. Within 24 hours of arriving in San Miguel de Allende, she decided to permanently leave the United States and relocate to Mexico. Her work focused on preventing sexual exploitation. About 3,000 colleagues worldwide also received termination notices. She emphasizes that refugees admitted through the program undergo at least two years of exhaustive background checks and objects to claims that dangerous criminals are being resettled. Born in the US, she spent formative years in Japan and later worked in Cambodia, Thailand, and Papua New Guinea.

Read at The Nation